This week I wrote a couple of race-related articles for Active.com. Basically they tell you how not to show your inner noob. Enjoy!
Your Guide to Racing in the Heat
5 Common Pre-Race Nutrition Blunders
I recently read a post by Shelley Viggiano’s blog, Terrible Twos and Running Shoes, called “Pivot Point” and it made me think. Shelley has just been hired to write a book, and in her happiness she found was able to draw back to a point in her life that set her down the path to where she is today.
Often, we don’t recognize an actual pivot point in our lives until we can view it in hindsight. But in the timeline of this blog, there have been a few big moments which have brought me to where I am today. And lately the points keep getting closer together. This is an exciting time for me in my little world of barefoot and minimalist running and blogging about it, and I am eternally grateful for all of the other runners, writers and awesome company reps who have given me advice, who have published my work and who have encouraged me in a hundred different ways. I owe some of my current and future successes to the luck of my talents, but a lot of it goes to them as well.
Let me work backward and list some of the amazing moments that have led me to the place I am today.
After the tragic and sudden death of Micah True (Caballo Blanco), I wrote a poem for him in this blog. A few days later it was spread around by a few of my friends on Facebook. Then a week after that, I was contacted by Micah’s brother Steven for permission to request that my poem be published in a New York Times tribute to Caballo. He told me that he and Micah’s wife loved the poem. He told me a little bit about his childhood with Micah, and he told me to keep writing. My poem may or may not be included in the end, but either way I was floored and grateful. This may have been a pivot point.
Around the same time, I decided last minute to attend the Boston Marathon Expo with Brad Waterson. I’d never been to it before, and now I am kicking myself in the ass for that. I spent the better part of two hours dividing my time at the best minimalist shoe booths in the biz: VIVOBAREFOOT, Vibram and NewBalance. At the VIVO booth, I introduced myself and they actually knew who I was! Incredible. At Vibram I mentioned my blog and my affiliation with all things minimalist (including the other incredible bloggers I am friends with) and was offered an opportunity to test and review some of their shoes – something I have been wanting for the longest time! Then I talked shop with some really awesome folks at NewBalance. It was just an “on” day for me, and when I left I was walking a few inches above the ground because my head was full of hot air. This may have been a pivot point.
After mentioning one of the coolest running apparel companies in the world, INKnBURN, in an active article, I was offered the opportunity to review some of their running skirts. Megan is one of the sweetest gals around, and she had some really nice things to say about my writing. She even asked if she could use my Micah True poem on a t-shirt, to which part of its proceeds would go directly toward assisting the Raramuri. I couldn’t have said “yes” fast enough. It’s a little surreal to feel as much respect from her as I have for her and her product. This may have been a pivot point.
After winning a pair of Merrell Dash Gloves from Running and Rambling‘s blog, I emailed back and forth with the contact at Merrell, and was ultimately asked to start reviewing more of Merrell’s barefoot shoes. I agreed happily, as I love trying out new products more than anything. Heck, I would love it even if I didn’t get to keep the stuff (although, getting to keep the stuff is pretty nice). And Merrell is one of the big boys…it’s the one that has given the Robillards the incredible life they have. This may have been a pivot point.
A few months ago I signed up for my first 50K, my first ultra-marathon. And my first real race with the Robillard crew, among other incredible folks. This might turn out to be a pivot point.
In October, my blogger friend Vanessa Runs asked me to become a contributor for Active.com. It doesn’t pay, but it’s an outlet to get published and to get me seen by more people. Since then I’ve written several articles, some of which have been among my best. Soon afterward, after my friend Christian Peterson published my first ever product review of my Kali shoes, I was introduced to a lovely contact from VIVOBAREFOOT. Then I started receiving shoes for testing and review, and I submitted my first review of the women’s Neo on Active.com. This may have been a pivot point.
Back in September, I went to the NYC Barefoot Run. While there, I hung out with Jason and Shelley Robillard, Christian Peterson, Pat Sweeney, Jesse Scott, Krista Cavender, Kate Kift, Pablo Paster, Chris McDougall, Barefoot Ted, KenBob Saxton, Larry Gibbons, Chris Van Dyke, Stephen Sashen and, and, and. We had an epic night of drinking beer and stomping the streets of Manhattan together until 3am. Then we got up the next morning, red-eyed and tutu’d, and ran around a two-mile loop until we lost interest and decided to spend more time socializing. It was probably one of the top 5 best weekends of my life, and the people I met there are of the kind that I could be friends with for the long haul. This may have been a pivot point.
