Pneumonia and Running an Ultra

It is with great sadness that I will not be running the full course of Vulture Bait.  I might not run any of it at all.  Yesterday I was diagnosed with mycoplasma pneumonia.  As long as it is caught early it generally will not become severe, as long as you take care of yourself during recovery. Running 50k or even 25k four days after  being diagnosed would not be under the category of taking care of yourself.  At the very least it will prolong your recovery.  At the other end of the spectrum you could find yourself in the hospital or  even dead.  You don't mess with pneumonia.  The problem is you don't actually feel THAT sick with this type of pneumonia (unless  you don't get it treated right away).  My symptoms were feeling sluggish for the last 2 or 3 weeks, a persistent cough  for the last 4 days, sore throat, fever, and a mild feeling of shortness of breath which was gradually getting worse.  The good news is that I am on antibiotics and the fever is gone. As a good friend told me yesterday, there are other races. It really should be a no brainer decision.  Having said all that, I am debating whether I could pull off 10 miles before pulling a DNF. This way I can enjoy at least part of it with my barefoot buds.  Waiting to hear from the race director if there is a good point  around the 10 mile mark where my husband could meet me ( translation:  will there be a road nearby that he can drive and pick me up from??).  If not, then I will just sit this one out and cheer from the sidelines.

Gail




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