The title basically sums up the tail-end of this week…

Gout – the word doesn’t roll of the tongue very nicely and let me tell you – it is highly unpleasant. Downright painful would be the words for it. So painful I felt nauseous. Gout is essentially a build up of uric acid in the body which then turns to crystals in your joints (often the big toe). On Tuesday evening after a night that included a great run and some snow shovelling – I felt great and then around 9:00 my toe was very sore. Strange. (I chalked it up to being 40.) After a night that involved very little sleep and a very painful Wednesday which caused me to skip snowshoe running, I went to the doctor on Thursday morning. Verdict – gout. Typically people who experience a gout “flare” are those who have very rich diets full of red meat, alcohol and fatty foods – I don’t eat any of this. Sigh. Well, it also turns out that if you’re deficient in Vitamin C and/or dairy – you can experience a gout flare. So now I’m pounding back the Vitamin C and I had my first taste of uber-delicious Greek yogurt in four years. I’m also on some medicine that is working its magic. I managed to cram my cranky toe into my cycling shoes for two rides but I’ve now decided to give the toe the space it is demanding…

Sore throat – woke up Friday morning with the “hurts to swallow” feeling. Bigger sigh. I’m now pounding oil of oregano, sucking on honey lozenges and drinking warm almond milk/water and honey. I’ve also been resting.

Seems like the combination of gout and a sore throat are what it takes to get me to sit still. I am disappointed though because I was looking forward to a weekend packed with the Mad Trapper snowshoe race and some long skate ski sessions. Oh well, better now than in March or April.

Marc is taking extreme pity on me and has been making trips to the pharmacy for over-priced oil of oregano and putting up with my whining. I think I’m doing a pretty good job of my own “man flu”.

Congrats to everyone who went out and ran around in the woods and snow this morning at the ARK. Looking forward to reading the race reports and seeing the photos. Fingers crossed I’ll be out on Wednesday night for some snowshoe running with the XCZone crew.

Even more importantly – an early and hearty congratulations to Derrick and Natasha – have a fantastic day on Sunday.