Walking Into Reality

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The original name of this post was supposed to be “Running On More of THE Road” as a follow up to my blog a year ago called “Running On THE Road” about the Great Ocean Road Half-Marathon I ran. ‘More of THE Road’ meant running from Lorne to Apollo Bay, the length of the 44km Full Marathon.

“Supposed” to be?

Yeah. Guess what? I didn’t run it.

Now, anyone who knows me knows that I possess a very wide stubborn streak. I don’t like giving up. Admittedly, sometimes when something is very challenging I will have a meltdown and declare I can’t do it but usually the melting down also melts down the stress and I pick myself up and get on with it.

And that is exactly how it originally went. One might suppose that scheduling a three week trip to Nepal, closely followed by completing a 100km charity walk and then giving myself six weeks to train for a full marathon was perhaps overdoing it a tad but, you know, shiny things….

Predictably, limited training due to travel and a focus on long-distance walking and then a week’s wait for blisters to heal, did not leave me in prime running condition when I picked up marathon training halfway through the program.

I was slow. Like, a full minute or more per kilometre than I was used to. And an attempted 3.5 hour training run ended after 2.5 hours when I just couldn’t go any further.

Did I consider giving up? You bet. And I think I would have. I could have easily dropped back to run the half-marathon instead except…. well …. been there, done that, got the medal. So nothing for it but to push on.

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Got one of these already

So I did. Slowly my pace picked up and the following weekend, I successfully completed that 3.5 hour run. I was feeling confident again I’d make it to the finish line. Maybe not in a spectacular time but you get the medal whether you’re first or last as long as you finish so no biggy.

But then my body had other ideas.

Getting up off the couch in the early morning after a wee hours insomnia-induced movie watching session, I suddenly felt pain in the left side of my chest and my shoulder. I thought I must have been lying awkwardly. Or maybe it was another version of a similar problem I had three years ago that turned up nothing. So I got on with my usual day.

Yeah, yeah, before you lecture me, I’ve already had that lecture from the doctor. “Next time, if you have pain in your chest and arm, you call the ambulance or get to an emergency department!” Okay, okay.

Two days of pain in my chest and two days of pain in the neck hassling from friends and family sent me off to the doctor only to be told there there was nothing wrong with my heart or lungs and it was muscular. Take some anti-inflammatories and wait for it to get better.

“Poor health is not caused by something you don’t have; it’s caused by disturbing something that you already have. Healthy is not something that you need to get, it’s something you have already if you don’t disturb it.” ~ Dean Ornish

Which it kind of did. Until it didn’t.

A week after the first lot of pain, a new development began. I was now accompanied by a silent, invisible assassin who would stab me in the lower left of my back at random intervals. He/she especially liked cuddling up to me in bed and sticking in the knife every time I moved.

It took me five days to go and see a doctor. I know, I know.

I had to dedicate a whole morning to blood tests, a urine test, ECG and a chest x-ray. I threw in some pre-poll voting while I was at it since it was in the same vicinity and I was going to be away the day of the coming federal election. Such a productive day.

By 5.00pm I was in the Emergency Department. One of the blood tests had indicated the possible presence of a blood clot. The admitting nurse and the consulting doctor both reacted as if my GP was an over-anxious parent with a cold-ridden child convinced she has pneumonia and declared that as I had none of the physical indicators of a clot and the blood test was notoriously often false, I was probably wasting my time. But as I’d been sent there, they had to give me a CT scan.

They found a small blood clot in my left lung. Also inflammation and a small amount of fluid. How embarrassing.

And how mysterious.

Fortunately, a hospital stay was not required and I was sent home with a prescription for blood thinners and an appointment with a haematologist the next day.

The haematologist was just as mystified. I am a fit non-smoker and have not had a virus or an injury. There were no signs a blood clot would be lurking at the bottom of my lung. All he could do was confirm the emergency doctor’s instructions to take blood thinners for three months and I’d be retested at the end of it to see what happens.

“No running for a month,” I was told.

“But I have a race on Sunday! What about…,” I pleaded. “What about I walk the half-marathon? It has a six and a half hour cut off. That’s like less than 5km/h!”

He grudgingly agreed. I had to promise not to run and also not to push too hard and to pull out if I felt unwell.

Yep. Definitely going to do that.

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Goodbye Full Marathon Bib, Hello Half-Marathon Walk Bib. This helped because I told myself I couldn’t run because it was against the rules.

I didn’t run. But I did walk kind of fast. By accident. I swear. It was a lovely day and a stunningly beautiful route and I just got kind of excited. Truly.

