2014: A Year To Forget

Howdy friends!  It's been a while.  My poor blog has been on life support for the past year along with my running career.  So here's a recap to bring everyone up to speed...

I was running really fast.  Then I wasn't.  I felt sick all of the time.  No one knew what was wrong.  I went to a million doctors.  I tried a bunch of crazy stuff.  I suffered through an entire year of trial-and-error treatments, a hiatus from running, and moments of losing my mind and my body/health.

After all of that, the sad truth is nothing definitive was ever discovered to explain why I got sick.  Sure I tested positive for a few weird viruses and bacteria, but on their own, these positive results weren't things that should have been causing me to be so sick.  I also had a serious deficiency in some vitamin levels (mainly the B vitamin group) and bit of a hiccup in my Kreb's Cycle (which produces energy), but nothing extremely serious.  Additionally I was having an odd sort of detached feeling with my legs, but no one could/can explain why, despite testing for all of the likely culprits.  And most recently after noticing a pattern between when I was ill and when I moved into my new home, I discovered I had an extremely high level of mold in my environment (which has since been taken care of).

Although it's an odd mix of random factors, taken together they apparently formed the perfect storm of "ew" in my body.

So that leads me to today.  After being on a crap-load of supplements for about 3 months (enough time so they could have an effect), doing some mold remediation in my home, going through months of acupuncture, physical therapy and chiropractic treatments, along with a handful of other tweaks to my body, I THINK I'm on the road to recovery. Woo-hoo for cautious optimism!

 This is just a sampling of my current menu of daily supplements to keep me on the road to recovery.

Unfortunately, since I don't know exactly what caused me to get sick in the first place, I'm unsure of how to avoid a repeat episode in the future.  And I'd be lying if I said I was 100% better.  At best, I'm currently about 75-80% on the Crusher spectrum of health.  The weird, detached/uncoordinated feeling in my legs (left leg mainly) continues to persist and is troublesome. And don't even get me started about being in shape.  I'm in shape, but my shape is a round circle of goo...not the shape of a lithe, fit runner.

                                An "infographic" which represents my current fitness level...

HOWEVER, my head is back in the game and that is a critical first step.  Additionally my training with Coach Ron has resumed and although it's light, mileage-wise, and relatively tame when it comes to intensity, I'm doing it.  It's ugly and slow, but I'm doing it and I'll continue to do it everyday with an appreciation for what my body has been though and wherever it goes from here forward.

My plan since 2012 has been to rise in the ranks and be considered among the top female American distance runners, as well as get back to the Olympic Trials in 2016.  Unfortunately my health mess of 2014 has put a bit of a kink in those plans.  Instead of achieving my goals, I've essentially fallen off the map when it comes to being a "known" competitor on the racing circuit, LUNA dropped me from their sponsored athlete roster, and I haven't posted a result since my abysmal performance at the 2014 Half Marathon Championships.  BUT I refuse to give up.  I've come out of the woodwork before, and I know I can do it again!

My new goal is to qualify and compete at the 2016 Trials, not worrying about the actual race in LA.  At this point, simply qualifying would be an amazing feat.  And you can bet I will be giving it the full beans from now until Feb 13, 2016.

I believe in the power of the jinx, so I'm cringing as I post this pic from 2012. Fortunately I also believe in the power of visualization...can, will, do...LA, I'm coming for you!