Social Workout

Workout

long run, the 9th: emergency.

tristan & me at the beginning of the run

The run started great – I’d joined my old men in spandex and short shorts and after dividing into groups by pace and distance I’d ended up with the meets organizer, Huebi (the only person IN THE WORLD to have done every single Berlin Marathon since it started), Wolfgang (short, stocky & bad-ass nature connoisseur who was telling us about all the ginormous mushrooms we were coming across on our run), Tristan (“younger” guy about to do his 2nd Berlin Marathon), and Manuela (OMG another woman! And not even THAT much older than me!). We were having a blast, going at a pretty comfortable pace…though, let’s face it, it was still a harder pace for me than I’d normally chose for a long run.

We were planning to run just about a ½ marathon distance, but at about mile 10, Huebi was breathing pretty hard and said he needed to take a walk break. Now, this man maintains a heart rate of about 115 bpm during these runs – INSANITY (just for reference mine is typically in the high 150s, low 160s). And, at the moment it had spiked up to the 130s. We walked for a bit and he said he was feeling nauseous and dizzy. We kept walking and also found the rest of the group who’d been running a little faster when they noticed we were lagging behind. We were close to a parking area, with some tree stumps, so we told Huebi to sit down for a moment while we gave him plenty to drink as well as some straight up fructose. His heart beat wasn’t slowing down too significantly though, and we became pretty concerned. Unfortunately, none of us had a cell phone with us (MAJOR NOTE TO SELF: ALWAYS CARRY PHONE ON LONG RUNS!!!). We got incredibly lucky when just then, the police came by to report a minor car accident. They immediately helped us, gave us more water and a blanket for Huebi and called an ambulance. (ANOTHER NOTE TO SELF: CARRY INSURANCE CARD ON LONG RUNS.)

It ended up being nothing too serious, the primary issue being that Huebi was deficient in some minerals which was causing him to cramp up and feel sick. But, given his age he was taken to the hospital for observation and he was told not to plan to run the marathon this year. He was heartbroken – after all, he’s been running for 47 years and he’s run every single Berlin Marathon. This whole episode got me thinking. Here’s a man, the epitome of fit, who has mastered his body for decades, and now, with his age he no longer can. I’m sure he will continue to run and be active, though perhaps on a different level, but imagine what happens if you’ve never had that control to begin with. I’d estimate Huebi to be in his late 60s, and the fact that he’s as active and fit as he is, is no doubt because he’s been active all his life. What happens when you don’t take care of your body from the beginning? I don’t want to find out, and hopefully I won’t have to. I just know that the episode reminded me that there is so much at stake when it comes to how we live our life – eating healthy and being active is not just something we should do to look and feel good. Our lifestyle will determine the quality of our life in our later years, and to be honest, it’s not something I think about often.

In the end, I finished 12 ½ miles in 2:20. It was difficult to finish after Huebi was taken to the hospital. I’m also struggling with quite a bit of knee and foot pain on the right side, which I hope will get better very quickly. Boooooo!!!