A week of blah and future plans..

I always do this to myself, and I always try to remind myself that it's not my fault, but I never believe myself. I go through a phase of feeling really, really good and healthy and I think to myself (or pronounce grandly to my husb) "Man, I haven't been sick in ages and I feel so good!" Shortly after my statement..... cue the scratchy throat and sniffles. Perhaps it's because I was feeling cocky and my body doesn't like that, but realistically I probably skimped on sleep because I was feeling invincible. I had a friend visiting last weekend and was worried that she'd oversleep on Sat morning so I slept like crap Friday night because I was worrying. Strike 1. I had a great run and ride on Saturday, but probably didn't go to bed as early as I should have. Strike 2. Now, its possible to recover from 2 strikes without harm by getting a really good sleep on night 3 and eating really well. Oops. We went to a crap movie at the Tribeca Film Festival on Sunday night, though not too late- 5pm- and then had pierogies for dinner. Oh yeah, thats well balanced. That was the last straw. STRIKE 3- you're out.

There you have it, the road to self-destruction. I started the extra sleep/good eating too late and there was no turning back. I have sneezed over 20 times since beginning this blog post. Ouch.

So here I am, at home on a sunny, beautiful Thursday when I'm supposed to be at the Hilton for my work conference day. I mean, its a "gimmie" day... no kids to see, no notes to write, no parents to email... and I woke up feeling like DEATH. I know, its dramatic, but honestly I felt so awful. Hubby was kind enough to track down some meds for me and some soft tissues. I have been steroid inhaler-less for about 4 days now and the coughing attack + wheezing that I had this morning was scary. My mail- away meds are on the way, but I had the Doc call me in a one time inhaler to cover me until it arrives. Well, now I know what it feels like to go off of my meds... and NO, its not good. Live and Learn.

So I'm done whining and bitching about being sick because I have a race this weekend!!! I know, I am sitting here sipping tea and blowing my nose like crazy right now, but I believe in the power of Mucinex D. It is a miracle drug. :) If I feel this awful on Sunday, I obviously will not race, but I predict improvement. I have a girls weekend planned for Fri night/Sat in Long Island and I think a mani-pedi and a wine tasting will do the trick.

The Riverdale Ramble is on Sunday, about a month earlier than usual. I think they moved it up because of the temperature, but Mother Nature saw it on their website and moved the temps up a few weeks. It looks like it is going to be 78, yikes. I'm really looking forward to this race however, we sort of feel like its "Our Race" because the Inwood Hill Runners run the course often, especially in the winter. Here is an elevation profile from the course:

The race starts and end on the biggest hill I've ever run in NYC. From the bottom of the hill you cannot see the top. At the start you go down the hill, and at the finish you GO UP! I'm sure I'll be hearing Josh's voice in my head a lot on Sunday. USE YOUR ARMS! It really helps.. a ton.

After that... I look ahead to Brooklyn 1/2 Marathon on May 22nd. In the meantime however, I spoke with my ortho doc and we both decided that I need to MAKE time to go see a athlete-specific PT about my knee. He checked it out yesterday and even though I knew what the problem was, I wasn't sure what I needed to do to fix it for good. We agreed that doctors are the worst patients and that if I was going to self- treat, I'd have done it already on my own. Crap. He had me do a single leg squat on the right (good leg) and that was fine, but when I did it on the left my leg wobbled and my knee wavered inward. *forehead smack* How could I let myself get so weak like this?! I was a bit embarrassed, but I sucked up my pride and agreed to an MRI and a PT consult. Even though I am a PT myself, I work on children with disabilities... I don't follow the Ortho research anymore, nor do I remember 1/2 of what I learned in advanced ortho. I'm committed now to fixing this knee once and for all. I expect you to hold me to it. :) Thanks.

Oh wow, enough babbling and sneezing for one day. I hope to have a good race report for you after Sunday's race. Best of luck to everyone racing this weekend, wherever you may be.