A running sickness?

You know, I woke up this morning, the knees felt a little stiff, the calves a little sore, and I was cursing myself for thinking I was Steve Prefontaine the other day on the tread mill. I wanted to feel fresh for a nice long run today. Well, I didn't feel particulary fresh, but I hit the trails anyway and was pleasantly surprised. I do what I often do when I lack energy or motivation on a run, I plugged in the walkman (and, yeah, I had a cup of coffee). I actually felt good climbing hills, navigating tree roots. I spent the first six miles sorting through thoughts about life and death, my sister, God and faith.Pretty heavy stuff to write about later. Feeling pretty good after six, I became a little adventerous, trying some new trails. I only got lost once and ran into one dead end. I inadvertantly snuck up on a deer and gave us both a fright (deer often look like mountain lions). I accidentally ran through someone's backyard, I think. I kept waiting for the screams of "trepasser!" and the blast of a shotgun. I even got home in time to see some of REggie Bush's best runs against UCLA (hmmm, maybe I'll imagine I'm him as I hurdle fallen trees and dodge pine cones). The sun was shinning yet it was nice and cool, couldn't have asked for anything better.

Now comes the tough part. My wife has a sinus infection that started with some sniffles and a sore throat earlier in the week. I've been bombarding my system with vitamin C, encaneca, Airborne all in hopes of holding it off. But I got to tell ya, I was blowin a lot of snot today as I was running. And my throat has been a little rough in the mornings. And with the funeral, sleep has been in short supply. So I felt great running today, but then I remembered that when I was competing regularly in sports, many of my best performances were just as I was getting sick. Is this just a conspiracy theory typical of us Oliver Stone types? Oh, how I hope so.