January 25, 2010

It is bad, but it could be worse (just).

I am feeling a bit depressed today. OK, truth be told, I am feeling super down, right at the very bottom of a big, deep, dark, hole.

Why? Because I have not run for a whole 10 days. And because I am ill, which means the 10 days will turn into more. How many more, I just don't want to know, since, see above, I am already at the bottom of my hole.

What happened? Well, it all started well: we got a lot of snow in Annecy. First, it was all good news: we went running in powder snow, we went cross-country skiing, we even ran to watch other cross-country-skiing, with Malo in the Chariot.

Then it all got bad.

The weather got warmer, the snow melted, the weather got colder again, the melted snow turned into ice. Which means that for an entire week it was just not possible to run on the pavement with Malo, because it was so slippery, and not possible either to take him along on our normal off road routes, which had become too bumpy because of the churned icy snow. To make things worse, the poor guy had caught a nasty throat infection. And I may be a dedicated runner, but, for my sins, I am even more of a mother hen, so no running in the cold for us!

I thought things would get better over the weekend. It should have: on Saturday we got a baby-sitter to look after Malo for the morning while we went cross-country skiing (did I mention we're really getting into this cross-country skiing thing?). All started well:
Beautiful day, on one of my favourite spots in Haute Savoie: check.
Not too many people (did I also mention I am anti-social, especially when in the outdoors?): check.
Having fun doing sports with my husband (although, man, do I hate it he is so much faster than me): check.

Problem is, sometimes during the week, I had managed to catch Malo's throat infection. As a result, I was weak, I was slow, I was struggling. I did not even manage to look good on the only photo we took of our outing, although I may just decide this is due to Martin's absence of photographic skills that day: bad for his ego, but so much better for mine.



But the worst was to come. On our way up there, my ears had started feeling really painful, and they got worse on the way back down, resulting in a sleepless night, and a Sunday feeling miserable, and of course not being able to exercise.

To cut a long story short, and as if the above was not enough, this has now worsened into a sinus and tooth infection. Barely walking around in the flat sends horribly painful vibrations on the side of my face, so I don't even want to think about running. Or rather I do think about it (a lot), but that's the only thing I can do.

So here I was until a couple of hours ago, feeling very, very sorry for myself.

Then I went to the post office. This in itself is another very sad story, because I have had to send back my beloved Polar back to the manufacturer (how will I now know how many miles and elevation I do when running? - Oh wait, I cannot run, can I?).

The post office lady was looking bored and obese. Then she started talking, and it became clear she was also a sure candidate for throat cancer because of heavy smoking. Which suddenly made me - me with my bruises, my s*** up ligaments, my throat, sinus and tooth infections - feel suddenly pretty healthy. Oh, and make it lucky, too.

2 comments:

topo said...

Hang in there Mapp, I know it's hard to be patient, but all things in time. Your beautiful, athletic body has taken a world of punishment this past year; give it time to bounce back and it will reward you richly!

Nicole said...

Does not sound like fun. Life will get better for you. I am dealing with the snow too and prefer the TM for hard workouts now. Soon you will be back to your former self. Hang in there.