A few weekends ago it was yet again hot and humid. That, coupled with two toddlers recovering from sickness, meant that it was a very low key weekend. The highlight, for me, was competing in my first race of any kind in THREE years!
My last race was late summer of 2009 before getting pregnant with O & S. Stress fractures, knee surgery, tendinitis, and more stress fracture issues have kept me away since just after they were born. Early this year, I committed to being the runner on a relay team for the Lifetime Fitness Tri. We signed up for the Olympic distance course, but after learning I had three "almost" fractured bones in my foot in April it was looking uncertain that I would be able to do the race again. It's been a complicated road since learning this as the orthopedic doctor did blood work to determine why I have been plagued by these re-occurring bone issues. Some of the results were straight forward (I was deficient in Vitamin D and Iron) and others required more testing (and worrying). I tested positive for ANA which is an autoimmune screen and could have indicated any number of autoimmune diseases. I was referred to a rheumatologist but a two month wait was required.
In the meantime, a fellow athlete recommended I talk to her nutritionist/chiropractor to see if she had any insight, as she often deals with autoimmune issues and overall general health. After running more tests, she put me on a vitamin and supplement plan to help get my body back to where it needs to be. I began diligently taking over 20 pills a day, drinking "dynamic greens", and decided to do a week long detox cleanse to start over fresh. Shortly after the detox I finally met with the rheumatologist who, long story short, said that the positive ANA screen I had could possibly manifest itself as lupus. After more bloodwork to determine the possibility of someday getting lupus and another few week wait to get results, I learned that the blood work was normal and my ANA screen number was no longer positive. Some doctors would say that I reversed the presence of auto-antibodies in my system with all of the vitamins/supplements/detox, while others would say my original screen was a false positive. Regardless, all good news! I continue to take high levels of vitamins and supplements since there are some numbers that aren't within normal range quite yet. But, I'm getting there. My ankle and foot bones have been feeling relatively good with a few aches and twinges here and there and my knees have been feeling significantly less achy (or at least not feeling like I am 80 years old when I get out of bed in the morning!).
Back to this race I mentioned. We ended up doing the sprint triathlon course as I only had about a month to really train. This meant a .4 mile swim, 15 mile bike and 5k run. I had rock star teammates......my sister in law did the swim and her good friend was our biker. Elizabeth was the first relay swimmer out of the water (in about 6 minutes!) and Steph pulled off an average of 21 mph on the bike. I was beyond nervous to hold my own on the run. A few months ago my goal was to run just over 7:00 minute miles but that was derailed with the news of new fractures so with limited training my goal was to run under 8:00 minute miles. In the end, I ended up with 7:49/mile. I'll take it!
All of these times totaled put us as the first place women's sprint relay team - so fun to win!
I've now got some training ahead in the next few weeks as I signed up for an individual triathlon at the end of August. My goal in this one - to finish!
Oh, and another highlight of the weekend - getting the brick around our fireplace painted. An easy DIY project that required very little $, a moderate amount of time, but a dramatic difference in brightening up the fireplace!
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