Cold Weather Blues

Yet again I have fallen victim to the woes of cold weather. I, my friends, was the innocent victim to that evil known as THE COMMON COLD (feel free to insert dramatic DUN DUN DUN sounds here). I made it to the gym on Monday, as promised, but was still feeling pretty weak and a little shaky/dizzy, so I kept my work-out to a minimum. I ran a mile on the treadmill at 10:20 pace (nice and slow), then did a hodge podge of lunges, squats, medicine ball ab-work, yoga, pilates, and upper body weights that amounted to all of 25-30 minutes of strength training. I then spent 15 uncomfortable minutes on the Steam Room, thanks to the hairy Italian man in a Speedo just feet away from me, sweating and oggling. ::shudders::

Regardless, Tuesday I took the day off, somewhat unintentionally, as someone reminded me last-minute that I was supposed to make an appearance at a Team in Training celebration happy hour event. Wednesday morning I woke up at 5:00AM and couldn't go back to sleep, finally resigning myself to tossing and turning for another few hours. By this point, my head felt like it was stuffed full of cotton, my nose was suspiciously pre-Cold stuffy, and my whole body was tender to the touch. The minimal work-out from Monday was not helping, as Fibro helped what should have been barely noticeable soreness into full-fledged agony.

Rather than give in to the desire for self-pity and something to knock me out for the rest of the cold's duration, I went with my boyfriend to help at the homeless shelter where he volunteers twice a week. Trying not to breathe on anyone and washing my hands almost obsessively, I was glad for the couple of hours of distraction that making and passing out lunches brought. I may have felt like death warmed over, but many people still have it worse.

I'm still feeling pretty beat-up physically and the slightest exertion makes me feel weak, light-headed, and likely to keel over, I'm sniffling, coughing and otherwise the typical portrait of a cold victim. A snowstorm is moving in today, though, and they're calling for 12-26 inches in the next 24 hours. A few of us are holed up together (3 of the 5 of us started our day with Alka Seltzer for our colds) to enjoy the fluffy white, good company, a warm fire, and plenty of libations. If you're up in this neck of the woods, stay warm!