7 days of no running 

Last Sunday I ran the Philadelphia marathon. 

Monday I was extremely sore and I woke up with a very sore throat. I kept telling people that this was the worst pain I have ever been in and that I could barely walk across the building at work or up and down the stairs in my house. 

Tuesday the soreness started to subside but the sore throat was worse and I felt like I had a fever. The bridge run I had done in early November gave me samples or emergen-c in my race bag. The marathon gave me samples of cold eeze in my race bag. By Tuesday afternoon these were gone and I found myself in a local drug store on my way home from work buying more. I went to bed really early. I felt too sick to function. 

Wednesday I forgot I had run a marathon, well my legs did anyway. If I wasn’t sick I would have ran on Wednesday. My body felt fully recovered. I was really congested and my throat hurt pretty bad but I didn’t feel like I had a fever anymore. After work I went for a walk around town. I stopped at the local coffee shop on my way back home and even though they were trying to close early they let me in. Drinking coffee when I’m sick never makes me feel better but I missed coffee. When I got home I worked on stuff for grad school and went to bed. 

Thursday morning (Thanksgiving) I woke up feeling almost 100% healthy. We hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year and I was thrilled I was feeling better because hosting Thanksgiving sick would have been miserable. Later that night I went out with my sister-in-laws for Black Friday. I had a lot of fun and got some great deals but I didn’t get much rest. 

Friday I woke up feeling really sick again. My glands felt inflamed and my throat was on fire. I slept on the couch for the rest of the day. 

Saturday I went to yoga. I was that gross person who was sniffling and coughing the whole time. You know, the person no one wants to be next to. As the day went on I started to feel worse and worse. I slept for a while in the afternoon and then Phil and I went to our town’s annual Christmas parade. We go every year and neither of us wanted to miss it. Sadly, I couldn’t enjoy this parade because I felt absolutely horrible. I went home and went right to bed. 

Sunday I woke up feeling a little bit better but I decided to sleep for most of the day to be sure. It seems like that one night of not sleeping much set me back. 

Currently, I still feel pretty congested but I am beginning to feel much better. I have read a lot of articles that said it is common to get sick after a marathon. A lot of friends and acquaintances have also confirmed that they too have gotten sick after running a marathon. 

The good news is, I can’t wait to run again even if I’m not training for anything! I have already forgotten the pain I felt last Monday and I’ve decided getting sick was totally worth the marathon experience. As the days pass I want to run another marathon more and more 😁