It was a glorious morning for running: blue skies; merely a breath of wind; and just cold enough to not feel overly warm in moderate thermal attire. I woke, still full of cold, but feeling up for an easy paced fairly long run.
Not feeling the best, I planned to head to the Grantham Canal, a welcome strip of flat running with no cars in an area that is more hilly than its Lincolnshire status suggests. The first of two hills on the run showed I made the right decision, less than a mile into the run but legs feeling like jelly.
Happily during the run that was about as tough as it got – the legs loosened off as they do often do after a mile or two, and once at the canal around five miles in I turned up the mp3 player and settled into knocking out the miles in what I’d planned to be a fourteen mile run.
A few choice tunes later and I was nearly home. The first sign of potential trouble ahead was when I stopped at one of Grantham’s interminable set of traffic lights and the coughing fit commenced. I made it home – doing one of those slightly ridiculous 0.08 mile out and back loops to bring the total distance ran to 14.01 miles – and managed a brief post run stretch before the coughing fit began again and I staggered wearily to the sofa.
Alas that was where I was to spend much of the rest of the day. Head pounding, shivering and then hot sweats, nose blocked, insanely tired – the cold was back and hitting hard. Hopefully a good night’s sleep will see me fit to run tomorrow morning.
Distance ran: 14.01. Time: 1:43:09. Pace: 07:21.