THE OVERZEALOUS RUNNER

This is the story about how I almost fainted and threw up in front of a bunch of ten-year-olds:

First, I started by substituting at Mountain View Elementary School. I had a lovely class of fifth graders who were very excited to have a guy for a sub.

Second, I agreed to run their lap with them during PE.

Third, I agreed to be the "rabbit" during the run when the PE coach asked me to. The rabbit lets all of the kids have a head start and then he (or she) takes off after them, trying to catch up. Whoever gets passed by the rabbit has to run an extra lap. The lap is approximately one quarter mile.

Fourth, I sprinted full speed for a quarter mile without slowing down at all. The coach was impressed by how fast I ran, and so were the kids. :) So was I. I passed about half of all the fifth graders, which I guess doesn't normally happen.

Fifth, I hadn't run in about three weeks and I didn't have enough water in my system.

Sixth, I went straight from running to playing jump rope, one of the PE activities that day. After a while I started to feel VERY VERY thirsty. After I got some water I felt tired. Then I started sweating. Then PE was over and I had to collect the kids to go to choir in the auditorium. It was around this time that my body started to go into shock.

I sat down on a ledge as the kids got some water. I stood up to lead them off to choir and I started to black out. My vision went from perfect to spotty around the edges to completely black. Just before I went entirely blind this is what I was thinking:

"Please do not faint in front of these kids. Hold on holdonholdon HOLD ON!! Cmon. There's the door. It's open. I see an faint outline of a chair. Is that real? Reach for it."

As I went completely blind I grasped a chair that I knew should be there and sat down. I didn't faint. I didn't throw up. I rested for about 10 seconds as my vision started to come back to me.

Fortunately for me all I had to do was walk them to the auditorium, where the choir teacher took over for the rest of the class. No one new a thing had happened, except for the super observant ones, who I think saw all the color drain from my my cheeks.

And the PE coach said, "Next time we'll have to give them a longer head start!"

Next time I might die.