13.1 miles

i need one of those stickers for my car. you may have seen them. 26.2, 13.1, 50k, etc. why? because i just ran a half-marathon! i didn't run the whole thing, but i DID run at least 10 miles of it. in fact, i ran the first 7 miles w/o walking at all (except to drink a little bit of water or gatorade at 2 or 3 drink stations)! that's HUGE for me. i may run slow, but i get it done! :-)  at the expo the day before where we picked up our swag bag, shirt, and other things, there were tons of vendors selling stuff. and there were stickers. one of them had a cute turtle on it that said, "I AM running!"  i really shoulda bought that and ironed it onto the back of my shirt.

these races ARE kinda fun. i mean, there's a connection you make with 25,000 strangers in your midst. you're all crazy together, so you already have something in common! and there's tons of people all along the route cheering you on with crazy signs or costumes. it's just fun to participate in something so big and so hard, together, even though they are all strangers and the people cheering are actually waiting for their loved one, not you. :-)

so why did i run in Phoenix? well, because of my step sisters. Gaylene (pictured in the middle) got a brilliant bug up her butt that she wanted to do a half in order to push her into exercising. she found this one and decided it would be fun for us to meet there and do it together. She and her sister, Kim (at right), met me there on Friday and we partied until 9pm at which point we realized we were too old to be partying! LOL  Saturday we were lazy and then Sunday Gaylene and I got up in the dark and made our way to the start line of the half in downtown Tempe.

we started off together, but Gaylene took off soon after we crossed the start. she's much faster than me, by 3 minutes per mile in fact. that was fine by me - i'd rather her go on and run her race - she had her own goal to accomplish! and she did, in fact, surpass her goal with a time of 2:17. really proud of her! :-)

i realized around mile 10 that i'd been following this one girl for a long time. she had on a green t-shirt that said "me vs road" and i finally clued in that i'd been using her as a gauge for my pace. turns out she and i were running the same speed, and walking the same speed. so around mile 11 i started running again and passed her up saying, "you are doing awesome! keep it up!!!"  not far down the road i had to walk again and here she came saying, "come on, you can do it!" and from there on we encouraged each other. i learned her name is Amy and her goal was to finish in the same time as me - 2:59:59 or under. this was her third race, i think.

we both crossed the finish line together, running as fast as our exhausted legs could carry us. i looked her up later on the finishers site and found her official finish time being 11 minutes ahead of me. guess she started a little earlier than me? i don't know. i just know i needed her. and i think she needed me. and it was nice to have a buddy to help me in that last mile. the last couple of miles really are the very hardest!


after the race is a concert. this was, after all, the Rock and Roll Marathon! i was kinda looking forward to seeing the B-52's, but we, however, have NO CLUE how that went because we were completely done and ready to get back to the hotel to ice our knees and shower. we had salt, crystallized salt, on our faces - it was the strangest thing. and my knee was absolutely killing me, i was limping all night and all the next day.

we cleaned up and went for a celebratory dinner at Mellow Mushroom. i had my very own 12 inch gluten-free vegan pizza and it was SO YUMMY i ate the entire thing!!! and then we got ice cream. the ice cream was regular, and sent me over the "i'm so full" stage into the "i'm going to be sick i'm so full" stage. the ice cream was good, but it wasn't so good i wanted more the next day. i think i'm happy with the plan of having ice cream, or something, once a year for my birthday. as long as i work super hard to earn it.

i think running 13 miles is work enough this time. :-)

now, back to reality, back to life, back to the strictly clean diet and the gym. it's time to see if i can improve my speed!

food allergy results

i searched years and years for a cause of my exercise-induced asthma, but never found a connection. just in the last several months i've finally considered wheat to be a possibility, and then sugar. of course those were behind dairy which had already been removed from my diet. i didn't have any hard evidence or proof that wheat could be a cause, just a hunch. then i went to TrueNorth, fasted, and ended up being 6 weeks free from wheat (they don't allow any wheat there - too many people have issues!). while i was there i had a food allergy test done and after my return home i received a letter from the doctor saying i should remove certain things from my diet and that the full report would be sent in the mail soon.

the list from the doctor had two categories - high and medium. In the high list was pumpkin and tarragon. In the medium list were apples, blueberries, watermelon, kiwi, ginger, and a couple of other things. when i first read this email i was perplexed. first of all, there is no explanation as to what happens to me if i eat these things, so i don't know if the food allergy is related to my asthma, acne, mood swings, bloating, constipation, fatigue, ANYthing! i have no idea, so i'm racking my brain trying to think of what kind of reaction i've gotten after eating pumpkin - all i know is that i've never had a MAJOR, life threatening reaction to ANY of the foods on the list, so i'm thankful for that.

but more perplexing is ... what do apples and pumpkin and ginger and watermelon have in common??? why tarragon, but not other spices? why blueberries but not blackberries? what is it about these foods that my body isn't liking? so i did what any questioning mind does - i turned to Google! i literally Googled, "what do apples, pumpkin, tarragon, and ginger have in common?" and the results came back - salicylates. and of course there were bigger food lists, most of the items on my list being on those lists too. very interesting! but what is a salicylate? it's a chemical that's naturally found in fruits & veggies, in some health and beauty products, and even in aspirin. interesting!

so i purposely didn't buy any apples, and i gave away the blueberries i'd just bought, but i still ate the oatmeal french toast i'd just made with apple juice - the week after i used grape juice. i made sure not to eat any pumpkin or tarragon. i continued my non-wheat experiment, and of course kept out the dairy and meat.

