Long day - not real steep but even the few parts that were gave me a run for my money. The speedy ones were in camp by 2:30, and the rest of us at 5:30, just enough daylight left to get settled before dinner.

Tonight I'm hurting all over. My cough has gotten worse and really deteriorated in the last couple hours. In fact, my back muscles ache from coughing so much. It didn't help that I ran out of water during the last hour of hiking and then I had to wait another hour before getting any since the stove was being used to cook dinner at that point. When I arrived at camp, something just came over me - relief, I guess, and I started crying, although luckily I was in the tent with Tony as the only witness. In fact, every time I am around the others, I feel like crying. I feel like such a weakling, I guess. They are all doing fantastic - flying up the mountain, no troubles, and here I am, nauseous, coughing, slower than everyone else, plus I keep us all awake at night with my cough. I would give anything to be pitched a mile away from everyone else, but that's not the practice, so here we are, elbow to butt cheek.

Anyway, I'm feeling a little better after finally getting some water, and Marla also gave me a 5-day course of antibiotics, so I started on them. I'm so scared of having to turn around and go back down, after training so hard, dreaming for months and spending so much money. It breaks my heart. But I won't keep going and give myself edema, either. So we'll see what the morning brings.