It turns out that if you have a cold – like the kind that comes on suddenly, gives you fever, terrible headaches and tremendous pain upon swallowing so bad that you end up shoving a tea towel under your face to catch your drool so you can actually get some sleep – then you should probably not run a half marathon.

Alas, this was not advice I had received before The Nottingham Half Marathon that I ran with my brother.  Of course I am stubborn enough that honestly you probably could not have imparted that wisdom on me anyway.  I had paid my entry fee (not cheap) and I already had the merchandise (t-shirts) and I wanted to be there with my brother.  Google said that so long as I didn’t push it and remained well hydrated – I would probably be fine.  And that is what I did.  I took it easy.  I wasn’t out of breath once.  My legs didn’t hurt at all.  The whole thing was a breeze.  Totally nailed it.  Only my body, surprisingly, didn’t thank me.

The following day my legs hurt.  And the day after.  And the day after.  And the day after that.  Basically the following week my legs still hurt from that half marathon.  To put in perspective, my legs were perfectly fine the day after I ran 20 miles.  20 miles!  Clearly energy was being diverted elsewhere.

In a scientific way, I can appreciate the human body’s prioritisation of tasks.  We’ll repair these damaged muscles later once we’ve contained that damned virus.  I can even be a little bit impressed by it – biology in action so to speak.  Of course that doesn’t make my suffering any easier.  And in the meantime my throat is raw from the persistent cough I have developed.  And my nose is flaky and red from constantly having to blow it.  And my face is probably stuffed full of cotton wool which is the only way to explain this sodden, bunged up feeling and pressure behind my eyes.  And my ears have a permanent ringing noise for background accompaniment.  And who knew one person could generate so much mucus?  And what kind of moron runs a half marathon whilst being sick?

Yep, that would be me.

So in summary I have not run in a while.

And I am a bit worried about the Marathon.

Weeks 14 & 15: Total Run Distance: 0, zero, zip, none at all!