Friday, October 06, 2006

Half-Marathon vs. Head Cold--Who Will Win?

Guess we'll have to wait until the weekend's over for the answer to that one. Came down Wed. with a really sore throat, which turned into major congestion by Thursday evening. I've been doing nothing but drinking O.J. and sleeping. Today, I actually feel better, although I'm verrry stuffed up. All in the head, not in the chest, and no fever so as far as everything goes, I think the worst of it is over, and Sunday's half-marathon is still a go. I really want to do this one after missing out on my last one b/c of illness. All that crap they say about training hard depressing the immune system? Apparently, it's true. Great way to find out.

I'm in San Jose seeing my folks and resting up for Sunday. By the way, descending from 30,000 on a jet with a cold is not fun, even if I did take 2 Sudafed before boarding. I seriously thought my head was going to explode and blood was going to start dripping from my ears. I landed over an hour ago and have yet to hear properly. C'mon, ears! Pop already!

Have a great weekend everyone. Wish me luck on Sunday's San Jose Rock 'N Roll 1/2 Marathon. I'm excited. It's kind of like my "make-up" half-marathon.

11 comments:

Barb said...

Sounds like a really fun event! Hope your head/ears are better before the race!

I had my ears plug up once on a plane, and it was just like you said! Head about to explode... immense pain in my ears! I was with business assoc. I didn't really know, so I tried my best to not show how much pain I was in. Plus, I couldn't hear a darn thing. They must have thought I was weird cuz I kept saying, "what?, huh?, what?" :)

Cliff said...

Rachel,

Just a thought. If you are planning on your first HIM next year in March 31st, doing this half marathon too hard might not give u enough time to rest (off season) and build up the base again.

Perhaps u can aim for a HIM later in the year like in July.

I hope your head does feel better.

Anonymous said...

Good luck!!! Tell me more about the 1/2 iron.

qcmier said...

Yikes ditto here. Maybe mine is worse because I don't even feel like doing anything physical. Or maybe I'm just wussing out.

Good luck and get well soon.

By the way, I just paged through a magazine with an article about training and the immune system. Havem't read it yet though.

Anonymous said...

Like clockwork, I usually get a small cold during most taper periods.

Hope you feel better and have a great race this weekend! Have fun!

Bolder said...

good luck!

on the bright side, sudafed is/was (?) a banned substance... PR!!

(i've both scuba dived, and descended in a plane under the effects of sudafed/cold -- not nice, i repeat for emphasis, NOT NICE!)

JeffM said...

Good luck on the run. I flew with a head cold once- how cow pain on takeoff and landing.

Ellie Hamilton said...

Oh, yeah, the pre-marathon illness. I think we all get it. And it scares us 'cause we're afraid it'll ruin our event and then we race like the course is on fire. You'll do great!

Kate said...

Oops- too late, but good luck! (and take care...!!!)

Mike said...

Rachel- Hope you are feeling better and ready to rock the race- good luck!

Herbert said...

Sounds indeed like you won and not the cold. I guess the cold was more so a nuisance.