*sneeze*

I've been sick since Thursday. It's nothing serious, just a rather vile head cold and cough. Usually I tend to try to muscle through this kind of stuff, but I've gotten wise in my old age -- or experience has finally taught my stubborn self a lesson it should have learned a long time ago: it almost never works to muscle through it. Instead, I just get really sick and end up with pneumonia or the like. Always fun. NOT.

There's also the marathon looming before me. I am apparently really dedicated to doing this thing, because this was a huge factor in how I decided to treat myself. Do I want to A) be smart about this and take a few days off now and get better, or B) be stupid and end up having to take a month off later, which would throw a huge wrench in the training plan, if not knock me out of the marathon completely? Hmm. Gosh, whatever should I do...

I chose A and have been babying myself accordingly. Four days later and lots of rest, fluids, and chicken noodle soup, I think tomorrow I might be OK enough to attempt a very light run. Or not. Maybe I'll just take the dog for a walk. That's all right too. I'm resolved not to push too hard or too fast. The wisdom of 37...Man! Imagine how smart I'll be when I'm 57! The mind boggles.

As a sort of sidenote, it's amazing how fast the house falls apart when I'm out of commission. Clearly, I must be feeling better since today I'm feeling the urge to do something about the mess and clutter, but oh my. It's like the place imploded.

It must be said that a lot of the mess belongs to a certain set of almost-9-year-old twins. They're definitely old enough to be cleaning up after themselves, so accordingly, they'll be doing some cleaning when they get home from school today. They'll be so happy. I can just imagine their reactions: Oh joy! Oh bliss! May we clean more, dear Mother? Please? Oh, please?

Ha ha. Yeah, dream on. The reality will be a fair amount of whining and complaining, and I shall turn into my mother: It's good for you, girls. Someday you'll both thank me for making you clean up after yourselves. Personal responsibility! Etc.

I can hardly wait.


Current conditions: Wind 17 mph, gusting to 25 mph.