I threw up on the side of the highway.
It's not one of my proudest moments. I can't even remember the last time I threw up. Let me paint you a picture of the events leading up to this incident.
I went down to Mount Vernon to help my cross country coach with the BLAST 5k race. If you don't know what BLAST is, basically a bunch of Nazarene churches get together on Mount Vernon's campus for a few days and have lots of activities. Me and several of my teammates set up the course Thursday night and the race was on Friday morning. We all had breakfast on Friday in the cafeteria. We still had some time to kill before the race started so my teammate Caitlin asked if I wanted to go running with her. We weren't running in the 5k because we were helping direct people out on the course. Having just eaten cereal and a banana, I was a little unsure of my stomach's ability. Plus, our training schedule had us running 5 miles that day, but I decided it would be good to get my run out of the way then so I wouldn't have to run when I got home later.
We ran behind campus through this really cool neighborhood with interesting houses and green fields and the birds were singing and there were buzzards. Everywhere. But it was a really good run. Surprisingly I felt fine during the run. We ran back to campus and literally came to a stop at the Eternal Flame, which was where Coach had all the runners meet before the race started. Everyone was already gathered. Having no time to grab a water (I didn't have my wallet and I lost my meal ticket after breakfast) I joined the rest of my teammates. "I'm feeling really good. I'll just get something after the race." I thought to myself. This would prove to be a bad decision.
Coach gave me a map and pointed to where he wanted me stationed during the race. I walked down to my post and waited for the runners to come my way. At this point, it started raining. It wasn't much at first, but then it picked up. When you're sweaty from running 5 miles and then you have to stand in the rain for a half hour with no form of jacket or water repelling device, you get cold and wet really fast. As the final runners passed me, I started making my way back to the Eternal Flame, still feeling pretty good.
We all ducked into the lobby of the Hyson building and Coach gave us a debrief. Then we had to go pick up all the flags we had used to mark the course. In the now pouring rain. We decided it would be best for all of us to split off and tackle different sections of the the course. Caitlin and I took the back portion while the guys took the front. We basically ran the whole way while bending down every few feet to pick up flags to get done faster. So at this point I am sweaty, soaking wet, and starting to get hungry and thirsty.
After we took the flags to Coach's office, Caitlin and I walked to her apartment where my mom picked me up. I got a water bottle, changed into a dry shirt and got in the car. This is where another bad decision happened. I chugged half of my water bottle. I live about and hour and a half away from Mount Vernon, so it was a bit of a drive. I took my blanket out of my bag and leaned back in my chair to try and take a nap. This is the part where I started to feel weird, but I figured I was just tired and would feel better after some rest. I think I dozed off for about a half hour. The next scene would be best described through script form.
Kathleen (suddenly sits up in her chair, wide-eyed): Mom, I might throw up.
Mom (looks over with alarm): Ok. Do you need me to pull over?
Kathleen (with urgency, knowing something very bad is about to happen): Yes.
Mom: Ok. Hang on honey.
(Mom pulls over onto the side of the highway)
Kathleen (while opening the car door): Just give me a minute.
(Kathleen stumbles out of the car gagging into the grass. Hands on her knees, she tries to steady herself. Mom proceeds to watch as her daughter tosses her cookies while the wind blows and the rain hits her like needles. Waddling back to the car all hunched over, Mom hands Kathleen a tissue and wraps her in her blanket. Kathleen is shivering and is obviously uncomfortable.)
Kathleen: I don't feel good.
The rest of the car ride consisted of me sitting completely straight in my seat, desperately trying to get my mind off of what just happened and trying not to let it happen again. The last 15 minutes were torture. It felt we were never going to get home.
We finally pulled into the driveway. I took a shower, collapsed onto the couch, and fell asleep for 3 hours.
My sister had a very good explanation as to why this incident happened. "You didn't drink enough water. So when you did drink some, your stomach was all, Water?! What's this? REJECT!!!"
So, what have we learned from this? If you're a runner, make sure you hydrate IMMEDIATELY after running. You should also probably try and eat something as well. Please learn from my mistake.
And that's how I threw up on the side of I-71.
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