I’m not sure in the end which of these will turn out to be the big fork in the road, or if they’ll all end up being one large pivot point in my life. But I am grateful for each and every one of them.
It’s cold at the starting line. The sun warms the morning, but the wind penetrates my Irish-green St. Paddy’s Day t-shirt even though there are two thousand runners packed tightly on the asphalt of Park Street. To be accurate, I’m nowhere near the starting line. I am several yards back, stationed resolutely behind the white sign that says “10 minute mile.” I know I won’t run any of the three miles faster than about 10:30, but I’m too proud to go to the “12 minute mile” corral. So here I stand, anxious and fidgeting to keep my Five-Fingered toes from going numb. I don’t normally stretch before I run, but I want to because my right ankle just started to ache mysteriously and I’m positive that my left foot is going to hurt as soon as I start running. Also I have a low-grade headache from staying up too late and drinking too much beer last night. I rotate my ankles and jump up and down anxiously, trying to shake it off.
My cousin Angela is here, too. She is a Crossfit enthusiast with a slim figure and fast running times. Her green shirt is much brighter than mine. She shivers with me in the 10-minute corral, but I know as soon as the gun fires she is going to take off like the bullet. This is her first 5K race. I secretly wish that race jitters will get the best of her. But then I catch myself and give her a hug to compensate for the churlish thought.
At exactly 11 o’clock the race begins, along with the typical choked stop-and-go that the front-line racers never have to experience. First the runners in front of me start to jog a bit, and then they stop abruptly and step on each other. I am forced to walk until well after I cross the start line. Finally we are free to trot and Angela immediately fades into the faster crowd.
I don’t have my GPS watch on because I don’t feel like obsessing about my pace. I don’t think I’ll beat my PR today, anyway. As I trot down the road, I step on the double yellow line and let the wave of faster runners pass me. The first half mile is the hardest part of every race for me. I force myself to find a comfortable pace, repeating mantras in my head about running my own race and passing that guy later. A quarter mile in, most of the overly eager sprinters have already started walking and I glide past them in a rush of relief. It seems ridiculous outside of the moment, but what I am thinking then is “Phew. At least I passed somebody.”
The course is an arrow-straight out-and-back with slight rolling hills. Thousands of people have already set up their folding chairs for the St. Paddy’s Day parade that will roll through an hour after the race. They’re sitting all along the 1.55 mile stretch, watching the racers whoosh by in their green and orange running gear. They’re watching me.
The race is wholly uneventful. I manage to leave all thoughts of my “sore” feet behind at the start line, and now I concentrate on my form. Head up, chest out, short stride. I come across the usual chubby guy with the chip on his shoulder who doesn’t want me to beat him. He repeatedly sprints past me, runs out of breath and falls back again, looking over his shoulder to watch me humming along at my flat pace. Out of the corner of my eye a woman falters and then slows to a walk, limping with a twisted ankle. I feel badly but I don’t ask her if she’s okay – she’s pissed, of course, my question will just add to her annoyance. Finally I find my pacer. I always have one. She’s the girl who has been matching my speed exactly for the last half mile or so. So I set my legs and keep up with her the rest of the way.
All of a sudden I catch sight of the finish line. Already? The race seems to be ending too abruptly. I haven’t even had time to catch my stride. Even though I’m a little winded from keeping my pace steady over the last hill, my legs aren’t ready to stop. I sprint through the finish line and catch a glimpse of the clock. It flashes something with a “33” at me. Minus the time it took me to get over the start line, it’ll be 32-something-or-other. But I don’t even care.
I don’t like 5K races. I am a slow runner, and it’s never more obvious that I’m slow than at a short race. No matter how hard I try, I always finish with the last 2/3 of the runners. Some runners can turn it up at a 5K, but I really only have one pace, and that’s my half-marathon pace. Longer races make me feel faster because everyone has to put the brakes on to get to the finish.
I’ve spent a lot of time this week thinking about my downfalls and limitations when it comes to running. And as usual, I backed up my deliberation with some research. I learned that the bodies of most athletes have a natural predilection toward either fast-twitch or slow-twitch muscles. Fast twitch muscles create fuel through anaerobic metabolism and feed short bursts of power to the athlete, while slow-twitch muscles utilize oxygen to generate a slower-burning fuel that lasts much longer. Everyone has both kinds of muscle fiber, but genetics will give you more of one or the other and your choice of sport will further refine what you already have.
