I'm very glad I ran in the New Years Day Fat Ass 50 and Freeze Your Fat Ass Off Swim (minus the swim as usual). I'm also glad that I didn't get really sick from doing it. It's been a long standing question of mine whether you should run when you're sick or stay at home and hide under the covers. Having had my heart set for a long time on a great start to the new year I decided to brave the elements.
The cold I have right now started rearing its ugly head about three days before Jan 1. I've been sick enough over my life to easily know the first symptoms of a real cold and I knew right away what I was in for over the next while. Of course the first and second things that next came to mind were the FA50 run and H1N1. By the next day I knew it wasn't H1N1 because it just wasn't that bad. And at that moment I also knew I would be running on the big day.
How did I know? Not because I was determined to do it no matter what but because if you know your body well enough, like I think I do, you know when to push it and when not to (most of the time). I looked at the weather forecast and saw rain but I also saw temperatures coming that weren't coldly debilitating. I knew if I dressed properly I could stay warm enough. And I knew that I had a ride available if things went from bad to worse. All of these are important. I also felt generally okay but I did have a sore throat, a bit of a headache, a worsening cough, the usual. But nothing too terrible. And I was getting reasonably good sleep.
So off I went on my third shot at 50km on new years day. As it turned out, it did rain. It was cool but not very windy nor all that cold. I made it to the 25km turnaround and had my food from my trusty crew (Ethelyn) and all was going as planned. I wasn't setting any land speed records but I was doing okay. And heck, it's all downhill on the way back right? And then it rained some more. And more.
I stayed warm enough until I could almost touch the Polar Bear Swim crowds at English Bay (don't think about that too long ...). But I was having a harder and harder time keeping moving. My energy was clearly waning due to my cold. I had fallen way back from the others. So I realized it was time to stop. I called my crew and eventually got a ride home after finishing about 45kms.
Thankfully my cold has now taken it's course and I'm pretty much back to happy Craig. I hope I was smart and thought things through properly, even though the boss at work gave me a bit of a hard time about it. Everyone else was quite amazed that I did it anyway so I'm good with that. 
And today just over a week later I ran a good 3-1/2 hours with my trail friends (Carolyn, Neil, Wendy, Heather) and actually felt just fine. I'm sure my energy will be back to par soon and I'll get to remember that you can run with a cold if you plan well and know when to stop.
Craig
Comments
Congrats on 45km on New Year's Day!
I certainly missed you on the second half. Good for you for hanging in there as long as you did. You did not look like you were going to get to 45km when I saw you at Prospect Point.
As to running sick... For me there is something about sweating "it" out. Now, sweating it out for 50km might not be what I mean with that, but you probably know that ;-) I draw the line at a fever. If I feel like I have a fever or had one the last 24h , I will not run. For everything else, like snoddy nose, cough and sore throat I'll play it by ear and listen to my my body....and sometimes play deaf.
SOLID, Craig
Tough, even under the best of circumstances. Nice 45k on NYD, Craig! If you make it to Missouri in August I can promise you that we won't have to worry about cold temperatures. Oh, and did I mention it's usually 60+% humidity along with those 90 degrees F?
Running Sick?
Always tough to figure out when to hold' em and when to fold 'em, eh? I find it's especially tough when we're talking about an event that you're looking forward to participating in rather than a training run.
I try to use the "Will this do more harm than good?" rule to help make the call more objective.
Congrats on making an "ultra" of New Years day and for bouncing back so quickly!
Go, No Go
As far as a cold goes, I've always followed the rule that if it's in the nose: Go, if it's in the chest: No Go.
The "worsening cough" would probably have made me a volunteer rather than a runner.
In any case, congratulations on 45K and having the courage to call it a day.