During a race, I look at my legs and my watch and make them work together to meet the goal. Those race blinders go up, as soon as the gun goes off and the race begins.
However, after a race I enjoy shaking my competitors hands, and connecting over refreshments and common experiences in life as well as running. Finding your reason why, and sharing your reason why, is just as important as running the actual race.
I like to have my puppies in their stroller or on a leash, so I am not alone on a walk. I was very surprised one time, when a woman at the park was afraid of my little puppies. Some people really do not like doggies, they run away from them, I was surprised, and picked the dogs and trying to console the woman. Even, little puppies can be scary to someone, so be aware of your doggies in public.
Hiking, and walking in groups is always smart, because you can look out for each other. Some people might be afraid of strangers, even if they are friendly, so perhaps being in a group makes others on the same trail more comfortable. If someone is afraid of groups, dogs, and walking alone, then I would not know what to tell them, other than go to the gym and look at pictures of nature much rather than go outside; especially not in public places.
Things I always carry in my hands or a sports bra.
My phone
My wearsafe button, that can record events for later filing a lawsuit.
An alarm, I pull a key out of if something is scaring me like a dog or person.
Pepper spray, in case an animal is rabid and out in the daylight.
All of my CPR, BLS, ACLS and PALS certification cards, with a CPR mask, so I can be a good samaritan in an emergency situation, and not be prosecuted afterwards; I don’t want to make my cool aunt’s lawyer too busy. You only need CPR or BLS. I needed to show a man these cards to help him hike down a mountain in Maine, if I did not have them on my person in the middle of nowhere, he would have refused my assistance. You never know when you’ll need to pull them out of your sports-bra.
Purple or red or grey contact lenses, to go with my red hair, in case I am reading too much, and still want to run without glasses falling off my face. When I needed glasses and contacts, I spiced it up everyday. My eye-doctor gave me samples of colorful contacts, for lacrosse camp one time, too; glasses would not fit under my goggles. I only have leftover colorful contact lenses, like leftover electrodes from my days with POTS; contacts are expensive so I just use drug-store readers most of the time, unless it’s my old colorful samples. One time I had to tell my friend they were fun contacts for reading too much, and I am not a vampire with red eyes, but we laughed it all off. However, most are mature or intelligent or cultured enough to know they are contact lenses; in a way my chihuahuas are cuddly and not violent monsters. Thank god I grew out of my lazy eye in puberty, and only need reading glasses from time to time, for grading long papers or reading long books not for pleasure. :)
Water and a granola bar, in the event I become thirsty. If the chihuahuas are with me, I have water and snacks for them too. I always give my hiking buddies cliff bars, chocolate chip are my favorite.
A headlamp and reflective gear, if I am being a nightrunner.
Handcuff keys, in case I am in a Holiday in Handcuffs movie mood. Just kidding, that’s what all the sailors in Kodiak told me to bring with me everywhere, with Bear Spray, and a whistle.
Realistically, that is everything of which I bring running with me, not too much to hold in a bra or my hands. What do you carry with you on a run, walk or hike? Usually, I can pet all the dogs to my liking whilst running, and go skinny dipping as much as I want post run, but everyone should be aware to have layers of ways to protect yourself if something unexpected happens. Would you assume I am a vampire, if I were running in my red contact lenses that were prescription for reading and such? Or would I need to have my attorney in NY tell you that I am not a vampire, and I just have cool contact lenses, I am free to wear as I will? These are things you need to think about, because it can ruin your life apparently; someone can take your spot at Harvard if you wear prescription contact lenses around the wrong person. Maybe I should wear one purple and one red, next time on a run. If you ever feel like someone’s red contacts indicate they are a vampire, tell them to remove the expensive lenses in the middle of the woods, and buy them the prescription sunglasses made for running yourself; those sunglasses might be as pretentious as water bottles so some schools might not even allow them. I would take them out after running, before going to the store, and use my Blink eye drops pretentiously too, perhaps drink some pretentious Poland Springs water as well, sometimes in front everyone I can find just to show off the luxury; refill the Poland Springs bottle with tap water, but make everyone think it’s a new bottle.
