HTFU or stupid? (Page 2)

I say just let yourself heal.

With all those steriods you should be hitting the weights. .

I recently had a bout of it and had the same level of medications that you are having.  For me a side effect of the steroids was severe cramping.  I would certainly recommend not doing it, after all a 5K is not a "once in a lifetime" opportunity.

Yeah, don't race.

Another "no race" vote here. And man alive, that picture was awful! It's amazing that that was of a human being.

Woah, okay, mine was not THAT bad. Dude, I thought my blisters were freakin' huge. Nasty. I did see some pics like that from one of the other poison-ivy sites, where mine was definitely falling into the gross-but-not-yet-puking category. That one is in the puking category.

I am about 90% on not racing. It did turn the corner, as I expected. For about a week and a half, I've been figuring that it would turn the corner today or tomorrow. Still, as you have pointed out, my body is still under too much stress.

So I bagged it for the following reasons:
1) It's a 5K. I'm not going to PR. As people pointed out, there are plenty. I was just all focused on this one because I HAD intended to PR (beyond it just being my first open race, I was mentally ready to go out and hammer, given the course), and because it was my first. I had a lot of mental game going on strong.

2) As a series of events would have it, it would cost me something along the lines of $30-$40 in gas and food just to get there, plus two hours of driving each way. For a 30 minute race. They promise great swag, all of which I'm sure comes in under the $30+$15 entry fee. I'll miss the technical tee, though.

3) One big reason I had a lot of weight on the race was that it was back in a community I lived in for four years, and I was all psyched to see a whole bunch of people. Every single one of whom is going to be out of town. Every. single. one. Doh!

4) The final decider was when I thought, "Oh well, I'll just run a 5K at home. No tee, but it'll be cool." The exact moment I was having that thought, the prickling seared up big time. God usually needs a 2x4 with me, but I think that was a Mack Truck.

And to answer one question, yeah, this was about toughness. I don't deny that. If this was a major race, I'd do it. And I bet a lot of you would, too, especially given the improvement in the last 24 hours. You'd bandage, protect, and do it. The antibiotics I'm on aren't the sun-sensitive ones, thank goodness, so there isn't that issue. But, it isn't a major race, there are other concerns, and I DO need to let my body heal. It came to the line of tough or stupid and, as general consensus shows, fell solidly on stupid. Hey, at least I'm not posting a thread about passing out at a 5K from itchiness!