From the ER to the Finish Line!

Those of you that have been following my blog for a while know that I have been running for a few months now and have overcome some obstacles along the way. I was planning on running the 5k for the SLC marathon last month, but could barely walk, let alone run. This weekend, I am in Utah to run the Running with Angels 5k with my mom. I was so excited for the race and really looking forward to it. I have felt great running the last few weeks and was confident that my sciatic pain wasn't going to get in my way this time.

So yesterday I had a nice day out with my mom, went to the mall, and I even got fitted for some new running shoes. At about 6:45 pm, I went to pick up my sister from a school activity and on the way home as I was pulling into their driveway, I had a little bit of a stomach ache. By the time I got into the house, I was on the floor doubled over in pain. It was SO WEIRD. I couldn't explain the pain, and it didn't feel like anything I've ever felt before. The closest I could describe it was to my kidney stone pain, but not quite to that level. I tried everything to relieve the pain, but nothing seemed to help. By about 9:45pm, we decided to just go to an emergency care center. On the way there, I had severe severe pain and got sick in the car. My mom said "I'm taking you STRAIGHT to the hospital." It was kinda scary.

We get to the ER and the pain had subsided somewhat, but was still present. I sat down with the nurse and he took all my vitals. He took my blood pressure and said it was as close to perfect as you can get, and then took my pulse and said "Holy cow! You have a really low pulse, you must be an athlete!" I LOOOOOOOOVE it when you can tell that I'm an athlete by my vitals!! It means that it's true! Lol. So I responded by telling him that yes I am in fact, I'm supposed to be running a race in the morning. He said "ohhhhh well we better get you better then!"

Anyway, to make a long story short, they did an ultrasound on me (so not fun when there's no baby to look at!) and found stones in my gall bladder. Super. So apparently I have to have surgery to have it removed. BUMMER. I guess it's caused by pregnancy and totally unrelated to my kidney stones, which blows my mind. As the doctor was giving us our "exit" instructions, I asked him if I felt alright in the morning, if I could run a 5k. He looked at my like I was NUTS. I was on some narcotics, lol, but I was very serious. I was NOT going to miss my run! (Remember this is at about 12:30am, race starts at 8am and is 30mins away). He said that I could run however he couldn't guarantee that I wouldn't have another pain flare up again, and it was just a risk I would have to decide if I wanted to take. I took it.

My mom was SHOCKED to find me awake and ready to go a 6:15am, only 5 hours after we had gotten home from the ER. She came down into my room as I was getting ready and said, "Are you SERIOUS?!" and I said "Heck yeah, we're doing this!"

It was a BLAST! I'm so glad I didn't wuss out. It was such a beautiful morning and I had an amazing run. I didn't stop once and ran it in about 28 minutes, which met my goal of running it under 30 mins! I even passed my mom, which is a big deal since she's been running more than me (however, she is also 23 years older than me, so I guess that's not saying much, cause she was right behind me!). I ran with my hospital admittance bracelet on just to remind myself how strong I actually am!

I'll let you know when I'm having surgery...

Results...

My offiicial time: 28:18.55

Place: 204th out of 1010 :)

Age group (W 19-24) place: 10th out of 78

We didn't bring our cameras to the race, so this was the only shot we got at the race with my moms phone.

Yeaaa Mommy!!!

Woo hoo! We did it! Now we're going for a 10k in the fall! (notice my bracelet)