There are Better Ways to Spend the Game...

I used to never get headaches. Up until a few months ago, when I got a headache, it was super rare, and they only lasted for a few minutes, before they’d either go away by themselves, or I’d take some pills and they’d go away after a bit, no problem. But for the past few months, I usually get a headache on Monday, in the afternoon. I assume it’s because I don’t really look at a computer all weekend, then I come back on Monday, and look at one all day, so my head needs to get used to it. (Which is weird, because this never happened before) So now, every Monday, I just take a little extra precaution to see if I can prevent it. Make sure my eyes don’t get dry, drink lots of water, just in case, that sort of thing.

This past Saturday, I had a good 7-mile run. It was awesome – and my last long run before my half marathon this Saturday. So I came home, drank a little water, and got ready for the day. Throughout the day, I didn’t really pay attention to drinking anything else. During the week, at work, I have my water bottle right next to me, so I drink from it continuously because I can see it. On the weekends, when I’m pretty busy, I just never realize that I’m not drinking. Such was it this day. So onto the game I go, and when we’re leaving Joanna’s, where we ate dinner, I was getting a little bit of a dehydration headache, and that’s when I realized I hadn’t been drinking to compensate for all the running. We get to the stadium, I get myself some water, and settled in for some cheering.

There was a lot of screaming going on, of course, like every game. About halfway through the first half, my head started to hurt more with every scream/cheer that I did. By about the 40th minute, my little headache had grown into a full-blown migraine – complete with a little nausea, and an aversion to the sounds of the stadium. But this was the last game of the season! I wasn’t going to give up! So right at halftime, RSL scored, and we all went crazy. Husband picked me up, and hoisted me above everyone (like he usually does) but this time, the headache, combined with the movement and the screaming of 20,000 people, this was a goal celebration that I wished I hadn’t done.

The rest of the game was pretty boring, for me. I no longer screamed, nor cheered, I just clapped when anything happened. When things got too noisy, either Husband or PJ would cover my ears with their hands so that I could clap, and they could cheer. It was a sad arrangement, but I stayed the whole game. Afterwards, as soon as I got to the car, I took a bunch of Tylenols and ibuprofens – a doctor recommended dosage, don’t worry – and drank almost another whole bottle of water. At the usual post-game ice cream (from Baskin Robbins) I also got a Mtn Dew – to see if caffeine helped. By the time we got home, the migraine had calmed down a little to just be a headache. My lesson here is that I really need to drink more during the weekends, especially if I had a long run that morning. But at least I got to see my team play their last regular season game – and good news, playoffs start this upcoming Saturday!

This picture is of the Portland fans – who were sitting across from us. At some point of the game, they all set off a billion smoke bombs, and a lot of flares, so all we could see of their section was smoke and fire. It looked a little like they had just set themselves on fire. Why would they do this? I’m not really sure.