I’ve had a terrible cold for the past six days. I’ve had a fever, stuffed sinuses, running nose, and a cough for a week. It’s finally getting better, but it’s been a miserable holiday break from a health standpoint. My largest disappointment: I’ve been unable to run.

With all the progress I’ve been making toward my distance and run times, I feel emotionally wrecked. I enjoy my running, and I was really enjoying seeing the times come down, the pace come up, and the running getting easier. Now, a lot of that is getting erased due to some stupid illness.

I’m hoping to be back at running on Tuesday morning. I’ve been very patient with not pushing myself to run before my body is over this cold because the last thing I want to do is prolong it or make it worse. I need to let my body use all its strength to fight off this bug.

So, here I sit, with muscles that are screaming to me, “Let’s get out there!” It’s so hard to ignore, but I need to be smart about this.

I will get back out there, and I will run. I will hit my distances, and I will work back to my best pace and crush past it. I just can’t do it right now. And I hate it.