Message posted by: Mark B.

I'd been managing to dodge the cold that's been bouncing around my house for the past few weeks, but it finally caught me. I went out Thursday with a runny nose, but everything cleared up wonderfully while I was out there, and I finished feeling great.

By Thursday evening, though, my nose was running like a tap and I was hacking up hairballs. Drat.

So here's the question. Is there a rule of thumb to when you ought to skip a run and rest because of a cold? Not training with the flu or a fever seem like obvious no-nos, but what if it's just a cold? Or a cough? A little discomfort isn't that big a deal during a run, but the last thing I want to do is make it worse.

This is my stepback week in my marathon training arc, so my LSD this weekend is only 12 miles. The following weekend is 18. Short of a miraculous recovery, would I be better off bagging Sunday's long run to make sure I'm healthy for the following week?

Excuse me, I have to go blow my nose now…

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