Would someone please slap me upside my neofrontal cortex and tell me that resting and eating ice cream while I’m sick does not make me a lazy glutton.

Because any time I skip some training, part of my brain is nags me about it, good reason or not.

I came down with a cold or something over the weekend. It’s not the worst I’ve ever had, but I’m tired and achy enough that I decided to forego my Monday session at Body Specs and my regular Wednesday 6 a.m. club run. Last thing I want to do is turn it into pneumonia.

So I’m taking naps, drinking plenty of fluids, eating chicken soup (and ice cream) and giving my longsuffering cats some extra attention. And while part of me appreciates the self-pampering, the other part will call me a wimp until I actually lace them on and head back out there.

Guilt over missing some training is common among runners. All someone in run club has to do is say, “Yeah, I had to skip long run due to [insert lame excuse like leg fell off]” to get sympathetic nods and confirmation. “You did the right thing, blah blah blah…” while they’re thinking, Thank God I don’t have to worry about him at next week’s 5K.

This thread on LetsRun.com has some pretty funny takes on runner’s guilt. But this excerpt is something I can actually take away from reading it.

My college coach used to tell us this: “Every night, ask yourself what you did that day to make yourself a better runner. Realize that sometimes the best answer to that question is, I rested.”

Amen, brother.