Goody Bags, Hyponatremia, A Brisk 5K

I ran a 29:46 5K Thursday night in Grant Park in a little race to raise funds for cancer research. The 9:46 per mile pace was slow for me but considering where I've been the past two years I'll take it because it's the fastest I've ran since a trip to the emergency room at Northwestern Hospital in the summer of 2005. About two weeks after I got out of ER my mom died and I went to her funeral feeling like crap, worried that I might trip and fall down, so it wasn't a good summer. However, I did learn another lesson and frankly I'm quite tired of lessons but I know there are more ahead of me.

I've not been keen on talking much about my injuries or setbacks because I usually get the usual "shit man you're old" look "give it up, read a book or something." That really gets old! The trip to ER was due to what experts say is a rare condition called hyponatremia, low blood sodium, not enough salt. I was pushing it a bit in the heat and humidity and was losing my balance but thought I was having trouble adapting to the heat. Very embarassing. Well, I got to a point where I thought I was going to fall down and was worried that I might be having a stroke, thus the trip to ER.

One intern after another would stop by and ask if I were still having chest pains and I kept repeating that I never had chest pains. I knew I was in deep shit lying on my back in that place. My "old" running buddy Bambi, who's 30 years my junior and of course beautiful, called me and these are the first words that came out of her mouth. "Boy you'll do anything to get out of a run." My running friends are true friends? Jeez! I was in ER on a Friday night and we were supposed to do a 10 miler early Saturday morning and I had to bag a run...dammit!. I stayed overnight and took the prescribed stress test the following morning on a treadmill and was told by a cute nurse with a Jodie Foster like southern drawl "urrrr ahhh-some." YES...I KNOW! The cardiologist told me "you're out of this hotel." YES! And the only thing the Doctor could find was "your blood sodium is a little low" so he recommended increased salt intake. Duh! Yep, so now I know about not only hydration but electrolyte imbalance and its affect on the brain. And I need to conserve as many brain cells and nerves as I can considering what I've put myself through in this journey we call life.

I've not had this funky hyponatremia problem since then but I ran very, very slow last year and ran with fear. And, that isn't the way I do anything, much less run.

Soooooo I have been pushing a bit more this summer and thus my excitement about actually running a little brisk-er 5K and being able to walk straight the next day. It's the little things in life that are important, like being able to talk and walk, enjoy a sunrise or sunset...much less run.

Speaking of little things, all of these little 5ks here in the Windy City have the usual goody bags, stuffed with stuff like a mini energy bar. I usually get home, look for the energy bar and toss it on top of my fridge for later use, then I pitch the rest of the stuff. Once in awhile there's a running shirt in the bag called a "keeper."

Well, the goody bag I got last night featured a bag of Jeff Foxworthy ham jerky, never tried it, didn't know it existed but it put an even bigger smile on my face than I had because of the refreshing heart-pounding run I had just completed. I might even share a piece of the dried ham with my son, with my blue collar friends and hide it from the suit and tie crowd.

Yes, this working stiff farm boy has to keep a few secrets from some of the aristocrats around here. But there are a lot of good and real people in this big brawling city...really there are! Tomorrow morning I'm meeting a bunch of tough son-of-a-guns for an 8 mile run along Lake Michigan and there will be no fear, maybe a little nervous, but never afraid.

I've found a home, I'm no longer a misfit and I'm in hog heaven with my little bag of ham jerky that I won. Git-er-done!