Run the Bluegrass Half Marathon Report and some hospitalization...what a combo!

Well, this past weekend, we ran the Run the Bluegrass 1/2 Marathon in Lexington, Kentucky. We ran this race last year, but it was under different management and the course was backwards. Last year, I can say, this race was an unorganized joke. This year, the race was fabulous. I love it when races are locally organized! It makes them so much more fun and personal. Well, here was my race outfit. The 3 Way Racing people (who timed the race) actually took a picture of my outfit and put it on their Facebook page HERE. They loved my color combo! I didn't even know they took the pic until they posted it on Facebook.

The day was beautiful. There were wind advisories, but not until late afternoon. So, that left us plenty of time to finish the race and not have to deal with the wind. The race started in the Kentucky Horse Park (which is beautiful), then onto Ironworks Pike, Newtown Pike, then through the Fasig-Tipton Horse Farm (also beautiful), and back to the Horse Park. Absolutely beautiful run! With lots and lots of hills! But, I've come to realize, I love hills! Call me crazy, but I like it when the course changes.

In my mind, I wanted to finish in under 2:06:00, but it would be golden if I could finish in under 2:00:00. The wind was blowing a little bit more than expected, so we had that to fight against. Bobbie stayed ahead of me until about mile 3-4 where I met up with her at a water stop and we stayed together for the next 3 or so miles. She stopped to take a potty break, but I kept going. If I had stopped, I think I would have had a big DNF next to my name in the results list.

I came really close to finishing sub 2 hours, but didn't quite make it. I finished in 2:01:31, which is a PR for me, so that rocks! Also, I would later find out that my body was probably fighting a pretty serious illness, even though I wasn't showing symptoms at the time of the race, so to PR was fabulous.

Monday, I woke up achy and feverish. I dealt with it all day and thought if I still felt that way on Tuesday, I would go to the doctor. Well, I fell asleep on the couch that night. Around 1:00, my husband woke me up to get me in the bed. As I walked down the hallway, he went to turn off the light in the kitchen. When he turned around, I apparently was on the ground having a seizure. Not the shaking kind, the eyes fixated kind. He finally got me to come to, and I headed toward the bathroom. I had two more seizures before making it to the bathroom. Needless to say, he rushed me to the ER, where I had another seizure. They admitted me that night.

At times, my fever spiked to almost 104 degrees, which is very abnormal for an adult. I had several tests the next day and my fever remained high. All tests were normal, so my doctor decided it must be something viral. So, they sent me home. When I woke up yesterday, my throat and ears were killing me. I went to my doctor with a fever of 103. She looked in my throat and said "Oh goodness, get a strep test." It came back positive in about 3 minutes. So, the seizures were most likely a side effect of the high fever and my body was probably already fighting the strep when I ran the 1/2. So, I'll take 2:01:31!