I Probably Should Make My Blog Public again

Apparently I have a mild concussion from my blow to the nose on Saturday.  I won't be running until I feel right again.  

Is it wrong that I'm amused?

I'm going to start running again tomorrow after a bit under a week of dizziness. I'm a little nervous because I signed up for a 10K--I am fully prepared to stop if my head isn't cooperating! I was amused on Monday; now I'm just anxious to be normal again!

So here's the full story:

I was trying to get my toddler to take an early nap, which was a mistake in itself.  Since I was tired, I thought I'd take a nap with him.  He stood up while I was laying down and when I asked him to lay down, he threw his whole body weight on me, right in my nose.  Saying it hurt is an understatement.

After icing my nose for an hour, I was forced to go to the zoo (which was the reason why I attempted an early nap in the first place).  I felt like poo, but I just attributed it to 1) the race I had run that morning and 2) the fact that my nose was killing me.

The next day I attempted to drive back home (120 or so miles, 95 of it along I-57, quite possibly the most boring stretch of highway ever).  It was raining in Chicago, but when it started to get sunny (with about 60 miles to go) I realized that my vision was strange.  It wasn't blurry, but something with the lines on the road was making it really hard to concentrate.  I pulled over because I knew I wasn't going to make it.  My brother in law drove my husband up to drive us home while the kids and I enjoyed yogurt at McDonalds.

I thought the vision thing was because my nose was swollen.  I took some periodic naps throughout the afternoon.

Then Monday I unwisely drove to school and was still feeling strange.  My condition deteriorated throughout the day and I was guilted into going to the doctor by another teacher.  One of the secretaries drove me to convenient care.  I was actually relieved to be diagnosed with a concussion because I don't even know what I was thinking was the problem.

And then everyone at school was like, "I thought it might be a concussion," and I wonder why it didn't occur to anyone to tell me that.

So the rest of this week has been pure suck.  The doctor actually told me that I would learn what it's like to have ADD, and that was 100% accurate.  I couldn't focus on anything and I had a whanging headache besides. 

I'm looking forward to running again, but didn't want to start until I felt better.  I'm still not 100%, but I'm about 85% and the worst thing about the week is that I haven't run at all.

I began with a bit more than a mile warmup to make sure that I was okay to run.  No major problems, but I felt better with my eyes focused downward.

I didn't have any expectations for this race because this is the first I've run in a week.  I did start off too fast--my first mile was 7:51 and I was shooting for 8:30.  I blame it on nerves.  My second mile was slightly under 8, but during the 3rd mile I slowed down to run with this kid (he looked about 10 or 11) who was having trouble.  He was doing the old sprint, sprint, sprint, walk walk, sprint routine.  I made him run with me for about 1/2 mile and just talked to him a little.  I couldn't tell if he was nervous that I was yelling at him to stay with me, but he did at any rate.  Then he split off because he was doing the 5K.  The third mile was about 8:30

I did another slower mile (8:30) and then at mile 4 I wanted to get ahead of a pack of runners that passed me while I was running with the kid.  I picked up the pace to catch up and passed about 5 people.

During the last 1.2 2 of those people passed me again, and I just didn't care enough to stay with them.  But when a short, squat man tried to pass me, suddenly I cared enough to pick up the pace and keep in front of him.  At the end I saw the little kid from before cheering for me and I just pushed to the end because I didn't want to get passed again.

The little kid took first in his age division! 

I took the first place trophy in my age division, but I don't really count it because the overall winner was my age, so I will give myself 2nd.

I don't know how many runners there were, but I will update when the results are online.  I know the number of 10K runners was small compared to the number of 5K runners.

I did a really slow cool down before the awards were announced.

I'm dizzy right now.  My eyes are just not focusing properly.  I will try to take a nap today and then assess how I feel tomorrow morning and run accordingly.