Running After Illness…My Epic Failure

Bad week for running but great company

I went for my first run on Sunday after being sidelined for a week with a cold. I tried to keep the run short and quick, but to be honest with you; I was slightly disappointed in my performance. Breathing was definitely still a challenge despite feeling a lot better and I was forced to use my sports bra as a Kleenex dispenser. Even though I knew my first run back would be a challenge, I still ran significantly slower than I even anticipated I would. I kept a 9:05 pace. I was hoping to keep it under 9:00 since I am still recuperating, so I guess I wasn’t that far off, but I still felt disappointed.

I decided to give it a shot again this morning and I did even worse! I was less congested, breathing was easier, and it was a beautiful day outside. Despite all of that, I just couldn’t get moving. I was extremely slow and kept a 9:36 pace, which was very discouraging to me, but in addition to my slow pace, I stopped early too. I usually try to make my morning weekday runs the distance of a 5K race and add more distance as time allows, but today I only went 2.80 miles. There is a store near my home that sells flowers and they already have their Christmas trees out (not okay…). One had fallen down and blocked the entire sidewalk. Instead of redirecting myself and pushing forward, I used the down tree as an excuse to end my run and go home.

I know some super tough people who are able to work out despite being ill and I thought that maybe with all of this internal willpower I have right now that I could too. I was wrong. I am clearly not someone with that ability and right now I am just hoping that I bounce back quickly and that I do not lose too much of the progress I made over the summer and fall months. I plan to do yoga tomorrow morning for a little extra rest and hopefully my next run will be more successful!