Sick Day

I was all set for my morning run when the unthinkable happened. I was suddenly struck down with a stomach bug. And even then, for a brief moment, I was contemplating giving a run a try anyway. Perhaps I could sweat it out, perhaps I could just be in denial that I am sick and think away feeling bad. But as I was putting on my shoes I came to the conclusion that the pain in my tummy was indeed here to stay at least for awhile and I had to put on my jammies and crawl back in bed. I'm still setting my alarm for a nice early time in the am, hoping that I will be miraculously cured by then.
An interesting thing happened yesterday, after I finished writing about how following a training plan closely is important I got a message from a friend of mine. He had injured his calf muscle on a run 5 mile run. What makes the injury significant is that his training program called for a 4 mile run, and the injury happened at mile 4.5. He simply misread how far he was supposed to run. He's training for a half Marathon in November, and is worried that being sidelined from injury will cause him not to be able to complete the training and he'll miss his race. He's been running for awhile, (this is his second attempt at a half marathon)and is using the same Higdon Novice program I used to train for the half. It's a good example of what can happen when the body gets pushed just a litle farther than it's ready for. I hope for him that his injury heals soon and he's still able to run his race. For me it's a good reminder that even though I've been running off and on for a few years, and consistenly for the past year, that I'm still at novice level because I have yet to complete a half or a full marathon. Which is why I'm steering clear of speedwork, and just sticking to completing my base miles each week.