One week since I have checked out of the hospital. Today was the first day I have really had to exert myself. And it sucked. Because it wasn't really anything that I should be tired from. I have been able to take things at my own speed for the last week. Which meant really, really, slow. I didn't leave the house until Friday and that was only to go eat (love some sushi rolls)and catch a movie (Michael Clayton - go see it! Great conspiracy flick!) Today meant getting a move on it. I wore myself out walking through O'Hare and Orlando. I was exhausted by the time I made it to the gate. I know it won't last forever but that doesn't make the being light-headed and weakness suck any less.
Tomorrow I have a full day of work at my worst site. They are so far behind on work and refuse to do anything in between visits. Yes, these are grown adults. Anyways, I am really looking forward to it. I brought my workout clothes and may try to get some time in on the bike or stair stepper. I figured I am going to need some workout time to relieve the stress I am going to be feeling after the work day. I would like to be back running by the end of the week but I am not going to push myself.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Friday, October 12, 2007
appetite is back
Appetite is back. Well more than it was a couple days ago.I decided to copy Marcy and make myself feel better by making some food. Instead of coughed and sneezed on halloween cookies I choose some funfetti cupcakes. Yeah, I'm 12 and still enjoy a good funfetti cupcake just like mom used to make! And to celebrate having an appetite for the first time in 3 days I proceeded to eat 3! I figured it wouldn't hurt. I have now lost way too much weight in the last 5 days. I am down between 6-7lbs. I know it is all fluids and probably some muscle; not the desired fat. I wanted to lose 5 lb but not this way!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
health update and thanks
Thank you everyone for your amazing support and encouragement! It's amazing to know there is so many of you that are concerned and ready to lend advice when I need it the most. I appreciate all of your comments.
So an update. I am still feeling overall yucky (how's that for a medical condition). Basically just very tired and extremely weak. I am forcing myself to eat b/c I am not hungry. Drinking my fluids to flush all those nasty proteins that caused my muscle breakdown out of my system.
I hope to back into the swing of things soon. I had the foresight to schedule myself in house this week for work but I hit the road next week. Hopefully I will be ready.
So this blog until I can get healthy may be sparse but basically about the happenings in my life instead of running. It will change as soon as I can get back into the game.
And I haven't had a chance to say to all my fellow chicago marathoners - congratulations to those who were able to finish! What an amazing accomplishment in such dreadful weather. And I feel for you who were forced to stop. But to everyone looking ahead or had already found a new marathon good for you! I look forward to ready how round 2 works for all of you :)
So an update. I am still feeling overall yucky (how's that for a medical condition). Basically just very tired and extremely weak. I am forcing myself to eat b/c I am not hungry. Drinking my fluids to flush all those nasty proteins that caused my muscle breakdown out of my system.
I hope to back into the swing of things soon. I had the foresight to schedule myself in house this week for work but I hit the road next week. Hopefully I will be ready.
So this blog until I can get healthy may be sparse but basically about the happenings in my life instead of running. It will change as soon as I can get back into the game.
And I haven't had a chance to say to all my fellow chicago marathoners - congratulations to those who were able to finish! What an amazing accomplishment in such dreadful weather. And I feel for you who were forced to stop. But to everyone looking ahead or had already found a new marathon good for you! I look forward to ready how round 2 works for all of you :)
Monday, October 8, 2007
So Close...
Well folks this first time marathoner posted a big DNF - that's right I did not finish. Plus the course shut down before I could have finished. But I am getting ahead of myself.
The day started muggy and just generally disgusting. I drank my fluids and thought to myself maybe I should take the time to fill out the back of my bib due to the extreme heat I would be facing. Nerves were at an all time high but I got down to start with plenty of time to spare. It was very chaotic! People jumping fences to get in line. I just sat and soaked it up and chatted up the guy next to me. At 8 am the gun went off and about 8:20 I crossed the start line and was off. Feeling good just really, really warm. It was extremely motivating and exciting with so many people around. I have never in any of my Chicago races ever seen so many spectators. Yes, I got a bit choked up. I changed my goal time early on to 10 min miles and actually came in a bit below that through the first half. Saw 2 friends at the 5k and I was feeling great. The shade helped. At around 8 miles I saw my great college friends and seeing them helped me keep on pushing. At this point the heat was starting to wear on me and I was trying to slow myself. Luckily the local grocery store was passing out bottles of water! Through 10 miles I felt like a superstar as much as one can feel like in 90 degrees. I was keeping pace, feeling confident, and the time was passing by like nothing. (Not that I was going fast but it seemed like I was!)
