Pins and needles

Have you ever been so cold, you could feel the veins in your hands and arms jumping and shifting with your every movement? Have you ever been so cold, the act of holding something as small as a cell phone is near impossible, let alone pressing the button to turn on the screen? Have you ever been so cold, your muscles plain go on strike? I have!

Friday.

I was scheduled to run 110 minutes, which if I calculated correctly was around 18 or 19 km, and because I had a dentist appointment at 10:30 (the possibility of a root canal – eek!) I figured I’d get the run out of the way first thing. What better way to calm your nerves then a run right 😀

Big Ring designed me a route Thursday, we reviewed it twice, and then talked about it again the morning of in hopes that I would actually NOT get lost. (My track record doesn’t leave much hope for that.) I had everything prepared the night before, my clothes, fuel, accessories, etc. And just as I was about to head out the door, I looked out the window and saw no rain. This was a good omen.

For two seconds.

Pretty much in the time it took me to descend two floors and get out the door, the rain started up, and not just drizzly rain, nope, more like bathtubs of rain.

I kept my pace slower at the start as I was still recovering from that stupid cough. I figured if I felt alright after the first 5 km, I could pick up the pace later. And I did. I was enjoying the route of gradual hills, a mixture of pathways and residential streets, my music was pumping, and before I knew it my pace was hovering between 5:30 and 5:50 min/km, and I was actually enjoying the thick cloud of raindrops smacking me in the face.

But then. IT happened.

I got lost. And by the time I realized I was lost, I was so far out from where I should have been. I stopped to gather my bearings (thank you iPhone maps) which took maybe five minutes of me standing with a bucket of rain continuously dumping over my head.

Red is what I ran. Blue is what I should have run.

When I started running again, it was no longer enjoyable. My sweat (or was it my moisturizer?) started running into my eyes burning the hell out of them. I tried wiping it away, but of course I couldn’t as every piece of me was sopping soaked. My beet red hands were so cold I had to clench them shut in hopes of not feeling those damn veins angrily shifting about. I didn’t want to stop, but my pace had drastically decreased and I was running out of time before my appointment. So, under the shelter of an awning, I called Big Ring. It took all of two seconds before I was in full on tears – I DON’T CRY!!!

The state of my hands, with directions rain smeared off, at the time of the phone call.

Because he was at least 15-20 minutes away, and because I was in an area where there were no coffee shops to duck into and wait, we decided I’d keep running until he caught up with me.

By the time I got home, I was shivering, body shaking, teeth chattering cold. I couldn’t unvelcro my sports bra straps, couldn’t undo the zipper of my Type Tanks to remove my pump, couldn’t even unclip my pump from the infusion. No muscle capacity whatsoever. JELLY ARMS!!!

A boiling hot bath didn’t shake the chill. A hot cup of tea didn’t shake it either. Nor did sweater after sweater layering. Note: you know you’ve got a sufficient chill when your dentist gives you a blanket and you don’t take off your mittens!

Two days later, portions of both hands, fingers, and forearm are pins and needles numb. According to Dr. Google, I had gotten so cold the blood vessels in my hands stopped pumping blood in order to give my vital organs the necessary blood they required to stay warm. So yeah, pretty much, the edge of hypothermia.

Stupid rain.

HYPOTHERMIA RUN

• 7 a.m. BG before:
• Temp. basal -50 per cent
• Time: 1:22:00
• Distance: 14 km
• Average pace: 5:59 min/km
• Average cadence: 87 spm
• Fuel: @30 minutes (4.8) 1/2 PB and honey sandwich
• 9:30 a.m. BG after: 4.4

Ps. No root canal!!! Just a regular old filling!!!