So on a very basic level, you start out with an abundance of one type of muscle fiber, making you better at either speed or endurance. At some point you’ll try a variety of activities and likely stick with the ones you’re best at. This creates a larger gap between your strengths and weaknesses (i.e. the fast-twitch muscles vs. slow-twitch ones). The bigger the gap, the harder it’ll be to improve the opposite muscle type.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. In running, as well as in life, I have learned it’s important to utilize your strengths and understand your weaknesses, instead of allowing them to tarnish your confidence. For example, I learned at a very young age that I am a right-brained, creative person who excels at writing and art. So I naturally cultivated those skills in favor of weaker ones like math. By the time I reached college age, my SAT score made it more than obvious that I would be stupid to major in accounting.
It’s been a tough road for me to come to the same kind of understanding about my strengths as a runner. I still have the opportunity to make a wide range of improvements to my fitness, such as weight loss and strength training. I like knowing that I have room to grow. But to begin with, endurance is a greater asset of mine than speed. I am different from my cousin Angela. Even if I lost enough weight I’d most likely always be slower than her. But, at the same time I would probably always be able to run farther. This has been an important distinction for me to learn and understand.
So yesterday’s 5K comes to me as a lesson that I must always run my own race. Whether that “race” be my career, my lifestyle, or my personal best running distance. There is so much more strength in knowing yourself than there is in trying to be like anyone else.
Wanna learn how to dress cool, like me and my awesome runner friends? Find out how in my latest article for Active.com:
For those of you reading this who are not familiar with the Paleo diet (a.k.a. the Caveman or Hunter-Gatherer diet), it is a way of eating based on the belief that our bodies evolved to consume natural, whole foods like we did during the hunter-gatherer portion of our existence. Someone who lives on the Paleo diet consumes all kinds of meat, fish and vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds, but avoids foods that must be processed for consumption, or anything that our early ancestors would not have found in nature. The Paleo diet does not include any grains like wheat, soy or corn, or any milk products (cheese, yogurt, cream). Also, legumes like beans and peanuts are avoided. The reason some people believe the Paleo diet is healthier to humans is because it utilizes a lot of good fats, high-quality calories and nutrient-dense food choices. It’s all real food – no low-fat, high-sugar, highly processed and highly addicting simple carbohydrates that our bodies are not adapted to utilize properly, and as a result are causing us to become fatter and sicker.
Contrary to popular opinion, the Paleo diet does not consist of bacon, pork rinds and rawhide.
I, for one, grew up in a French-Canadian home where white bread and butter, salt, starchy potatoes and pork pie were the four food groups. My father raised me until I was 15 and he never used things like olive oil or experimented with anything that couldn’t be coated in Shake-n-Bake. Until I was an adult I never even tried things like brussels sprouts, salmon, fresh garlic or avocado. We went to McDonald’s for dinner twice a week and there was always soda in the fridge. It’s really no wonder that most of the adults in my family never live past their 50’s (or in the case of my father, 36). I must have a different lifestyle if I’m going to live longer than them. Running is one way to do it – and a better diet is another.
So tomorrow, I will have been on the Paleo diet for four weeks. I was going to wait to write about it until Monday or something, but I’m in the mood to write today so I figure I might as well not waste the opportunity. It’s been a cool experience. For one thing, I really think I like the idea of trying out something new by saying that I’m going to “do it for one month.” The timed commitment has an interesting allure to it, and gives me the guilt-free choice to stick with it later on or not. Below I’ve listed my observations for the month.
It’s pretty easy to follow
Meat, veggies, fruit, nuts and good oils. I mean…it’s not exactly brain surgery. And if you think about it, just about every diet you’ll ever go on – to some degree – pushes you in the direction of eating this stuff.
Forgoing cheese will not dismantle the space-time continuum
This one was big for me when I first decided to do this. No cheese? How will I make it a whole month?! I am a cheese addict. I put cheese in everything. Extra cheese. White cheese, stinky cheese, goat cheese, bleu cheese. My husband and I throw a party at our house annually, as an homage to the fine fragrant fromage. But you know what’s interesting? Take away pasta, sandwiches and pizza, and cheese becomes practically obsolete anyway. And if I’m to be completely honest here, of the things I didn’t eat this month I missed cheese the least of all. Why? Because, I learned, I am actually a much bigger grain/bread/pasta freak than I am a cheese addict. This was probably my most interesting observation.
