Long Way to the Finish

Today was the Platte River Half-Marathon.

One thing about  doing all this with MS is how limiting MS can feel. It's frustrating, I can't train well in the hight of summer but at the same time I can't train well in the middle of winter... too much heat or too much cold equals badness, it feels like I just can't win.

Today, the run started pretty much like all of my other runs recently... spasticity in my calves. I tried taking Advil before starting with the hopes of staving off the worst of the pain, maybe it took the edge off maybe not. For the first two or three miles or so, I had the spasticity then by mile four my right foot went completely numb, followed by my left foot. The next four miles felt like I was running in ski boots of what I imagine what running in ski boots would feel like.

One thing I've learned about dealing with MS related issues is that if you push through long enough, they eventually dissipate which happened on this run by mile 10. Unfortunately, the blister forming on the bottom of my left foot at mile 11 made me almost wish I was dealing with the numbness.

In the end, I finished strong and I felt good crossing the finish line. There is still a lot of work I need to do on my running. No matter how much I run, or how hard I try... running is still not my thing. Doing the event today got me itching to sign up for a triathlon this summer, I'm thinking the Boulder Sunrise or Sunset... or maybe the Summer Open or Oktoberfest.

The next race on my agenda is the BolderBoulder on Memorial Day which I'm doing with Jeremy, the boys, and a group of Boy Scouts I've been working with on their Personal Fitness merit badges. After 13.1 miles today, 6 should be a breeze.

Spasticity City

Lately it feels like my body is falling apart.

I’ve been having more issues in the past few weeks than I’ve had in a very long time. The tingling and numbness was just the start, now every time I go running my calves lock up from spasticity. It is one of the most annoying and frustrating things to have happen when I try to run, not to mention painful.

I don’t know why the MS is flaring up more lately. Since the one thing I’m not getting is weaker, my doctor doesn’t feel like I’m relapsing or at the very least he’s not worried... too much. I am going to be seeing the Neuroscience Specialists at University Hospital in Denver to look into going on a new MS treatment. It would be my first treatment for MS in a couple of years, but if I can go on it I wouldn’t have to deal with daily or weekly injections. It would mean getting my MS meds with out it really impacting or interfering with my life too much. 

It’s a pretty nasty catch 22... In order to help keep the disease from progressing I need the meds, but the meds make me feel as bad if not worse than the symptoms of the disease not to mention they would impact my ability to train and work out which is also, my doctor agreed, another very important part to living and managing with MS. Tysabri, the new med I’m looking to go on, is an IV infusion that I would have to get every couple of months or so. There are side effects and drawbacks to the new med, and when I talk with the University I’ll find out more about them.

I’ve got the Platte River Half-Marathon coming up on Sunday, and I’m hoping that the spasticity in my legs will be at least manageable or else it’s going to be a pretty miserable run. I've been trying to keep hydrated, my potassium intake up, stretching and every other thing I can think of to try and combat the issue with my muscles. 

Here's hoping it works on Sunday...

Been a long couple of months

The past couple of months have, admittedly, been kind of difficult MS wise. Since February I've had a whole mess of things flaring up again; fatigue, dizziness, numbness... I'm so sick of it. Of course, the resurgence of issues has put a damper on my training and I've got a half-marathon coming up in a couple of weeks. It most likely won't be my best event ever, but I'm still going to go and do my best. It doesn't matter when I cross the finish line just that I cross. I've been working with a group of Boy Scouts on their Personal Fitness merit badge, and one thing I keep telling them is that personal fitness isn't about competing with other people, there is always going to be someone bigger, stronger and faster, the person they need to compete with is themselves and try and do their personal best. That's definitely something for me to keep in mind as well.

Next month I'm going back to my neurologist to touch base on the resurgence of issues I've been having. I don't want to go so far as to say I'm relapsing, though it certainly feels like I am, but I do want to see what my doctor has to say. It could be that I've been running myself down with stress from work plus training which instead of helping my immune system, it's actually lowering it making me susceptible to every little bug that I come across. My hope is that when the school year ends, I will be able to bounce back and get back to feeling more like myself.

Changes in the wind

This summer will be my four year anniversary of being diagnosed with MS. I'm also going into my second year being in remission and mostly symptom free (I still get a touch of numbness and fatigue when I over train). My life with MS has taken a massive turn from where it had been heading before my diagnosis. There is no arguing that I'm in a much better place now then I had been four years ago and I'm feeling called to do more and take a huge step embracing my MS.

I've come so far in a short amount of time since my diagnosis, and a huge part of that has been my attitude towards MS and my commitment to my overall health and fitness. Combine all that with being a writer, and to sum it all up, I'm feeling called to tell my story and share what I've learned and how I've managed to overcome some of the worst parts of having MS. In addition, I want to take my fitness even farther and push myself to levels a lot of people wouldn't think about going, especially with a chronic illness. To that end, it's my intention to register and train for Ironman in 2014.

