Hardships

Week 10

This week was bad. No this week was terrible. No, it was one of the hardest weeks of my life. It started out ordinary enough. The kids had Spring break so Monday and Tuesday was a little nuts trying to keep and 3 and 5 year old entertained without school and with rain outside. I felt fine, but I knew I was pretty tired after Saturday's 16 mile run. I even fell asleep at my in laws on Sunday after dinner. I was wiped out. I took Monday's 5 mile run off in a hope that I would be able to recover and bounce back Wednesday for 8 miles that day. All hell broke and our son got sick with some sort of stomach flu. I spent Monday night and Tuesday caring for a very sick little boy. Tuesday night came and I noticed as I went to bed that my throat was bothering me. I woke up Wednesday ready to do my 8 miles. I sent one child off to school and the other stayed with my sister in law while I ran. I actually wish I could call it a run, but it was more or less, a sad excuse for a jog. I got to mile 5 feeling like my head was going to explode. It was cold and windy outside and my ears were feeling so much pressure, I decided to call it a day and walk the last mile back. The rest of the day I was in total denial that I was getting sick. I was going to be fine. Just a little allergies. I spent Wednesday night shivering and getting the chills so bad that my teeth were clashing together. I was NOT WELL. On top of it all, Charlotte got sick. She threw up after her nap. I had spent the last 24 hours bleaching our house and I had to start over.
By Thursday I thought I seriously might die. Writing this now, I sort of smile, but in all honesty- I hadn't been that sick since I had a serious infection in 2010. I was feeling like I couldn't come up and out of what was happening to me. I could hardly even move. My whole body ached, right down to the joints in my toes and fingers. My throat was closed off. My ears and head were pounding and pulsing. Over and over. I reached a fever of 104.3. Friday morning I called every ENT within a 25 mile radius that would accept a new patient same day. I found one at Tanner Clinic in Layton and headed up there with both kids, who were now on the mend. The ENT told me everything in my face was infected. Adenoids, tonsils, and sinuses. Pus was draining from the back of my throat and I was so swollen. He told me that this would have put a person not as healthy as me in the hospital and I must have a pretty high pain tolerance. I was given a prescription for an antibiotic and was told I could resume running on Wednesday.
My point to this whole post is not to make you feel sorry for me or by any means make it seem like I am the only who has ever been sick. My point is that during all this, is that I had a wake up call. That I am so lucky. Lucky for my health. The ability to run several miles several times a week, I am lucky to have dear family, friends, and a spouse that bail me out time and time again with watching kids, listening to me complain, and being my support system. I love this quote because without the hardships, how do we learn to prevail and push ourselves to carry out our dreams and desires? When I set out to do a marathon, I did it on a crazy brained idea that I would show the new age of 30 a thing or to. To prove to myself I was capable of doing anything I set my mind to. This was a HUGE setback for me and tomorrow I set out to run like I have been for the last 10 weeks. I am seriously hoping it's like riding a bike. I hope my legs will carry me and my lungs will provide the air needed to get me where I need to go. I am just an ordinary person. I hope this hardship with help me pursue the destiny I desire, a training complete and a marathon accomplished.