See that? That’s me. That’s 44 with fibromyalgia that was triggered by 20+ years of rheumatoid arthritis. I’m a wife. A mother. A full time career woman putting on the largest and highest profile events for the capital of California. I’m a distance runner. I’m a yogi. I’m a photographer with a thriving little tiny business to manage.
Through all these things there should be more pride. But I’m tired. I hurt. My brain is foggy and I have to concentrate twice as hard to remember things or to process information. I’m lugging around many extra pounds which don’t help me any. My schedule is packed with events and meetings and photo shoots and cooking dinner and scheduling training runs. I’m tired. All the time. And that affects more than just me.
If there are any other Spoonies out there, anyone else suffering from chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, RA, lupus, or another silent chronic pain ridden illness, please reach out. I’d love to hear about how you balance your life and thrive. It’s such an important story to tell.
It was one of those days; average, normal, unremarkable. So, it really stands to reason that my evening run would be the same. If there is a unicorn run out there then this was the donkey.
It is easy to justify a bad run. I was overheated, probably didn’t drink enough water all day, had Thai food for lunch, wolfed down a granola bar right before running, I haven’t been getting much mileage, blah, blah, blah. I gave up at mile 2 contemplating my life choices.
Physical therapists, chiropractors, stretching, strength, cycling! I put hours upon hours into making it so my body can run pain free. And to that end, I’m getting there! But it’s it all worth it? Why am I working so hard to be a back of the pack runner?
I love being a runner.
If something is important enough to you, you will put in the behind the scenes labor to make it so you can enjoy whatever it is you are trying to enjoy. Especially when you have obstacles. When you conquer your road blocks you are winning. Even though performance will ultimately take a back seat, the fact is that the setback is temporary. Listen to your body, take care of yourself, build from the ground up and performance will follow.
Motivation is a tricky thing. Maybe even another unicorn. Don’t let the donkey keep you down.
As a child my parents dutifully enrolled me in every sport/activity in search of the one that would eventually stick. I was a tiny ballerina, an eager bowler, a reluctant soccer player, a tomboy Girl Scout, a deep-deep-roving-right-fielder in softball, and eventually a high school track star. I probably could have been a great softball player if I just weren’t afraid of the ball, or if I could throw, or if I didn’t have anxiety that I’d let everyone on my team down if I messed up. You know what I could do? I could steal bases. That’s when the switch was flipped and the light went on… I was fast.
I took up sprinting when I was 13 and I won races, lots of them. 100y, 220y, 4×100 relay, 110 hurdles. (Yep, we were still running yards back in the day). I was undefeated in junior high. I was undefeated in the 220 my senior year… until finals (yeah, I know!) and led the league in the 100. There is nothing like the adrenaline rush of taking the blocks and unleashing your speed during a race.
Me fangirling hardcore over meeting the great Carl Lewis!
Running is how I gauge fitness. It’s my baseline. Everything I ever learned about fitness I learned through the eyes of an experienced runner. Over the course of my adult life I’ve spent plenty of time running. Not sprinting anymore, but building up distance. My PT jokes about how hard it is to turn fast twitch muscles into slow twitch muscles and he also isn’t shy about telling me that I’m weaker now because I run more. I SUCK at running long distances.
I’ve got two running events coming up in a very short period of time. Our self hosted Firecracker Run on the 4th of July (9 miles) and Blood, Sweat & Beers on the 22nd (5.7 miles) which is a Fleet Feet race. After yesterday’s run I’m noticing that I really need to get some more time on my feet. Probably something I should have paid attention to a month ago.
On a positive note, my back hasn’t been bothering me as much. I’m assuming it’s all the work I’m putting in, but I’m going to add that my lack of mileage lately has helped as well. Let’s hope it’s just helping speed up the healing process and not indicative of lifestyle changes that should be made.
The weather should be cooler this week so I’m hoping that means I can get a few evening runs in. I need to start getting bike time in before work as well. Time to do work!!!
Stay safe out there and as always… keep kicking ass gently.
It was a great morning to get out with friends and get a little sweaty, a little dirty, and a little sore. Not going to lie, this trail is a deceptive butt kicker!
The trails are turning to gold.
The physical therapist has suggested I keep my mileage down to about 1.5-2.5 miles per run right now. That’s a major improvement over what my prior (she retired) primary care doctor told me. She said “don’t run.” But I’m me, and I won’t rest until I know I’ve worked as hard as I can. This morning I ran 8 miles while paying close attention to my stride and my posture in order to keep any pain at Bay. I could almost call this morning’s run a “power hike!”
Might have found some mud.
I’m fairly proud of myself this morning. This is typically as far as I ever go. And I managed!
To those who think they can’t run, think again. If you are willing to do the extra work involved in keeping your joints safe and healthy you can run far! (8 miles is far, people.)
Coming soon I will have more suggestions and more motivation on keeping a tricky body on the move!
I like to think of the concept of Kicking Ass Gently as the Statue of Liberty of the running and fitness community. Whereas our Lady Liberty openly embraces the tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free, we here at Kicking Ass Gently openly embrace the tired, poor, injured masses yearning to run free.
Running is hard. Finding people with real struggles should be easy, but that too, proves to be hard. I’m in a dozen Facebook groups for trail runners with almost all of the activity being lead by those who are stronger and more capable runners. Many are ultra-marathoners and create group events for things like an “Easy 20-miler.” I was beginning to feel like I was out of my league or worse! …that I’m not a runner, because I’m not able to train to that level. The average runners are silent and intimidated. And I figured that needed to change.
Kicking Ass Gently came about from my desire to get out and be active as a 40+ year old woman with Rheumatoid Arthritis. I’m in and out of physical therapy and on and off with medications. We are out there, running community!! The silent majority who train for 5K, 10K, and half-marathon races. We are the injured and recovering. We are the overweight and the elderly. We are the fit and active. We are the young beginners and everything in between. We are the cruise control on the Cadillac, happily trotting our way along in the mid to the back of the pack.
If you are training for an ultra-marathon, good on you! We welcome you as well since kicking ass gently applies to all levels of running. We encourage all runners to train in a way that begins and ends with listening to our bodies. It is all about training as hard as you can without going too far or pushing too hard in order to stay injury free and healthy.
#TeamKAG 