Be A Donor!
I’m type A+, which I found out by donating my blood.
https://www.redcrossblood.org/
Today, I donated my blood! We went to the blood drive with a local fire department, a lot of my friend’s dad’s from growing up are firemen there so it felt like going to a lacrosse game, very cool. My aunt waited in the car for an hour for me, which was funny being that I had no awareness of the time flying by. I probably would have texted her if my mind was not in my own world, having all that fun in there squeezing the foam thing. Laying on the table, my ring really shined from the bright lights on the ceiling, it entertained me to say the least. I closed my eyes not thinking anything of it, and they thought I passed out, so needless to say I kept them open and just gazed down to my hand to be focusing on my dazzling ring the entire time from that point moving forward. Squeezing that foam thing every three seconds, to make it go by faster, hahah. The lady was so nice, and I did not even feel the needle going in or being taken out, lucky day. We went on a walk, with my sister, when I came out. I was pleasantly surprised with a long sleeve t-shirt for donating blood, that was really nice of them to give me. I gave the shirt to my sister, because I like to give my sisters my t-shirts from races and things, so I guess my oldest sister has my donor shirt as my middle sister has the NOLA marathon shirt. Aunt A, got a shirt just for checking on me, wondering where I was, she’s a donor too. My sisters cannot wait for my next race, so I will give them a t-shirt to wear to bed or the gym, I purposely choose which one will have each shirt from different events to make it more special over the years; my way of keeping my sisters wanting more of me, spicing up our lives. :)
I took iron pills all week to do this, it was 14.5, which is good. Personally, I do iron pills with vitamin C to make it absorb more. It is hard for some women to absorb iron. Afterwards, I ate a pocket full of hershey kisses, even after all the snacks and juice they gave me. Everyone was really nice to me.
Blood donation is so important, and I realized this when a loved one had a baby and needed to receive donor blood in an emergency situation whilst giving birth. My boyfriend whom I had met in Maine upon studying English Literature during college, really understands that blood is something money cannot necessarily donate, and he definitely turned me onto becoming a donor at the right time; he donates a lot of money and a lot of blood, it’s like his thing to do whilst having free-time from skiing or playing backgammon. As a runner, I would not do it if there is a race in the next two weeks, but if your race is a month out everything bounces back to normal levels, so it’s not a problem. With all my races canceled and me not budging on the specific races I want to run, not a settler hitting that almost ten years of marathon-running milestone, I really have no excuse to not donate my blood. I bet I’ll run my world major super fast, even being a blood donor, just time it all out the right way and everything bounces back. Donating blood is a good thing, especially when you run faster than those blood doping whilst being a blood donor; you feel extra good racing in those events. The reason I bring running up is, because there is a stigma regarding being an elite runner and donating blood, and I am letting you know ‘jump in the water is fine’. :)
Here is a link to a Runner’s World article about being a runner and a blood donor, at the same time. Simultaneous talents! I actually like Jenny Hadfield’s article a lot. Coach Jenny’s suggestion in the article to run by effort right after giving blood is awesome, while also knowing everything bounces back and you can run race pace after a couple easy weeks.
