Lessons Learned from a Long Run Gone Bad & Remembering the Important Things

That smile disappeared literally seconds after taking
this picture........just goes to show you that no matter
how fine you feel, you need to be smart about how
you're running.

How I Almost died (okay, so I'm exaggerating......alot, but I felt like death for awhile): I finally went on a longer run today (I think about 13 miles, but I wasn't wearing my watch) and I'm pretty sure I ran that distance much faster than I've ever run it before......I'm talking potentially sub 2 hours, which was awesome. However the not so awesome part is that I felt like death afterwards. I think I hydrated very poorly because soon after I finished my run I developed the chills, nausea, and a 101 degree fever to top it all off. The weird thing is that I felt 100% fine throughout my run, but soon after I stopped the disgusting symptoms hit. Fortunately my Dad and brother were super sweet and helped me out a lot, and I am feeling much better now.

The Solution: My temperature is normalizing after getting some fluids in me, and my chills have also subsided. I think it was a combination of an upset stomach due to stressing over the GRE, lack of hydration, and running a distance at such a new speed.
The Running Lesson: The takeaway lesson is that even if you feel fine during a workout, you may still not be fine; make sure that you remember the important things:  hydrating properly and making sure that you build up properly to any speed & distance combo that you plan to pursue.