A Run With An ER Detour

Posted by hellyontherun in Running and tagged with Allergic Reaction, Allergies, Road Precautions, Road Safety, Running, Scare March 15, 2014

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.

It’s Friday! Time for Some Weekend Shopping

Posted by hellyontherun in Running, Shopping and tagged with Accessory, Running, Shopping, SPIbelt March 14, 2014

I always look forward to Fridays. Even though I’m a parent now and weekends don’t bring the same luxuries as before, it’s still so nice to get to this day–mostly because my husband is home and that makes me happy 🙂

except naps don’t really happen with 2 under 2 lol!

Anyway, weekends at our household usually mean going to Target and Walmart for our weekly grocery and necessities. It’s the kind of shopping we’ve been doing more of lately jaja!!

But, I do have something pretty awesome I recommend you buy this weekend. I recently was given a sweet SPIbelt to review and like many, I only have good things to say about it.

This was the beauty I received:

Before I had this awesome accessory, I would run with a water bottle that had a little zip pocket. I don’t mind running with it but when I would go for short runs where I didn’t really need/want water, I’d carry it just to put my keys in it. I even ran a few races carrying the water bottle solely for the key purpose. Kinda annoying. (This is another reason I like running with my husband. He becomes the key holder). I’ve tried putting my keys in those little pockets they put in shorts and pants now, but I could feel it when I’d run and didn’t trust that it’d stay put.

I also don’t run with my phone–no room and I don’t like wearing arm straps.

Then I read a few reviews on the SPI belt and a few of my buddies in my run club had them and I was intrigued. My first question was, “Will it jiggle or bounce when I run?” Well, I got the answer when I took it on my first run–NO 🙂 It really doesn’t move. I even forgot it was there during my 4 mile test run. And a bigger plus, no dangling straps. No one likes straps dangling while you run.

It fit my Samsung Galaxy S3, my keys, and my Chapstick. I could even fit more stuff if I wanted but I’m not that high maintenance (when I’m running anyway 😉 ). I was so pleasantly surprised that even with the weight of my phone, I didn’t feel the belt when I ran. This made me very happy as I mostly run at night and like having my phone for security. Before, I always felt a little uneasy but didn’t have much of a choice unless I wore an arm strap or put it in my sports bra (um….no).

The belt is also fashionable and not in the gaudy-look-at-me kinda way. There are quite a few color and design options with the belt and different sizes. They even have plus-sized belts and kid belts (I definitely see one in my daughter’s future) and pet belts/leashes. And if I wanted something specifically to hold my keys and only my keys, SPIbelt offers a SPIband Wrist and Ankle Pocket–perfect if I didn’t want anything around my waist.

Source

I’ll be running Rock ‘n’ Roll Madrid, Spain soon and I’ll definitely be sporting my SPIbelt during the race and while I tour Europe. It’s not just a runner’s accessory. You can use it while you go for walks, hiking, biking, or like me touring a city 🙂

So, if you’re in the market for an accessory belt, you’ve got my SPIbelt recommendation. You won’t regret your choice and you’ll see firsthand why it’s such a popular item.

Treat yourself to some online shopping this weekend. You deserve it! SPIbelt.com

–Do you carry stuff when you run?

–Do you have a SPIbelt and love it?

–What would you put in your SPIbelt?

Have a great weekend!! Good luck if you’re racing and have fun if you’re long running 🙂

I did receive my SPIbelt gratis, but the opinions expressed in this review are solely my own. I really am glad I have this thing!

Post Marathon Musings

Posted by hellyontherun in Marathon, Running and tagged with Advice, Marathon, Musings, Post-race, Running, Thoughts March 12, 2014

Of course I’ve been reflecting on my first marathon and what I’ve learned. It’s true what they say in that it is a life changing experience. I’m sure as time passes more things will come to mind, but here are few post marathon musings:

1. Training for a marathon is not only getting you ready to run the distance but to train your mind to know you can run the distance.

