Running while sick ... just avoid it.

It's a bit strange that I started this blog on a Friday and then the following day I woke up with a temperature of 101 degrees. I was supposed to get up and run a 5K that day. I was hoping to use that as a test of my endurance following a half marathon in mid-March. It would've made a good second post on my thoughts of a 5K vs. a half marathon. Instead, it was my first race I've signed up for and missed. It had to happen sooner or later though.

That leads me to thinking about what runners should do when they get sick. For me, three days later, I'm still feeling sluggish and don't feel like pushing anything. That's what you're supposed to do, right? "Take it easy" is what everyone says. But I feel this bond to hitting the pavement several times a week and it drives me crazy to "take it easy." But you can easily do more damage to yourself when you run when you shouldn't is pretty much the standard. It's best to let your body fight the fever and whatever else is going on. Some people will disagree, but the few times I have gotten sick in the past few years, I usually feel a lot better running a week or so later than I did the week up until getting sick. Earlier this winter I had a bad cold for a couple of days, took a few days off and then a week later I was running the strongest I had ever ran. Running is just funning that way.

For more reading on running while sick, click here for a story on Runner's World's Web site.