Bad Luck

Monday, I woke up feeling terrible. My body ached, and I’d sweat through the night, having nightmares and fever dreams. I put in for a sub and got to making sub plans. After lots of sleep, I felt better throughout the day and was ready to return to school Tuesday morning. It was bad timing, because this is the last week before spring break, which meant I was coming back to some behavior challenges after a sub. Also, I had to finish up report card grades, something I couldn’t do at home because my grade book (and a few students I still needed to assess) were at school.

Another reason it was bad timing? I have a half marathon race on Saturday that I’ve been preparing for for months. I’ve been killing all of my workouts and have a lot of optimism going in to the race. Of course I ended up being sick.

Nonetheless, I showed up Tuesday and felt better as the day went on.

Oddly, though, I felt worse on Wednesday. My tummy was gurgling all day, which was strange, because I didn’t have any stomach symptoms when I was sick. I powered through the day, feeling strangely nauseous at times. Perhaps I just hadn’t eaten enough while I was sick.

Wednesday, in the middle of the night, things got much worse. I’ll spare you the details, and just say I went to Hell and back. Who gets two different illnesses in the span of one week? Elementary teachers, I guess. Frustrated, I put in for another sub, spent another hour making sub plans (while feeling my worst), and went back to sleep. I texted my running coach who was sympathetic and assumed I wouldn’t make the race. (A part of me is still trying to go!).

When I woke up again Wednesday around ten, I felt much better. The one good thing about stomach bugs is they pass quickly. I spent the rest of the day keeping my food down and drinking gatorade.

Another silver lining (although I feel guilty saying it) is that I’m sure school was crazy today. There were tornado sirens at drop off, and it was the last day before break. I’m sure the kids were nuts. While my absence could’ve only made than 10 times worse (prayers for the sub), at least I got to sit that one out.

We’ll see if I can make the race on Saturday and race to my capabilities.