Click this link to see all the colorful contacts that god created, many people must buy them if there is such a vast collection to choose from. Correct? My eye doctor, would bring me into his office, and give me bags of samples of everything I ever wanted, so I wouldn’t actually have to buy a few months supply of contacts or eye drops, help me try a brand before the big purchase; as every courteous doctor should. Or, he just liked me because his son also was a cross-country runner. I basically just took any fun sample that I wanted, he offered me in his office. Like fragrance samples, all the fragrance samples I have are the Tiffany fragrance; at least until I find myself a man to buy me the whole bottle. What else was he going to do with his colorful contact lense samples, if I would not even wear them? Honestly, I think someone knew I was wearing contacts and not a real vampire, and just wanted attention. Perhaps, they can ward off an attacker when you are running, can be the lesson learned. On a side note, I have not eaten a single person yet, not even after the mediation session; actually how I proved that I am not a vampire, because I wear colorful contacts. Who else had to prove they were indeed not a witch or a vampire in college, because of their cool contacts? Boy have Emma and I come a long way since then, we even share clothes nowadays.
Not that I was ever expecting to be with my parent’s chihuahuas so much, but I suppose I have stolen them as my own. Rescuing these puppies from Helping Hounds was the best decision that my family ever could have made. We have no idea what they went through living abandoned in a trailer in Texas, and it is tempting to hire a ‘dog whisperer’ to find out the puppy thoughts occupying their little brains. These two are miracle babies that bring us joy every day, in every way possible. Luna and Lucy are the epitome of unconditional true love, little miracle puppies who survived Texas to make it to a loving home with us here in New York. Malnourished to pleasantly plump before they knew it, after coming home with us. Just tonight, they enjoyed homemade chicken soup for dinner, and carrots for their snack before bed. Every night these two sleep together in their crib, until it is time for them to wake up and play lots and lots of games!
When I was twenty and completed the MDI Marathon for the first time, whilst on my fifth big St. Jude fundraiser, it was a good time. Wish I could relive that weekend. Nevertheless, everytime I am back up there, my running experiences just keep getting better and better; my quads are always shot, but it is a good time.
The sun always hits my eyes just right in this spot, and don’t look at that zipper.
The week after this brutal marathon, I did a 5k with my school. I made sure to let everyone else be top three to get a medal, including a professor of mine at the time. I wanted my professor to feel like they won a race, because he was jealous about MDI, so I jogged the thing in lots of mud going up monks misery; wish I had worn my spikes half way through the jog. Then, afterwards I showed everyone my marathon medal from the weekend before, and they were clearly all very happy for my accomplishment. It was a cool thing. Perhaps, all of them will run MDI next year, near where they have camps or something! I lost the 5k pic, but I have snowshoeing up Mount Douglas.
Running is a funny sport, there are people who are jealous of you, people who need you to give a list of every time and distance you have ever run, people who run a half and take the full medal. One time a boyfriend only liked me because I was an almighty marathon runner, super cool, but then screamed at me in a restaurant that my boobs were too small, that was that. He also told me not to run around the track in a bra and underwear, funny fella, probably just wanted to go skinny dipping avec moi. You never know which one you’re talking to!
Sewing thousands of masks for donation last spring, was almost like a full time job in itself. There’s making a hundred peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a shelter, and then there is sewing thousands of masks. What a thing to cross off of my list. It feels so nice to see them mass produced now, such a relief. Now, I only feel the need to sew a couple here and there to go with my clothes. I’m not really a fashion designer, but it was fun to pretend during that time of need, usually I just make quilts or little things for a hobby.
Me dropping some off at the Women’s Shelter last spring… in a red, white and blue kinda mood….
During our varsity lacrosse playing years, one of my best friends was suffering from concussions. The way that I solved this problem, was buying her a green protective headband to wear in games, so she felt cool and protected during a game. Everyone on our team was very jealous of her bright green headband, so we all ended up having these protective headbands for games, practice and tournaments. Everyone needed a protective headband to prevent concussions, after I gave X her headband as a birthday present. This was a very positive addition to our team apparel. A lot of ladies wore these headbands in lacrosse and soccer, but because I was on the cross-country team, I never played soccer outside of intramurals. However, the only people who did intramurals were on the actual soccer team, except for me, so it all felt like a real team with our half-zips and long-sleeves.
To entice my friend to wear the headband, we were cute one weekend and painted a bunch of rock pets, together. Then, we played backgammon, monopoly, pick-up sticks and solitaire. All sorts of games, to incline each other to wear all sorts of things.
