Obama fever weekend.

I rarely get sick. I get sick once a year, if that. When I do get sick, it hits my like a brick wall, and I'm usually surprised and unsure what to do, because it's so unfamiliar to me.

The last time I got sick was on Election Day last year, and is illustrated here. On Friday evening, right when people were leaving for a happy hour, which I intended on attending, I suddenly got this sensation of extreme warmth around my head, but chills on my body. The heater/AC tends to shut off around 5:30pm - 6:00pm sometimes, so I first thought that the chills were due to that, but I still couldn't shake off the odd feeling, so I passed on the happy hour and went home.

I still had an appetite so I ate dinner, but I definitely felt the fever coming. I started calling it Obama Fever, when talking about it to my roommate, because it's quite literally a year after his election/my last fever. I went to bed, waking up several times in sweats, chills, hives, you name it, and spent the rest of Saturday in bed. It's also been a year since I spent 17-18 hours in bed, the majority of it being sleeping.

I thought about the proposed long run, that I had told myself I'd do today. Internet gives contradictory advice on exercise + illness. I was on the borderline of a lot of things. I had an appetite (good), my fever broke (good), I had some throat issues (bad), and my chest was feeling tight (bad). I woke up this morning feeling alright, with evidence that I had gone through another fever fight, with sweat on my pjs as evidence. However, I felt fresh, no aches in my body, and I had eaten the last night, and no stomach issues. I decided to try the 11 miles out, with the condition that I not brand it as a failed run if I don't make it the 11 miles.

So, I strapped my gear, and my pod-cast, and off I went.

The beginning felt great this morning. I'm telling you, RANDOM. However, around the 3rd mile, I definitely felt tightness in my chest that was new. It didn't help that I was breathing in colder air than my body temperature, but it wasn't enough to stop. I made it across the bridge to Central Park, as usual, and went on my merry way around the park route.

One of the many great things about Central Park as a running route, is that it's easy to add mileage, and make it an enjoyable run. This time around, since I was adding a mile, I decided to run around the reservoir, which is a 1.58 mile addition, and a beautiful scene to run along. I made it to the reservoir, expecting a nice scene, but was met with one of my least favorite running obstacles: puddles. It had rained the day before, and along the entire narrow running route were huge puddles of water. I hate puddles more than running in the rain. It made everyone running/walking along the reservoir to slow down, and hop, skip, and splash along it. It could have been worse, because there weren't that many people running around it, but...meh.

I ran and ran, and ran the hill of E. 110th St., and I just totally crashed, energy-wise. From the moment I hit E. 90th something street, I started walking/running and about half a mile from Columbus Circle, I just started walking. I drank all the water that I had, and ate my Shot Block, but I just couldn't get the energy to continue running. I finally exited the park, and got on the 59th and Lexington, where I took a bus home. I think I ended up running about 8ish miles, give or take.

I'm showered, and inhaled a bunch of steam from the hot water, ate a bowl of oatmeal, and have NPR Weekend Edition Sunday streaming. I'm feeling a little off, but I can't tell if it's because of the cold, or because of the run. I'm coughing a little, but not more than before, and nursing my throat with a trusty Ricola cough drop. Crossing my fingers that this won't last past tonight.

Again, not a FAILED run, but an honest attempt. Sigh. Stay tuned for next week.