where the hell have you been?

I am sick.

I'm the sickest I've been all year. I am easily the sickest I've been all Winter, and possibly the sickest I've been in about a year's time. I am someone who has access to pretty much everything there is to catch, since I have two five year olds in public school who loooove to bring things home. Most of the time, I'm pretty lucky. I take good care of myself, I wash my hands a lot, I drink a lot of EmergenC. My normal illness level is usually pretty mild relative to that of the kidlets.

I don't know what happened this time. Everyone around me has been laid low with the Asian Bird Flu or something, but I've been lucky. Until now.

I started last Friday with the chills and the sweats, and worked up to hallucinating and sleeping all weekend. I had fever, aching joints, sore everything, you name it. It was pretty clear I was very ill, I was officially toxic.

The kids had tested positive for strep the week before so I thought OK, this is my sign - I'll just go and get a strep test and get a shot, and life will be OK.

I bet you've never known someone to be depressed to test negative for strep. Sh*t. That means it's a virus. Which means there is no hope for me except rest, rest and more rest. sh*t. Stupid H5N1.

The flu is an illness with no conceivable end in sight. No drugs will kill it, they only dehydrate me and dull the pain.

I was optimistic. Everyone cleared out of the house while I laid low, spent my weekend in bed, watched a lot of movies. You know, Knocked Up is not a bad film, but I wasn't so impressed with The Queen. Frida was pretty. Unencumbered by my training schedule, my beloved took advantage of my disabled state and did his last long run before Pirate's Cove. He wants to do the 50K - he ran 30-something miles in pieces while I lay dying.

Monday I was still Feverish.

Tuesday the coughing was semi-productive, the headache and bodyache leveled me for the day. I got on the trainer for 1/2 an hour in the evening just to see how it would feel (Not Good). The Bridge, by the way, was an excellent film, but not for everyone. And it was very intense.

I felt a touch better by Wednesday, though the phlegm was starting to move its way into my chest and acquire a chewy texture. My state of illness had graduated from toxic to pathetic. I attempted to swim. My arms, filled with glycogen from my unscheduled rest, felt awesome. By 600 yards, however, I was so overcome by nausea that I was flat for the rest of the evening. I think it was some combination of water in my ears and snot in my head that did me in.

Geekgirl brought me a pink pirate swim cap which is so unbelievably cool that up to that point, all feelings of illness had been negated. I'd have swum another 2000 in that cap, had it not been for the nausea. I was so overwhelmed I nearly fell over in the pool IS THAT FOR ME??? OH MY GAAAWD!!! How does she know these things?

Thursday I didn't fight it. I came home and went horizontal. I slept for at least 9 hours. I didn't care for the Fountain. Very weird.

It's Friday, Pi Day, and my appetite came back long enough for me to celebrate by eating chicken pie and cherry pie. I'm not taking any chances, I've laid low all day. Today I feel slightly perkier - the snot is thinner, my energy is coming back. I'm watching network TV. My condition has graduated to merely sub-pathetic.

I'm more than a touch worried that I won't be able to do the 20K that I wanted to at next weekend's run at Pirate's Cove. I suppose since their motto is "Runs that aren't Races in Beautiful Places" that it will make it very easy to treat it as a training run. Still, haven't done anything in a week, haven't done 12 miles in a couple weeks. Wasn't ready to taper like this. We'll see.

It's weird to have so little energy and have my legs feel so good. I've saved them up - so now I have to be careful not to overdo it.

sigh.

Which is why I'll go to bed now.

Thanks, geekgirl!