As I type this I’m laying in bed, rubbing my head and trying to figure out what the heck happened.

Earlier today I stepped out of the house for a run, feeling good. It’s a warm day, bordering on what I would call ‘hot’, but not too scorching. I made sure to drink water before my run and felt great. After having sudden trouble running my usual distance of 5km in my last run I was totally confident about today’s attempt.

So I set off down the road on the usual running path I take around the neighborhood. Two and a half laps of this path add up to 5km. I was holding my pace down on purpose, trying to forget about speed and just completing the distance. I was happy with a slow pace of about 5:30 per kilometer. Before I even finished the first lap I felt fatigued. I’ve been running 5km regularly for the past couple of months, what could be happening now? My throat already felt like sandpaper.

I made sure to drink plenty of water before the run, but there I was - dizzy and dehydrated and hot. The sun was about to burn a hole in my head any moment, I could feel it. But I made myself keep going. After all, 5km was my goal today and no way was I stopping again.

I didn’t stop, but eventually my thighs began to cramp, my vision began to blur, and it hurt to breathe in my throat. With half a kilometer to go, I gave up and slowed to a walk. Not only did slowing down not make me feel any better, I felt immediately nauseous. My legs were about to give out from under me and my heart was about to crack through my ribcage, I could feel it.

Thankfully, I didn’t throw up and made it home, sick and defeated. When I looked in the mirror my face wasn’t red as I was expecting, but so pale that it looked almost white.

I’m now in bed, feeling a bit better but still really out of it. I know I have to get up and go to the shop soon as there is no food whatsoever in the house for me to eat. I was going to ride my bike to the shop, but catching the bus is probably a better option. Or maybe I could just go without food today, feels more tempting than getting up right now.