Running through fog.

Ever since I returned from Houston, I've been battling... something. I'm not sure if I have a cold or if I'm experiencing severe seasonal allergies. Today is day 8, and I have a doctor's appointment later to hopefully find out what's going on. The symptoms have varied from day to day and included just about everything: sore throat, headache, fatigue, congestion, coughing and sneezing.

This weekend, it was sneezing. I took several half-days from work last week and went to bed on Friday night feeling pretty lousy. This made me worried about my planned 10-miler with Katie on Saturday morning. Fortunately, the run went well. I felt okay Saturday morning, and I felt great once we got outside and got moving. We took a bit of a scenic route. First, we went from my house to a nearby park, where we stopped a few times to admire a turtle, the water and a sculpture garden. Then, we left the park and ran downtown, where we stopped to greet some friends who had just completed TriRock Annapolis. Finally, we took a meandering route home through my neighborhood of Eastport, stopping a few times so I could show Katie the local sights. With those few short breaks, 10 miles felt totally doable and both Katie and I ended the run feeling more confident about our upcoming half.

Saturday afternoon, I helped my mom shop for clothes to wear to my graduation this weekend. That may have been overkill. By early evening, the fatigue and the sneezing had started. I went to bed around 8pm, taking PM cold medicine so that I could stop sneezing and fall asleep.

Sunday morning, I awoke to a sneezing fit that lasted pretty much the whole day. It was miserable. I have suffered from seasonal allergies pretty much my whole life, but I recently found a combo of a prescription and a non-prescription medication that makes things a million times better. On Sunday, though, it felt like I hadn't taken anything. After going through an entire pack of tissues in church, I came home and took a Benedryl just to make it stop. Of course, this also knocked me out. Inconvenient, because I had my tri-training class at 4pm and we were scheduled to do speed work on an indoor track.

I woke up from my Benedryl nap at 3:30pm feeling groggy and slightly nauseous. The sensible plan would have been to stay home from the tri-training class. I resisted because (a) I paid for the class, and (b) we were running. After struggling through weeks of swim and bike workouts in which I am undoubtedly the worst student in the class, I was not about to miss the week focused on the one activity I can do. So, I headed to class in my Benedryl fog determined to just try my best.

When we had all assembled by the track, our coaches announced the workout. We were doing a warmup followed by a "pyramid" series of speed drills: 200 meters fast, 200 meters easy, 400 meters fast, 200 meters easy, 800 meters fast, 400 meters easy, 800 meters fast, 400 meters easy, 400 meters fast, 200 meters easy, 200 meters fast, 200 meters easy. That works out to 1.75 miles fast with 1 mile of recovery. When I first heard this plan, my stomach did a little backflip. Once I got going, though, I experienced the same sensation I experience when I run after biking: the thrill of doing something I know how to do. I actually enjoyed the whole drill and got faster by the end. It took a good 25 minutes for my stomach to settle afterward, but it was worth it.

Of course, I woke up yesterday feeling lousy again and today is no better. Becoming active has added many wonderful things to my life, but it seems to have taken away my ability to take it easy when needed. I should work on that. Perhaps while I am resting, I will write to Benedryl and suggest that they launch a Groggy 5K. Or, even better, a Benedryl vs. NyQuil Battle of the Sleepy!