Earlier this week I experienced my first ever abandoned run. In all the hundreds of runs I’ve had over the years, this was the first where I had to give up and walk. The bad news
What made it worse, I had my friend Jon with me and we were heading towards Dunstable Downs when I just had to stop.
The conditions were perfect. Late afternoon, early evening. Warm, dry with some light cloud. Our rendezvous point was Kensworth and we set off heading for Dunstable Downs. I had in mind a 4 mile route which I could extend if I was feeling a little more energetic after yet another UTI.
Soon after we started I was struggling, more than usual this time. I was panting even though it was an easy pace on a flat road. I needed to ask Jon to slow down, but then there’s nothing new in that these days. I started to feel queasy and then sick. We stopped and I leaned on a gate and, at this point, we weren’t even a mile into our run.
After a couple of minutes we started again, just a slow jog but again I felt sick, so we stopped and then walked the rest of the route. There was no doubt Jon was concerned.
I felt pretty awful, almost wishing I could simply throw up and get it over with. I slept well, as usual but unusually I woke up at 3am feeling queasy once again. Also I was starting to feel a little unwell and I felt very tender in my bladder or groin area.
The good news
I made an appointment with the Doctor in the morning. These days it starts off with having to explain to a receptionist what the issue is and then a telephone appointment is made. Within an hour the Doctor called me, a Doctor that was new to me. He said he needed to see me in person and to take a urine sample with me.
There’s quite a procedure to follow when you arrive in the car park. Firstly you send a text message to the Doctor who then responds with a web link. Next you confirm you are waiting and then further instructions follow. Having said all that it wasn’t long before I was in.
I explained what had happened, followed by a number of questions, answers and clicking through my records. Turned out I had white blood cells in my urine, namely leukocytes and highly likely that I had an infection, again. He concluded that it was probably a residual problem which had flared up and more antibiotics were required. He also asked me to lie on a bed and he felt around my abdomen and groin. He then said all was fine, I couldn’t resist asking what he had been looking out for – either a hernia or an aortic aneurysm.
Then I noticed the race medals hanging on a rail above his desk and I remarked on these.
We then got into a conversation about running and quickly we were talking about marathons. He was pleased to tell me he ran Boston in 2 hours 50 minutes. I was impressed! I then explained how I ran my first marathon aged 50 and gradually got better, so a few years later my PB was 3 hours 50 minutes. He thought that was pretty good for a bloke in his 50s. He then asked about my pace, which I explained as being pretty similar throughout the 26.2 miles and he commented I must have been well trained and fit!
We also discussed blood pressure, he wants to see me again in a week with more blood pressure readings and another urine test to check the antibiotics have worked.
The even better news
In spite of still feeling a little groggy, I ran the same route a couple of days later. I had to. I needed to prove to myself I wasn’t really ill and that I could still do it, of which I did, just. No lightening fast pace, just a gentle plod at 9:20mins/mile.