A few months ago I feared that child care arrangements would slow down my training over Christmas, or perhaps the onslaught of eating and drinking activities. Instead, I succumbed to flu. I haven’t felt quite so ill in many years – it must have been man flu. I am not the most sympathetic person when others struggle on with a cold and have a tendancy to believe that unless the illness requires hospitalisation then soldiering on is what must be done (a hang over from school days where to be admitted to one of the five beds in the sanitorium you needed to have the bubonic plague, be vomiting uncontrollably – very messy, or unconscious). Not wanting to be called a hypocrite I gave it my best shot. Finally I had to admit defeat when letting the cat out of the back door needed every modicum of effort my soul possessed, and a 30-second phone call required me to get back into bed to recover from the experience. I coughed so hard I thought my lungs would turn inside out and I lost 2 kilos in weight – it would seem likely that this was mainly due to the contents leaving my nose (the volume might even have been a world record). If this is what I have been missing from British winters, I don’t need to catch up, it’s OK, this experience has let me know how great it is to feel well the rest of the time. In fact I appreciate how well I do usually feel on most days, and I definitely should be using my working body to participate in running and any other active pursuits.
During the flu induced haze I did worry momentarily about the impact to my fitness levels, and had a mild panic at the thought I would need to crawl the half marathon in March given all the sponsorship I have amounted so far (in excess of £500 now) – and I will, if necessary. Hopefully, I am just going to have to use the remaining time wisely to get as fit as is reasonably possible before the race without overdoing it. I still have the remnants of a cough that uses the full capacity of both lungs and sounds as if I have been smoking bonfires for 30 years, so I am going to start it off with walking and sprint in the opposite direction to anyone who looks like they might breathe, sneeze or cough anywhere near me. I might load up a water pistol with hand sanitizer for extra protection.
Emma Moves 