Mom is Always Right

This week is full of obstacles to my training plan: a) I am feeling a little sick, b) I am working 9-5 Today, Tuesday and Wednesday, c) Mark is working the rest of the week, d) after spending three full days away from my baby, the last thing I will want to do is leave to go to the gym or out for a run.

When we woke up Saturday morning to go Gunstock I had a little pinch in the back of my throat. Just a little one (that's what I told myself). I took a couple vitamin C tablets and sprayed the back of my throat with Zycam. I was going to spend the day Snowshoeing; I'd sweat out the cold. It may have worked a little since it hasn't quite turned into a full-blown cold; but the sniffling and a sore throat was enough to have me drinking tea and blowing my nose all day Sunday, and feeling a little fatigued today.

I hate being sick, because it means I have to slow down, and I'm not good at slowing down--ask anyone in my family. On rare occasions I get sick enough that I am forced to slow down--like the time I got the flu five years ago after spending the day snowshoeing--I was laid out on the couch for four days. But this is one of the colds where I don't feel that bad (even after a day of snowshoeing), which makes me want to do as much as when I am healthy. As was the case yesterday, I attempt to get it all done: unpack from the weekend, do the laundry, make dinner, clean up the house and get ready for work today. Mark kept telling me to stop, sit down and relax for a bit. "How can I relax when I know there is laundry that needs doing and dishes that need washing?" I responded.

I'm feeling the same urge today: I am at work, substitute teaching, thinking about the fact that today is "speed work" day and wondering if it is wise to go home feed Sophia, make dinner and then go to the gym, or feed Sophia, make dinner and do a workout at home, or feed Sophia, make dinner and sit on the couch with a book and a cup of tea. I feel compelled to go to the gym: my first race is in 11 days, I can't afford a day off, especially with all the other obstacles to my training plan this week. But then I can hear my Mom's voice saying "Sarah, you can't do it all. You need to rest or your cold will get worse." It is the same tone she used when I was 17 and she told me I couldn't go out and play basketball because I had just had my wisdom teeth out. I was still loopy from the laughing gas when I snuck out of the house and started walking down the driveway to our hoop set up in the cul-de-sac. She came running after me to bring me back into the house, where she told me firmly to stay on the couch "or else".

The thing is, she is right. My mom has always been right. I should rest. I should stay home and drink a cup of tea and read a book. But...