The Sniffles Got the Best of Me

I had a feeling it might be coming. Most winters I get the sniffles, but I usually just fight them off. Last year, it turned into a once-in-a-decade-for-me flu (as I don't get *sick* too often). I was just hoping that it wouldn't happen two years in a row.

It all started back last weekend with my training. Last Thursday, I did hard 4x800-ish around the parking lot with the boys. Friday, I went through a tough box drill workout with them. Saturday, I joined Beth for a trainer ride (my butt lasted about 30 minutes, but I spun gingerly for 2 hrs total). Sunday, I ran 10 miles that included a really big hill (my pace was slower than I had hoped, but figured it was just the hill and cold and the hard workouts).

Sunday night we dropped off our car to get worked on Monday and I came back and my nose was running and I was sneezing. Monday we rode in together (since one car was in the shop) and I was fine. Tuesday morning, I felt sluggish but had a solid 30-minute treadmill run (4+ miles), but then my nose started to drip, drip, drip. All day long at school. It got to the point that after about 5-10 minutes of teaching, I could feel the nose preparing to open up like a faucet unless I got a tissue. Throw in a couple of sneezes and it was frustrating. But, I kept telling people all day that it was just my nose and I wasn't sick. After more nose-blowing at practice, I came home and was getting more clogged. Dinner was rough because it was a trade-off between chewing, swallowing, and breathing. Slow going!

Since I was a little tired from the day of congestion, I laid down after dinner to watch a movie we got on Netflix called Sugar. I put it on the list based off of a recommendation by the Pirates beat writer on his Post-Gazette Pirates blog page. The movie is a fiction story of a young pitcher from the Dominican that works his way up to being signed by a club and works up into the minor leagues. About 2/3 of the movie is in Spanish with English subtitles, but that made me enjoy it all the more! The parts I really liked were how the movie captured the struggles of a non-English speaking player dealing with things off the field like going to a restaurant and living with a host family in the middle of Iowa. Great movie for die-hard baseball fans....

...Anyway, as I go to bed I figure it was 60-40 odds of me making it to school the next day. The alarm goes off at 4:45 (had planned on swimming before school) and I feed Roxy and take her for her walk. I notice that my congestion is mostly gone from my nose, but has moved northward to my sinuses and is affecting my balance some. I seriously almost tipped over twice walking Roxy. So, that was the deal-breaker. No school.

I ended up being in bed for probably about 21 of the 24 hours on Wednesday just due to congestion, dizziness, and general tiredness. I think I fell asleep for an hour or so on two separate occasions after getting up around 9am.

Not being home much during the weekdays, I was enlightened by some amazing information on the television throughout the day:

*On ESPN, I found out there's a big football game going on in Miami this weekend
*On CNN, I learned during President Obama's Q&A with the Senate Democrats that if only the Republicans would stop holding up the process on so many things, the government would be able to accomplish so much and get us out of this financial and health insurance mess.
*On FoxNews, I learned that the Democrats are running the country in to the ground.

Then, I fell asleep some more....

*Also on ESPN, I learned that college football signing day is a big deal to some people (just let me know when they step on to the field for Penn State)
*On The Weather Channel, I learned that there's a big snow storm coming up the coast this weekend.

Then, I fell asleep some more....

*On the Big Ten Network last night, I learned that Penn State may not win a conference hoop game this year after falling short against Ohio State. It seemed like PSU was down 5-10 for just about the entire game. Every time the Lions would mount a run, OSU decided to start playing harder again and open their lead back to double-digits. Also, Taylor Battle has zero help. I hope by next year some of these younger guys can help compliment Battle's amazing skill.
*On FSN, I learned that the WVU Mountaineer fans are pretty rotten. They yell lots of nasty chants and threw stuff onto the court. One item (a coin?) actually hit one of Pitt's assistant coaches near his eye. But, the best part was that Pitt still lost.

So, I went to bed Wednesday night thinking the chances were 70-30 of making it to school Thursday since I had rested up and weathered the storm. Alarm went off, fed and walked the dog and felt better (not great). So, I made a go of it and survived school and practice.


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There's apparently a big snow storm coming our way. Depending on how it tracks, the Pittsburgh area could get 2 inches or 12 inches. We shall see. Our track meet this weekend is up in Geneva, Ohio, and they're not supposed to get much snow at all since it's a Nor'easter. It's just a matter of whether or not we can get out of Pittsburgh. From what I've seen Baltimore, Philly, and DC are going to get hit pretty hard again.

Updates and photos this weekend of the greatest indoor track in the history of indoor tracks (allegedly), weather permitting.