Plagued by the plague - or a really, REALLY bad cold.

Yes, I've been sick for the last 7 days now.  Late in the afternoon, after my 5K last Sunday I detected a sore throat.  The next morning I felt pretty lousy, and had a doctor's appointment, where they said my temperature was close to 100.  By Monday evening, it was closer to 103, where it stayed for a couple of days.  I missed a lot of work - and I missed a lot of workouts!  Today I finally felt enough energy to, at least, take a walk.  It was nice to get out in the cool sunshine of fall in Michigan.  I used a new app to record my (very leisurely) walk called iRunner and it was pretty cool.  I think you can glean a lot of information from it, especially if you upgrade to the paid app, and it seems quite easy to use.  It also partners with the program that ACS uses for their training, which will come in handy later.

Since my walk way a leisurely one (3.4 miles in 1:04) I had time to enjoy the scenery a bit more than usual.  Peak color is nearly gone now, but the MetroPark was still really pretty.  Lots of leaves crunching underfoot - at least I'm assuming so... My head and ears are still so blocked that my hearing is really bad right now (for example I can't hear the microwave or the car beeper telling me when I un/lock it).  I saw lots of people out walking, riding and running.  It really was a beautiful day and I was glad to see so many people out taking advantage of it.  I've included a couple of pictures from my walk here.


In addition to the nice scenery, I saw some very interesting bugs along the way.  One may have been a Katydid of some kind.  It didn't look quite right.  I saw a couple of magnificent beetles.  I don't have a clue what they were.  Several abandoned wasp nest were along the path, on the ground.  A few wooly looking worms were crossing the path rather pokily.  Also, I saw what looked like a smooth, curvy stick, but upon closer inspection, it was a little striped snake - only about a foot long.   He seemed to be enjoying the sunshine next to the path, but my leering must have made him uncomfortable because he suddenly slipped through the grass and into the brush.  Here I was, looking at this snake, thinking to myself "Oh, look, a little snake sunning himself" and I have no idea why it startled me so much when he moved.  I literally jumped back from him, like I thought he wasn't real or something.  Funny how our brains work.


So that was today's walk.  No running for a week now, and I'm not sure exactly what I'll be doing this week.  I slept in today, and right now it's not even 7:00 pm yet and I'm already looking forward to bed time, so my energy level is really low.