At the 12 mile mark my friend jumped in to run with me. I needed her in that moment even though I couldn't talk. Saw the family at 13.1 and I was starting to feel worse for the wear. The stomach was full of fluids and gu but I was so thirsty and drained. My friend left me around 14 and I was on my own. By 16 I was a mess and I couldn't find water or Gatorade to save my life. There was no shade that I could find (maybe I just couldn't find it) I couldn't focus and I felt as if I were drifting/leaning (yeah dehydration) but my stubborn self kept pushing.
At this point I don't have much left to tell you. I had made up my mind to jog/shuffle until 20 but walk through aid stations. Then at that point I would give myself free reign to walk because I just couldn't go any further. I so desperately wanted to just finish. The last thing I remember is trying to get to 18 or 19. I think the website shows me making it to 20 but not sure. ANYWAYS - I passed out (no recollection) and woke up in the hospital where they asked me if I remember passing out on the course. To which I responded "Marathon, I wasn't running any marathon!" I couldn't remember my name, Jacob's name, family, where I lived, phone numbers. Yes, like I said I did fill out the back of the bib for emergency contact but nobody bothered to check. I was so out of it I didn't even know I had a bib.
Around 2-3 hours later I remembered everything about me but could not for the life of me remember any one's phone numbers. And who by the way remembers phone numbers when everything is programmed into cell phones (which my boyfriend had). Luckily someone remembered the bib we got ahold of the family. It was very, very scary. I seriously thought I had amnesia. They had to admit me overnight b/c of my questionable EKG and high lab results. They thought I was either going to have a heart attack or kidney failure (luckily neither happened but labs are still a bit elevated). I'll leave out the nasty details of my hospital visit. I laid in the ER until 10:30 at which time they found a bed. Unfortunately, I did not get any sleep due to the doctors and nurse waking me up every 30 minutes asking me to repeat my story, draw blood, take my vitals, etc. They finally let me go around 4:30 pm today after making a lot of noise to discharge me.
DNF and thoroughly disappointed. All that training to pass out. My first marathon feels a bit tarnished. But I have a good story even if it does not involve a finish time or picture. Good thing I didn't get the Finisher t-shirt they were selling.
I am okay now just need to find a doctor for follow up labs and I can't run for awhile. Not sure if I will attempt a marathon again. A part of me feels like I need to. we will see...
(and I'll post some pics as soon as I download)
The day started muggy and just generally disgusting. I drank my fluids and thought to myself maybe I should take the time to fill out the back of my bib due to the extreme heat I would be facing. Nerves were at an all time high but I got down to start with plenty of time to spare. It was very chaotic! People jumping fences to get in line. I just sat and soaked it up and chatted up the guy next to me. At 8 am the gun went off and about 8:20 I crossed the start line and was off. Feeling good just really, really warm. It was extremely motivating and exciting with so many people around. I have never in any of my Chicago races ever seen so many spectators. Yes, I got a bit choked up. I changed my goal time early on to 10 min miles and actually came in a bit below that through the first half. Saw 2 friends at the 5k and I was feeling great. The shade helped. At around 8 miles I saw my great college friends and seeing them helped me keep on pushing. At this point the heat was starting to wear on me and I was trying to slow myself. Luckily the local grocery store was passing out bottles of water! Through 10 miles I felt like a superstar as much as one can feel like in 90 degrees. I was keeping pace, feeling confident, and the time was passing by like nothing. (Not that I was going fast but it seemed like I was!)
At the 12 mile mark my friend jumped in to run with me. I needed her in that moment even though I couldn't talk. Saw the family at 13.1 and I was starting to feel worse for the wear. The stomach was full of fluids and gu but I was so thirsty and drained. My friend left me around 14 and I was on my own. By 16 I was a mess and I couldn't find water or Gatorade to save my life. There was no shade that I could find (maybe I just couldn't find it) I couldn't focus and I felt as if I were drifting/leaning (yeah dehydration) but my stubborn self kept pushing.
At this point I don't have much left to tell you. I had made up my mind to jog/shuffle until 20 but walk through aid stations. Then at that point I would give myself free reign to walk because I just couldn't go any further. I so desperately wanted to just finish. The last thing I remember is trying to get to 18 or 19. I think the website shows me making it to 20 but not sure. ANYWAYS - I passed out (no recollection) and woke up in the hospital where they asked me if I remember passing out on the course. To which I responded "Marathon, I wasn't running any marathon!" I couldn't remember my name, Jacob's name, family, where I lived, phone numbers. Yes, like I said I did fill out the back of the bib for emergency contact but nobody bothered to check. I was so out of it I didn't even know I had a bib.