I loved the color of the green headband so much, I always try to match the color with my Nike sports bras, whilst running or casually lounging around.
I am literally plagiarizing these pictures from the badassladygang.com, and probably numerous other bloggers, but I cannot resist. Finger’s crossed, no one slaps an injunction on the pictures I stole.
Between all the million dollar studies, my theory to eat a cupcake every 20 mile long run and drink water, these diagrams depict exactly what runners are supposed to be eating after running certain distances.
https://badassladygang.com/blog/the-only-running-motivation-you-need
LOOK AT THE CUPCAKES I SHOULD BE EATING, EVERYDAY!
I struggled with POTS a lot as a teen, and took midodrine three times a day at 10mg a pill. Morning, noon, and night. I needed to have a tilt table test at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester NY, to get midodrine prescribed to me by an adult cardiologist, back in highschool. I had a 504, because I was sick in highschool, and I am not ashamed of it. I looked blue or grey sometimes, or pale as a ghost. You get up and do the best you can, that’s all that matters. Good days, bad days, and attainable goals. One thing at a time, until everything falls into place. That pill stopped me from fainting and gave me a normal life again, so I can run a lot. Run and raise a lot of money for lots of different charities, depending on the day. Losing it all, and getting it back made me so much faster. I did a lot of things early, because I felt like I was running out of time, and then I had to make up for lost time. My run book is going to have a lot about overcoming my health obstacles, becoming a marathon runner from a strong xc runner, and drinking a lot of water. So happy that I feel better nowadays! 45/20 was my all time low in life (Is that my opening sentence for my autobiography of myself?).
https://rarediseases.info.nih.gov/diseases/9597/postural-orthostatic-tachycardia-syndrome
http://www.dysautonomiainternational.org/page.php?ID=30
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/postural-orthostatic-tachycardia-syndrome-pots
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/16560-postural-orthostatic-tachycardia-syndrome-pots
I wore a monitor like this, for six months, and everytime I took a shower it would beep like I was coding. The telemetry reading company would call the house to make sure I was just in the shower, and after a while I knew to call them whenever I took the monitor off, so there was no panic. I used mineral oil to take my electrodes off, everyday. Still, I am unsure if what my heart did or monitoring it was worse. My skin became so raw and bled sometimes, the oil helped, and my cardiologist started giving me the pediatric electrodes that were thin, clear and had animal patterns of ducks or rabbits. It hurt too much to put the electrodes back on my raw skin sometimes, but I had to, as I had run out of new places after a while. My chest also hurt too much, and so did my legs which is why I could not move, even if I could have stood without fainting. Nothing helped my pain, and I was in so much pain all the time; beyond tears(CBD oil did not exist back then, and I was never given pain meds). Pain medication lowers your heart rate, which is why I could not have it, my blood pressure and heart rate dropped very low. There was a touch screen, where I plugged in my symptoms when my heart did certain things, it looks almost like an iphone. One time a girl giving me an EKG at Strong Hospital started crying on top of me, telling me that she was so upset about my age and my health issues, it was an upsetting day.
My sisters were in college, my friends called me ‘gross’ and never came over to visit, my fat chihuahua puppy and porcelain dolls were my only friends sometimes. Of course, no one ever admitted to bullying me and I did not want to destroy all their lives over it just because I could have, but my morbidly obese chihuahua puppy was always happy to sleep on my blankets snuggling away my heartbreak. The only power move I ever had my cool aunt make, was getting the student doctors away from me, especially boys. I enjoyed looking at my pretty doll when I could not move, brushed her hair and tied her satin ribbon into the perfect bow, well into my teenage years whilst being sick. The porcelain dolls in my room not only have pretty hair and ribbon, but also a built in music box on their backs. It would have been too flashy to bring them to college with me, so I let my nieces play with the porcelain dolls and take my spot at the tea party; sometimes I still have the luxury of playing with the girls and the dolls together. My chihuahuas actually have special dresses to play tea party, with the porcelain dolls and my nieces; all of us girls just adore playing tea party.
