5 Days Left.../ Part Three, God Works in Mysterious Ways

My run:
2 miles

Also, due to tightness that doesn't seem to go away with icing, I am refusing to take any warm showers this week, only cold ones. BRRRR. hope it's worth it.

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As promised, I said I would talk a bit on Sophomore year.

Like I said, that year changed a lot of paths for me.

I ran all summer in my same shoes from freshman year. I ran 4-7 miles a day, except on light days and Sundays.

I later learned that shoes can only take 300 miles, and I was well over that milage.

After joining Cross Country, I injured myself. Pretty bad actually. Coach never let me run a race until a physician said I could. That never happened.

Torn muscle in my hip, 6 stress fractures in my feet (3 in each). Bad shin splints in both legs.

Doc said it was starting to heal, but incorrectly. He said it would be years if ever, I could run more than a mile without fracturing again.

He also said that it would be harder for me to perform well in sprints, and that I might be fast but competatively, I wouldn't be as fast as the fastest.

There was one solution, break both feet, realign them so they heal correctly, Then I would have a chance.

"um... how much is this going to cost me?" I said to the doctor.

After learning that through physical therapy I could strengthen certain muscles and overcome the limp I had, I asked myself exactly how badly I wanted to run competatively.

Was it really worth breaking both feet and all that money?

No, I decided. I decided that I would gamble, and turn down both physical therapy and the surgery.

I was really down for a while about this. I was out of shape, and it hurt to walk. I had been on crutches for a week and that helped a little with the pain.

I studied different physical therapy exercises, and did my own physical therapy.

I eventually was able to run a mile, but the doctor was right, when I tried to run more, the pain returned.

I was still looking forward to Track season, and sprinting. I did not feel as ready for state as I had hoped I would be by then, but if anyone could whip me into shape, Coach Kurth could.

February came around, and track season was about to start.
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Then it happened.
I got up at 4:30 a.m. like I did every morning, to shower and get ready, and then get to church by 5:15 for Seminary (my mom taught the class, so she wanted to be early enough to set up).

But as I was blow-drying my hair I lost consciouness and fell into a full blown Grand Mal Seizure.

After what seemed too long for my family, I'm sure, I stopped. I just lied unconsciouness. No sign of life. (but I'm pretty sure I was, just a hunch! I don't recall any 'going to the light' experiences; I'm just going off of what my parents have told me.)

After some very faith-filled prayers and a priesthood blessing, my eyes opened.

I really don't remember much. I was rushed to the hospital and they confirmed the miracle. They said I shouldn't even be able to get on my feet and walk steadily for another 12 plus hours.

In fact I had recovered so well, that they didn't believe my mother about what happened at first. They had never seen this happen. It wasn't until they performed some tests that they found that my mother was right and I had a very large seizure, but with no brain damage and somehow a speedy recovery. I had epilepsy. This meant I could have more seizures.

There was also a law that I could not drive or do any physical activity for three months, which was one of the hardest things for me to deal with.

I had loved to exercise and play sports. My life seemed sucked out of me. Not even a glimpse of State this year.

While the doctors tried to find a medicine to control and prevent seizures, I had one to two seizures a year, which generally over lapped with both cross country or track seasons.

I wasn't going to mention this, but Jed said I could, because he figured anyone that would read this far already knows! (:


So I felt a bit like a failure, the bulk of my running career was from 7th grade to Freshman year, which I had only thought was just the prep time for my sophomore and up years.

That was water under the bridge now.

The weirdest thing about this was...
I was grateful.

The older I got and further away from my original life plans I had made for myself, I was even more grateful.

I won't pretend that the side effects from the meds don't get frustrating, or that I don't have secret worries about having a seizure at the wrong time in the wrong place.

The Lord has blessed me a lot. I did have a seizure a year and a half ago because I had forgotten to take both morning and night pills and I was a nursing mother at the time and basically didn't sleep. But before then, I had no seizures for 8 years.

The blessings I have had because of this are so many though, and God has also helped me not have to have so many seizures so that I can live fairly normally.

I am trying to do the best I can to make the most of that blessing.

One of those blessings is

5 days until my marathon!