Running Streak Day 41 - Allergic Reaction and Still Ran?

Hubby and I took the toddler and went out for an early dinner during "family hour" at a restaurant.  Right before we left, I started to feel sniffly.  By the time we pulled away from the restaurant, I was grabbing for anything resembling a kleenex or napkin in the car.  My face felt swelled and my sinuses were overly full with congestion and I was sneezing uncontrollably and loud.  We made it the 10 minute car ride home and I popped a Claritin and blew my nose for the next 10 minutes.  My face HURT.  I must have had some sort of allergic reaction to something airborne.  I have very mild seasonal allergies and I'm allergic to cats, but I don't know what happened!  I lay in the bed recovering and fell asleep.  Hubby was very kind to wake me up about 7 pm to see if I wanted to stay sleeping or keep the running streak alive.

I decided I was finally 75% recovered and should therefore not excuse myself the chance to get active and got ready and walked out the door.  And then walked back in the door.  33 degrees out, windchill of 25, North wind of 15-20 mph.  Brrr. I added a few layers and left the house.

My 1 mile recovery run turned into "I'll run and not look at my Garmin, I'll go a fair little distance from the house, and when I hear the 1 mile BEEP, I'll turn back home."  I thought that way I'd run a little over a mile.  At 1 mile, I looked at the Garmin and it said 10:16.  Well, yowza, that's a little faster than my 5K PR pace right there.  I wasn't dying, so wondered if I should change the night's goal and shoot for 3 miles. :-) I tried to continue the pace but checked after half a mile and I had done a 10:33 pace the last half-mile, so I had fallen off PR pace.  And I noticed I was feeling kinda tired.  So I walked for 1 minute, and then did another half-mile at 10:16 pace.

So my "1 mile recovery run" a day after my fourth half marathon of 2010 became a 2 mile minor speedwork run - oops.

While the allergic reaction was awful, ultimately I was glad I walked out the door!  Happy Running to All!