Boston Training Run

This past weekend I was in Boston for a family wedding. My sister was attending as well, so we jumped at the opportunity to do a training run together! I didn't make it to the Team Challenge group session on Saturday, because my flight was right about the time the session started. So the long run took place through Boston Gardens and Commons on Sunday morning!

Good think I'm not drinking alcohol anymore so I didn't have to worry about a hangover. :-)

But I woke up this morning with some slight twinges of pain in the stomach muscles behind my old stoma site. I felt these small twinges at work on and off, but then when I stood up to leave our Monday meeting, I got a very intense pain that actually made me gasp. It happened a few other times as I gathered my things and got in and out of the car on my commute home. Ever since then, it feels like a slight bruise, a very noticeable ache.

I hope I didn't injure anything. I don't think it's a hernia, because there is no lump. But I sent an email to my surgeon (I had a ton of questions for him anyway that I just kept putting off) and skipped the short training run I should have done today. Hopefully I will hear back from him, and he will put my worries at ease!

On a positive note, I did 3.44 miles! I don't know why my little RunKeeper sidebar widget isn't updating the latest training activity, but I hope it fixes itself soon!

I have been really racking up the miles, but now we are venturing distances I have never run on a regular basis. This week will be running 4 miles at the Team Challenge group training session! Ah!

I need to buy myself one of those hand water bottles for these longer distances! I wish Hydroflask made one, but their bottles are metal so they would be like running with a small weight in one hand. I don't think that would help me with my time much haha.

Total mileage: 32 miles!
Fundraising: I reached my original goal of $3,200, so now my goal has been upped to $3,900 to include airfare to the event! I am 82% to my goal!
But $.82 of every dollar is STILL going to the cure and awareness of Crohn's and colitis!

Karting for a Cure: Kristin's Got the Runs for CCFA

Also, I have started planning my fundraising event, which I am super excited about. Save the date: October 10, 2014 at Speed Raceway in Horsham! More details to come!

One Race Down!

The first race I wanted to complete on my journey to Vegas is all done! I finished the Guts and Glory 5K down in Ocean City, NJ. I also didn't think I'd get all competitive and hung up on my pace times or anything, but I was happy to see I finished with my best pace time since starting.

It was a fun event, my husband came down and everything; and even brought the dogs. In fact, he stopped at a spot on the route and took pictures and then met me at the finish line. So I stopped and got Cricket for the last 3/4 mile and he finished with me. My buddy. But we also had to stop for him to poop along the way. Don't worry, I picked it up and carried it with me until I found a trash barrel!

Of course once we finished, people were fawning all over both Charlie and Cricket. They are, in fact, the most adorable dogs in the entire world.

Pictures, or it didn't happen!

I started the race about 10 minutes late-- I had to wait in line for the bathroom (a long bathroom line at a CCFA event? Go figure!) and then run back to the car to take my outer clothes off and get my headphones. So I started the race and got stuck behind a ton of walkers for a while.But for the most part, I felt really good until about the 2 mile mark, that's when I took a long walk break. But once I saw my husband again, I stopped and picked up my Cricket and then we were off at a good pace... until he had to poop. So that was another stop. I estimate my time would have been about 5 minutes better without the stops.

One thing I learned for this race is that I definitely need to get a water bottle to carry with me. One that attaches to my hand or arm or something.

The second thing I learned from both runs this weekend (I did 2.5 miles with Team Challenge Philly on Saturday), is that I need to strengthen my abs. I'm just really nervous because I still feel twinges and am worried about incisions from my surgeries. I haven't started yoga back up, maybe that will help. I feel like I need something more, I'm just afraid.

Since my last post on Thursday, I've run another 7.5 miles.

Total mileage: 18.5 miles
Fundraising: 71% to my goal (still! I need to pick up my game here!)

Week 2 Training

Alright, I'm getting into my running schedule this week! This past Saturday, we had our first Team Training Session followed by a shoe clinic at The Running Store in Newtown Square. Got my first real pair of running shoes! I love them already and I've been running on them for 5 days!
We did 2 miles on Saturday as a team, and since then I've been following the guide they gave us for training. So my total miles for this past week (including Saturday) is 7 miles!