I feel like I let my mind take over the last 6 miles when the marathon really starts. I felt like I couldn’t give any more and I don’t know, maybe I could have. It’s easy to say that now that it’s over because at the time, you really feel like you can’t. I think this where my mental toughness weakened. Every one hurts. Every one is struggling. The last part of the race is the really challenge–more mental than physical–and I think this is where I need to tell the negative thoughts in my head to take a walk somewhere else.

2. There will be good runs/races and there will be bad runs. Don’t compare them.

When I ran my 20 mile training run I felt great. I even said that I wished the marathon would’ve been that day because of how good I felt. But, it wasn’t and I need to forget about that training run. Sometimes, when I start to get upset about how I didn’t make my 4:30, I think about that 20 miler and how smooth it was. But then I snap to reality. Twenty miles is not 26.2 and like I said before, those last 6.2 is the real race.

3. A goal is good but not the end all, be all of life.

If you haven’t noticed, I’m super competitive. Not so much with other people, but more so with myself. For some reason, I don’t get upset or jealous when other people get better times than me. I actually get super stoked for them. Heck, my best running buddy is Salt and she’s super hardcore. I do however, get upset when I feel I could have done better. My husband has been getting on my case about how when people ask how I did on my marathon, I preface my response with, “Well, I didn’t meet my goal but…” Why do I do that? People don’t need to know my goal or that I didn’t make it. It doesn’t lessen the awesomeness that was my time. This is something I want to work on. Focus more on the positive and not get so down on myself when I don’t reach a goal–and in this case, it’s even more silly because I did reach my goal. I finished a freaking marathon!!

4. People who have run a marathon know what they’re talking about.

I love hearing about people’s marathon experiences. I learn so much getting different perspectives. I filter the information I want to keep of course 🙂 But one of the most common pieces of advice I got was to not start out fast. Time and time again, this always came up.

I felt like at the time I wasn’t starting out too fast but in retrospect, I definitely think I did.

I originally had a plan of starting with a 10:10 pace and taking that for the majority of the race. But at the start, I hooked up with the 4:25 pacer and the first 4 miles were more of the 9:45-50 pace. I was reminded about the inexperienced idea of wanting to “bank time” by my pal piratebobcat–it doesn’t work and don’t do it. I think this is something I’ll for sure take with me to my next marathon and what I would share to new marathoners.

5. Running is addicting.

It was not even an hour post marathon that I was already thinking about the next one.

I’m not kidding when I said I was in super pain when I finished. I couldn’t even walk at the end. But there I was, thinking of when the most realistic time to run another marathon would be. Runners are a unique bunch. That’s all I really got to say about that.

6. Rest. Rest. and Rest.

I think I was still on the adrenaline of having finished a marathon that two days later I ran. And then I ran again. And then I ran again.

I felt okay and made sure I wasn’t go out too fast but I seemed to have forgotten that I had just ran a marathon!

I went to bed last night after a 5 mile run and told my husband, “I’m tired. Like really tired.” Saying those words out loud seemed to light up something in my head. Helly, you need to rest!! So, my running this week will be postponed. I’m resting these legs. I know they’re tired and I can feel them telling me they want a Spring Break.

7. Being a marathoner is pretty awesome.

Yes, I’m one of those who bragged and showed off my medal any chance I could the week following the race. I wore my medal to sleep that first night and wore to the Wal-mart the next day. I wore it to the park. I wore it running errands. It didn’t come off at all that Sunday post-race 🙂

I love the look on people’s faces when you tell them you’ve run a marathon. I love that they think I’m crazy. I love that I’m in this unique club of people who enjoy doing things that are crazy.

You bet I will! 🙂

Or I’ll probably just drop it in a conversation nonchalantly like it’s no big deal 😉

–What advice would you give a first-time marathoner?

–If you haven’t ran a marathon, would you? Why or why not?

–What are some things you’ve learned from a race (of any distance)?