I finally bought a blender
When your typical daytime food rotation includes Kashi cereal with 2% milk, oatmeal, toast with peanut butter, turkey and swiss sandwiches on whole wheat with mayo, soup with noodles and granola bars, putting together a Paleo-friendly breakfast and lunch can be quite a head-scratcher. So I bought a blender (something I never really had a use for before) and started making protein smoothies for breakfast. Turns out they’re pretty awesome. I use plain almond milk, fresh berries, banana, spinach, almond butter, ice and (on run days) whey powder. Lunch was probably the trickiest of all meals – I made a lot of spinach salads with veggies and tuna or chicken, nuts, hard-boiled eggs and dried fruit. Or leftovers. It got a little boring, though – I’m not great at creative salads.
I only went 90%
I still had my morning coffee with milk and sugar. I drank beer. I dipped my sashimi into some low-sodium soy sauce. I put regular milk in my scrambled eggs. I ate sweet potatoes, especially on run days, and I ate white and purple potatoes a couple times. I brought energy gels on my long runs. I used salad dressing in a bottle. I mean, I still live in 2012 and convenience rules, so I made the decision not to sweat every little small thing and instead try for the bigger overall picture. I didn’t want to hate this diet and decide to quit halfway, so I added in some allowances that made me happy.
Running was interesting
My first few days I tried counting my calories to make sure I would lose weight. My runs were terrible. My legs were heavy and I felt tired in half the usual time. I asked my Paleo-eating friend Christian if he thought it had anything to do with a lack of carbohydrates – and he said it was probably just a lack of calories. So I did away with the counting, my runs improved and I still lost some weight.
I’m not sure whether this way of eating has made any short-term improvements on my running, I’m certainly not running a whole lot faster. But I do believe that my recovery time has shortened. All of my runs are longer on average than they were last year at this time, but I am not walking like an old lady anymore in the mornings. In fact, the other day I playfully bounded down the stairs in my house without thinking, and afterward I realized that between last year’s constant soreness and the summer/fall of long-term injuries, I hadn’t run freely down a set of stairs like that in a very long time.
I cheated
I may not have missed cheese as much as I thought I would, but I craved cookies and other starchy sweets more than I probably ever have in my life. And I will admit that I gave in to it a couple of times this month. To a point, I wondered if that craving was my body telling me it wasn’t getting enough of something – the human body is complex and I do believe that like everything else, cravings have a purpose. I’m pretty sure my body was not, however, telling me that I needed to eat an entire sleeve of Girl Scout thin mints in one sitting. Nope, probably not.
I got bacon out of my system
Probably the most exciting thing about the Paleo diet is that it allows for a lot of healthy fats like avocados, red meat, nuts and…within reason…bacon. Having been on those fat-villifying Weight Watchers-style diets for a decade, this was emotionally freeing for me. I bought a package of low-sodium bacon each week and consumed it with my excited, swine-fat-loving husband. But by now I think we both have the bacon frenzy out of our system. I still have most of this week’s purchase inside a ziplock bag in my refrigerator. I might just give it to the dog.
I don’t like spaghetti squash, but I love dried mango
Trying a different diet is good because it encourages you to discover new types of foods. This month I tried out kale, dried mango slices, coconut milk, coconut ice-cream, organic veggie chips and spaghetti squash. It’s not a terribly long list, but that’s just because I’m not a picky eater and there’s really not much left that I haven’t tried. I do want to eventually put different meats on my menu though, like buffalo, ostrich and rabbit, but those items take more effort to find around here. Also, I want to find some chia seeds to put into my smoothies, and see if I like coconut oil. Those things are also not located in my regular supermarket.
I think I feel healthier
I think I probably do. I mean, how could you not feel better about your eating habits when your grocery shopping cart looks like a farm stand? But unlike what most Americans have come to expect out of diets these days, eating Paleo has not caused any thunderbolts of miraculous healthfulness. Sorry, I’m not suddenly popping out of bed before my alarm or leaping tall buildings in a single bound – so if that’s what you’re hoping to get out of going Paleo you’re out of luck, go buy a diet pill or something. But I do feel that this way of eating could have long-term positive effects on my health. A lower risk of the heart disease that runs through my family, for one. And the really important stuff is what helps you in the long term. But one definitive change I have noticed is that I do “feel” healthier and better fed at the end of the day. Also I’ve just realized that all month I have not once experienced that dreadful “food coma” that occurs when you consume far too many carbohydrates and your sugar levels plunge an hour later.
