A New Day One ...
I am one month into my new training cycle and realized I had yet to begin blogging. Needless to say this go around has been much different than others. I am about to celebrate my 6th runiversary (completed 5 years), and I realized perhaps this is a New Day One. [If you want to read about my first 5 years of running and all the craziness in that, there is a link in the footer to my old blog].
Here I am again.
I turned 40 last year and wow what a year. I overcame some of my biggest challenges. Almost every race saw a new PR, needless to say I am a stronger runner today than I was 5 years ago when I thought I was at my peak. I accomplished several challenge races I never dreamed possible. I joined an online running community that I now call home, they are my tribe #FFTFL. I wish so many times I would have found them years ago when I thought fat girls couldn't run. But guess what Fat girls can run .. AND NOT finish last.
I post on their Facebook group all the time, encouragement to others and little lessons I learned. I realized today in my post that I haven't ever shared my story, my full story.
I was born with a birth defect that left me being born crippled. By the time I was 3, I had been threw 12 surgeries to reconstruct my legs. The promise: there wasn't one, just I would not look deformed. What did my parents do, they treated me like every other kid, even though I was slower, walked with braces (yes like Forest Gump), the words 'I can't' were not allowed out of my mouth. This served its purpose in laying the ground work for what life was to throw at me.
I was 28, severely overweight for most of my adult like. Like others with weight issues, I would loose weight, after a few months then gain it all back (and then some). I was diagnosed with an advance form of Thyroid Cancer in 2005. Less than 10 days after being diagnosed I was in the hospital for a radical Thyroidectomy, (along with removing over 100 lymphnodes). I made it through and 10 days after my operation I was given a 99.9% cancer free prognosis, however I needed Radiation and Radioactive Iodine Therapy to ensure that everything was gone. The fear was it spread because it was in my lymphnodes already. So I took the over dramatic route and nuked everything.
Although 12 years later I can reflect and say for everything Cancer took from me, my decisions gave me back one thing I hold most precious ... LIFE.
While I was recovering, I had complications with healing, my immune system was in chaos and needless to say my Drs were panicking because the fear that the cancer spread was always there. But a few million test later, the panic subsided when I was handed my most dreadful news of this whole ordeal: I have SLE or Systematic Lupus Erythematosus. Lupus is an autoimmune disease that attacks healthy tissue because it misunderstand normal signals from the brain. So it mistakes healthy tissue for sick tissue and attacks to kill the 'bad.' The body is always over producing too many "warrior" cells and thus the body has waged a war against itself.
Prior to 2005 diagnosis I had finally gotten down to 170 pounds, but with my dual disease and the unreal amount of meds I was on I blossomed out to nearly 300 lbs. I would continue to balloon up and down the weight chart over the next six years.
However, a miracle happened in January of 2007. I meet an angel. She was two months old and as fate would have it she would become my apple of my eye, I held my daughter for the first time. Because of the diagnosis and the treatments I was highly encouraged not to have children, reality was they weren't really sure I could have being nuked.
I would say this was my turning point in my journey but it wasn't. When 'Doodle' was four years old I was in a wheelchair for almost 70% of the time. I would hobble around to play with her and be out of breathe and exhausted. Things had to change. I was getting married and had a child. I made a deal with myself to walk down the aisle.
Four months after my wedding in 2011, I decided to try something I never had, I decided to run. Really how hard could it be. The day after my 35 birthday in horrible south Florida heat and humidity I dug out a pair of tennis shoes, put on shorts and a t shirt, downloaded Couch to 5K and went for a run. About an hour later I crawled back into my living room and spread out on the cold tile. OMG, that was horrible. My mom and wife were concerned and were about to come look for me. My mom was proud. My wife asked me how far did I get. Gasping for air I sat up and said I finally made it to the main road and back (about a .25 mile round trip). That is right - and I had to walk most of it. My near 300 lb self had managed to drag myself down the street and back.
That week I went on to try to make it a mile, who cares about the time. Finally after 8 days of the walk -run - walk method, I finally hit a mile. Then I went and bought my first pair of running shoes. That week I went to Dr and convinced her to take me off all my meds. She refused, however she made me a deal, drop weight, get your numbers down and become active, then we will talk. My next date was Oct 22. Between the two visits I dropped 40 lbs, watched my food intake and had officially ran three 5K's, with my first half marathon just weeks away. After Oct22 I was taken off the predisone and other meds that help me to managed the Lupus. I reduced my pill intake from 34 pills a day to a mere 4 pills a day since I was fully taken off everything, this was in early 2012.
Up until 2016, I was in remission. In 2016, the Lupus came back. However, there was no way I would allow this to control my life. I enjoy the life I have created. I learned several lessons that I will share with everyone throughout this blog. The biggest thing I learned was that yes this is the body I have been given to work with, but it is amazing what people can accomplish when the impossible is set in front of you.
Today I posted about a run I did, on Thursdays I usually only run 2 miles. Today I ran 4 miles in the same amount of time it once took me to walk -run-walk a quarter of a mile.
