Wednesday, June 6, 2018

WWU - 5.5 Done! (and it nearly did me in...)

Goal #1 - make a 5 figure on the map with my run.

Well, Saturday morning was actually warmer than I thought it might be - 77 degrees, with 96% humidity at 5:00 am.  I prepared for my birthday run as best I could, hydrating the day before, carrying enough electrolyte drink with me, and pretty much just taking the run nice and easy.  Diane and I set out and it was fun - we did our usual intervals and arrived at the new, under-construction road when it was light enough to see, so that was helpful.  We ran the top part of the 5 and then turned around.  My original plan was to do an out-and-back, but once we started, I realized that we'd have to run on the wrong side of the road for the last 3/4 of a mile, plus I was getting really hot and fatigued, so we made the decision to stop our Garmins when we arrived at the turning point, preserve the figure 5, and then continue back toward the clubhouse.  At that point, I knew we'd be about a mile short, and I was OK with that. 

By then, we'd reversed our intervals so we were walking more than we were running.  It was just so dang hot, I was sweating like crazy, and it took pretty much everything I had to run the shorter interval.  We arrived at the turn toward the clubhouse, and we were about a quarter mile from hitting 5 miles, so we continued on.  And then, with being only a half mile from actually hitting 5.5 (and this took some math, since we'd stopped our Garmins after completing the 5 figure - and while math is never my strong point, doing it with runner's brain was especially challenging), we continued on, hit the spot where we thought we were safe to turn around and ran back to the clubhouse, with a total of 5.5 miles completed for the day.  Another year of running my age was in the books!
Goal #2 - run my age in Shelley math - 55 years equals 5.5 miles.

As we were walking up to the clubhouse, we saw Logan sitting on the driveway, and Mason walk over and carefully sit next to him, scooting closer and closer.  It was so cute, and just when I was thinking it would make a great picture, both Cary and Loretta whipped out their phones to take some:
Renegade babies are the best!

I sat down to cool off, but could not stop sweating.  Probably 20 minutes or so later I went in to change, and it was horrible - I was sweating so much that my fresh, dry clothes were getting soaked as I was putting them on.  Everyone was ready to head to Blue Baker, and once I got in my car and had the A/C going full blast, I felt better and the sweating seemed to stop.  I ordered breakfast, got a cup of water and a cup of coffee, and sat down to eat.  Jeff hadn't run because his back has been bothering him, so he arrived soon after.  I ate half a bagel sandwich and some of my birthday cinnamon roll, but I was sweating again and my stomach started feeling bad.  I went to the restroom and that's when things started to go south - my ears were ringing, sweat was pouring off of me, and it was all I could do to hunch over the sink with the water running on my wrists, hoping to cool down.

I finally felt OK enough to leave the restroom, but as I was walking back to the table, my ears started ringing again and things got very far away, like I was in a tunnel - and I felt like I was going to faint.  I sat down at a booth and pretty quickly Jeff and Diane noticed me and got up to help.  Jeff put ice on the back of my neck while Diane fanned me with a menu as I was sweating like a fiend.  Finally the tunnel went away and the ringing in my ears stopped, and I felt well enough to rejoin the group.  Karen said all the color was gone from my face and I was as white as the plates on the table.  I drank some more water and felt decent, but that was pretty scary - it's the first time I've had heat exhaustion.

Symptoms of heat exhaustion include heavy sweating, clammy and pale skin, nausea or vomiting, tiredness/weakness, dizziness, headache, fainting - the only symptom I didn't have was muscle cramps.  I think this started during the run because I was sweating so badly it was running into my eyes and making them burn, which rarely happens, plus I was really, really tired during the last couple of miles and it was a huge effort to make my legs run.  I had a bad headache the rest of the day; it was better on Sunday but still hanging around.

As you can guess, this has ended my tradition of running my age for my birthday - at least as long as I live in Texas.  I don't need to try and kill myself as I celebrate turning another year older!  After a cool shower and a nap, I rallied enough to go get my Starbucks freebie - they've changed it to now only being available for one day, on your actual birthday (instead of a week), so it was use it or lose it, and by golly I wanted to use it:
Better, but not 100%
 
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I was a little apprehensive about running yesterday as it was still hot, but we took it easy and I felt normal.  And we'll run today, because it's Global Running Day and I've been running this since 2010 and oh wait...maybe I should rethink that tradition as well?  Nah, this one is easy - I just have to run, I don't have to run a specific distance! 

23 comments:

  1. So glad your alright. That had to be scary eek. Its a shame about the "tradition" going away but you can't put your health and safety at risk.

    Hopefully by now you are 100% better and back to normal.

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    1. Thanks - yeah, I hated to let that tradition go, but it's time.

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  2. Maybe start at 10 and SUBTRACT your age, so the numbers go down instead of UP! 10-5.6+4.4 next year and 4.3 the next and so on!

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    1. There's an idea! My mother said I should run it in kilometers instead of miles...

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  3. Hope your feeling better now. That was quite a run! I'm proud of you for getting it done, but I agree it's time to retire that tradition .

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  4. This happened to me on a walk when I was about 2 miles from home with no one to call and pick me up, I sat on a bus bench for a long time before I could walk the shaky 2 miles home....very scary, glad you are ok!

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    1. Yikes Stacy, that sounds really scary! Glad YOU were OK, too!

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  5. Happy Birthday to you! I've never started the tradition of running my age (or any variation of it) so Kudos to you for doing that up til now! While you were telling your story I was getting worried for you. Heat exhaustion is no joke. Glad you ended up feeling better! I was actually sick the day of my birthday but wanted to get that Free Starbucks drink too so ended up getting a smoothie. Hey, If you have the Dunkin Donuts perks, they give you 30 days to redeem your free drink! Right now they have lots of new summer flavors too!

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    1. Good on you for not starting that silly tradition! And would you believe that we have zero Dunkin Donuts here in Hooterville?

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  6. Scary stuff, heat exhaustion -so glad that you had folks there to help you! Hope it was a great birthday in spite of feeling sick!

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    1. Yes it was and yes I was glad I had help, believe me.

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  7. Ugh. That sounds terrible. The only time I've had heat exhaustion I had incredible fatigue - like stop everything immediately and close my eyes type. Glad you felt better, but that stinks on your birthday. Metric from now on!

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    1. Metric or minutes...I can't decide which might be less painful, LOL.

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  8. Glad you're ok! That had to be scary:( I don't know how Texans run outside in that heat!!!

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    1. Honestly, I don't know how we do it either. My version is: not very well.

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  9. How scary! Heat and humidity is no joke. I'm glad you're ok!

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    1. Thanks - I need to remember to respect the humidity, heat, and dew point and listen to my body a little better.

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  10. Man, that is scary. I am SO glad you were with people during the run and after, in case it was worse. Eek. :( I do love the 5 you ran though! How creative!

    OMG, Starbucks is pissing me off by making it only available for one freaking day. Come the f*ck on. Jerks. (Yes, I am complaining about a free drink, lol. I was mad when they changed the window to a few days - I go off grid for my birthday and don't want to drive an hour to SB, lol.)

    I hope you had a great birthday, despite all that, and with the headache!

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    1. It was rough, but I do love my 5... :)

      Glad I'm not the only person irked about Starbucks one-day window...before it was nice to spread out the birthday freebies over the course of a week. I think they did this to get fewer people using the treat.

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  11. Congrats for reaching your two goals! But holy cow, scary. I’m glad you recovered. I’ve had heat exhaustion… It is no fun!

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    1. Thank you, and you are right, heat exhaustion is pretty miserable.

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