Any deeper blue and you'll be playing in your grave

I spent half of Sunday night coughing. There was this little bit of dust that had lodged itself in my throat that I was paradoxically trying to eject forcefully, yet very quietly as not to wake J. It didn't work. I had to get up and drink some water.

Despite my coughing fit, I wanted to test my health by running my completely normal, not at all stupid 10 km to work. I was going to take it ”easy”. A half moon was low behind the trees and the quietness of 6 o'clock enveloped me. My pulse shot up to 180 immediately. It usually does in the beginning of a run, only to settle to 150-155 later on. This time, it stayed at 180 for quite a while, but it did go down later. Breathing through my Lungplus was like a massage on my throat. The air felt warm and humid, and my throat was happy. My mp3 was playing some sad songs that were clashing with my high spirits. I was overjoyed that I was running, overjoyed that my mp3 player worked, overjoyed that the ice was almost gone.

I got at work less than an hour later, having taken it slightly less ”easy” than I'd planned. A hot shower later I was sipping on hot tea. My throat had apparently started swelling up and had reached the proportions of a ping-pong ball. During the day it grew and grew until I had to get past a beach ball in order to swallow.

Some terrible planning meant that I had left my bus card at home and had no other way of getting there except by walking. By then, big, heavy snowflakes had started descending from the sky, turning everything white again. I hadn't brought any warm clothes with me to work, no warm jacket as I wanted to run home as well, so I soldiered on in the cold headwind. I got home feeling feverish, and slowly started thawing.

This morning the only reminder of my ill health is a splitting headache. My throat is almost back to its usual dimensions. I got off easy this time. But I could have paid dearly for my eagerness to get back to running. Don't make rookie mistakes like I did, folks. Nothing is worth risking your health. Not even running.