I think I’ll stick to it
Yeah. I think that this could be a good plan to stick with and make it mine. Over the long haul I may still consume some pasta now and then, but in a dramatically reduced amount compared to before. If I’ve discovered I can live happily while avoiding white rice and cheddar cheese, then why not keep avoiding it for the most part?
Yes, I know, I know…for every barefoot runner who goes Paleo, a vegan fairy dies. But I’ll be honest, I don’t buy the whole “we aren’t supposed to eat meat” thing. I mean, I think the vegans have it partly right – plant-based food is essential to our health. But I also believe the stuff that says we are omnivores – otherwise cows and pigs and chickens wouldn’t be so darn tasty.
I’ll start by saying this: living without pizza for a week wasn’t horrible.
I began my week by heading to the grocery store and spending 2/3 of my time in the produce section. Fifteen minutes in, my grocery cart looked like a farm stand.
Although my husband enjoys eating healthy, he has no plans to delete grains and dairy from his diet anytime soon, so I had to pick up some things for him too. By the time I reached the cashier I was terrified about how much it was going to cost. Quick side-note: I shop at Hannaford’s, which in New England-speak is the more expensive and organic-friendly supermarket – as opposed to Market Basket, which is cheaper but it’s a total mob-scene every minute of the day. I’ve decided the extra cost is worth my sanity. With that said, I only ended up spending about $10 more than usual.
I was happy with my grocery choices for the first week. I ate a lot of spinach, I learned how to cook kale soup (delicious, by the way – see recipe at the end of this post) and I discovered I love almond butter.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the fact that I wasn’t hungry all week, which is something I typically expect to feel whenever I’ve started a new “diet.” For the first three days I was counting my calories on the “Lose It!” iPhone app. My runs sucked. When I complained to my buddy Christian about it, he told me to lose the calorie counting and make sure I’m eating enough to run, reasoning that along with my running schedule, I’m probably cutting out enough carbohydrates to assist weight loss anyway. My next run was much better.
In fact, my long run for the week was spectacular. For probably the first time ever, I woke up the day after my long run and didn’t have to hobble down the stairs to let the dog out. I would have even run on Sunday, if it wasn’t for the giant glass of wine I had with my cousin during lunch. Because it was such a sudden improvement, I do believe the higher quality of food has made this difference for me.
The biggest downside of Paleo so far has been breakfast and snacks. My normal diet consists of a lot of toast, peanut butter sandwiches, granola bars, cereal, oatmeal and yogurt. Yeah i know, so many grains. So all last week I ate hard-boiled eggs and a banana for breakfast. And I even ate scrambled eggs for dinner one night (something I do pretty often anyway). I dont know for sure, but this may be too many eggs. I dont really want to overdose on eggs in two weeks because I’m not creative enough to think of something else to eat for breakfast.
My Crossfit-loving cousin Angela suggested a protein smoothie in the morning. I thought it was a great idea. She puts soy protein in hers, but since soy is a Paleo no-no, I found a good alternate recipe I’ll try as soon as I (finally) buy a blender for my household. It’s about time we get one, anyway, and my husband will be excited to make margaritas.
As far as weight loss, I did manage to lose 1.5 pounds this week. I have a feeling that yesterday’s lunch of miso soup and sashimi dipped in soy sauce (sorry, Paleo gods!) stepped up today’s water retention, so I may see a better number if I weigh myself in the next day or two. But either way I’m happy, and I’m feeling cleaner, more hydrated at the end of the day and there’s nothing wrong with that.
On to Week Two!
Paleo Kale and Sausage Soup Recipe
• 1 Bunch of Kale (or a medium sized bag – use any leftovers in place of spinach)
• 1-2 lbs. sausage (italian, bratwurst, whatever you like) – casings removed
• 5-6 cups chicken stock
• 1 Medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• optional: any other veggies you want (I put mushrooms in mine)
• Butter or Coconut Oil
In a large stock pot, melt butter or heat coconut oil. Add onion, garlic and any other vegetables to pan until the onion becomes slightly translucent. In a separate pan, brown the sausage (some will prefer to do this in the stock pot, but it will brown more quickly by itself). Add sausage to stock pot and begin to add chunks of kale, torn by hand. Let kale wilt a bit and then add chicken stock and seasonings. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30-45 minutes. Enjoy!
