The Hardest Work of All... REST.

A few weeks ago, on the morning of the semi-finals of the Boston competition, I woke up with a horrible, itchy rash all over me from the neck down to the mid-thigh.  Here's a small sample of what it looked like.

Fortunately, many amateur pianists are also doctors.  They thought it looked like contact dermatitis, and I *had* been using a different soap for the past three days, so it seemed logical that that was all it was.  However, there was also this problem, which looked like something completely unrelated:

Long story short:  I was given prescriptions for prednisone and Augmentin.  I figured in a few days, I'd be fine.

Well, now it's over two weeks later.  The rash has faded quite a lot but is still there, and still itchy (although the itchiness might be a little better each day.)  The things that looked like infected bites on my arm are also faded somewhat, but still there.  

One possibility is that I contracted some virus that caused my rash.  However, throughout all of this, I have felt fine... until this past Friday.  I woke up not feeling right, like I was fighting a bug.  I couldn't really put my finger on it, and I wondered if maybe it was just anxiety, worrying about why my rash wouldn't go away.  I didn't run that morning.  I just walked instead.  Saturday, I felt better.  I did a shorter run of only 4 miles.  Then by Sunday afternoon I was not feeling well again, and this time I had some stuffiness/runniness in the left side of my nose.

I woke up at 3 AM today with a stuffy/runny nose and a headache, and now here I sit at the computer.

What's the first thing I think of?  My exercise.  I've been doing really well this spring and summer, getting back into shape.  I've got a SparkPeople "streak" going.  I don't want to break my streak.  I'm doing the local fitness challenge and I don't want to see my mileage stand still.  I've got a 5K this Saturday (the 6th race in a 7-race series), and I want to continue to work toward my goal of running every race in the series as hard as I can.

The logical part of my brain tells me, "Girl.  Stay home from work today and rest.  Call the doctor.  Go in and get some tests done so they can figure out what's going on."

The goal-driven part of my brain tells me, "It's still probably something totally non-serious that they can't do anything about, anyway.  You probably just caught a cold on top of whatever you have.  You'll be fine.  Go for an easy run.  You always feel better when you run.  You have obligations at work today and for your volunteer gigs tomorrow.  You've bothered your doctor enough.  Don't be such a wimp.  You are Wonder Woman!"

I know what I need to do, but I'm finding it really hard to do it.  I'm sure I'll get support from the SparkPeople community in the comment section, and that will help.  My guess is my mother will be one of the first to chime in!