Claritin Clear?

I have been battling my worst bout of allergies, ever. It's probably my fault since I went running on Thursday on the trails at Mills after they have been on their never ending quest to chop down all the 100-year old eucalyptus trees and then wood-chipping them, which I'm sure releases the 100 years of pollen and dust that have been accumulating on those trees all that time. Also doesn't help that the wildfires are still sending smoke our way so that the sky is hazy. I haven't stopped sneezing since I woke up on Friday, and on Saturday I finally broke down and bought some Claritin. I don't know if you've seen the commercials, but they'll show a pretty landscape, but it's kind of blurry, and then they peel back the blur so that everything is crisp and in focus: Claritin clear! Supposedly Claritin clears up your allergy symptoms without drowsiness. But I've felt like someone has pulled over a veil of blur across my eyes. Yes, the sneezing has subsided and my head doesn't feel like it's going to explode, but I am just floating through my day. Yesterday I was like a cat and I would get up and do things, but then I would lay down on the couch and fall asleep for an hour or two, and then get up and do more things, and then fall asleep again. My friend and I went out to get a bowl of noodles and we passed the exit and I was like why didn't you get off the freeway? That was our exit! But then she just kind of looked at me funny because it wasn't our exit at all and I have no idea why I thought that was our exit.

And today at practice we would play and then we'd have a little break and I would sit down and stare and get lost in the pretty little patterns in the hardwood floor. There are swirls here, and parallel lines there, and the dark growth rings stand in contrast to the meaty centers that signify each year of life and growth cycle, the trees reaching up to the sunlight, their roots digging down into the earth, the sound of the wind through the branches and leaves, the sound of rain on the forest floor, you hear birds calling out to one another, you feel the crunch of other seasons beneath your feet, and you see and hear all these things as you follow the lines in the smooth and polished hardwood floor as they diverge and then come back together again and if you follow the lines they take you on this journey through history and then HEIYA!!!! IT'S TIME TO WORK ON HEIYA!! Huh? What? Oh, ok. It was really hard to concentrate, and all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball on the stage and take a nap. Or maybe I could fit in the drum bags. Yeah, maybe I could crawl in and then get someone to zip me up. When I got home tonight I napped again, but I kept waking myself up with my own snoring! I get soup for dinner (good for the sinuses!) and then I will float into bed, and hopefully get a good night's rest.

It's hard though. Do I run tomorrow, which is my only chance this week to put in a workout since every night is booked through until Sunday, or do I take it easy and give my body a break? I'm training for Sado, yo. Plus I'm stubborn. I think I will run. Maybe stay off the trails, but I've got to get myself ready.

Stupid allergies.