My least favorite thing was taking off my top and having echocardiograms, for really long times, everything exposed for the nurse and student doctors to see. That is the reason I think it is so cool that they make custom medical gowns, nowadays. It would have been nice to have something soft and my own, with all my wires, electrodes, and sonograms of my heart happening, or being strapped to the tilt table test. You need a soft bathrobe, gown, soft hoodie, and nice socks when you’re sick; that’s for sure. My medicine made me cold on the inside and have chills, blankets did not help, but I pretended that they did. Heating pads and blankets, soft fabric items, to make me feel comfortable were a whole thing. If I know someone who is sick, I always give them an oversized soft sweater to wear, open in the front, because that is all I wanted to wear whilst being sick. Being cold was like torture, with my pain, that’s why I like the sauna, and sitting outside in the sun every chance to this day. My skin was purple/blue/grey, freezing, and being pulled off until raw from using all those electrodes, I went through a lot. Being freezing and blue back then, presently, I truly appreciate not being in pain or cold after everything that I went through with my heart. All of this happened to me because of a virus, it came out when I collapsed during lacrosse practice suddenly, took a trip to the emergency room in an ambulance.
A cool aunt of mine, needed to make a phone call so I would never have student doctors around me ever; I snapped into a snob, and it instantly fixed anything inappropriate in my life. Med students looking at my boobs during echos is the reason I had to switch cardiologists. After a while of being sick, I felt like a body and I needed a therapist to tell me that I was not a body, and everything would heal someday. Honestly, after going through such living hell with my heart, I have no idea how I ended up being an elite marathon runner, but I’ll take it as progress working with my body! At least, I could hide all those wires under my shirt, and put the monitor in my bra. That’s why I always wear sports bras, that’s all I had when this all went down. That’s why I wear sweaters all the time, it’s all I was ever comfortable in. It was a very big deal, all these heart things happened in my life, because I was very sick, I really could have died from health obstacles I faced. Those health obstacles I faced in the past, motivated me to fundraise through running events, and help others who are enduring health obstacles achieve a happy life. I have this website so everyone going through what I did, or something similar, can look at how I can run entire marathons now, it all worked out later on; there is an attainable goal for everyone. I do these interviews with so many, because I want to inspire readers, and relate in life; you’re never alone. I felt lonely, and I want to be inclusive so somebody else does not feel lonely like I did. Throwing myself out there, trying to help, because I can. In a way, I went from not being able to stand up and walk, to being an elite marathon runner, I worked hard for that progress in this lifetime.
One of my best friends from college, Emma, actually went through a medical issue similar. We went through funny stages together, debating about whether or not we wanted to talk about our medical history or act like it literally never happened. Both of us were back and forth about it, mutually. Sometimes, our phases were conflicting, and it ended up we needed to have it out in the open all the time; we did in fact have medical conditions. This is not something to cover up, it’s something to talk about and accept, even after you feel completely healed. Never feel like it’s something to cover up, and act like never happened, we even told our boyfriends too. Be proud, because you are a stronger person from overcoming all the health obstacles. Discovering there are no secrets, is literally the reason I have had my essay on this blog nonstop for almost ten years! However, there are times that I go undercover, and everyone is shocked when I reveal my truth. Now, I run fast as if all my medical problems literally never happened, and no one knows how I do it.
The only time I was weird in college, was when they had medical bracelets to enter Spring Fling, I was not in a state of mind after everything I went through to wear a hospital bracelet on my wrist to a dance. Just, because I went through trauma when I was sick, and I don’t mix business and pleasure. My friends brought me to a movie, God’s Not Dead, and we ate an entire tub of popcorn, instead. It was really nice of them to do that for me, because I had an embarrassing panic attack in front of all the cool kids, and none of us were popular after that. Just kidding, everyone’s popular. There was also an issue of people reading my diary, getting into my laptop, and looking at my permanent record with transcripts and financial information. I wish I commuted to school and never talked to anyone at one point, buy a safe for college because there is nothing you can do if someone steals all the cash in your purse. One time, someone stole my marathon packet in my mailbox and never gave to back to me, probably sold it to someone to run the race or kept it to be funny. That school sure did have me screaming out of horror at times, but that is how you find true friends. Like when I became elevator buddies, whilst on crutches with a stress fracture, and my friend who was also injured always took the same elevator to class on the second floor freshman year; I made all the other girls in school jealous they weren’t in the elevator, because he was more popular than me. They should have had a cooler theme for the party, like making mannequins become married to each other in a lodge or something. Then, I would have gone to the party and not a movie, upon cooling off from a panic attack, being told to wear that bracelet.
I get to have all my cliché power songs, smile like all the pop stars in these videos when I run marathons, and eat cupcakes!