On Being Sick And Not Being Able To Run

Always felt strong, fast, sleek, unstoppable in my twenties... (yabang, no :), He was probably saying, don't be too proud my son, you'd be a humbler man in your old days) )


And truly, now in my fifties, I am humbled because inspite of all the hardwork and training I've been doing I still am a slow runner.

I am down with the flu, luckily the mild ordinary one, not the strong swine flu that killed so many around the world in the last few months. I remember my last run last Thursday was supposed to be a 10k but after a little more than just 5k into it, I had to stop and return back home because of some breathing difficulty and feeling extraordinaly cold even though I was dressed warm. By the evening I started coughing, felt cold, and took the first of many tylenols. I called in sick and stayed at home, rested the whole day but the fever, coughing continued.

A visit to my family doctor the next morning confirmed what I feared of, the influenza. The doctor gave me strong medication for the flu, cough syrup, a puffer to relieve breathing difficulties and recommended for me to stay away from work till Friday the 13th ( woohoo! free vacation days for once). Except it sucks to be very very ill, 'cause I couldn't do anything else but rest in bed or the couch, and even sitting and facing the computer to read my favorite blogs for a longer period made me dizzy. So, had to use the couch in semi-lying down flat on your back position.

The other thing that I hate about being sick here is nobody takes care of you unless you're seriously sick enough to be in a hospital. Oh, how I miss my late mother, who used to baby me even when I was already an adult whenever I was very sick. She'd prepare me the best food and served me home made soup, sinigang, tinola or tahong with luya and sabaw, while wiping my face and arms with cold wet face towel every now and then. She was like Florence Nitingale personified. When I say nobody takes care of me, I mean nobody like my mother. My wife and daughter just go about their business once food, medicine and my basic needs are within my reach.

But the one thing I miss most is doing my training runs, solitary at least twice in the weekdays and with my running partner Nette on the Sunday long runs. I missed 2 training runs so far. How I wish I get well enough to once again feel the cool breeze, smell the scent of fallen leaves on the ground, and hear the quack quack of migrating geese flying overhead and see the mists created by my heavy breathing as I plod along during these runs. The last few days, I was just feeling like s__t, excuse me for the language, couldn't come up with the appropriate word.

Until this morning. I woke up at around 8 feeling a lot better than the previous days. I slept well enough last night and didn't remember coughing that much. Was strong enough to make my own breakfast and enjoyed a 30 minute slow walk in the park with Yuki on a beautiful, cool, sunny autumn morning. I even had a chance to walk Yuki in the woods where I used to run in the spring and summer, noticed trees bare and fallen leaves covering the pathways. Hmmmnnn... the sweet smell of autumn .

At home, took advantage to visit and catch up with reading my favorite blogs and commenting on some of them. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the stories about their experiences in the PIM , Jovie,the Baldrunner, never thought that he'd ever post a slow time in a marathon, very brave for him to finish despite a calf muscle strain. Sam, the Ninjarunner, who walked the last few ks of the marathon due to cramps, who finished with Jovie, and Ronnie, I mean Super Ronnie for running and finishing all these races despite injuries and many more. And I almost forgot, this young guy, Jayson, aka Kastilyong Lapis, whose story of his first marathon was like watching a movie, who posted a sub 4 hours time despite a bad knee. We Pinoys, never run out of heroes. It was really a very inspiring day and productive of course to read all these feel good stories about Pinoy runners.

It's been more than 3 years, if I remember right when I last had been sick this bad. And running to a great degree contributed to my being healthy and not being sickly all these last few years.

Running in the meantime will have to wait until I am completely well. The weekend is a reasonable bet for me to resume running again. I miss it so much I hope I don't come across any runners while I walk Yuki in the park in 2 minutes. Pray that I recover from this illness soon enough for my 10k race on November 22.