Jun
14
The Price of Charity
June 14, 2008 |
I gave blood on Thursday night. I ran a 5K this morning. Oh my!
I hadn’t given a thought to any connection between giving blood and its effect on me running 3.1 miles in race conditions just 36 hours later. I hadn’t given a thought until I was in the chair with the tube in my arm pumping out the blood. I happened to ask the nurse about it and she insisted that I would be fine as long as I kept sufficiently hydrated. I think I could have drank the office water cooler yesterday and still not have been hydrated enough.
In any case, I had great runs this week and was thinking personal record, especially considering that it was a relatively flat course. By the 1.5 mile mark, I was suffering. By 2 miles, I was crashing, fast. I decided to walk for 30 seconds. I then kicked it in again, only to have to shut it down yet again. I walked for another 30 seconds and kicked it in one last time to the finish.
I then proceeded to the food area and scarfed down anything I could find. I was finally back to normal about an hour later (or so I hope).
Call it a lesson learned.
The good news is that the race was the Run for the Poor to kick off the local St. Vincent de Paul Society campaign. The blood I donated will probably go to someone in need of the good stuff.
I guess I didn’t realize that sometimes there can be a physical cost to charity.
But, believe it or not I had fun. I thrive on challenges and it was quite a challenge getting my oxygen-deprived, blood-missing body to the finish line. And, I was a little humbled along the way as that 12-year old blew past me at mile 2.
Now, I’m just hoping that God refills the old blood tank by my next race.
