Other people's emergencies.

For the past few weeks, it seems like my life has been about running and emergencies. In a slight change of pace, this morning it was other people's emergencies rather than my own:

I met Val at 6am for what was supposed to be a 20-mile run (my first, her second). When we set out, I knew I wanted to attempt the 20-miler, but I wasn't sure I would be able to do it after all my time off. I did pretty well for the first half. By mile 11 or 12, I was having hip and back pain and had to slow down. I made a lot of stretching stops and took some walk breaks. By mile 15, the walk breaks were longer and more frequent. At this point, Val had to go on ahead in order to make it to her grandkids' sports events, so I was on my own for a bit.

Then, at mile 17 1/2, I came up on our last water stop, and saw Val there along with another Striders marathoner and two coaches from a Team in Training group. It turned out that our fellow marathon trainee was having severe leg pain and lightheadedness. Val, always the caretaker, agreed to walk with her back to the cars and of course I agreed to come along. So, we walked with our new friend for about 2 miles, until our coaches (who had heard what happened) drove up and gave our friend a ride. Then, Val and I ran to the finish. So, in the end, it was a 20 mile run/walk, but I think that was probably what I needed to do today anyway.

When I got to my car, I had a message from my mother. It was about my 16 year-old niece, Summer, pictured with me here:



 Ever since Summer was little, I've said that she's the new (and improved) me. She's smart, loves school, is easy-going, has a great sense of humor and a short attention span, likes President Obama, and spent some time as a vegetarian. When my mom called, it sounded like she had taken after me in another way: appendicitis! She had gone to urgent care that morning with severe abdominal pain and nausea and been taken by ambulance to the very same hospital where I was 3 weeks ago. When she got there, she underwent all of the same tests that I had. My mom and I got there a few hours after she arrived and I had the strange experience of re-living part of my hospital stay from a visitor's point of view. Fortunately, it turned out that Summer does not have appendicitis and she should be fully recovered from her illness in a few days. We were all very relieved!

Once Summer was discharged, I went home for a long-awaited nap followed by a big dinner. A peaceful, pleasant end to an eventful day!