VT part 3...What The Heck.

Well, this has been quite the rollercoaster of an event. My recovery was NOT going as I had hoped. I figured I would feel better each day, and with rest, rehydration and eating everything that was not nailed down I would be all set. This was not the case. Though I was rehydrating and resting(as if I had a choice) I still couldn't eat much and was feeling worse by the day. Add to that the increasing heart palpitations and nasty headache...a call to my Dr. had me headed back to the ER.

Lucky for me, my old and most wonderful and awesome Dr who now works in the ER was there. Since she knows me, I knew I would be in good hands. I was hooked up to and EKG, given another liter of fluids and other good stuff, and had a bunch of bloodwork done. She checked everything, including my thyroid which she said could have been completely thrown out of whack(more than normal, lol) which could also account for my symptoms. The good news? EVERYTHING came back normal, even my kidney function test. The Rhabdo completely resolved itself, and everything else was ok. NICE!!! So, what was going on? She said that basically even though I had run 50 miles in the past and recovered fine, I had never put my body through THIS much stress. Between that and then my body working so hard to recover, I was not feeling good. Plus, I had not been eating to help rebuild what I had destroyed. So, after my *cocktail* of goodness I got to go home. I still had a raging headache and felt like crap but was grateful to be going home to sleep in my own bed.

This morning I woke up....and felt 100% BETTER!!!! Whatever was in that IV bag plus another good night's sleep did the trick! WOOHOO!!! Not that I am headed out for a run or anything, lol, but I am SO happy to feel like myself again. I have no soreness in my legs at this point at all, which is also a bonus. I will honor the week off of running then s..l..o..w..l..y start to get back into it.

I have learned a whole bunch more about myself, my body and what it can handle. Though I do not EVER want to experience this again, I am amazed and thrilled that my body was strong enough to bounce back so quickly(though not without help). Now I know the signs, and what is obviously NOT going to work for me and I can run smarter in the future.

Running Ultras is all about testing the limits...seeing how much you can do. I know there are plenty of ultrarunners out there who will finish a race at all costs, run through things they shouldn't, etc but that is not me. I will take this lesson and knowledge and file it away. No race is worth permanent damage to my body, and nothing is worth me not being able to run at all. I will take this and run smarter next time, for sure.

Of course there will be a next time... :)