Around 2-3 hours later I remembered everything about me but could not for the life of me remember any one's phone numbers. And who by the way remembers phone numbers when everything is programmed into cell phones (which my boyfriend had). Luckily someone remembered the bib we got ahold of the family. It was very, very scary. I seriously thought I had amnesia. They had to admit me overnight b/c of my questionable EKG and high lab results. They thought I was either going to have a heart attack or kidney failure (luckily neither happened but labs are still a bit elevated). I'll leave out the nasty details of my hospital visit. I laid in the ER until 10:30 at which time they found a bed. Unfortunately, I did not get any sleep due to the doctors and nurse waking me up every 30 minutes asking me to repeat my story, draw blood, take my vitals, etc. They finally let me go around 4:30 pm today after making a lot of noise to discharge me.
DNF and thoroughly disappointed. All that training to pass out. My first marathon feels a bit tarnished. But I have a good story even if it does not involve a finish time or picture. Good thing I didn't get the Finisher t-shirt they were selling.
I am okay now just need to find a doctor for follow up labs and I can't run for awhile. Not sure if I will attempt a marathon again. A part of me feels like I need to. we will see...
(and I'll post some pics as soon as I download)
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Thank You!
With 3 days to go I am feeling a bit emotional. I wanted to take the time in this post to thank friends, family and running blog friends alike for their support over the past few months and especially the past week. The outpouring of emails and phone calls of people just checking in and the motivating comments left here means so much. They have all brought a smile to my face! I know I have put in the work over the past months but it is only human to doubt oneself. When the weatherman started predicting the warmest day since 1947 friends and RBF's were there talking me through it. Others are emailing to ask where I need them to be on the course to support me.As one wise friend reminded me today was to just remember the race is my payoff for the months of training. If that doesn't put it in perspective I don't know what would!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
OH CRAP!
I just checked the weather for Sunday... 84 freaking degrees in freaking October. What the hell. Seriously. Okay now I am freaking out.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Delays and such
This morning found me staring at the alarm at 4 am asking why I haven't won the lottery so I could retire early. Yeah, girlfriend had a 6:20 am flight. I hate waking up that early to travel for work but I hate traveling on Sunday - my day of rest ;) - even more. I chose the lesser of two evils in my opinion. Thing is, I probably could have just slept longer. First, we are all lined up and ready to board in 2 minutes instead of boarding we receive the following announcement"Ladies and Gentlemen we have some sort of mechanical issue so we are now departing out of gate B10" I guess the good thing about leaving first thing in the morning is they have some extra planes hanging about. So everyone rushes to the next gate where we proceed to stand in a boarding line for the next 20 minutes. Okay, our depature time has now come and gone. Finally, they board the crew then us and then we...sit...I sleep...wake up 45 minutes later and still I'm sitting (drooling) on the tarmac in Chicago. Nope, haven't moved. This plane had mechanical issues last night and the paperwork went missing. Seriously, you have to be kidding me. Oh, then they found the paperwork except 1 page was missing so that had to be located. And why isn't it filed in a folder on the plane and available at take off. Because that would be way too easy. So yeah, 2 hours later we take off. And people think traveling is glamorous.
Finally I made it in one piece just a little sleep deprived and cranky. Work is proving difficult to focus on (hence the writing on the blog in the middle of the day). I was supposed to do cross training yesterday but I was too dang tired after Saturday night and entertaining people all weekend. I may do the training tonight or run on the treadmill. I need to do something!
Race day weather. I promised myself I wouldn't look until Weds but I checked it out Sunday. My parents used to ask me what the weather was going to be like for the day instead of watching the news - I was obsessed knowing the week's weather when growing up. Lately not so much b/c I am never in one place long enough to really care. But with the unseasonably high temps in Chicago (80's over the weekend) I had to look. Yesterday, weather.com said high of 78 (at start time in the 60's). I was freaking out! So of course I had to look today to see if the cold front is coming to Chicago sooner than expected. It showed a high of 64, 50's at the start of the race. I'll take the 64 please! So I'll be tracking closely over the next few days. A girl needs to know how to plan her first marathon outfit :)
Finally I made it in one piece just a little sleep deprived and cranky. Work is proving difficult to focus on (hence the writing on the blog in the middle of the day). I was supposed to do cross training yesterday but I was too dang tired after Saturday night and entertaining people all weekend. I may do the training tonight or run on the treadmill. I need to do something!
Race day weather. I promised myself I wouldn't look until Weds but I checked it out Sunday. My parents used to ask me what the weather was going to be like for the day instead of watching the news - I was obsessed knowing the week's weather when growing up. Lately not so much b/c I am never in one place long enough to really care. But with the unseasonably high temps in Chicago (80's over the weekend) I had to look. Yesterday, weather.com said high of 78 (at start time in the 60's). I was freaking out! So of course I had to look today to see if the cold front is coming to Chicago sooner than expected. It showed a high of 64, 50's at the start of the race. I'll take the 64 please! So I'll be tracking closely over the next few days. A girl needs to know how to plan her first marathon outfit :)
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