I finished in 3 hours and 16 minutes. That’s an hour longer than it took me to run it last year. Under the circumstances, I can be happy with that.

(Those circumstances, by the way, included a migraine the night before the race and almost having to push my way off the bus when we got to the start line because I was about to be sick. One of the tough things about the Great Ocean Road races is that you have to sit on a bus for 30-60 minutes on a windy road to get to the start line. Most challenging race start anywhere, I reckon.)

Unsurprising to other runners who understand, at the end of the race I felt the best I’d felt in weeks. Even during the race, as I found last year, the sheer joy of running walking along one of the most scenic roads in the world lifted my spirits and made me feel whole again.

Too busy looking for my friend who’d already finished and was enjoying a drink at the pub to be watching the finish line.

 

Who wouldn’t want to beg their medical specialist to be allowed to traverse this road?

Waving off the runners
And one of these at the end
This is what greeted us the next morning. So lucky with the weather.

 

Postscript 1: The day after the race, an ultrasound found a blood clot behind my left knee caused by the combination of a varicose vein and an overseas flight (it is assumed). This provides something of an answer to the mysterious clot in my lung. It also appears that this will be an ongoing problem so there are more doctors, tests and procedures in my future.

 

Postscript 2: I’d like to dedicate this post to my friend Rachel who moved to New Zealand via Apollo Bay so we could enjoy this last run together. She also kindly looked after me when I was being a misery guts.

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Two happy half-marathoners

 

 

 

 

59 thoughts on “Walking Into Reality”

  2. Gosh! is all I can say other than totally agree with a walk along that road really lifts the spirits especially when the 5k walk ended up being a 5.68k walk with the turn around at the bottom of the hill at St Georges River. Finished in 1.14 a bit slow usually walk 12 minks but that hill!

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  3. Flippin heck (or words to that effect). Congrats on another medal — particularly well-deserved i’d Say. Hope the tests and whatnot don’t result in any major curtailing of your amazingness.

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  6. I am beset with an urge to come over and spoon feed you chicken soup while simultaneously cluck clucking alternating with sung tender ballads. I am hoping your nearest and dearest are coddling you and cuddling you and taking best care. Get well. Quickly. Much love

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    • I take the point and I am trying to see each step through. The hard thing is that I feel so much better now than I did a couple of weeks ago so it’s difficult to see it as serious.
      And I really did feel fantastic after the race. It was nice.

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  9. What a story! I’m sorry for your health woes, but glad that you got to the doc before things got worse. Walking is a good way to move through life, so why not do it for a medal, too? Take care, even if you don’t want to.

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  11. I would love to ride/bike/walk that route. I am not a runner. Perhaps you should reconsider being a runner. I think Maggie might be onto something. Just be careful with one of my favorite bloggers…ok?

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  12. I don’t know whether to admire you for your grit and determination or admonish you for waiting too long to see the doctor…twice.

    Then again, I’ll just say I’m glad you are upright and breathing. Take care of yourself, H, although by the looks of the scenery, I can see why you insisted on “walking” the half marathon. Gorgeous!

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  13. Blood clots are serious! Please be sensible! I can see why that road would cheer you up, but…
    [Says she who has taken 6 weeks to see a GP about what was believed to be sciatica pain and was confirmed as such by said GP]

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  15. Wow, Heather. I really am at a loss for words. What a turn of events, and then what a turn of events, and another. From running to not running and walking and more discoveries about yourself… It sounds all scary but you seem to take it all in our stride 😉 You’re a bit crazy to be doing so much but I think we all secretly look up to the crazy ones 😀 Rest well, safe safe and care ❤

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  16. You did a half marathon with a pulmonary embolism?!! Good thing you are on the other side of this planet or I do believe you might hear this old nurse screaming. Holy moly girl I am glad you are doing well but please don’t over do it. I know you lead a wildly busy life but just remember you’d like to keep living it for a lot of years. Take care my friend. xo

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  17. Goodness me, no I know what you mean by worrying a bit more about yourself. But would it have helped? Maybe not. I wonder if it stemmed from the flights. Was it a night flight?
    Take care of yourself now. You don’t want to set a new trend.

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    • The theory was that perhaps it was from the flight. Yes, it was an overnight flight so I didn’t get up much. I’ll have to be more careful in future.

      I don’t really want to start worrying about myself but maybe there’s some room to be more careful or considerate of myself.

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  18. What’s to be miserable about? You got there. You did the walk, in beautiful scenery. If you’d been running you’d have missed more. You saw your friend. And hopefully you don’t have a life threatening illness. Unless you push it. So, don’t! End of lecture. Smiling! 🙂 🙂

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