Seriously, who gets an allergic reaction during a run?

This girl.

So in honor of Pi Day, I set out for a chill 3.14 run. My husband got home from work, we had an late lunch/early dinner of our favorite “pie”–Pita Jungle’s Glazed Lavosh Pizza, I changed and stretched and then hit the road. It had been about an hour and half post meal when I headed out so no biggie. I’ve actually sometimes literally have eaten and ran lol! But yesterday I actually gave it some time.

I knew where I was going as I had ran that route before. It’s almost an exact 3.14 route around my neighborhood that takes me through a park and main roads. I was wanting to do a warm up mile and then negative split the last two not caring about the time but wanted the third to be faster than the second.

I headed out and ran through park. I reached the bike path that would lead me to the first major road. l’ve ran through this bike path many times but it’d been a while since the last. I waved to a couple walking and smiled at a woman with her four dogs. I was cruising along thinking how the smell of the trees and bushes around were so strong. Pungent even. But I kept going.

I reached the end of the path and turned left going north towards a major crossroad. My fingers started to itch and I began scratching furiously. I told myself, “Don’t think about it Helly. Keep going.” The first mile beeped.

I reached the corner of the cross road and turned left now going west towards home. I was two miles away.

My fingers were on fire and I thought it was the weirdest thing but I kept going. Then I started to feel a tingling sensation in my toes. It started creeping up my body. By the time mile two beeped, I could feel my tongue, lips, and ears swelling. I knew I was in trouble.

I reached the last crossroad going home and even though the light was green, I stopped. I pulled my phone out of my SPIbelt (thank God I had that thing) and called my husband. He didn’t answer.

I figured, I was less than a mile away so if something insane happened, he’d have a record of my call and I was wearing my Road ID (thank God I had that thing).

By this point, I could see the hives start to grow on my arms and legs.

This was nothing compared to how bad it got

I made the last left towards home and passed a fire station. I’ve always thought it was cool we lived so close to one and now, at that very moment, I was even more grateful. I contemplated stopping there and getting help. But, I decided I was a block away from our house and I figured I’d let my husband in on what was happening. I didn’t know yet how serious what was happening to me was.

The last mile was the fastest. Not just because it was what I wanted/planned, but because I knew I needed to get home…quick.

My splits:

Mile 1: 9:23 (Everything was fine and dandy)
Mile 2: 8:52 (Holy, what the hell is going on…)
Mile 3: 8:37 (Shit got real)

I entered the code to my gate and started to walk the rest of the way. I took out my phone to take a pictures of what was happening to show my husband (in the rare chance whatever was happening went away). I even took a picture of my face but I’ll spare you (think Will Smith in Hitch)…..yeah……

As soon as I got home my husband took one look at me and said, “Go lie down.” I went to our guest bedroom and started taking off my clothes. I yelled to my husband to call our neighbor to come over and watch our kids so he could call 911.

About 10 minutes later the paramedics arrived. I heard one of them say to another, “Her back is completely covered.”

“Full dosage,” another said.

I began being poked and prodded and could feel myself about to lose consciousness. I tried my hardest to stay awake and luckily whatever they injected me with began to work pretty quickly.

They lifted me into the ambulance where I was reviewed for 5 hours before they released me. No clue as to what triggered it. I was told that I’d have to carry an Epi Pen with me in case I had another reaction. I was referred to an allergist to hopefully get some answers. I hadn’t eaten anything new, hadn’t taken any medications, hadn’t worn any new clothes, hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary. The only thing I could pin point is the bike path with all the trees and bushes I ran past.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to be careful out there. I am so glad I was close to home and not doing a long run in the middle of nowhere or God forbid a trail run. I am so glad I had my SPIbelt with my phone and my Road ID. These precautions are so necessary. I’ve never been allergic to anything ever ever. I had zero thought that something like this would happen to me, that I would be so close to a horrific accident. You just truly never know.

No questions today. Have a good weekend friends. Be safe.