The Day after the Double Century

The day after The Double Century sparkled!

I'd forgotten how beautiful the world was!

All spring I'd been grinding out the miles training for my big challenge.






I'd missed the blooming of the redbuds...

...and the flowering of the dogwoods.

But I could still enjoy the plastic flowers left at South Mound on Memorial Day.











I took a little spin on my bike.

Just ten miles.

Up Audubon Road with the lovely old trees.

Past the cemetery

Stopped at Marsh for fresh fruit.

After a day of carbs and Gatorade I was dying to eat colors.

Red
Green
Yellow

It all tasted so good.




Home for relaxing - reading a book - catching up with family.

Next thing I knew I was passed out on the bathroom floor.

Didn't know where I was or when.

Nauseated.

Dizzy.

Crawled to bed.

Two hours later - I think - still woozy.

What had I done to myself?

Daughter KC to the rescue.
She rushed to the lab for her phlebotomy tray.
Drew my blood.

Hyponatremia!

My blood salt was too low.

That boogers up all kinds of body functions like moving, eating and thinking.

It turns out Gatorade is not quite as salty as your sweat.

So when I was out on the road for 17 hours sweating out salt and drinking in Gatorade I was washing the salt out of my body.

Oh! and all that Advil?

It can contribute to hyponatremia.

And low salt in your blood can cause swelling.

So I took Advil to treat the foot pain...
and the Advil made the foot pain worse!

OK.

I was a wiser woman now.








I survived my hyponatremia.

I had succeeded at my double century.

What more could there be?

Mom, said Alex. Why don't we bike across America?
...