*If you want to make this non-Paleo, you can add potatoes or small pasta (it rings a bit of Italian wedding soup).
So I’ve been having a lot of strange, crazy, ridiculous thoughts lately.
Ridiculous idea #1 is that I want to run an ultra marathon. I don’t know, maybe a 6 or 12 hour timed race, maybe a 50k…maybe the Pineland Farms 50k on May 27th (happening four days after I get back from standing for 10+ hours at a trade show in NYC – I did say it was ridiculous, didn’t I?). I want to be able to say that I’m an ultra-marathoner. Call it a bucket-list item. And for some crazy reason, a 31 mile ultra seems actually easier than running a 26 mile marathon. Maybe it’s because all the people I know who run marathons talk about how hard the 20+ mile training runs are, and my ultra friends just talk about how much beer they consume afterward. Also, many of my recently-inducted ultra runner friends only had half marathons under their belts before finishing their first ultras. But these guys are in tip-top shape and are really good at making this stuff look easy.
I don’t know though, runs as short as 6-7 miles still make my feet hurt. I’m not sure how it would be possible to succeed at this point in my training level. But, I think, perhaps if I continue training like a champ and lose the excess weight I’ve gained over the last three years, I can manage the miles a little better. And faster.
The Pineland Farms 50k is happening at the end of May, and a few of my friends will be in attendance. It’s very tempting to sign up and pay the $45 today. It would be exciting. After all, that’s how I handled the half marathon: I signed up when I was sure I had absolutely no chance of actually making it, and then I did. Many great opportunities in my life have happened by taking those kinds of big leaps. Also, I work exceptionally well under pressure, and so perhaps having a 50k over my head will help me turn my fitness level around. I don’t know. I’m going to contemplate it over a glass (i.e. bottle) of wine tonight. Actually, who am I kidding? By the time you read this I’ll probably already have signed up for the damn thing.
But, moving on.
Ridiculous idea #2: the 30-Day Paleo Diet Challenge. For those of you who have never heard of it, the Paleo diet is based on the presumption that your body is designed to eat like humans did back in the Paleolithic era (our hunter-gatherer days) – essentially what you can procure naturally from the earth. Unprocessed, whole foods. It is believed that these foods are easiest to digest, and more easily used for energy and good health.
The Paleo diet consists of (from my understanding) red meat, poultry, fish, all fruits and vegetables, nuts and eggs. It does not consist of milk, yogurt, cheese, salt, refined sugars and oils, breads, pastas, rice and any other grains, and anything else that is processed, i.e. stuff that’s not “real food.” Many also exclude beans, legumes and potatoes.
If you think about it, it makes some definite sense. Any nutritional plan out there that has its head on straight pretty much preaches a diet based on these food items, though it usually allows most grains and processed items to which, as a society, I believe we are overly addicted. Even the vegan diet, which I momentarily considered instead, allows for too much processed carbohydrates, things I’ve never attempted to cut out of my diet before. Also, I’ve never been thin. I plan to find out if there is a correlation between those two things, and that’s why Paleo is the way I’m going to go.
However, in order to bring on a realist-factor and make it easier for me to uphold for 30 days, I plan to make the following adjustments/allowances:
So, from Monday January 23rd through Wednesday, February 22nd I will practice this way of eating. I want to free myself from my addiction to the refined sugars that settle as excess fat around my waist. I want to see if it changes my energy levels, reduces my weight, makes running easier and heck, perhaps even helps my allergies. There are a lot of claims, so it’s possible. If nothing else, it will be healthier for sure. When the month is over, I’ll figure out what to do next.
If I make it out alive, that is. I’m sure going to miss pasta and wheat cereal.
Today I went to see an allergist. I had that infamous skin allergy test, where they poke holes in your skin with little needles and fill them with all these allergic toxins. My idea of a wild afternoon, I suppose. I do realize everyone else in the universe did that when they were 12, but not me…I guess my allergies came late. Around 14 I started getting itchy eyes after I played with my friend’s cats, and it’s been nothing but downhill ever since.
