Eden Pajuelo could see the finish line of the Santa Barbara Half Marathon when suddenly her memory went dark.
The 22-year-old had been sprinting toward a personal best.
“I was running toward the finish line. Next thing I know, I’m waking up, and a bunch of people are surrounding me,” Pajuelo said.
Santa Barbara health officials continue working to unravel the mystery at Sunday’s half marathon, where at least 30 runners required medical attention amid reports of “unusual symptoms.”
Pajuelo had completed the Santa Barbara Half Marathon last year, along with a full marathon. She had been running since the 8th grade and said she trained through the recent heat wave.
“I felt good. I was holding my place,” she said. “I don’t remember feeling lightheaded or anything.”
Someone caught Pajuelo as she collapsed, she said. A nurse who happened to be nearby helped care for her until emergency responders arrived. Upon receiving oxygen from paramedics, her mother drove her to Cottage Hospital.
Until then, Pajuelo thought she was the only runner who had gotten sick.
“Literally the whole waiting room was full of runners and their families,” she said.
Once admitted, she said she struggled to make sense of what was happening. Her hands looked distorted, morphing almost. Nothing felt real.
“I fully thought, like, wow, am I going to be stuck like this forever?” she said.
Pajuelo said she eventually received a bed in a hallway alongside other runners. When a doctor asked what she thought had happened, she told him she figured she had pushed herself too hard.
The doctor disagreed, she said, telling her the number of other runners arriving at the emergency department was extremely abnormal, and raised the possibility that something else may have happened to her.
Pajuelo said she also overheard another runner describing the same visual distortions she was experiencing.
“I literally overheard this girl saying, like, oh I keep looking at my hands and they look so weird,” she said.
Pajuelo said the doctor raised these concerns with her before blood and urine samples had been taken.
Pajuelo consented to additional blood testing as part of the police investigation. As of Tuesday, she said she was still awaiting those results.
County health officials have pointed to heat as the likely explanation for the illness.
Other runners experiencing similar symptoms were treated and released at the race, according to Public Information Officer Ryyn Schumacher for the Santa Barbara County Health Department.
Schumacher told the News-Press it appeared symptoms experienced by most runners were consistent with the heat and a light-headedness known as near syncope.
The event sparked online speculation over whether people fell ill from laced water instead at hydration stations throughout the course.
Schumacher said the county’s Environmental Health Services issued inspections of the stations on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning prior to the race.
“Inspectors found no violations or areas of concern,” Schumacher wrote in a statement on Monday. “All water supplies and related materials inspected were observed to be clean, properly packaged, unopened, and stored in sanitary conditions.”
The Santa Barbara Police Department is leading the ongoing investigation into the incident. As of Tuesday, the department had no new information regarding the case, according to Cmdr. Ben Ahrens.
Hannah Biszczanik, a runner who finished 3,499th overall in the Santa Barbara Half Marathon, described her health taking an unusual turn for the worse on Monday morning.
“I was confused on why I was feeling so ill,” said Biszczanik, who was taken to the hospital after experiencing nausea, chills and vomiting upon waking up.
Biszczanik said she drank from every water station at the half marathon. She had light fatigue throughout the day following her race, but did not feel any real symptoms until Monday morning.
She added that she was “quite an informed runner” and was aware of the dangers of the heat, having trained for eight weeks before the event.
Biszczanik said she is currently waiting for the results of her blood tests from the hospital.
“It is kind of suspicious and unusual,” Biszczanik said. “I hope no one would do such a thing.”
Jade Martinez-Pogue, a runner in the half marathon who finished fifth overall and earned a medal, said she heard rumors after her race that some water stations may have been contaminated with drugs. She said she drank from each water station and did not fall sick.
“I would find it hard to believe that one of the stations was laced,” Martinez-Pogue said. “I don’t know who would do that.”
Martinez-Pogue said she ran the Santa Barbara Half Marathon course last year, but did not remember the last stretch down State Street being as difficult.
She added that the end of the race had uphills and was unshaded, as temperatures reached the high 80s that day.
As Biszczanik continues to recover from her illness, she hopes her blood tests and the investigation by the police will answer many of the questions she still has.
“If it was some sort of spiking incident, I hope they take action,” Biszczanik said.
Pajuelo said she drank water at every station and felt prepared for the race. Still, until she learns otherwise, she is leaning toward heat as the likely cause.
“It definitely could just be the heat,” she said. “We won’t know for sure until I get my blood test results back.”
Her nausea and distorted vision subsided after receiving IV fluids, she said. By the time she left the hospital, she felt back to normal.
Race organizers called her afterward to check in on her condition and ask for feedback, she said. They also offered to send her a medal.
She appreciated the call and suggested more frequent water stations and better preparations to get runners medical help more quickly.
Pajuelo said that despite this year’s ordeal, she plans to return to the race.
“I’m sure I’ll run again next year,” she said.
