3M Half Marathon - Austin, TX

Sunday was like a blur.  I managed to run the 3M Half Marathon despite having major stomach issues in the days leading up to it.  First, the race.  I was very impressed with 3M's organization.  There were regular email updates and whoever was in charge of the Facebook page did an incredible job answering each and every question.  Everything, in my opinion, was very, very smooth.  It is billed as a 'fast, downhill' course and while it is downhill, it's certainly not noticeable.  It felt more flat to me than anything else.  It's such a gradual descent that you really don't notice that you are going down.  Having said that, it's better than 13.1 miles of a gradual uphill because I'm sure I would have felt that!

Check out that goodie bag FULL of 3M products!

I've mentioned my stomach problems many times on this blog.  Its been an ongoing issue for 4 years now and is as of right now, undiagnosed.  I've gotten the, "Oh, it's probably just IBS." talk from 3 different doctors.  They have had me convinced that it's no big deal, and to just live with it.  I'm not a big fan of going to the doctor, I typically have to be pretty ill before I'll go get checked out and part of the reason is that I (this is very strange) always assume I'll get in there, they'll tell me nothing is wrong with me and I will have wasted every one's time.  However, this intestinal issue for me has pushed itself into the forefront of my life and messed with my day to day living.  I've missed many morning plans because I just can't leave the house yet.  I've had days where I'm in pain for the entire day.  I've had days where there is no pain, I just need to be close to the bathroom - TMI.  I've tried going gluten free although to be perfectly honest, I can't say that I was ever 100% GF because it is in stinking everything and I didn't quiz servers when we went out to eat.  I did notice that I felt a bit better off gluten but I think only in the way that most people would - bloating eased, pain got more manageable, I was way less puffy, etc.  But I still felt bad so I took out dairy.  That made a big difference.  Then I took out all animal products.  I did, though, ease gluten back into my diet although made every effort to keep it at a minimum.

Fast forward to two weeks ago.  I had finally had it and went to see a GI dr.  He ran blood work and scheduled me for both an endoscopy and a colonscopy.  The blood work showed that I am vitamin D deficient so he put me on a prescription to get that back on par.  It also showed that I have immunoglobulin A deficiency which apparently made my celiacs panal non diagnostic.  Awesome.  So.  He is planning on doing a biopsy to check for celiacs and is hoping to rule out crohn's and colitis.  And I get to have that fun stuff done on Valentines Day....so romantic!

Back to the race.  I have no idea what happened but starting late Friday night, my stomach started acting up in a major way.  By mid-day Saturday, I was in so much pain, I could hardly stand up straight.  I know it sounds dramatic, but I really am actually pretty good with pain and am able to just deal most of the time but this time it was bad, real bad.  I don't know if it was something I ate - being away from home it's so hard to control what you are eating.  But whatever it was, it scared me.

I got up Sunday at 4:00am and finally made the call to go ahead and run at 5:30 so we headed up to the start.  I had many issues that morning and after that plus the day before, I was feeling pretty spent.

I felt ok for about 6 miles then I started feeling more tired than I should.  Then at mile 7, my watch ran out of batteries.  I know, I know....rule of racing number one - make sure all your shit is charged.  I totally slept on that one - completely forgot to even check it.  So from mile 7 on, I was running blind.  Had no idea how my pacing was....one minute I would feel like I was running way too fast, then the next, too slow.  By mile 10, the nausea kicked in.  I'm assuming that was dehydration.  I carried water and drank regularly but I think the day before and that morning had taken it's toll and I just hadn't caught up with my fluids.

I finished the race in 1:46:38 and given how I felt, I'm ok with that (but, ugh, could I get out of the 1:46's??).  I probably shouldn't have even run it because I still am not back to normal.  I'm still dragging and still dealing with cramping although much milder now.  It's good to be back home with my veggies and hopefully by this weekend, I'll feel much better.

Wow.  Longest, and probably the most boring, post ever!