Today though I found out that my niece Ellie has spinal meningitis. She had a headache yesterday that got worse and worse and by this morning she developed a fever and was in severe pain. Her neck and back were stiff and hurting in addition to her headache. My brother-in-law recognized the symptoms and suspected meningitis so they took her right to the hospital this morning. After a spinal tap (not fun) it was determined that yes she does have meningitis.
Ellie is 14 years old. She means more to me than I can possibly describe. The moment she entered this world my heart grew ten million times bigger. She is a beautiful, special and amazing young woman and I am so proud of her.
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| Beautiful Ellie holding babies Levi and Gus. |
We are waiting now to see if her meningitis is viral or bacterial. They are culturing her spinal fluid over the next 24 hours to see if any bacteria grow. If it is viral she will be able to go home and ride it out. If it is bacterial that is much more dangerous. She is on antibiotics now just in case. A close friend of mine is going to watch my kids so I can go see her tomorrow afternoon. I can’t wait. I’m planning to put together a goody basket for her filled with magazines, nail polish, lip gloss…and other fun stuff. I cannot wait to give her a huge hug. Please pray that my sweet Ellie is all better soon. Please pray for my sister and her family. THANK YOU so so much.
It feels very weird to jump from that to talking about my running, but it was a big running weekend for me this weekend so I do want to chronicle it. Yesterday morning before Irene showed up I went out for my longest run in almost 2 years!! I ran 20 miles yesterday! It was an incredible run. The weather was insanely humid (it was like running through soup!) but it didn’t seem to bother me too much. My last few long runs have all been negative splits but yesterday I aimed for even splits just to see how I felt. It was a solid run and my average pace was 9:01 (last weekend’s 18 miler was 9:02 average). I think this is a great pace for me and I’m really excited about how good I’ve been feeling lately especially on these super long runs. Here are my splits:
Mile 1 – 9:40
Mile 2 – 9:24
Mile 3 – 8:44
Mile 4 – 8:46
Mile 5 – 9:07
Mile 6 – 8:22
Mile 7 – 9:15
Mile 8 – 9:19
Mile 9 – 9:11
Mile 10 – 9:10
Mile 11 – 8:54
Mile 12 – 9:03
Mile 13 – 9:07
Mile 14 – 8:59
Mile 15 – 8:59
Mile 16 – 8:49
Mile 17 – 9:11
Mile 18 – 8:49
Mile 19 – 8:49
Mile 20 – 8:45
Yay! Today I did a 5 mile recovery run and that put me at 45 miles for the week. It would have been closer to 50 miles this week except that Friday morning’s run was a complete stomach disaster. I NEED to be awake for a good hour before I head out the door to run, no question about it. My stomach revolts otherwise. Never again will I “sleep in” until 5:45 before a 6AM run. That is dumb and just not how my body rolls.
Anyway it was a good week with running and I’m so thankful. My half marathon is in one week from today. I cannot wait I cannot wait I cannot wait. I am so excited I can’t stand it.
