Day 19
Today was the beginning of the end, the germs had been biding their time and after setting up camp and just causing chaos in my nose and throat for a couple of days, they launched a full attack. My limbs were heavy, what felt like a herd of stomping elephants had moved in to my lungs and my head refused to move from the pillow. With football well and truly off the table, I managed a couple of hours out of bed and on the sofa to wearily nod along to wedding plans, before admitting defeat and retreating.
Although the idea of RED Jan is to be active everyday, it's also about looking after your well-being and knowing the limits of your body. Unfortunately, like with other limits such as that of speeding and alcohol, I took it as a suggestion, and probably pushed a little too far...
End of day step total: 3,916
Day 20
Lets keep this short and sweet - woke up long enough to know that I shouldn't be awake, debated rolling down the stairs for a drink to save energy, pity party for one was in full swing.
End of day step total: 1,004
Day 21
With a couple of important meetings in the diary I decided I had laid around long enough and needed to get back in to work. I managed my walk in to the office to be greeted by comments of 'you sound like a 40 a day smoker' and 'don't you look awful' (work friends are oh so great for the ego...), before collapsing at a desk trying to keep my eyes open.
With a Greggs sausage bap consumed I coughed my way through both meetings and at the strong request of multiple people, hauled my germs home to slowly answer a backlog of emails.
End of day step total: 7,429
Day 22
After returning to work too early, my body decided the best way to rebel would be to make breathing harder than a conversation with Sam when she's watch Ru Pauls Drag Race (quite frankly I'd get a more civilized response from Trump talking about gay immigrants, than from her watching that show). With each breath burning my lungs from the inside, I cried off sick and re-rolled myself in to a human burrito.
End of day step total: 1,116
Day 23
Back to work for a second attempt. I made it through the entire day with even a short stroll for lunch. Evening plans were a no go however, so an early night meant I still wasn't ready to hit my 10,000 a day step challenge. Thank god there was no Fitbit challenge this week - I may have considered securing my watch to the cat just to try and get a few more steps in!
End of day step total: 8,579