Life is unpredictable

Things should have gone very differently this week.  I should have gotten in few shorter runs, a couple low intensity bike rides, and maybe even a swim.  I should have been staying just active enough while still keeping my legs fairly rested.  I should have been preloading carbs and calories and hydrating well throughout the week.

Because today, I should be halfway to Portland on my bike.  But instead, I've been spending lots of quality cuddle time with this lady:

Such a good cuddle buddy.

We've had 4 straight days to experiment with how many ways an 80 lb dog and a full grown human can share a small couch.

"The Chin Rest"

"The Exasperated Body Flop"

"The Full Relaxation"

Others not picture here include "The Pillow," "The Foot Rest," and "The Head Flop Off the Couch."

So why have Lucy and I had so much time to explore the many variations of the couch cuddle?  Because this week life said no.  No running.  No biking.  No swimming.  Very little walking even (anyone want to come give this poor housebound pup a long walk??).  

This is not to say that I've given up sweating.  I've alternated many times between full body chills and sheet-soaking sweats.  Wednesday night, in fact, I had to get up in the middle of the night and get a towel to put between me and my soaked sheets to absorb more sweat (pleasant, I know).  And then in the morning, I woke up with chills.

My lungs have also continued to get a workout.  In fact, they're actually sore from all the work they been doing trying to cough themselves up through my mouth (again with the pleasantries).  My head also must be working hard because it has been pounding for about 4 days straight.  

It seems as though the only things that have been getting rest this week are my legs.  And my arms too I guess, but they don't do much most of the time anyways.  They're pretty weak and flimsy.  Oh, and also my tummy.  It hasn't had to digest much besides a limited amount of soup and popsicles for 4 days.  Your welcome, tummy.

Normally, any other week, this sort of setback for me would be disappointing, but not heartbreaking.  But this week, this week this illness is heartbreaking.  Because right now I should be halfway to Portland on my bike doing the Group Health Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic.  But instead, I'm cuddling with Lucy and writing about being sick.  I am not going to sleep on the floor of a small church in Chehalis tonight and then ride another 100 miles in the morning.  No, I am going to sleep in my comfy bed and probably sweat through my sheets.  Again.

I haven't been this sick, or sick for this long, anywhere in my clear memories.  I don't get sick often.  And when I do, I power through it like Wonder Woman with my first-grader tested immune system of steel.  I am constantly around sick children, and over the years, I think I've developed immunity to almost every kind of illness.  So of course, when I get the sickest I can remember being in a very long time, it's over the summer when I'm only seeing kids 2.5 hours a day twice a week.

It started on Monday with a slight throat soreness.  I tried to ignore this and went to bed early.  Tuesday, I went to school, taught my reading groups (I hope I didn't infect any of them!), and ran with our teacher running club after.  My lungs felt funny and my throat was still sore, so again I went home and tried to rest.  Erica had asked me to go for a bike ride with her Tuesday night, and we had this optimistic conversation:

Oh how little we knew...

Wednesday morning I woke up feeling worse.  I put a plea out on facebook for a free slurpee delivery (if you didn't know that 7-11 gives out free slurpees on 7/11, you lost out), and awesome friend Cristin brought one over for me.  And then that was all I ate until about 5:00 that day when I had a banana and an orange.  Another awesome friend Ryan brought me soup and popsicles around 7:00 and I managed a bowl of soup and a Popsicle or two.  My tummy wasn't hurting, I just had absolutely no appetite.

Then Wednesday night I sweat through my sheets.  Thursday was pretty similar and so was Thursday night.  So when a I woke up Friday morning looking at the prospect of packing my bags for STP, picking up my race packet, and prepping my bike, I didn't know what to do.  I wanted to ride STP and have been training for it for quite a while, but I knew my body was not going to handle it.  So I called my wise friend MacKenzie who did exactly what I needed her to--she told me not to go.  And with a little coaxing and resistence, Erica (who had been suffering the same ailments as me all week) came to the same decision as well.  Is it selfish to say that I'm glad I have a friend sharing my misery?  At least we're in it together??  I'm sure Erica feels the same way...

And so, with dreams of STP gone, I've had another wonderful day of watching endless episodes of 30 Rock (I started with episode 1, and am now on Season 5) and cuddling with Lucy.  Instead of celebrating the completion of the first hundred miles, I'm celebrating not having a headache.  Instead of carb loading for another hundred miles, I'm going to load up on more soup.  And instead of giving you an STP recap post, you're getting a sick week recap.  Be excited.

I could try to read some "reason" into why I got sick this week.  Invent some sort of story about how I wasn't meant to do STP or how by not doing STP fate helped me avoid a tragic injury.  But really, life is just unpredictable.  Sometimes good things happen and sometimes bad things happen.  It's kind of the way life goes.  As prepared as you think you may be, life can always draw an extra corner, turn, or dead end into the maze.  And that's ok.  Because it keeps things interesting.  And usually, second chances happen.  STP will be here next year.  And even the year after.  Maybe I'll even train a little better.  No matter what, life will go on and the world will not end because I couldn't do STP.

And now, in an Advil-induced state of temporary health, I'm going to attempt to take this cuddle buddy for a walk.

Try to ignore the pretty foot.