(The above song is Weird Al Yankovic's "Dare to Be Stupid" It just
happened to be in the Tranformers movie, which I saw as a kid with my brother
and also own. I admit that.)
That's what we have been hearing now for about four weeks. With a month left of training for our marathons and half marathons, the latest advice and words of wisdom we got from our coaches was: "don't do anything stupid."
We got that PSA on a Friday. Very sound advice. I mean, it makes good sense. We've all been training hard since January. We can't risk anything now. Don't decide it's time to climb a rock wall. Don't decide it's time to practice your hockey skills. Don't dance in your kitchen while making dinner. (I don't do that. Really I don't.) Well then, the sun came up on Saturday morning, and people went down.
It was only a 14 mile run day for the marathoners and 7 or 8 for the half marathoners. Around the 2nd or third mile, someone in our group fell and banged up their knee. Not more than 5 minutes later, another person had fallen as well. What the heck is going on? Although their pride was hurt more than anything, they still finished their runs, even if they were a little bloodied and in pain. Later that afternoon, my girlfriend had fallen and also got hurt. Thankfully she was OK. She just a couple of bumps and bruises to which I thought I was a Dr. and tried to take care of her. I also proved I'm not a Dr and did a horrible job of covering up her knee scrape. So much for being an Eagle Scout. Might as well get rid of that First Aid merit badge! Three people going down in one day. It looks like we've al been jinxed!
From there on I had seen people posting their injuries and that they were no longer able to run come race day and needed to sell their bib. Did this advice really jinx us? It certainly seemed that way. However, these things don't happen because anyone did anything stupid. Training is very rigorous and does take a toll on our bodies. It just comes with the territory. We will take our falls. Things will start to hurt. Some things will start to hurt more than others. It happens. But, it's heartbreaking to see this happen too so many people.
Now what about me? That's pretty easy to figure out. I did something stupid.
Three weeks out and little did I know I was about to have some problems. I was headed out to run with my girlfriend and another friend and the back of my knee was pretty itchy. I didn't think anything of it, but it looked like I had a pretty decent sized rash. It didn't look too pretty, but then again no rash ever does. I just shrugged it off and we went out for our run. That was that.
At that particular time, it was sort of warmer out so I was running in shorts. I always wear knee supports not because I have issues, but because I don't want any. (Call me paranoid.) However, I did noticed that the rash seemed to get worse and there now appeared to be the same rash on the back of my other knee. Uh oh. It didn't really hit me until the Friday before our last long run: I was breaking out into hives. How the heck did this happen?
Well, me being the kind of shopper that I am, decided that this laundry soap called Sun detergent was a bargain at Wal Mart, so I picked it up. 100 plus loads for I think $2.97, or $4.97. I can't remember but that's a bargain! Score! WRONG! My legs were getting just a tad worse and I started to take some Benadryl and use some cortisone creme. Surely that would help.
Nope.
 |
| Exhibit A of doing something Stupid. I know it's gross, but it's also funny. |
That last long run was a cold one and I had my running tights on. That just made things worse since I had already washed all of my running gear in that detergent. From my ankles all the way up to tops of my legs I was a hot itchy mess. It was the worse case of hives I had ever gotten. The only reason I figured it had to be the laundry soap was because the only areas affected were where a person would wear running clothes (tights, belts, etc.)
I tried everything to clear them up. I went through tubes of cortisone, Benadryl, Calamine lotion, you name it. I was not getting better. I was reading everything on the internet that said heal severe hives quickly." I rubbed green tea on my wounds. I rubbed apple cider vinegar on my wounds. I was chugging chamomile tea. I was slugging pineapple juice. I even took a bath in cold water and oatmeal. I actually sat in a tub filled with oatmeal. I was a grown man, and I was taking a bath in Quaker Oats. And, as you may have guessed, it didn't quite work. My case was just a little too severe. Although I was walking fine and even ran track that Tuesday, I knew I had to go see a Dr.
When the Dr. looks at me and says, "Oh. Oh wow. I need to get you on something now," maybe, just maybe you should have went a tad sooner! It took a few days for the Prednisone prescribed to finally kick in. But before it did, my left leg was twice the size of my right leg. My foot looked like a balloon.
 |
| Exhibit B: My left leg is huge. I only now just noticed that my right leg looked swollen too, and I look badly sunburned. |
 |
| Exhibit C: Balloon foot. It didn't hurt to walk on it at all. And toes have been edited because no one wants to see my toes. Well no one wants to see my foot and ankle either but oh well. |
I was worried that my tapering would pretty much consist of no running until marathon day. I was unable to run for a week and it killed me to not run. The weather had been extraordinary! But, within a week I was all cleared up. I was ready to run. Everything looked normal. My coach reassured me I would be fine so that eased my mind a bit.
So, after numerous re-washes in what I will now used until the end of time (Tide Free and Clear on the suggestion of my girlfriend) my clothes are safe to run in again. I was paranoid for a while though so I spent about $50.00 on new sock and underwear. I didn't really have to, and now wish I would have just spent that on another race. Anyhow, I was ready to run which is great because this past weekend it was time for the cake run! We only had to run 8 miles that day, and we were rewarded with cake! (And maybe some mimosas with our coach to celebrate what they call #tapermadness.)
 |
| Photo Credit: Coach Dave Spell of SCRR |
 |
| Coach Betsy McGovern having beat us to the cake. Photo Credit Dave Spell of SCRR |
 |
| The back half of our 8 miles down at the Homestead Waterfront I tried to take this while running backwards. I was doing something stupid again. |
 |
| Umm, Coach, whacha makin'? |
 |
| Coach Suzanne's "kids" toasting to training well done. |
 |
| This really doesn't need a caption. |
Now, the marathon is only 5 days away. Some of me still itches a little bit, but it's mostly from dry skin. However, I'm calm. I'm at ease. I no longer look like a connect the dots book. I'm ready to go. The marathon, my first ever, is only 5 days away. I'll try not to do anything stupid. Until then, let's keep on running.
 |
| Photo Credit: Dave Spell of SCRR This is just such a great shot. |
 |
| That's Right, Game on Pittsburgh |
 |
| Bring It. |
Sinceriously,
Chuck Hull......The Running Jedi.
#gameonpgh #runpgh #lovetherun #26miles26dedications
PS: THERE IS STILL TIME TO DONATE and possibly WIN A SIGNED MARIO LEMIEUX JERSEY! We met our goal of $1500 raised and I can now raffle off a signed Mario Lemieux Jersey. If I can hit $2500 I can raffle off a signed 1992 Stanley Cup game ticket, signed my Mario! We have until race day to collect donations for the Mario Lemieux Foundation. You can still have a chance to win. All you have to do is click the link below and donate!
No comments:
Post a Comment