I forgot to mention a few things in my last post.

• That free hat that I received for the 2013 race?  It served me very well.  It was one of two hats that I used on a regular basis for training races.  Over the last 3 years I used the hat on hundreds of runs.  However, as with most good things, my time with the hat came to an end when I was washing it one day and ripped through it.  Much of the previous sweat absorbing material had already come out so I knew it was on its way out.  But this was the last straw.

• On my run on Friday morning I was stung by a bee.  About a mile into my run I felt something land on the back of my hat.  I used my left hand to swipe at it thinking it was a fly.  I felt a sharp pain on the inside of my left ring finger.  When I looked at the finger, I didn’t see a stinger as I expected.  The pain continued though seemed to subside to a little bit of a throb.  I’ve been stung about 3 times prior to this so hoped that I wouldn’t have a severe anaphylactic reaction as I know can happen when you’re stung for a second time.  Usually the first sting is a freebie but sensitizes your immune system.  That 2nd sting is when the body mounts an overwhelming allergic reaction causing people’s throats to swell and people to not be able to breathe.  Since I was only at mile 1 and planned to do at least 5-7, I figured I’d keep running and see what happened (I don’t recommend this to others).  I could see a small round white area on my finger, probably where I was stung.  Overall aside from some pain in my finger, I felt overall fine so finished my 5 miler.  To be safe, I took an anti-histamine after I arrived home.  The pain dissipated but then the itchiness began.  The entire inside part of my left ring finger was itchy.  There was also some mild redness.  This continued for the next 48 hours.  My wife looked up some things and suggested I take my wedding ring off because it was tight on that finger and actually trapping the histamines I think.  Once I moved the ring to my other hand, the itchiness subsided almost instantaneously.  Lesson from this run is that if something lands on you during a run, let it be as it will almost 100% leave on its own without causing any problems.  I feel bad though if it was a bee because bees die after they sting something.
• We’ve been having some great weather for Sacramento.  It’s been in the 80s here and so has allowed me to get some good runs in.  This morning I did either my last run or second to last run with my good friend KP.  She’s moving to Portland in August for work.  She will be missed.  We were just in Portland and I still need to post an update on that trip – it was a blast.
• There’s a new race coming to Sacramento.  This one will be a 20 miler, half marathon, 5K, and untimed 3K.  The host organization is the Sacramento Running Association (SRA).  This is the same group that puts on the California International Marathon, which I ran in 2013 (race recap yet to be published).  I think I may sign up for the half marathon and consider switching over to the 20 miler if I’m at that stage of training.  Check it out here: http://runtheparkway.org/

-StewsCat