Thursday, July 7, 2016

MuckFest MS

Sometimes things turn out the way you want them to, and it's like, "WAHOOO!"

And then other times, things just don't.

Like how for MuckFest this year I had a team of 16 including two volunteers.  AWESOME!  Biggest Legion EVER!

Then one by one they started dropping like flies- five days before the run.

First member left because it was makeup SAT day.  Oh okay.  Sounds good, sorry you can't run.

So my DAD joined the team in her place!  How awesome!!!

Second member left- was having a possible MS relapse.  Oh, sorry to hear!  When he left he took Member Three and Member Four with him so...down three more.

When the fifth member left, I was not at all surprised.  Ankle issues.  Why not try to ice it an put it up for a while?  No?  That's not going to work?  Oh.  Well, you know, don't push it.  Don't hurt yourself worse.  Sorry, we'll miss you.  Member Five also took Member Six.  She was under the weather and couldn't make it.  Why not come to cheer us on?  Oh, no child care?  Didn't you have child care when the two of you were originally coming?  Oh...um.  No that's cool, no hard feelings.  (Also, try not to post on Facebook your hiking outing you took instead of joining your team.  No hard feelings though.)

It's 10PM the night that Muck Fest sign ups were ending.  I'm down 6 members and only have one alternate.  I throw up the Hail Mary and phone a friend.

"Hey.  You two want to run?   You're out of shape?  Hey so am I!  It's fully paid.  Please say yes."

And they did.  And it was fabulous.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, mostly because it was cloudy in the morning, and then just like that it wasn't.  And I was fine and then just like that I wasn't.  I had asked for a tent for the shade.  When we got back from running, it wasn't set up.  Instead of figuring it out, some kids had gotten to it to try to figure it out and instead really REALLY messed it up.  Instead of continuing to figure it out, every one of our spectators just sat and chatted.  Myself and two team mates set up the tent, but by that moment it was too late.  My vision was foggy.  My belly was upset.  It was too much sun.  Too fast.  I was trying to sip water, TRYING to keep nutrition in my stomach, but the entire place was spinning.  I laid down where I was.  They poured water on me.  Everything made it worse.  I was at the point of no return.  They helped me to the medic tent where I was given more ice, but it was all just a little too late.  They drove me to my car and then the 2 hour long trek home with frequent bathroom breaks for me.  Just water type diarrhea.  The whole way home.  Everything spun.

At home I tried to sleep, but the room wouldn't stop spinning.  I kept waking up in a panic.  It was like what you hear detox being like.  Nausea.  Panic.  Your brain won't stop spinning.  Nothing is right.  Everything is wrong.  I contemplated the ER but then decided not to.  I didn't need that kind of attention from my family, friends, etc.  I'd lay low.  I'd work through it.

Two solid days later, I could stand up without spinning.  It took me five days to go to the gym again.  A solid seven days before I could say with confidence that I felt like myself again.  I cried.  A lot.  Somewhere inside me, I knew this was my last MuckFest, but I'll wait until next year to decide for sure.  My team mates surrounded me fully.  Texts and calls and Facebook messages just singing my praises- telling the world how strong I was- while I had my head buried in my pillow trying to get the world to be right-side-up again.  Strong.  Right.  Inspirational.  Exactly!  That's my middle name.

I post a picture to the MuckFest Facebook site.  A friend had snapped it as my team was rushing to get me cooled off.  Crystal, bless her heart, probably knocked down five or six people to get me a hose, and then Cherith just started hosing me off from the top down.  Enough people saw the picture on Facebook that it got recognition from the corporate realm.  They asked me to record a robo call to try to get some more monetary support.  Then they contacted me about using the picture in the Momentum Magazine which goes out to all those with MS who subscribe and take part in the National MS Society.  Amazing in my time of absolutely failure, enough people connected with that.

Maybe I'll do it next year.  Maybe I'll just watch.  Yeah right.