I Swallowed a Bee

Yes, and it sucked.

I've been training for the Marine Corps Marathon, my first real effort in long-distance running. I've always been interested in running but this last year has been the first time I've been able to sustain the effort over a long period of time. I think it's finally taken - it seems to me that with running, like so many things in life, there's a "hump" you have to get over before it becomes a part of your life.

Today was a "long run", a staple of marathon training. I started out with the optimistic intention of doing 14 miles. I got an early start, thinking I would beat the heat that way. I was following a winding road through some fairly dense woods, and for the first five or six miles, I had a nice, uneventful run, listening to a podcast and focusing on putting one foot in front of the other.

As I was running along, without any warning, a bee or some good-sized flying, stinging insect flew straight into my mouth and right down my throat - gaahhaaaggghhhhhh! I immediately stopped dead in my tracks and started making sounds like a cat with a hairball. It was one of the grossest sensations imaginable. It was way, way down my throat before I had even a second to think about it.

At that moment I realized I had two options. One - to cough it up. This would have been difficult, and completely disgusting, and might not have worked - this thing was in there. Two, I could swallow the damn thing and be done with it. I quickly opted for door number two, grabbing my water bottle and taking a few gulps. After swallowing it, I kind of had one of those all-over shivering fits for a second - it was so gross.

After I swallowed it though, I started to feel a funny feeling on the back of my tongue, and I mean waayyyy back on my tongue. I realized quickly what had happened - the bee had stung me on its way down.

I started to wonder - is my tongue going to swell up and keep me from being able to breathe? I started having visions of turning purple and collapsing in the middle of the road. I didn't think I had any bee-sting allergies, but I thought that this would be the worst possible way to find that out. After a moment to verify that I was indeed going to go on living, I started to run again, but couldn't get my mind off of what had just happened. A bee sting on your tongue is, not surprisingly, hard to ignore.

It was an indescribable sensation. It didn't hurt like you might think it would, but swallowing was kinda hard - like when you have strep throat and you try to swallow and it hurts a little. Eccch. I don't think I'm going to start running with a surgical mask, but I tell you, it sounded like a pretty good idea for a while.

To add insult to injury, I only managed to run 12 of my intended 14 miles. I could have kept going but I felt like I was going to die if I didnt drink something, and all my water was gone at that point. Hydration is an issue on these long runs - yes, I brought a water bottle, but that's only 20 ounces. I've weighed myself after long runs and found that I can lose as much as 6-7 lbs. of water on these runs. How am I supposed to replace that? Do I need to plant bottles in the bushes all along my route? Sigh. Its complicated, because you're running - you can't just drink water until it comes out your ears. It'll slosh around in your stomach and make you feel sick. Maintaining the proper level of hydration is no joke, I'm finding. Trying to run with no water in you is just brutal, but so is running with too much water in you.

Anyway, bees and dehydration notwithstanding, I'm going to keep running.