Monday, December 29, 2014

Vacation, the Flu and Exercise

As I shared the other day, I started my Christmas vacation very enthusiastic about the prospect of running throughout it. After all, I was headed to sunny Florida! Why wouldn't I want to run in warm weather on the beach?!

Then, the flu decided it needed to take out my family over the holidays. First, my mom got sick. That meant missing virtually all of our family Christmas festivities. However, her fever broke before we headed down to Florida, so she still came along. Next, my sister got sick. She, unfortunately, was at the peak of flu horribleness when we left, so she stayed home. I woke up the morning we got to Florida with those beginning twinges of a sore throat and cough. Through some fanatical tea drinking and 12-hour nights of sleep, though, I was able to get through things with a bit more comfort than my mother or sister!

Sister (left)
Shirt: C9 [similar]
Pants: C9 [similar]
Shoes: Nike [similar]

Me (right)
Long Sleeve Half Zip: Nike [similar]
T-shirt: Gap Fit [exact]
Pants: Yogasmoga [exact]
Shoes: Newton Running [exact]

So, we did manage to get in one run before the flu struck. Christmas Eve Eve (two days before Christmas) was unseasonably warm in Indianapolis, so we took advantage of that and went for a run while listening to some One Direction (we're both fans and pretty unashamed about that). A few days later, though, my sister was down for the count and had to opt out of our family trip to Florida. My bout with the flu, though, fortunately held off until I was safely ensconced in 75-degree weather.

Sports bra: Lululemon [similar]
Shorts: Lululemon [similar]
Shoes: Newton Running [exact]
Sunglasses: Oakley [exact]

It was KILLING me not to go running in the amazing weather we have been having here in Florida! I've always been told that you shouldn't run if you have both body symptoms and head symptoms (e.g., muscle aches and pains combined with sinus congestion), so I waited until the body symptoms subsided to get my run on. I probably wasn't quite at the point where I should've been running yet, but I took it super easy (walk-running) and relaxed for quite awhile afterwards. Also, I'm not typically the running-with-no-shirt-on type, but I figured it was warm and everyone else on the beach was in bikinis, so why not?