The time has come and look what happened

Well, I decided I would give a quick update to everyone as I sit here in Wisconsin. I made thru almost 9 months of training without any serious injuries or set backs. My last 2 months of Training were very positive and strong months of training. Wouldn't ya know, the Tuesday before the race I have come down with some type of viral infection. Since Tuesday 9/8/09, I have been running a fever, sore throat, achy, and all the other great feelings of a viral infection. So I flew up to Madison yesterday evening and I was still running a fever of 102. I would sleep in about 1 - 2 hour increments, waking up every so often either in a cold sweat or because my throat would hurt so much from swallowing. I decided I should go to the ER today. I wanted to go to the ER because I knew they would give me an IV ( I got 2L worth of IV fluid), as well as a dose of steroids to take the swelling of my tonsils down. An urgent care type place wouldn't do this. Both of these things made me feel much much better. They ran tests for MONO and Strep, both came back negative. However they are running a 48 hour test for strep. In the mean time they decided to give me some penicillin just in case the 48 hour test came back positive. This way I would have 48 hours of antibiotics in my system. I am feeling better already this afternoon. I also got some pain medicine which will help me sleep better and help with the aches. I feel confident that I will be able to race. I may not be 100% on Sunday, but I am gonna get thru it one way or another.

What is interesting is that I haven't had a cold or anything in over 2 years. The last time I was sick was in late July of 2007. I came down with strep throat, and all the same symptoms I have now. Would you believe that this was 2 days before my first Olympic distance triathlon? Funny huh??? I did the same thing then, I went to the ER, they gave me an IV, Steroids and antibiotics. I did my race 2 days later and finished. It wasn't by any means a stellar performance, but I still finished, and was eager for more. Something tells me that this weekend will be much the same.

What is also weird is that I know 2 other triathletes who said they had the same thing happen to them right before their Ironman races. I think it has something to do with the tapering and not working out as much in the past few weeks, I don't know.

I have this funny feeling that the next time I write in this blog, it will be my Ironman Race Report.

Until then.

Cheers