Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Anticlimax de luxe

Now hear this out, this is a real anticlimax!
After the compulsory health check with the Uni doctors, I have been told NOT to run the 3000m race on Friday?!
Why? Because my blood pressure is so low: 110/70.
I'm deeply shocked: I've actually always sported a good health (OK maybe not when I broke my foot but who manages that?!) and normally my blood pressure is 120/80. I thought that since I'm fairly young, and train several times/week, a blood pressure of 110/70 is OK? But nope. Doctor said no. They also did some EKG thing that supported the 'no'.

Hm... when I walked out of the Dr's office I did the whole 'how am I feeling, like, REALLY feeling' -scan of myself. Swallowing hard to see if my throat was soar (nope), shaking my head to see if I had a headache (nope), trying to blow my nose (quite dry), and pulling my jacket closer in case I felt cold (not really...). Sure, it hasn't been that easy to train during the last 2 weeks since I've been recovering from that nasty flu, and only last week did I feel that my legs and head were heavier than usual. But it's not that big of a deal, is it?

So much anticipation... and now I cannot compete. Darn.

Oh, btw.. while I was waiting at the Dr's office, I met all my competitors: the Chinese students. And my suspicions proved to be correct: they are all students who are majoring in sports/physical health, and the girls in general run 3000m within 14 min. (they all promised to give me a good competition, something I don't doubt for one bit!). While some of the boys looked a bit lanky the girls I saw were highly impressive, sporting muscly legs and flat bellys. Maybe I should be grateful that I'm not allowed to compete?

Although since I now been told that I can't... of course I really want to. Isn't that how it always goes....

UPDATE: I am going to run tomorrow!!! I don't know if it was my nagging and/or my puppy eyes that eventually made the teachers take pity on me... :) Anyhoo, this will be my first 3000m race and I have no idea how it's gonna go, but I am not aiming too high, seeing that I've never done this sort of short-distance-fast running before. If I can get a time around 15min, I'll be more than happy. Wish me luck!!!

8 comments:

Unknown said...

That's disappointing, isn't it? But now you've got another chance to cheer the athletes on the track, a very good opportunity to speak loud and cheer them in Chinese...

I think you can pop into the Dr's office again for some detailed advice on blood pressure etc.to make sure you won't be denied next time. As far as the doctors are concerned, they have to make sure everything is well looked after before the event, so they won't bear any risk no matter how passionate you are to compete on the track, or just for a run.

Mark's Blog said...

Things like this could always be flexible, if you insist hard enough, I suppose.

But I guess you have to let the doctor know that if anything bad happen to you in the race, they will not be held responsible.

I have heard rumors few years ago back home that when a student had a heart attack during a race and died.The parents got so angry that they want to sue the school. Of course it was only a rumor. But I guess the reality is not going to be that far fetched.

Do they have any sort of disclaimer you can sign? Or just tell them you have always been running 3000m in that condition back home.So there should not be any problem.

Anonymous said...

Take care of yourself.

Jonna Wibelius said...

Thanks for your comments guys, yeah, it's a bit disappointed but well, what can I do? I'll speak to a teacher again tomo and ask if I can somehow bend the rules but let's see. Anyways, I just did a 6,5 mile run to prove to myself that my health is OK and it was lovely. I guess that's the most important thing! :)

Anonymous said...

Do the test again, but make sure to have a good night sleep and get something to drink and eat first, and then I guess it will be okay.

Anonymous said...

Jonna,

Great Blog!
just want to let you know, that doctor is not keeping up with the latest blood pressure guideline. The blood pressure of 110/70 is perfectly fine now and 120/80 is considered to be prehpertensive.

http://www.bcm.edu/findings/vol1/is6/03june_n2.htm

Anonymous said...

Correction,

I meant to say anything over 120/80 would be classified as prehypertensive.

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