Anyway, so they punched 20 holes into the soft skin of my forearms and told me to go sit in the waiting room near the window to the lab, so they could see me just in case I passed out. Comforting. I tried to read a magazine but I couldn’t concentrate on it because the pricks on my arm were so blindingly uncomfortable. Itch wasn’t even the word really, it was more like the searing burn of a thousand cat scratches (which, by the way, give me an allergic reaction). Then I didn’t want my arms to touch anything because the solutions were forming beads on my skin that I didn’t want to end up on my clothes. So I was holding the book awkwardly above my legs, and my skin was so itchy that it took a fair amount of willpower not to yank myself to the floor and writhe around, rubbing my forearms on the coarse carpeting like a dog with an inflamed rear end.
After fifteen minutes the lab tech, Ursula, a soft-spoken Haitian woman with motherly eyes, calls me back in to review my urgently spreading welts. She props a measuring tool over several spots and writes some numbers on a sheet of paper behind her.
“Ragweed is bad, birch, oak, grass. Cats and dogs…some. A lot for dust mites. Do you have carpeting in your bedroom?”
“Yes,” I reply.
She shakes her head disapprovingly. “Can you get rid of it?”
I don’t answer, I just stare at her. Truth is I want a house with all hardwood floors, but we are waiting until we have our “forever” home to shoulder that expense.
“And does your dog or cat sleep in the same room as you at night?” Her once pleasantly lilting Haitian accent is starting to get to me now.
“Yes. The dog sleeps on the floor beside my bed.”
“Can you move him to another room at night and close the door?”
I thought cats would be my #1 problem. Turns out dust mites are the worst pets in the world.
Then she proceeded to give me a list of preventative measures to curb my allergies, like pillowcase covers, an air purifier, washing my sheets in hot water. Then she moved on to further instructions like keeping my windows closed and the A/C on all summer long (except between grass, trees and ragweed seasons – July 15th – August 5th), driving with my windows up, exercising indoors…
…yeah, and that was where I stopped listening.
I mean. You’ve got to be freaking kidding me, right? What, am I supposed to live in a sterilized bubble? Run in the gym all summer? Keep my dog out of the bedroom all winter? THAT’S the only way you’ve got to help me control these horrible allergies (which, the British-accented allergist later informed me, keep me in a constant state of low-grade sinus infection)? Whatever happened to becoming immune to allergies by exposure? Dealing with some things and controlling the rest? My allergies are caused by naturally-occuring materials that just exist around me, no matter what. The whole world is made up of nature, and being out in the world makes me my happiest self. Trees are majestic and protective creatures that line the paths on my favorite runs. The wind blowing through open windows makes me want to dance. My dog and cat? They’re my answer to children. Give all that up for the possibility of a few less sneezes and watery eyes? No way!
What the heck to people with worse allergies than me do for fun?
At any rate, it turns out that I’m not being forced to give up my entire life and live in a sterile bubble…yet. When I got back to the allergist’s office she recommended a CT Scan of my sinus cavity and a visit to the ENT. This would be because, according to her, my sinuses are 75% blocked, and no amount of air purification would help me at this point without first performing some sort of “reset” to get rid of the blockages and inflammation that my many years of untreated allergies have caused. Oh, my poor nose and face. I apologized to them on my way back to work (yeah, I really did).
Huh. And I thought I was having a “good” sinus day today.
Hello, readers
So, just for fun I’ve been doing some freelance writing for Active.com for awhile now. My latest article, “What Has Running Taught You This Year?” came out today. In it, i talk about some things that running can teach you about life. Check it out.
If you want to read more content by me, scroll down a bit to the list on the right hand sidebar. Also, check out active.com for hundreds of articles about running, fitness and healthy living by other great writers.
Thanks for reading!
Last weekend I sprained my ankle on leaf-covered trails, like I do almost every year. It’s angering, but it may also be a badly-needed lesson that I absolutely CANNOT wear traditional running shoes (forget what my podiatrist says), and that I MUST stop blowing off those ankle-strengthening exercises.
Although I am out of commission (AGAIN), I remain optimistic. There isn’t a lot of swelling and I know I’ll be back on my feet soon enough, and hopefully doing my cool-season long runs again before I know it.
In the meantime I think I’ll repost one of my favorite blogs on here. I wrote it last winter after my first 10-mile half mary training run, and it still makes me smile. It’s fittingly called “Blisters, Snot Rockets and Frozen Tears: What I’ve Learned on My Quest for the Double-Digit Run.”
As always, thanks for reading!
Barefoot Monologues 