Lost & Found: Go, baby, go!

Sometimes you get the motivation you need when you need it. Sometimes it’s right in front of you, sometimes it comes in via text. Words of encouragement are great motivation. They came when I needed them this morning.

Frankly, I was feeling a little down and I headed out on an intentionally long run in hopes of getting good and run-high to counter that. Of course I didn’t want it to go haywire, so I balanced it out with my Matchbox Sads playlist (a collection of typically melancholy Matchbox Twenty songs). I knew I needed the run, though, and that’s what’s important. I headed north. Within a block I was determined to head to the lake again, only this time I would follow the trail out and back, which would give me close to 13 miles. I believe it came to 12.5.

So the encouragement arrived about 4.5 miles in, at my first water break. That’s right, first water break. I did stop for a drink a second time. You’ll understand the significance in a bit. Juiced now, I kept right on going. Crossing the earthen dam at the west end of the lake I was passed by my high school driver’s ed instructor Gary Wagher on a bicycle. Caught up with him at the end of the trail and turned right around to head home. No rest. It was my desire to complete the run without any bouts of walking.

Stopped at the water fountain again and even snapped a pic for proof of my hydration efforts. Good boy!

The temperature was rising and I was feeling it. When I finally hit Broad Street it became a struggle. But I was determined not to walk. If I started I might not get back to running. And in a lazy way, I just didn’t want to walk the rest of the way home. Ironic, I know.

I zig-zagged a bit through neighborhoods where I figured to find more shade from trees close to the street. Still, I was losing steam. Approaching the final mile, I slowed to a walk for the length of one house. A block later I was walking again. Then running after a block. Then I was walking again. That’s OK. I needed the break so I accepted it. I was beat. So when I hit First Presbyterian Church, my church, I ducked inside for a drink and a little cooling – even though my apartment was just a block and a half away.

That’s when it hit me: dehydration. I got a swig from the fountain and lay down on the mat just inside the door. Shubie and Lynne came to check on me. I asked for more water – a tumbler full. Shubie went for it. Lynne brought me cool, wet paper towels for my head. Still I was feeling extremely fatigued. Then it got worse. My arms were tingling, and my tongue. I felt light-headed and a little nauseous.

“Do you want to go to the ER?” Shubie asked.

“No.” It’ll pass, I thought.

But it wasn’t passing.

“I’m taking you to the ER,” Shubie declared.

“OK.” The fight had left me.

That was at 10:27 a.m.

Shubie has fun with the dry-erase board.

Two liters of sodium chloride solution and six hours later and I was good as new. Shubie, great pal that he is, stayed with me the whole time. Even brought me potato chips, cookies and a Sprite for some real rejuvenation. We had a lot of laughs, too. The best was when my nurse, Chris Sweborg, told us some of the funny incidents he’s seen in the ER. Consider the woman who arrived in a panic over her son’s strangely discolored skin. Chris wasn’t on the case, but he was there. Another nurse examined the poor boy and asked the mother, “Has your son been eating Cheetos?” Yes, he had. Oh my! Is there a connection? “Ma’am, your son has a case of Cheeto hands.”

My problem was a little more legit. Dr. Gucci’s diagnosis: “Heat exhaustion and extreme dehydration.”

Today's Stats

Temp: 75-88 degrees F

Distance: 12.5 miles

Weekly Total: 18.5 miles

Treasure: None.