Wrapping My Week with the Richmond Marathon (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

I have my MCM recap almost done, but haven't had a chance to finish it up yet.  It should be my next post, I hope.  Till then, a quick recap of my week.

I had a pretty boring week, two 3 mile runs and two classes at the gym.  The big events happened this weekend.  Thursday I went to the expo and decided that I was ready to run a second marathon in two weeks.  I was physically feeling really good and I knew I'm not one to pass up a challenge.  I also knew that I wouldn't have a chance to do the Richmond Marathon as I don't think I would train just for that race.  I've been wanting to do the Richmond Half again at some point and really I don't have any wants to do more marathons right now.  I'd really like to lose 20-30 pounds before I go though that training again, and I don't see that happening anytime soon.

So a few highlights of the Richmond Marathon, I'll have a full recap soon.  If the one word for MCM was hot, the one word for Richmond is hilly.  I swear it felt like the whole course was up hill minus about half a mile.  The weather was great.  Started out in the mid-30's and by the time I finished it was about 50 degrees.  Also, probably 90% of the people running probably finished in less then 5 hours.  The course thinned out very quickly, like in the first 8 miles.  And the big news is that I PR'ed the second time in two weeks.  Not only did I PR, but I beat my A goal for MCM - finished faster then 6:30.  And now I can be a Marathon Maniac. 

During the marathon I had felt like I couldn't catch my breath.  Like the feeling that you walk up several flights of stairs and you just keep breathing heavy.  That feeling never went away after I stopped running.  It never went away after I got home and by that time my chest was feeling tight.  So I decided to go to Patients First cause I was scared to fall asleep.  Don't worry, nothing serious is wrong and I'm am a bit better today.

Patients First did an EKG, which was normal and then sent me to the ER.  They told me that if I every have problems breathing or chest pain to just go directly to the ER.  I was just wanting someone to tell me that I was over reacting and really to not want to pay ER fees.  Don't worry, nothing serious is wrong and I'm feeling a bit better today.

At the ER the doctor listened to my lungs and said that she couldn't hear any wheezing, so they would have to do further tests.  They did another EKG.  The nurse kept telling me I had to slow down my breathing.  I looked at her like she was crazy.  I was barely getting breaths in and she wanted me to slow down.  I basically had to hold my breath for her.  They took some blood and started me on fluids.  They brought a portable X-Ray too my room to look at my lungs.  I've never been anywhere where they bring the X-Ray to me.  It was kinda cool.

They were worried about a blood clot in my lungs so they wanted to give me a CT Scan.  By this time they had me move me around some, then I started coughing like I had bronchitis.  Every time I moved or talked a lot, I would cough.  I've never had a CT Scan and it was kinda cool.  A hell of a lot better then a MRI.  It's a pretty cool machine.  It's an open circular machine which moves you back and forth in the machine.  It would randomly move me back and forth and it would tell me to hold my breath and breathe. Then they wanted to add contrast to my IV.  It was a very weird sensation as it made my mouth tingly and made me feel like I peed myself.  It moved me back and forth a bunch more times.

They brought me back to my room to wait for the results.  As I said they found nothing seriously wrong, which is good.  They wanted to give me two more bags of fluid to help my dehydration from the day and gave me some steroids.  What they think happened is that I inflamed my lungs while I was running.  The paperwork they sent me home with called my diagnosis Chest Wall Pain.  It's like pulling a leg muscle, I'll just have to rest.  They also gave me some pain killers for the pain in my chest.

Today I'm better.  My breathing is mostly under control.  If I move around too much or talk a lot my breathing starts to strain and I get pain in my chest and I start coughing, so I have just been sitting on the couch most of the day.  I also took a 2 hour nap which was nice.  I just have to take it easy for the next week or two, which I already planned.  But this will defiantly make me take a break.

Have you ever run two marathons in two weeks?  Have you ever had a CT Scan?   

Linking up with Holly and Tricia's Weekly Wrap Up.