I feel as fit as a fiddle, I'm on top of my game........

Aaaaaaaaaa-CHOO!!

Famous last words I'm living to regret boasting about to my friends now. It's been a while but since my summer races I've felt stronger and fitter and the race distances I've recently participated in I've achieved faster and recorded PB times, treated myself to new Newton motion trainers for my winter training and with one more race for the year, that I've run on before and know the course well.... I've set myself a race finishing target. Surely this must be a course PB for myself too?

What can go wrong?

Then work colleagues start dragging themselves into work coughing and sniffing. After their  third sneeze, croaky voice and pronunciation of words reminds me of the 1980's Tunes TV advert my sympathy level (or selfishness level) reaches as far as "Why don't you go home early"…. *Thinking, now!* ....... These brave soldiers then sit and pollute the office, which causes me a level of concern as I sit and look at my wall calendar working out how many days I have to remain free from illness.

As a precaution up my fluid intake, eat some more fruit and take a stronger dose of vitamin C in an attempt to maintain good health. I have one more scheduled run for tomorrow just to keep my legs ticking over. Well that night I'm finding myself sniffing more and more and as for waking in the morning I can feel my chest tightening (As an asthmatic this is a sensitive area anyway) So I plod around my house cursing my work colleagues and then debating.... the runners rule. If it hurts neck up I "run" if its neck down "Don't run".... Aaaah or is it the other way around? Do I still head out and do my scheduled hour long run and risk tipping my immune system into meltdown for the cold/flu virus to win this battle? Or do I cancel this run in an attempt to save my energy?

Very reluctantly I chose not to run and will now class this as a taper. Pffft a taper to run a file mile race on a flat course in Middlesex all due to illness good grief!. By the time Sunday arrives I wont have run for seven days which was so not part of my race preparation. That'll teach me shouldn't have been so smug that I was immune to illness just because things were looking good on the running front. Probably a reminder that and more so for the  older runners. To start respecting our bodies whether it's illness or injury.W hen the body says no. It really means it. The body is a remarkable at self-healing if  given the chance but through habit of running how many of us give our body the chance to heal? Or just through “habit” make the situation were in twice as bad ourselves?