Sick Days Ruin {Some} Plans

Remember how I mentioned that I was super tired on Sunday? Weeelll Monday I was fine, Tuesday I had quite a sore throat, and Wednesday upon waking I felt...what's the word...craptastic?

Yes. Quite fitting.

It hit me all of a sudden - I just wanted to get through my exams and go home and sleep. My head hurt so bad that I had to put my glasses on so my eyes wouldn't strain.

I cuddled up in my jammies, laid on the couch for approximately 6 hours, and by the evening was feeling a bit better. 

And you betcha I drank 4 cups of tea for my sore throat!

My sweet mom knew I wasn't feeling well, and brought me some holiday flavored tea. <3 Insert 2 more cups. Hey, tea counts as water, correct?

I proceeded to lay around the rest of the day, eat some ice cream, and hit the sack by 9:30. Bliss. 

I also had planned, in my head, this beautiful, crisp, chilly, early long(ish) run Thursday morning. It was going to be perfect and I was going to have protein pancakes and a green smoothie afterwards and everything was going to be just great. 

Insert waking up up 6:45, walking bro to bus stop, stuffy nose, sore throat. BOO. Back to bed I went.

I finally woke up after another 2 hours of sleep, made myself some french toast, and felt pretty good! I had an ambitious 6-mile run planned and headed out - upon reaching about 3, I decided that eeehhhhh....not the best idea. Even though I felt okay, I knew that I was still recovering from an entire sick day, and I had still felt gross just a few hours before. 

So I ran back home with 3.5 miles under my belt, and called it a morning. I'll admit I was just a teensy annoyed that yet another longer run was put off, but you gotta do what you gotta do. I knew I could do it, but didn't want to force myself. I'm quite goal-oriented. 

Okay, maybe I should rename my blog "Jessica Rants About Running," because I think that suits it well. But I do other stuff in my life, I swear. 

I showered and headed out for our traditional after-finals lunch! O'Charley's, bruh. (Note: I typed this after taking a walk sooo my endorphins are kind of gushing a bit. I'm not weird.) Quick refuel snack of 1/2 banana and peanut butter before leaving. 

For being a "chain" restaurant, O'Charley's actually has some pretty great menu items. Plus, their rolls are freaking delicious. 

Rach and I are the half-faces :) 

Afterwards, we walked around some stores for a bit before Rebekah had to go to rehearsal. I got home and baked these beauties:

And being the rebellious person that I am, did not wait for them to cool before digging in. So delicious with a gingerbread-tea "latte" and topped with a shmear of pb/greek yogurt. 

I had started feeling yuck again by this point and opted for some yoga stretches. Did the trick! 

I honestly don't even remember what I did the rest of the night. All I remember is eating dinner and then watching FRIENDS back to back until bed. Productive. 

Today was the last day of finals - I'm happy with all my grades (except for Algebra, but I didn't really expect to make a fantastic grade anyways - math is more of a foreign language to me than Spanish...hardy har har). 

Once I got home, I headed out for a run. 

A really sloooww 6 miles. SO slow. To be honest, the first 3 miles were the hardest and slowest. I felt pretty tired and sluggish and really didn't like the hilly area I was in. But I'm super stubborn and kept going anyways. Maybe I wasn't the most intuitive about this run, but I felt much better by the end and was quite rejuvenated!

Refuel with a ridiculously thick smoothie and a turkey wrap. I put protein powder in this smoothie, which made it cloyingly sweet - it was delicious the first three bites, but I choked it down at the end. Told you I'm stubborn.

Later, I had a snack of a pumpkin pie Larabar (the last in my stash!!!!!) and a much, much needed cup of coffee. My appetite was still weird from my over-the-top smoothie but I was hungry because I felt much better after a snack! 

Now I'm off to finish my Christmas shopping - FOUR DAYS. 

Have a fantastic evening! 

P.S. Question for you guys - this may be a little TMI, but do you get stomachaches after you run? When I get past 4 or 5 miles, I always get an upset stomach the rest of the day. It also messes up my appetite, which I hate. I think it's dehydration, but I'm really not that sure. Any ideas?