Tag: #OutrunPD

The Blue Ridge Relay for Parkinson’s Disease

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” – And a Bit of Context… Running across the North African Sahara this past April, I pushed myself beyond my capabilities.   I wrote previously about my experience in the Marathon Des Sables and how it has clarified my future (See the Blog:  A line […]

A Line in the Sand

For the first time in my life I have very real concerns about my ability to complete a race before it begins. I have an agreement with myself that my race performance will inform the scope of activities that I take on going forward. So in short, my experience in this race has huge implications for my future.

So on S2, near CP2, I collapsed from heat stroke with a temperature of 106 and was unconscious for 15 to 20 minutes, laying in the sand for 65 minutes and in that spot for 1:40 total. Everything was captured on film.

I am forever grateful for Paul who immediately requested medical assistance when I started to go unconscious, Ghalia the wonderful cinematographer who went to get the medical team and actually drove the media truck herself and the medical team who took great care of me in a very difficult overwhelming situation. Thank you all!

I went too far in the Sahara, learning exactly how far I can go. I take what happened tremendously seriously, and will be sorting out my path forward based on the learnings of this and the last few years.

Certainly this is the end of a chapter, but the book isn’t written yet and as I begin to turn the page, I am full of optimism and excitement about the future. I have a fire inside me that will never burn out and there is nothing in this world that can hold me down.

I will be back!