That brings my total mileage so far up to 11 miles!
And my other sister donated so now I am 71% to my goal!

I still need a few more donations until I am comfortable that I will be able to raise all that money! $3,200 is a daunting number, but I am still amazed at how readily people donated to me. I became such a hermit while I was sick and then recovering, it's nice to know people still care.

What I also have noticed, is that I must have been dehydrated or at least under-hydrated pretty much my whole active life. All I remember is after nearly every soccer, softball, basketball, field hockey or track meet I ALWAYS got a headache. A lot of my childhood was just one nagging head ache. I just assumed I inherited it from my mum, who is prone to some serious migraines.

Now that I have no colon, I have to pay very close attention to staying hydrated. I can go downhill very quickly. During my recovery, I ended up back in my surgeon's office to get 2 massive bags fluids twice. (Which we some of the most fun doctor's office visits I ever had, by the way!) But since I've had to pay so close attention to hydrating... I haven't gotten a single head ache, which in the past I would have had one continuous headache by now!

I also noticed my muscles aren't as sore this week, time to up my game!

Until next time....

I also go to go paddle boarding last weekend!! That's my pup, Cricket on the board with me. I haven't been able to do something like that in FOREVER! Let alone that I didn't have the energy, but being away from a bathroom like that was unthinkable!

Kick Off Week

This week was super busy for me, but also filled with so much CCFA stuff!
On Wednesday, I went to the Kick Off Party for this season of Team Challenge. I am so excited to be participating in this endeavor, and it was great to meet such positive people.

Thursday, I met with the new walk manager for the Takes Steps Bucks County walk in October and I'll be helping out recruiting vendors for this year. Last year I was too sick to help out at all, I was preparing for surgery that winter...

Remicade and Humira had failed me at that point. My other efforts like overhauling my diet, trying gluten-free, and incorporating natural healing as well, all were a bust too. So thinking back to this time last year, I wasn't in a very good place at all. I remember crying as I called my GI doc, finally conceding, and asking him for that surgeon's contact information. He had suggested surgery many times, starting 2 years prior, and I stubbornly refused.

What a difference a year makes is all that comes to mind now!

Tomorrow (Saturday) is our first Team Challenge training session, followed by a shoe clinic at The Running Store! I'm so excited for new shoes, because I'm still using ones I had in college... I think I'd be better off running barefoot than in those some days.

Ran another 4 miles this week.
Total training mileage is: 8 miles.
Fundraising: 69% to my goal!
To support my fundraising efforts here is my page: http://active.com/donate/lasvegasPHL14/PHTCKDohan

What's that sound? That's the sound of PROGRESS!

Happy Returns!

After a week off from training for -ahem- lady issues, I returned to the gym yesterday. TMI alert!

Apparently, being a girl with a j-pouch, once a month, royally sucks. But really, I am thankful to be healthy enough to make that complaint again. It's hard to imagine my already slim frame being any skinnier than it is right now. But for 7 months, I was so incredibly underweight (I weighed 98lbs and I'm 5'8'') and malnourished that my period stopped completely. I didn't really miss it, per se, but I was acutely aware of what that absence meant. It meant that I was so sick, my body had gone into survival-mode and ceased all unnecessary functions in order to stay alive. Reproducing? Superfluous.

So while I hated it how it felt returning to female adulthood, I am secretly happy to be able to complain about something so normal.

But it did set me back a week in training too. I'm still recovering from that small setback a week later, but I can push through this, no problem. The time on the couch gave me an opportunity to fund raise a little more too, so I sent out a batch of emails.  My sister also sent out her own batch about two weeks ago, so funds have been trickling in and I am 53% to my goal!

The Kick-Off party is this week, and first Team Challenge training session is this Saturday morning too. I'm nervous! I haven't been in any sort of team environment since crew in college, and definitely not since becoming so sick. But the good thing is, I will be surrounded by people who are very familiar with this disease, so I won't have to do much explaining.

Oh, and I took a nice walk with my husband and dogs up to feed the horses some peppermint. FYI, horses love peppermint!