I haven't written anything since just after the marathon. There wasn't much to report initially. I ran, probably about 4-5 times leading up to my next half marathon (9 months into my quest to run [at least] 1 half marathon every month for a year). Most of those runs did not feel very good; in fact I was starting to wonder if my quest might be over. It wasn't until the last run prior to my May half marathon (5/29) that I thought, "Maybe it won't be so bad!" AND I was going to be running with three of my girlfriends for a Girls Weekend, so at least I knew I'd have fun!
Happy Girls Half Marathon:
We drove down on Saturday, for the Sunday "all-girls" race, with a quick pit stop for two of my friends to run the Stoller Vineyards 5k in wine country. I opted to pass on this one, seeing as I was already worried about making through the half the next day. It was fun though, since everyone was allowed to wine taste after the race, including spectators.
After that fun, we made the 3-hour trek to Bend for packet pickup. It was snowing. At the end of MAY!! Oh boy! The weather reports seemed to indicate that Sunday would be a better day, but it still made us nervous. Turned out we had all packed several different choices since we weren't sure how the weather would really turn out.
It was a wet and cold outdoor packet pickup, but everything went pretty smoothly. We got our bibs, shirts, and goody bags (Lululemon bags stuffed with your usual race advertisements, Lara bars, as well as water bottles, candy, fruit strip, and other miscellaneous goodies). After we all retrieved our stuff, we quickly made our way back to the car to warm up, and head out to lunch. We wanted to eat at Bend Brewery, but the line was out the door, so we ended up at some nearby Mexican restaurant instead.
After lunch, we headed down to Sunriver, where we would be spending the next few nights at my Dad's house. My Dad and stepmom made us some pre-race Lasagna, and soon enough, it was time for bed (by 9pm we were all exhausted).
The race didn't start until 9am, so our wakeup call wasn't too early. I got to sleep in until 7am!! My pre-race meal was a donut (why not?!) and I scarfed it down easily in time to drive back up to Bend. We made it to the race start with about 30 minutes to spare. It was supposed to be 40-55°, so I opted to wear my capris with a short sleeve shirt, and a long sleeve shirt on top to keep me warm until I warmed up. I figured I might be cooler than normal since I wouldn't be "racing". Soon enough, we were lining up in the shoot, awaiting the start, then BAM we were off. Well, maybe not that fast.
We lined up with the 11:00 min/mi pacer, and stayed ahead of him, except when we would walk through aid stations. (The pacers were all male "Handsome Pacers" and they were all wearing sparkly skirts.) The first half of the course, was mostly uphill, meaning the second half would be mostly downhill. The course itself was really great! Concrete river trail, paved bike trail, dirt trail, and road. River bridge, forest, high desert-y area. The other participants were really great, too, and many participants had really awesome supporters! All in all, the course was really fun! And the day turned out to be beautiful!
I felt surprisingly great throughout the entire 13.1 miles, and we definitely stopped at the Deschutes Brewery "beer aid station" at about 11.8 miles. So Fun! Soon enough, we were making our "victory" lap at Riverbend Park on the way to the finish line.
Once we crossed the finish line, we were greeted by volunteers with necklaces. Yay! And then it was off to search for the beer. On the way there, however, we found the best thing I've ever found at the end of a race: BROWNIES!!! And not just any brownies, the most delicious brownies EVER!!! I want some more! We did eventually find the beer, and after putting on some warmer clothes (it's surprising how much warmer you feel when you're running!) we made our way to Bend Brewery for lunch. Much needed!
We headed back to Sunriver for a few hours relaxation (including a dip in the hot tub) before heading back to Bend to finish off the day at The Decemberists concert. Good times were had by all, and we were all ready to head back home the next day, Monday, after breakfast at my favorite Bend breakfast place, The Victorian Cafe, and a tasting at one more Bend brewery, 10 Barrel Brewing.
Overall, the Happy Girls Half Marathon was amazing. Everything seemed to happen flawlessly, with no hiccups from our perspective! I was amazed, since it was an inaugural race! I would do it again in a heartbeat, especially if I had friends along with me!
The Week After:
I was scheduled to have the Tuesday after Memorial Day off, so I planned to use it to relax after our busy weekend (and to clean my house!) Unfortunately, I started feeling odd at about noon. I was actually starting to feel like I had a temperature, but without any other symptoms, and by the time I went to bed, my temperature was 99.5°, so I planned to take the next day off of work. I didn't seem to have a temperature on Wednesday, and I didn't really have any other symptoms, but I just didn't feel "well". I didn't really eat anything on Wednesday, and I wasn't really hungry. I started experiencing a minor stomach ache at about 2pm, but overall, I thought I was actually feeling better, and very surprisingly excited to go to work on Thursday. I even went to Wednesday night Trivia with my friends! I went to bed, mentally prepared for the early wakeup call.
Unfortunately, stomach pain woke me up before my alarm did, at 1am. I tried to suffer through it for a bit, since it wasn't the first time I'd had stomach pain wake me up at night (from "ulcer" pain). Soon enough, my pain worried me enough to wake J and ask him whether I should go to the ER, especially since the pain was located in the right lower quadrant; location of appendicitis symptoms. We arrived at the ER at about 2am and after hours of waiting, numerous pokes and prods, and a CT scan (as well as a healthy couple doses of morphine...) we got the diagnosis: Ruptured Appendicitis!!
WHAT!!!???
But I hadn't had any pain until 1am that day. How do you catch it earlier than that?! Oh well...
Next up, a couple of hours waiting to find out if they were going to go ahead and do surgery, or discharge me with antibiotics to calm all the tissues, and then schedule me for surgery later. Soon enough, they told me they had decided on surgery, which would happen as soon as they could get me into an OR.
I had never had surgery before, but everything seemed to happen so fast, I didn't really have time to worry about it, and really...I don't think I had much of a choice to NOT have surgery.
I went in to surgery at 4pm, and came out (feeling freezing cold) about 1.5 hours later. I was back in my hospital room by 7pm. By 8pm, I finally got to slowly drink water!! (I was so thirsty, even though they'd been pumping me full of IV fluids all day!)
The good little Physical Therapist in me had J walk with me that night, and a few times on Friday (with my IV as needed). I had my last IV antibiotic Friday at 4pm, and they told me I could discharge if I wanted to, but I didn't think my pain was adequately controlled at that point, so I stayed another night. By Saturday morning, I was feeling well enough to discharge, so J took me home!
The first few days were rough, and I'm still not feeling 100%. I get tired very easily, but my pain is steadily improving and my walking is looking better (at least from my perspective). I took this week off from work, since I figured I probably wouldn't be feeling to well. I might need to take next week off as well, since I have a 2 week, 10lb lifting restriction, and I do end up lifting people at work... I also have orders for no "strenuous exercise" for 4 weeks, whatever that means.
BUT, this will affect some goals of mine. I was scheduled to run a half marathon the Saturday I was discharged, which would have been my 12th half marathon, and I would have completed it by the anniversary of my very 1st half marathon, which just so happens to be this upcoming weekend. But, that didn't happen. I'm also fairly certain I will not be running another half marathon this month...ending my streak. Oh, and that half marathon triple (3 in 3 days) I was planning over 4th of July weekend; doubt that's going to happen, either. What can you do?! That's the problem with making long term goals; things can come up!
Right now, I'm focused on healing. After that, I can focus on getting back into shape. One step at a time!
So...that's what's up with me. Probably no running recaps for awhile, but perhaps a "health" recap later on this month!