Wont you join me on my journey?
ReThink Possible!!!
Here I am again.
I turned 40 last year and wow what a year. I overcame some of my biggest challenges. Almost every race saw a new PR, needless to say I am a stronger runner today than I was 5 years ago when I thought I was at my peak. I accomplished several challenge races I never dreamed possible. I joined an online running community that I now call home, they are my tribe #FFTFL. I wish so many times I would have found them years ago when I thought fat girls couldn't run. But guess what Fat girls can run .. AND NOT finish last.
I post on their Facebook group all the time, encouragement to others and little lessons I learned. I realized today in my post that I haven't ever shared my story, my full story.
I was born with a birth defect that left me being born crippled. By the time I was 3, I had been threw 12 surgeries to reconstruct my legs. The promise: there wasn't one, just I would not look deformed. What did my parents do, they treated me like every other kid, even though I was slower, walked with braces (yes like Forest Gump), the words 'I can't' were not allowed out of my mouth. This served its purpose in laying the ground work for what life was to throw at me.
I was 28, severely overweight for most of my adult like. Like others with weight issues, I would loose weight, after a few months then gain it all back (and then some). I was diagnosed with an advance form of Thyroid Cancer in 2005. Less than 10 days after being diagnosed I was in the hospital for a radical Thyroidectomy, (along with removing over 100 lymphnodes). I made it through and 10 days after my operation I was given a 99.9% cancer free prognosis, however I needed Radiation and Radioactive Iodine Therapy to ensure that everything was gone. The fear was it spread because it was in my lymphnodes already. So I took the over dramatic route and nuked everything.
Although 12 years later I can reflect and say for everything Cancer took from me, my decisions gave me back one thing I hold most precious ... LIFE.
While I was recovering, I had complications with healing, my immune system was in chaos and needless to say my Drs were panicking because the fear that the cancer spread was always there. But a few million test later, the panic subsided when I was handed my most dreadful news of this whole ordeal: I have SLE or Systematic Lupus Erythematosus. Lupus is an autoimmune disease that attacks healthy tissue because it misunderstand normal signals from the brain. So it mistakes healthy tissue for sick tissue and attacks to kill the 'bad.' The body is always over producing too many "warrior" cells and thus the body has waged a war against itself.
Prior to 2005 diagnosis I had finally gotten down to 170 pounds, but with my dual disease and the unreal amount of meds I was on I blossomed out to nearly 300 lbs. I would continue to balloon up and down the weight chart over the next six years.
However, a miracle happened in January of 2007. I meet an angel. She was two months old and as fate would have it she would become my apple of my eye, I held my daughter for the first time. Because of the diagnosis and the treatments I was highly encouraged not to have children, reality was they weren't really sure I could have being nuked.
I would say this was my turning point in my journey but it wasn't. When 'Doodle' was four years old I was in a wheelchair for almost 70% of the time. I would hobble around to play with her and be out of breathe and exhausted. Things had to change. I was getting married and had a child. I made a deal with myself to walk down the aisle.
Four months after my wedding in 2011, I decided to try something I never had, I decided to run. Really how hard could it be. The day after my 35 birthday in horrible south Florida heat and humidity I dug out a pair of tennis shoes, put on shorts and a t shirt, downloaded Couch to 5K and went for a run. About an hour later I crawled back into my living room and spread out on the cold tile. OMG, that was horrible. My mom and wife were concerned and were about to come look for me. My mom was proud. My wife asked me how far did I get. Gasping for air I sat up and said I finally made it to the main road and back (about a .25 mile round trip). That is right - and I had to walk most of it. My near 300 lb self had managed to drag myself down the street and back.
That week I went on to try to make it a mile, who cares about the time. Finally after 8 days of the walk -run - walk method, I finally hit a mile. Then I went and bought my first pair of running shoes. That week I went to Dr and convinced her to take me off all my meds. She refused, however she made me a deal, drop weight, get your numbers down and become active, then we will talk. My next date was Oct 22. Between the two visits I dropped 40 lbs, watched my food intake and had officially ran three 5K's, with my first half marathon just weeks away. After Oct22 I was taken off the predisone and other meds that help me to managed the Lupus. I reduced my pill intake from 34 pills a day to a mere 4 pills a day since I was fully taken off everything, this was in early 2012.
My First half Marathon in Nov 2011 - Seconds after this picture was taken
I collapsed after crossing the finishline - 3:58:22 seconds (3rd from last)!!!
Up until 2016, I was in remission. In 2016, the Lupus came back. However, there was no way I would allow this to control my life. I enjoy the life I have created. I learned several lessons that I will share with everyone throughout this blog. The biggest thing I learned was that yes this is the body I have been given to work with, but it is amazing what people can accomplish when the impossible is set in front of you.
Today I posted about a run I did, on Thursdays I usually only run 2 miles. Today I ran 4 miles in the same amount of time it once took me to walk -run-walk a quarter of a mile.
Wont you join me on my journey?
ReThink Possible!!!
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