Dizzy Running

Last Mondays’ blog post briefly mentioned my recent problems with dizziness and lightheadedness. Let me tell you how it feels. It feels like you are on a rocking boat. These dizzy spells and lightheadedness are driving me bonkers because they haven’t subsided. Last Tuesday I couldn’t even get started running because I was unable to decide if the dizziness was bad enough to make me pass out if I exerted some effort. I went out the door twice then returned inside wondering if I should just ride the stationary bike instead. I tried running on the treadmill to see if I can tolerate the dizziness and after 4 minutes went outdoors again. I slowed down the pace as much as possible to limit the up and down motion of jogging and somehow I managed to run for 45 minutes without falling down or passing out.

 I had seen the doctor the previous week and he instructed me to make another appointment if I didn’t get any relief, so I called right away after I returned home. I was back in the doctors’ office yesterday (Thursday). He found some fluid in my ears and I don’t know what would cause that. I don’t know human anatomy to that extent. I’m more familiar with the muscular and skeletal system. The doctor ordered me a nasal spray antibiotic, a generic form of Dramamine for the dizziness, and Sudafed to dry out the ears.

I had planned on running after the doctors’ visit but was undecided on what route to take or how many minutes to do. Well, I found a goal that I could reach for. Let me make the connection here. During the visit to the doctor, I had a co-pay of $15 for my insurance. However I only had a $20 bill and the doctors’ office didn’t have any change. I was supposed to pay them on my way out because they might have some change then. Well, in my haste to go to the pharmacy, I forgot to pay them. So this is what I decided I was going to do: run to the doctors’ office to pay them, then run back home. I’ve run this route a few times before and I already knew it was about three miles out and three miles back. It would be a good test run for me and my dizziness. The first 5 minutes was a warm up to test my equilibrium, then after feeling okay, I started picking up the pace. For the next 55 minutes I managed to do 11 repeats of 4 minute pickups with 1 minute recovery jogs (instead of the usual 1 minute walk break). By the time I finished, I had Completed 6.72 miles in 1 hour for a pace per mile of 8:56! Who would have thought I could do that??? I hope it wasn’t a GPS malfunction. Maybe I should be dizzy more often!

Side notes: It has been warm the last few days, I had to run in a tanktop in mid-March. Getting sick sucks especially when you don’t know the cause of your ailments. Being alone makes it worse and that’s probably the only time I miss having someone here with me.

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