I would like to pretend I am.  I go nonstop.  I teach classes, I go to work, I go for a run, I shower, and do it again and again and again.  Part of the reason for that is that one of my deepest fears related to working out is that if I skip a few days, that I will start to hate working out, and I will just sit on the couch all day and drink cokes and forget all about taking care of myself.  I know that’s not reasonable, or rational, but I just think about how I was in college (watching America’s Next Top Model Marathons for days on end while drinking a huge coke), and my blood runs cold.

“I’m young,” I tell myself, “I can slow down when my body won’t let me do this anymore!”  But this sort of thinking can lead to overtraining, injuries, lengthier recovery times, and general malaise.  But not to me, right, because I’m superwoman?  (Not so).

All of last week was absolutely brutal, as far as the weather was concerned.  Morning temperatures were regularly below freezing, and in the span of about a week, good old North Carolina got not one, but two big(ish) weather events.  I was also nursing a lingering cold throughout the week that wasn’t quite enough to actually be classified as sickness, but enough for me to pop a few daytime cold medications containing guaifenesin and pseudoephedrine.  Relieved my congestion, but didn’t do a whole lot for that general, energy-sucked feeling I had.  (Also, for you fitness folks, those colds meds dehydrate you, so be careful when you’re taking those).

But the show must go on!  I ran, I taught Zumba, and did my thing for the week.  Finally, on Saturday, it caught up with me.  I ate a teeny bit of something before I went to teach Zumba (probably not quite enough), and went down the the gym.  Throughout class, I just kept getting hotter and hotter.  I rolled my pant legs up, and removed a layer from the top.  Still sweating like a  pig.  Hm. Oh well!  Continued dancing.  The second to last song starts, and all of a sudden, it hit me.  I’m going to faint in front of this entire class.  And my nose may bleed when I hit my head in front of the entire class.  And planes will crash, and the electronic grid will shut down, and Beyonce will lip synch at the Superbowl.  I’m making this a tad more dramatic than it is, but if you know me, that’s not completely shocking.  But my thought is, “I’m going to fall in front of the class, and we can’t let that happen.”  So I eased myself to the ground, and THEN passed out.  Luckily, there was a doctor in the class, who sent someone for some gum and some Gatorade, checked my pulse, and sat with me until I was able to shake off the deep-seated embarrassment I was now feeling.

As a somewhat hysterical side note, it was close to the end of class, and when I regained my senses, I was still wearing the mic I wear to teach class.  So I turned my head, which was now resting comfortably on the floor, and announced to the class, “I’m sorry!  I’ve had a cold this week and I’m a little dehydrated!  But I will see you ladies same time next week!” ::insert 40 pairs of horrified/terrified eyes staring back on me here.

So the moral of the story is: chill out!  And I’m the first one who could benefit from that advice.  Yoga Kerri advised me, saying that you’re allowed to miss a long run and not have it mess up your entire marathon/life.  I’m not quite there yet, but I’m getting there, especially after that scary little blip on the radar.  I’ve been afforded the energy where generally, I can just go and go and go, but Saturday reminded me, that I’m a human, and that rest, especially on an off week where you’re sick and not feeling great, is not against the law.