THE SUFFERING OF SICKNESS

I don't think anyone likes being sick. And, boy o' boy, I am no exception. I have a very low threshold for tolerance of feeling even just a bit under the weather. So the past week has been brutal for me. It started off with a sore throat on Tuesday and until yesterday I felt like I was swallowing shards of glass every time I swallowed.  As if that wasn't bad enough, around the same time I developed a lower urinary tract infection. So, basically, from my shoulders up and my waist down I felt like I was a voodoo doll being stabbed with pins. Thrilling! I began antibiotics to treat my UTI as I believed by upper respiratory infection was probably viral.

Yesterday afternoon I felt like I was making a bit of a turn around and made sure to get myself into bed by 6:30 pm so that I was feeling as good as I could for work today. Well, some time around 10 pm I woke up shivering and really congested. My temperature normally runs low and I have a history of feeling cold (worse before I was treated for hypothyroidism). But last night I was both shivering and febrile. My temperature was at 99.6 degrees F. My normal temperature runs low at 96.5-97 degrees F so, I was BURNING UP. I popped 600 mg of Ibuprofen, flushed my sinuses (hooray for the neti pot) and tucked myself deep under the covers trying desperately to warm up.

I woke up every hour on the hour after that and eventually decided there was no use in trying to sleep any more and I got up at 2 am. I thought it was a good opportunity to write about my misery (haha). And now, its 3 am and I'm sitting on my couch watching the women's skiathalon  (formally known as "the pursuit") live in Sochi....in a tank top and sweating (perhaps out of empathy for these women who have been pushing hard for 38+minutes) ...

Every time I get sick and the stubborn part of me wants to take over my mind, I am reminded of times like these where if had really given in, in the beginning, I might not be in such a rut. Then again, I may just be succumbing to a major viral infection and I was bound to get this sick. Chances are though that I didn't give in like I should have Tuesday and Wednesday.

In training, always listen to your body...not the sometimes corrupted and ridiculous mind of yours that tells you "don't miss a workout", "keep pushing, its not that bad" or "resting will put you behind".....because all of these negative thoughts are blasphemous. Rest. Rest. Rest. It is natures best remedy.