Photo below: Helen Beven at the Pike's Peek 10K.

Heat-related emergencies fall into three categories of increasing severity: heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke.

If the problem is not addressed, heat cramps (caused by loss of salt from heavy sweating) can lead to heat exhaustion, which can progress to heat stroke. Heat stroke, the most serious of the three, can cause shock, brain damage, organ failure, and even death. This is my heat stroke story . . .

It was the first hot, humid day of summer 2005. I was going to run my first race as a master (over 40) in the Lawyers Have Heart 10K in Georgetown. I felt I had a good chance of doing well as I had been training well, but I could feel the pressure. The race had a strong field and, as usual, I started off too fast, but to me this is the only way to run! I could feel the heat and humidity burning down on me in the streets of Georgetown but I felt good and was running well until about mile 4. I suddenly began to slow down and I lost my lead as first master. I thought I could probably hang in there and get second (there were some great prizes up for grabs!) so I kept pushing myself. I also began to feel very hot and started getting chills. I looked up and saw the finish line 40 yards ahead of me. "Keep pushing," I thought to myself. Suddenly, everything went black.

Apparently, I had begun to weave and stagger and was caught by Kathy Freedman from Capital Running Company. She has seen situations like this at races before and has even seen people die at the end of races. She sat me down in the shade to cool me down and was then joined by Jim and Susan Hage, who brought me water. They called the ambulance. I have no recollection of this and I was babbling and making no sense at all but I was intent on finishing the race! At this point, other runners also started to go down in the same vicinity, and the other runners and I were put into an ambulance and taken to the finish line.

The next thing I remember was waking up in an ambulance. I could not remember what race I had been running and it even took me a while to remember my own name. It was then that I realized I was in serious trouble. You read about these sorts of things happening to other people but never think it could happen to you.

My boyfriend, Brian Ruberry, eventually found me in the ambulance. He insisted that they get an IV in my arm, as I could not keep any liquids down. There were about 20 other runners that were being treated for heat-related problems. One woman was delirious with heat and EMTs had to physically restrain her. Other runners appeared to be worse than me at the time so they moved me out of the ambulance to make room for them. It was then, on the hot streets of Georgetown, that I had my first seizure.

I really thought that I was dying. My whole body felt like it was melting and I could just see all these bright lights and funny shapes in my mind. I could feel my body shutting down. I thought to myself "this is it," so I focused on all the things I love. I started to sing about my children and how much I love them! I think people must have thought I was losing it and I am sure I was very out of my mind. Finally, the melting sensation stopped and I realized that I had come through. "I'm alive!" I shouted. "I didn't die." I was then picked up and put back into the ambulance and taken to George Washington University Hospital. It was in the emergency room that I had my second seizure. I felt my body melting again and saw the bright lights. This time I thought I would not be so lucky and that my time was up. Brian told me six doctors and nurses frantically worked to revive me.

I remembered what had pulled me through the first seizure so I thought of more people that I loved (Brian was with me at this moment and apparently I was yelling at him to kiss me and do other things to me which I cannot print!). It definitely pulled me through again and I kept shouting, "I'm alive!" I was very delirious but I also knew how close I came to dying. I was just thrilled to be living and breathing. Nurses wheeled me up to the Intensive Care Unit where I stayed for two days. I was hooked up to all these machines and my "vitals" were monitored around-the-clock. I came home a few days later and felt very weak for the next couple of weeks. I had constant headaches and my body ached. I found it hard to drive and do simple things like typing on the computer. I also lost some of my memory and had trouble remembering things. It took me a few weeks before I could run again although only slowly and not in the heat. A year has nearly passed now and I still feel the effects. My leg muscles are still aching (apparently that is normal when your body shuts down), which also explains how hard it has been to do any significant training and any decent racing. I hope other people can learn from my experience. You must always listen to your body. Learn the signs and do not push it to the limit. If you stop sweating, feel chills, and/or have a headache, stop running and seek medical help. Race preparation is also very important. In hindsight, I probably did not drink enough before and during the race. I also had taken a lot of ibuprofen the 24 hours before which can dehydrate you, and I also probably drank too much coffee on race morning.

Who knows why it happened, but I do know how lucky I am to be able to tell the tale. Doctors have warned me that I am susceptible to heat stroke again and to be careful exerting myself in the heat.

Having come so close to dying really has helped me put things into perspective in terms of what is important in my life. I do love to run and it is going to be hard to push myself in races again, but it is also important to spend as much time as you can with the important people in your life as you never know what is going to happen around the corner. Live each day to the fullest and do the best you can.