Who Runs a Half Marathon After Being Sick All Week?!

So after a slightly rocky start to marathon training, I was hoping it would be smooth sailing from here on out...but alas, my body had other plans.

Last week I felt the cold coming on....but I refused to slow down.  It was week 1 of marathon training, I already had to take too many days off from being injured...these miles were getting run, and my body just didn't have a say in the matter.   I even managed to pull off a very early morning long run with my group in the heat wave, complete with homemade post-run Gatorade popiscles! (I know, I know...I am a culinary genius)

You know you want one for your next hot run!

 But this week....running was just not an option. In fact, speaking was barely an option since my throat was so sore and my lungs so congested. I finally dragged myself to get treated on Tuesday..and was given some antibiotics, some pain relief for my throat, and some over the counter suggestions as well.

And how many meds does it take to cure a cold?!

Fast forward to today. I'm feeling pretty good, and tried to do a shakeout run.  Ran 4 miles at what-should-have-been-a-very-easy-pace (about 10:20 min/mile on the treadmill) but instead it felt like a tremendous effort.  Not sure if I was mentally psyching myself out, or my body is still recovering...or likely a combination of both.

But alas, tomorrow is the Queens Half Marathon! It's pretty important I get myself across this finish line...not only is this New York City Marathon Qualifier #5 for me, but it's the New York City Half Marathon Qualifier #2 for me. If you recall, the terms for guaranteed entry for the half calls for running 4 out of 5 half marathons in NYRR's five borough half marathon series.  And since I missed the first qualifier for this past January (was still recovering from a previous injury...and had little desire to run a half marathon in 15 degree temps) - it's basically do or die.

The good news is the course is rumored to be pretty flat, the weather will be slightly cooler than last week's ridiculous heat wave, and the time limit is a pretty generous 3 hours, so I have a fairly large cushion.  And I never planned on treating this race as anything else as a supported training run, so I have 0 time expectations, unlike the first qualifying race I did in Brooklyn. But regardless, I'm fairly sure I am in for a slow, hot, lonngg "race" tomorrow.

Have you ever ran a race you weren't feeling 100 percent for? How did you manage to get by?