The Danger of Hydration

Yesterday was a busy day for me. I visited my sister-in-law and my little nieces and nephews and I also went to my brother’s basketball game.

So when I started the morning with an aching brain, I was not very pleased. If there is one thing I absolutely cannot stand, it is the throbbing pain of a headache. There are people I know that live with chronic headaches and migraines, and I simply don’t know how they do it.

Thankfully, I rarely have headaches and when I do have one it can always be traced back to one of three causes: sickness, sleep deprivation or dehydration. I felt healthy and I have been sleeping well so the cause of my headache was surely dehydration. Mild dehydration is pretty easy to fight against.

“Just add water!”

For the rest of the morning and into the early afternoon, I made sure I drank plenty of fluids and sure enough, my nagging headache disappeared.

Then it was time to leave my sister-in-law’s house and ride to my brother’s basketball game. I had only been biking for a few miles when I realized that in my haste to banish my headache, I had overcompensated slightly in my intake of fluids.

For the next thirty miles, I stopped at every convenience store I could find to use their restroom. My habit is to buy something if I stop to use a store’s restroom, it seems only fair. But yesterday, I did duck out of one store without purchasing anything, I guess I will have to go back and make it up to them sometime!

But other than the frequent stops and the misfortune of losing a glove somewhere along the way, the ride was amazing. I have been along this road plenty of times in a car, but this was my first time on a bike. There was a category 3 hill to climb which was exciting to me because although I live in a hilly area, we don’t have many long climbs. There was also a plentiful sprinkling of little rolling hills on this road, which are always fun to go up and down.

My family and I had a great time watching my brother play, he always seems to have fun on the court and he played well last night. Unfortunately, the game did not go our way and the opposing team won by a single point. Despite the ultimate loss it was a well-fought, exciting game.

Then it was time to head home. I must admit I cheated.

I biked to my brother’s game, but I rode back in the van with my family because they are awesome and willing to give me a free ride when I decide I need to sleep before work. I checked on mapmyride: I climbed 1,644 feet and descended 2,121 feet, so I clearly got the easy end of the deal. There was a category 2 hill right before I reached the school where my brother was playing. I coasted down that hill into the city knowing that I would not have to climb up it that night. Honestly, I felt a bit guilty.

It was a wonderful route to ride so I have made a promise with myself. I will re-ride this route and next time, I will bike home.