Prathima's Miles & Milestones

Learning to listen, rest, and rebuild when sickness hits

I’ve always hated those days when my body simply refuses to cooperate. Especially when we women have our unbearable period cramps, but there’s a travel plus an ultra race in the mountains as well, a viral fever, or sickness where even getting out of bed feels like climbing a mountain, and no amount of determination can bring you back to your usual pace.

Illness has a strange way of humbling you — it reminds you that recovery doesn’t follow your whiteboard schedule. Sometimes, you just have to surrender to the run, skip the gym, and let stillness do its work. I have had DNFs (Did Not Finish) due to restlessness, extreme weather, body giving up mid-way due to hunger, or even no sleep for consecutive nights, leading to a bad race day. The guilt of travel, flights, stay, and registrations will be there, but races come and go every year. The mountains are there to stay. However, we got to prep better and tackle the same next year. We have one life to live, after all and many races to train for and compete. This is my pacifier and a reminder to calm down and be kind to myself.

So back indoors, I lean into comfort instead. A bowl of warm soup, a long shower that feels like a reset, and the kind of sleep under the comforter that mends things no medicine can. That pindrop silence is golden to the undisturbed, restful sleep.

On the days I start to feel a little better, I take it lightly, listening to a Runner’s podcast, affirmations, or a motivational one, maybe a slow walk in the nearby localities and the lakes. Nothing demanding, just a quiet reminder to reconnect with movement and work on rewiring the mindset. No setbacks can take too long. It only leads to jumping up higher and beating your own previous performance.

The hardest part is resisting the urge to push too soon. Because when you try to outsmart your body’s pace, it always finds a way to slow you down again. Getting back to consistency is the key. Just being grateful to the body that recovered, healed, and glad that we got a chance to get back to the sport itself feels like a blessing.

Healing isn’t wasted time — it’s part of the process. And when you finally lace up your shoes again, it feels a little less about performance and a little more about gratitude.

If this resonated, you might enjoy my weekly reflections on mindset, fitness, and conscious living — subscribe to me on Medium or Substack or my personal blog, where I write about the balance between motion and meaning.