Nick participated in the Augustana sponsored high school cross country meet yesterday. First race since collapsing 300 meters before the finish line 2 weeks ago at the Canby meet at night. What a scare! He had been sick with an upper respiratory infection for over a week, and it was very humid out that day and night. He also has an exercise induced asthma component, but had used his inhaler prior to the race, as usual. With all of this together, he pushed himself to the maximum, and over did it. When he was not coming to the finish, I took off looking for him, but couldn’t find him. As I was running back to the finish line, the PA speaker announced “Dr. Reiffenberger to the ambulance now!” Nothing like a dead sprint to the ambulance! When I got inside, he was “out of it”. He vomited multiple times, and was pouring in sweat. He does not remember what even happened. He lost 10# that night, and took it easy for the next 2 weeks, trying to gain his strength back. Yesterday was his first day back to racing. He was very nervous. He came up to me off at the side 5 minutes prior to the start and told me he was not sure he could do this. I just reinforced to him to just do his best, that it did not matter his time, and he had to prove to himself he could do this.
Here he is coming down the home stretch to the finish line yesterday. Was he happy with how he finished? No. Was he happy with how he felt? No. But he finished, and safely. I applaud him for having the courage to come back and face his fears. He overcame them yesterday, and hopefully now he can keep moving on. This may have just been “a race” yesterday, but this is what life is all about. We all have challenges we have to face in our life, or have fears we have to overcome. We have to be willing to go out of our comfort zone, and face them head on, or risk being ruled by those fears forever. This part was far more important than any race. I could not have been more proud of him that I was yesterday! Way to go Nick, and take on your challenges and fears head on! That is a lesson for us all…things we want do not come easy. Staying fit and doing exercise is never easy, but you can do it, and gain the benefits from it in many ways. Thanks for teaching us a lesson Nick!
Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 2543