Vegetarian and vegan wine drinkers beware.... plus, I'm still sick. Lame.

As you know, I have been sick since Tuesday.  It started with the most painful sore throat, which luckily is now gone.  Then I could not stop sneezing, and my nose was running constantly.  If my nose wasn't flowing like a fountain, then it was too stuffed up to breathe out of it.  Unfortunately, running doesn't really turn out well when one cannot breathe.  I started to feel better on Friday afternoon and had plans to run, but then my experiment at work ended up going until late, and I did not get home until it was dark.  Last week I ran on Sunday and Monday.  That means I HAD to run on Saturday in order to get in my third day of running for the week.  I made myself run an easy two miles, with tissues in hand, Saturday morning in 20:03 minutes.  Of course by Friday night I had started developing a cough (does it ever end?).  My chest felt wheezy during the run, but I did it.  I have managed to stick with my challenge every week of this year so far.  While the drop in mileage this past week was very depressing (I have been trying to increase), I knew I needed to take it easy.  I considered doing yoga at home, since I had to miss hot yoga, but the runny nose made that impossible. 

Last night I was up all night coughing.  I have been coughing all day.  I am praying this sickness goes away, because I WANT TO RUN DAMMIT!  Chris and I went on a walk yesterday and today, which did help me feel less antsy.  On a bright note, I have been using my down time from running to get a lot of extra reading done for school.  (Another note, coughing seems to be a good ab work-out!)

I have been researching wines for a paper I writing, and today I stumbled across something that might be on interest to any vegetarians and vegans out there.  This was found in the book The Complete Idiot's Guide To Wine Basics. 2nd Edition.  (For the record, the book was given to me as a birthday gift after I expressed my interest in wanting to learn more about wine.  It is very informative!)  From page 32 in the box titled "Off the Vine":

Many vintners employ animal products in the making of their wines.  Isinglass (derived from sturgeon bladders), gelatin (derived primarily from pig or cow skins and bones), egg whites, and caseins (derived from skim milk) are all commonly used to fine wine--that is, to either remove harsh, astringent flavors or to remove any small particles from the wine that might make it look cloudy.

These products are removed from the wine along with the particulate matter, but some vegetarians prefer to drink wines that are made without the use of any animal products.  Wines can also be fined with minerals such as bentonite.  There is no official vegan certification, so concerned vegans should check with the winery directly or consult a source such as vegans.frommars.org/wine.

Being that I am currently not vegetarian or vegan, this was news to me.  Did any of the practicing (is that the correct term?) vegetarians or vegans out there know this?  I did some Google-ing and found a few more websites that might be of interest:
http://veganconnection.com/veganwine.htm
Link to a PDF called The chemistry and biology of wine making
http://veganconnection.com/notvegan.html -claims that wine, beers, sugar, and some cereals may not be considered vegan
http://www.barnivore.com/wine - vegan wine, liquor, and beer guide (I guess it's a good thing Chris isn't vegan, because Guinness is on the list of not vegan friendly)

I just thought I would share, since I found this tidbit of information to be surprising.  I suppose it really all comes down to the individual and how strict of a diet they are adhering to. 

I hope that you all are having a great week, and that hopefully I will have running stories to share with you this week!