This post has been in my draft box for about a month now. I never seemed to find time to finish all of it and now the list of things to talk about keeps getting longer so I am finally going to finish this blog! Please bear with me as it may be long! :)
So yeah you know about that half marathon 4 weeks ago. The one that I was really nervous about. Yeah it didn't go quite as "good" as I thought it would. I mean I thought I would just have some bad cramping and still finish. What happened was not something I could have ever expected. Chelsea and I were making good time. We were on pace to finish around 2:30. For some of you that is slow but for me that is pretty dang good. We were running along, got past the hills and the boring parts. We passed our friend Hannah's house where our friends were waiting for us. We stopped for a quick second. About a minute later we passed the 10k mark and in my mind I'm thinking this is my favorite part. We are on the count DOWN. This is where I pick up the pace and finish on the 50 yard line in Memorial Stadium (COOL RIGHT?!). About 20 yards past that 10k mark I knew something was wrong. My foot dropped and felt like it was being pushed down by cement. My calf muscles were rolling in my leg. I couldn't move my foot, I couldn't move my leg I knew this was bad. I was in a load of pain and it wasn't going away. I somehow fell to the ground and began screaming. Some runners stopped to help me. Chelsea went looking for help. Since we were so close to my friend Hannah's house we got in contact with them and they ran over to help. Since I couldn't move they had the ambulance come get me and take me to St. Elizabetes were they gave me pain meds and told me that I had compartment syndrome (DUH). They called one of my orthopedics and he said to go on crutches. This also meant that I get to have surgery this coming Thursday and I am NOT happy ( I actually got it 2 weeks ago) . This brings us to now. I got the surgery and have three scars on the lower part of my leg. My leg and foot were HUGE for about a week. I couldn't do the motion of walking
for quite awhile which frustrated me. They told me that I would still be on crutches till the middle of this week but Saturday I ditched them :). My perseverance worked and now I am walking normally even though my calf is still bruised and swollen. Today was also the first day that my foot didn't look like the size of Texas, it actually looks normal! No running for probably another 4 weeks! UGH ...
Now to the exciting stuff ! Three weekends ago my parents and I went to St.George Utah to watch 10 of the Triabetes Captains in the Ironman. This weekend was amazing! We got into St. George around 3:30 after driving from Las Vegas where we flew in from (we didn't kn
ow there was a hour time difference between the two places). So we got there and got ready to eat with the captains and their triabuddies and all the family and friends that came! The dinner was filled with both happy and sad emotions. It wrapped up early so the athletes could get to bed as the next morning was going to be EARLY. I went 3 days in a row waking up around 4! This didn't mean I had to go to bed early though so I stayed up with the triabuddies and went swimming with them in the pool OUTSIDE yes it was warm outside a perfect temp none the less and I was not jealous of the weather my friends were having here in Nebraska! The parents talked while we played in the pool so it was a win win for all. The next morning we got up bright and early so that we could drive to a parking lot where there would be shuttles that would take us to the swimming portion of the Ironman. The lake that it was at was gorgeous as we saw the sun rise while we waited. The cut off for the swim was 2 hours and 20 minutes so we waited for everyone to come out of the water before we could be shuttled back. We went back to the hotel and ate lunch. While we were relaxing the athletes were biking 112 miles! Crazy! We all then got in a van and drove to the tent were we cheered on the racers as they did the full marathon run (26.2) and passed by us 8 times! A lot of running, cheering, and clapping went on but before we saw the triabetes athletes Josiah one of the adult type 1's took 3 other kids and me up on a hike up some of the rocks that were nearby. The view was awesome and we got to see the first runners come through. We spent most of the day at the triabetes tent listening to music and cheering on the runners. At the end of the run it was hard to see the runners go through pain and start to hallucinate. I hate seeing people in pain. I found one runner siting on the side of the road oblivious as to what was going on. He was so close to the finish line but he couldn't go any farther, I stopped and gave him my glucose tabs and I think they ended up carting him to the medical tent. Only five of the triabetes captains made it to the run. Each one would come buy with people cheering them on, standing there helping them test their blood sugars, and continue running along the side with them. Towards the end of the night when most of the fans had left and it had gotten dark I went up the course a was to a spot where nobody was. It was pitch black and I stood there in the dark cheering them on in a spot that seemed like it would suck to run through alone. I was waiting to see Brian. Brian hates running. He had an awesome swim and bike but the run just isn't his thing. The amazing thing is that Brian doesn't let this stop him he pushes through even when it sucks. I don't think I have ever prayed as much as I did when I was waiting for him to come by. Brian came by and he finished the Ironman with 10 minutes to spare. Everyone has to be done by midnight which gives you 17 hours to finish. The weekend was amazing and I truly learned that diabetes puts no limits on what you can achieve in life.