Talking with a good friend of mine who's done Ironman, I have my sights set on either Ironman Arizona or Florida in November 2014. According to my friend, they are two of the best first Ironman triathlons out there. The rub is that they're both really popular, and tend to sell out quickly not to mention the cost of doing Ironman in general is pretty expensive. I can't try to sign up until November this year, and cross my fingers that I can get a spot, but that's not going to stop me from training with that goal and date in mind; if 2014 doesn't work out there's always 2015.

Now some people might wonder... Why Ironman? Do you hate yourself that much?

A big part of why doing Ironman is really important to me is to prove to myself that I can, that with training and eventually coaching, I can push my body to its limits and beyond, that MS wont stop me from achieving my dreams. I know that one day, hopefully a long way down the road, my body won't be able to handle the rigors of training, that the MS will have progressed to a point where my physical mobility will be impacted, but until that happens I want to do everything I can while I can. I want to face the eventual relapse without regrets, that I did everything I could do to keep my body strong and I want to have the memories of the things I did accomplish to remind myself when things get hard that I didn't give in.

So the plan in a nut shell...

Start training for Ironman Florida/Arizona 2014
Locate a trainer/coach who will kick my butt up to the next level
Research as much as I can about nutrition, running, cycling, and fitness in general
Find other people with MS who exercise/train and talk about what they do
Write about everything
Generate interest in my book and try to find ways to offset the cost of training

Finally.... kick ass in 2014 and cross the finish line!

I haven't yet put together my training program for Ironman. The first thing I feel I should do is see my neurologist and get him on board, do the whole check up, new images, talk meds... All things I've kind of avoided. After that, find a coach, ideally someone who is familiar with MS and working with athletes who have MS. Until then, I have two half marathons in April, The Platte River Half and the Horsetooth Half, BolderBoulder in May and Bike MS in June. I'm also thinking of adding a sprint distance tri or two to the schedule. One thing I learned the hard way with my schedule last year is that its really easy for me to over train and that way lays all sorts of badness. So, I have to figure out the best way to train without over training.

There are definitely changes happening this year, changes is my focus, my goals, where I see myself and most importantly changes in my calling. Instead of living with MS or just in spite of MS, I feel called to use my experiences with MS to try and reach out to others.

Bike MS: Boy that sure came up fast.

Tomorrow morning I ride in Bike MS. I will be riding from Westminster Colorado up to Fort Collins and back. It will be a two day ride and about 120+ miles. Due to severe wild fires through out the state and especially one thats been going on near Ft. Collins for the past few weeks, the original 150 mile route had to be changed for the health and safety of the participants, volunteers, staff and spectators. Still, it's going to be a good ride.

The ride this weekend marks the halfway point in my activity schedule. Since April when I ran the half marathon, I competed in two triathlons, one sprint distance and one olympic distance. The olympic distance kicked my butt all though I did finish in the end. I will concede that I may have bitten off a bit more than I could chew this summer loading on as many events as I did, but there's no going back now I just gotta grind through. It's been a learning experience, each and every event has taught me quite a bit.

Boulder Half-Marathon: Heat + Running = Badness, but it's okay to know what your limit is and throw in the towel when you feel your health is at risk.

Plate River Half-Marathon: When at first you don't succeed, try again. It was a grind, but I made it!

Summer Open Triathlon: Just keep swimming... The waves on the reservoir were insane, I must have drunk at least half of the res, but I pushed through and ground my way through to the end.

BolderBoulder 10K: Competing is fun, but running with family is more fun. I throughly enjoyed spending time with Calvin and running through Boulder. I can see the BolderBoulder becoming a family even next year with the four of us running through Boulder.

Boulder Sunrise Triathlon: It doesn't matter when you cross the finish line, just cross the finish. It was my first olympic distance triathlon and it occurred one week after BolderBoulder. This race was brutal and by the 10K run I was sorely tempted to quit, but I pushed through and finished with an epic last minute sprint to the finish line that had the crowds cheering.

After Bike MS this weekend, I have two more triathlons to go; a sprint distance and another olympic distance. After that, I'm going to rest for a while and plan for the next racing season. So far this year I've had more MS related symptoms than I've had in a while which is directly related to how hard I've pushed my body. This has been both good and bad. It's been good because I feel like it's making me stronger against MS, that just because I have symptoms it doesn't mean I have to give in, but it's bad because with every symptom that pops up there is the risk that I relapse entirely.

I need to respect my limits, but at the same time if you don't push them a little you never know how far you can go.