Once upon a time, Grace was out of shape

After a semester of being cooped up in a dorm studying, I’ve been feeling quite motivated to run. Hard. My sister has been running every morning (so proud of her) so I joined her today. I figured it wouldn’t be that hard...

And it wasn’t. Started off fine. Every now and then I’d get tired, but I lasted longer than I thought I would. Even sprinted at the end. Then we got our bikes.

After a half a mile or so, I started feeling a little queasy. Glory was talking about road kill and I had to ask her to stop. I could feel my stomach start cramping up, and I was hoping that with continuous movement it would eventually go away. Nope.

By a mile, I was bad news. I just wanted to get home. Unfortunately, home was a mile away. I told my mom that I needed to ride ahead. All I could do was pray for mercy :-/
Eventually I felt the strength leave my legs. I couldn’t pedal anymore. My head started swimming. I had to get off. I laid down in a random neighbor’s front yard. I couldn’t do anything. I was a mess.

My mom and sister quickly caught up with me. Mom said she’d go get the car. Glory stayed to make sure I didn’t die or anything. I mentioned dying cause I felt like it could happen any minute, and Glory came back with, “Well, it wouldn’t be so bad... you’d go to Heaven.” I was hoping no one would call an ambulance because that just meant prolonged pain. All I wanted was a shower. A hot one.

Unfortunately, I was laying out in a yard on a busy street. I kept wondering if a car would stop, and I would have to explain my situation... hoping that wouldn’t happen, but also kinda shocked that no one wanted to stop and help a poor girl who had fallen off of her bike (at least that’s what it looked like) and couldn’t get back up.

Finally, I saw our Tahoe come over the bridge to the rescue. I somehow found the strength to get up and climb in. For 2 seconds the pain went away and I thought I was going to be OK. Then the 2 seconds were up. I mentioned to my mom that if this is what labor was like, I didn’t want kids. (pretty sure my mom has learned to take statements like these with a grain of salt when I’m in physical or emotional pain)

Well, after an excruciating car ride that lasted approx. three blocks, I was home. I ran inside, shaking from a mix of pain and exhausted muscles. I jumped in the shower and instantly felt better. The end.