ow there was a hour time difference between the two places). So we got there and got ready to eat with the captains and their triabuddies and all the family and friends that came! The dinner was filled with both happy and sad emotions. It wrapped up early so the athletes could get to bed as the next morning was going to be EARLY. I went 3 days in a row waking up around 4! This didn't mean I had to go to bed early though so I stayed up with the triabuddies and went swimming with them in the pool OUTSIDE yes it was warm outside a perfect temp none the less and I was not jealous of the weather my friends were having here in Nebraska! The parents talked while we played in the pool so it was a win win for all. The next morning we got up bright and early so that we could drive to a parking lot where there would be shuttles that would take us to the swimming portion of the Ironman. The lake that it was at was gorgeous as we saw the sun rise while we waited. The cut off for the swim was 2 hours and 20 minutes so we waited for everyone to come out of the water before we could be shuttled back. We went back to the hotel and ate lunch. While we were relaxing the athletes were biking 112 miles! Crazy! We all then got in a van and drove to the tent were we cheered on the racers as they did the full marathon run (26.2) and passed by us 8 times! A lot of running, cheering, and clapping went on but before we saw the triabetes athletes Josiah one of the adult type 1's took 3 other kids and me up on a hike up some of the rocks that were nearby. The view was awesome and we got to see the first runners come through. We spent most of the day at the triabetes tent listening to music and cheering on the runners. At the end of the run it was hard to see the runners go through pain and start to hallucinate. I hate seeing people in pain. I found one runner siting on the side of the road oblivious as to what was going on. He was so close to the finish line but he couldn't go any farther, I stopped and gave him my glucose tabs and I think they ended up carting him to the medical tent. Only five of the triabetes captains made it to the run. Each one would come buy with people cheering them on, standing there helping them test their blood sugars, and continue running along the side with them. Towards the end of the night when most of the fans had left and it had gotten dark I went up the course a was to a spot where nobody was. It was pitch black and I stood there in the dark cheering them on in a spot that seemed like it would suck to run through alone. I was waiting to see Brian. Brian hates running. He had an awesome swim and bike but the run just isn't his thing. The amazing thing is that Brian doesn't let this stop him he pushes through even when it sucks. I don't think I have ever prayed as much as I did when I was waiting for him to come by. Brian came by and he finished the Ironman with 10 minutes to spare. Everyone has to be done by midnight which gives you 17 hours to finish. The weekend was amazing and I truly learned that diabetes puts no limits on what you can achieve in life.The next day after the Ironman we made a trip to the Hoover Dam which eventually lead
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| Bg at Hoover Dam! |
us the Grand Canyon (I wanted to see it and begged my parents) which we thought was a lot closer to the Hoover Dam than it was....oooppsss. The trip to the GC lead us on gravel roads through Indian reservations, there were also cows that roamed freely and would be in the middle of the street while you were going 60! It was cool to see though even if it was an hour and a half hours farther than we thought.
Other new developments-School is out! Monday and Tuesday consisted of four 90 min
ute classes each day so we could take finals, let me tell you every final I took I was using all 90 minutes! I normally have eight 45 minute classes in a day so it was a bit of a change but the day did seem to go faster. We had awards night where I received All Conference Academic Excellence, Academic Letter Award, and my National Honor Society award.
There was a time not that long ago when I thought that people that did cross country were crazy! I never ever thought I would ever do it! Well I am officially signed up to run cross country this fall and not play volleyball (GASP). This is a huge life style change. I have played volleyball since 3rd grade and have only run for like 9 months. Our CC team at our school is good they work hard and are one of the most successful sports at our school. I have decided to make this change because I see running as something I can greatly improve on and something I can do for the rest of my life. I am nervous and excited at the same time.Everyone on the team is really supportive and they seem to always be having fun. I hope I made the right decision.
There have been some huge natural disasters lately and decided I want to do something to help these people. I, schedule wise, cannot go out and personally help so after having a diabetic friend lose her house in Joplin MO I made the decision to collect diabetes supplies and ship them to the people who need them the most. We are asking for any supplies weather it be money, batteries, testers, syringes, pump supplies, alcohol wipes, anything...
If you are interested in donating you can send items to 8111 Leighton Ave. Lincoln NE 68507... We would love and appreciate everyones help!
I am sure I have missed many things! I will keep you posted on my activities as summer gets into full swing!
Thanks for reading ~ Ash
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| Picture I took while leaving the GC...Pretty Gorgeous! |
