Tick

I ran that Trail Race through the woods on Saturday and I did a lot of yard work on Sunday. At work on Monday, I kept scratching my right thigh through my pants. It itched like crazy! I looked at it later and noticed a dime size red patch and a tiny black dot in the middle. I assumed that I had been scratching so hard that a scab had formed. Tuesday it continued to itch. Today was even worse!

Since Kyra's with Joe tonight, I worked late and then went to the high school track to do some speed-work. I jogged an easy mile and then alternated sprinting the straights and walking the curves for two miles. While driving home I was drinking cold water out of an aluminum bottle. I became worried when I realized that it only felt cold on the right side of my mouth. Why was the left side of my mouth desensitized?

When I got in the shower, I noticed that not only was the red patch larger on my thigh, but so was the black thing that I had thought was a scab. Then it occurred to me that as hard as I've been scratching it, if it were truly a scab, it should have come off and bled. But it hadn't. It dawned on me that maybe this was a tick so I scratched at it harder and eventually it came off. No blood, only what looked like an ulcer. I looked closely at the shower floor and realized that it truly was a tick. I hope this red itchy patch clears up soon now that the tick has been removed. I hope no parts were left behind.