Lesson Learned

Here's the thing about immune systems: You can guzzle vitamin C, but your body will only store what it can use before excreting the rest. You can wash your hands incessantly, but germs stick around. You can eat well decently and exercise regularly and still fall victim to feeling crappy. You can do everything right and still get sick.

It's like I've had a sign on my back for the past week -- GERMS WELCOME HERE! 

I'm not totally convinced that it's not just my body rebelling against snow one day and sundresses the next.

Nevermind that. My Chloraseptic, my Hall's, my Kleenex box, and my bed will get me through this none the worse for wear. Today, I learned my lesson about pushing myself when I wasn't feeling up to a challenge. I slept pretty restlessly for almost 11 hours before Ian declared the morning begun. We lounged around for a couple of hours; I don't have much of an appetite today, but he was stoked to heat up his Red Lobster leftovers. Mine will serve well for dinner tonight:

I made what I thought would be a delicious, protein-packed, vitamin-laden brunch -- a toasted whole wheat bagel topped with an egg sunny-side up, garlic and chive hummus, baby spinach leaves, a slice of tomato, a slice of Swiss, some chunks of creamy avocado, and a sprinkle of black pepper, accompanied, of course, by a Greek yogurt:

About an hour later, Ian suggested we head to the gym "to get the blood flowing." I thought, Yeah! I'll probably feel great after I run!

Not so much. Why did I think I could run if I can't breathe?

My 5K training plan called for a 30-minute run yesterday, which I didn't complete due to the VACES conference. Today was considered an "off" day, which I used to make up that run.

Nevermind common sense! I ran a PDR of 2.4 miles in 30 minutes, for a total of 2.63 miles in 35 minutes including warm-up and cool-down. I wasn't expecting my blood sugar to drop with 10 minutes left in my run, nor was I expecting to get light-headed as soon as I began my cool-down. Lesson learned. Note to self: Don't push it. Allow your body time time to recover from illness. No need for PDRs or heroes.

On the upside, Jaws was on TV, so I enjoyed some of Dad's and my favorite quotes while I ran:

"I think you're gonna need a bigger boat..."

"It's a tiger shark." "A whaaat?"

"Are you going to close the beaches?"

"That's some bad hat, Harry."

"I'll drink to your leg." "Okay, so we drink to our legs!"

"I'll find him for three, but I'll catch him, and kill him, for ten."

"Smile, you sonofabitch!"  ;)

Well, it's about that time for an afternoon nap. Enjoy your Sunday, blends!

P.S. Do you work out when you're feeling under the weather? What foods do you recommend for a stuffy nose, a sore throat, and a wicked cough?