I Must Be Stupid

How else to explain what I just did over the past five days. Ironically enough, I did not run. Not even a half mile. Last Wednesday I ran a 4 miler despite the feeling that my "cold" had moved into my chest. Following the rule of thumb that I've read over and over again that if your illness is from the neck up - run. Below the neck? Don't run. Well, a sore throat would not keep me from running.

I had planned another 4-miler on the morning of Feb. 14 but woke up to a hoarse voice and chest congestion. Follow the simple rule. I would not run until the chest thing had passed. Unfortunately for me I had to referee two games Thursday night and then agreed to work two games in a U18 Tier I tournament on Friday night. With an afternoon Bantam game scheduled for Saturday afternoon and an evening high school game for Saturday night, my weekend would not provide me with the proper rest I felt I was going to need. Despite this fact, I agreed to go back for three Tier I games on Sunday morning in New Kensington (little over an hour away) knowing I had to work a charity game back home Sunday night.

With my "chest cold" looking like it was heading in the right direction on Saturday night, despite my stupidity, I had a re-occurence on Sunday. Even though my better judgment cried out to not take a game on Monday I agreed to go to Harmarville Monday morning for a 7:00 a.m. Tier I game (1 hour, 15 minute drive). That meant getting up at 4:30 a.m. Monday morning. Getting through it I came home, changed clothes and took the wife to Altoona for some shopping and a "make up" lunch for basically missing Valentine's Day and not being at home all weekend.

Arriving back home yesterday afternoon, I snuck in an hour nap and then headed back down to the War Memorial for a varsity game. My six-day episode ends with a late game tonight and hopefully some needed rest. Although I am not hacking that badly, I still have chest congestion. My patience is thin, but I can't help but think that I've done this to myself and I simply must wait until I am feeling well enough to run again.

I take solace in the fact that I had an 11-day break during training for Philadelphia with plantar fasciitis. In a weird way I think that helped me. And with all of the skating I'm doing, I'm not losing much in terms of my anaerobic level.

Although this stupid idiot needs some rest and recovery. Big time!