Should you run when you are sick?

When I was training to run a marathon, it was very hard for me to take a day off if I was sick. I did not want to stop training because I was working very hard to reach my goal in a short amount of time. When running gives you a physical and emotional boost, it makes it even harder to not get up and run when you are sick. Is it possible that running when you are sick can do more harm than good? According to Doctor Nieman from Runner's World, you should use his "neck rule." The neck rule is if you have symptoms below the neck, chest cold or body aches, you need to take time off. As for symptoms about the neck, like a runny nose, you do not have to be too worried about going out for a run. Even though other doctors have agreed with this, many still say that working out when you are sick can escalate your sickness to something more severe easily. You need to be extra careful when training with something worse than a minor cold because it can become something more serious that can affect the lower respiratory system. If your sickness does escalate to a sinus infection, which is very common to come from a cold, you should take at least three days off from running. If you don't take time off with a sinus infection it is possible to make your condition worse and end up with pneumonia or respiratory failure. If you are still not sure if you are okay to run or not, you can take your temperature; anything over 99 degrees do not run! Running will not help your immune system fight off a fever. Furthermore, after being sick with something like a fever, flu, or sinus infection, runners should wait about one or two weeks before resuming their same mileage and intensity of runs as they did before they were sick. Take it easy; just go for a short easy run in the beginning or you might get sick once again. More information about knowing when you should run or not can be found on: Source: "Should You Run When You're Sick?" Should You Run When You're Sick From Runner's World.com. Web. 05 Mar. 2012. .