These are the questions that I found myself facing Saturday and Sunday. After two days of having a sore throat I attributed to my overzealous use of a space heater, I found myself, on Saturday, a tad hung over and all the way miserable. I could barely keep my eyes open, my throat was in tremendous pain, and after weeks of wearing three pairs of socks and multiple pairs of pants just to sit around the house, I dusted off my summertime pajama shorts and was rockin’ those.

The day progressed and I just got worse. Noises seemed louder, my head hurt. How was I going to do the race the following morning?

After getting a few things ready for Mark, I, still without a firm decision as to what I was going to do the following day, was in bed before 7:30 p.m.. I slept like a rock, lemme tell ya. I had dreams of sleep, for crying out loud, but by 4 a.m., Mark was up and raring to go. I thought about the new race medal rack I just bought and little else, drank a few sips of the coffee my husband had prepared for me and found the clothes that I hadn’t set out the night before.

I warned everyone I came in contact with about my ailment, gave air hugs, and then started the race with only my nap afterward in mind. During the first mile I could feel sweat all over my face, whereas usually I sweat first elsewhere, and definitely not until after the first mile. It was fever sweats, and it was at that time I knew that I definitely wouldn’t achieve a PR that day. Despite this, I had plans to meet friends at the finish line, so I ran the entire time outside of a bathroom break (which I would usually take reluctantly) and for all the water stops.

At 2:24:49, it was undoubtedly my worst half marathon time by a lot. But, boy did I give it hell.

So, can you run  a half marathon with flu-like symptoms? Apparently, yes. SHOULD you run a marathon with flu-like symptoms? Emphatically NO.

But I sure liked the 2015 Aramco Houston Half bling!

 Featured image by Ryan Hyde on Flickr.