It's almost 4:00AM. Do you know where you are???

I know where I am. Sitting in a darkened space of my house known as my office. Yeah, it's been one of those nights. This time though, it's all about the allergies. I started getting an allergy attack this evening whilst on the way to dinner. It cleared up for a few minutes and I thought I was out of the crap, but no. It came back, full on force, landed in my eyes, my nose, and my face. Now I can't really breathe that well, and have post nasal drip running down the back of my throat, which in turn makes me cough. Add to this coughing and or sneezing a set of sore ribs from falling off of the bike a lot this weekend (see previous post about drunken debacle known as the Single Speed Rally 2007 and you'll see what I mean), and this makes me approximately one not sleeping guy.

Let's run down the list:

1. Face swollen up from allergies? Check.

2. Nose rubbed raw from wiping? Check.

3. Persistent hacking cough? Check.

4. Persistent sneezing? Check.

5. Utter misery encountered throughout this evening? Check, and check!

Now I haven't had an allergy attack like this for a long time, and it's been a really long time since I had one that has kept me awake through a night. I think I need to call into work sick, throw down some Benadryl, and go nighty night. Which is what I'm going to do in about, oh, 30 minutes or so. Waiting until I'm completely and utterly exhausted, and then we'll head in for the killer allergy medication. I do hope that I have some in the cabinet here. I normally have a ready supply of Benadryl in case the good old Claritin doesn't work. It didn't, and now, I have to switch up. I even tried my old little trick of peppermint oil earlier today, didn't help. This is some good stuff. And again, I see my training week going to pot. Well, maybe I can get in some good sleep, and go for a ride this afternoon if I feel better. I hope that I do because right now I feel like smashing my head against a wall I'm so itchy, and sneezy, and feeling miserable. I love allergies, and I'm so glad that I have them now when I didn't when I was younger. That's what I get for going outside, and actually exercising.

It's funny isn't it, that when I was training the hardest, and when I was outside every day on my bike in all sorts of weather, good, bad, and indifferent, this is when I took in large amounts of pollutants into my lungs, which has made me, and my friends as well, more susceptible to allergies. And here I was thinking that exercise was good for me. Joke is on me I suppose. Again.