then i went to Phoenix and ran the half marathon. my goal was to finish at 2:59:59 or under, and i did!!! 2:56:49 to be exact. i was thrilled i didn't fall out on the ground half way through, begging for a taxi. :-)  moreover, my asthma was never an issue. the biggest pain were my legs and knees, and especially afterward, but while i was running my asthma never flared up. i made sure to run at a slow pace, but when i realized i'd reached 7 miles and had only paused long enough to grab a few swigs of water at the drink stations, i was excited. in fact, there was even a moment where i thought, "i might just run this whole dang thing!" and then my legs stiffened up. LOL  but i wonder, what i not taken 5 weeks off to fast, how would my legs have held up? would i have been able to run 10 miles without walking?

i just got home yesterday and found the full allergy report waiting for me. i opened it up and found the other columns, low and no factor. there were a LOT of foods i eat all the time in the low column and everything else i eat was in the no factor area. but at the bottom left of the report was a gluten box - ah ha! here we go. i had to read it very carefully as the wording was confusing. it says, "you have no reaction to gluten and severe reaction to gliadin. you should avoid eating wheat, barley, rye, and oats."  hmmm... that's interesting. so what is gliadin? how is it different than gluten but still in the same category as wheat?

we've all heard of the "gluten-free" craze - it seems like everyone is gluten intolerant anymore. well, i read "The Wheat Belly" when i was at TrueNorth and i can totally see why everyone at this point in our culture would have an issue with wheat. that is if the facts in that book are truly facts. again i turned to my reliable source and Googled "what is Gliadin" and up came the results - Gliadin and Glutenin make up Gluten found in wheat. Gliadin is the soluble part, Glutenin is insoluble. Gliadin is also found in barley and rye - the jury is still out about oats. when someone has Celiac disease, it's actually Gliadin they are intolerant of. after reading several sources i ran across this blurb about Gliadin from "The Wheat Belly Blog" - "Gliadin, particularly the omega fraction, is also responsible for allergic responses, including Bakers’ asthma and the odd wheat-dependent, exercise-induced analyphylaxis (WDEIA).)"

did you see that? "exercise-induced." thankfully i've never gone into analphylactic shock during exercise, not the point of needing medical assistance anyway, but still ... there it is, pretty dang close to saying "Gliadin causes exercise-induced asthma!" so that's it, i'm done with wheat. i'm going to continue eating rice, rice pasta, rice crackers, and will find gluten-free oats and bread, and will read labels even more carefully from now on. you'd be surprised where wheat is found. ketchup? soy sauce?

this is a lot of information to take in. i mean, i've already made such extreme changes to my diet, i have to make sure apples and watermelon are nowhere near, too? and what about the bananas? they're in the low list, do i avoid them too? no! the point of the report is to help me be mindful of things that may or may not cause an issue, OF SOME TYPE, for me. and to test my body as necessary. if i want to know what kind of reaction i have to apples, i should abstain from all things apple for 6 months, then eat them mindfully and record reactions to exercise, skin, bloating, etc.

ultimately i don't find any of this info as overwhelming or disappointing. i don't feel like i have to deprive myself. it's actually more interesting than anything. now i can experiment and see what happens! i am in control and can determine if pumpkin REALLY IS an issue. and how exciting to maybe actually have an answer, after all these years!

Final Thoughts about TrueNorth

well, my journey home has begun, but am i centered? am i pointing North? have i found MY TrueNorth? that's what they strive for at TrueNorth Health Center - to help people find their North, their balanced way of living. so have i found it?

to be honest, i don't know! i feel good. i feel encouraged. i certainly feel pointed in the right direction. but have i grown enough to stay pointing North? i hope so! i'm definitely armed with info to help me continue. i've cleansed my body of all toxins and haven't put any back in for three weeks now. i've lost a little weight.

but do i feel better? yes, i do! but do i feel healed? well, no. do i believe i've cured my asthma, for good? no. i hope it's better, at least, but i have no way of knowing that until i gain my strength back and continue to avoid toxins.

nothing drastic happened during this journey. i wasn't converted to some vegan cult. i didn't experience any healing miracles. i didn't feel the spirit ascend on me as i was fasting. i didn't have some enlightened experience where i was shown signs and wonders, nor did i see ghosts or goblins. i thought i would be more spiritual, but i wasn't. i thought i would feel my physical healing, but i didn't. i thought i would have some major "experience" ... but i didn't.

every day felt normal. fasting became easier than eating. in fact, the fasting process was far easier than i imagined it would be. i felt hunger every day, but it was manageable. it would have been more so had i not surrounded myself with food at the food demos or by watching The Food Network (ha!). the doctors laugh at fasting patients because we look up recipes online and watch cooking shows on tv, but food, or the lack of, never leaves your brain when you're fasting. at least it didn't leave mine. my mind was constantly on food - not necessarily feeling deprived and craving and wanting and being tempted - more "what am i going to eat when i'm done with this, when i go home?" the desire to get armed with ammunition, with recipes and ideas, was more the drive to go to the cooking demos or to watch food contests on tv.

i was never tempted to sneak into the dining room and steal food while i was fasting. never. but i did dream about enchiladas and tamales and bananas. and when it was finally time to eat them, they didn't taste as fantastic as i'd imagined. good, yes. but the best food i've ever tasted? no.

i'm super thankful for the opportunity to do this. i really wanted to fast - to push my body and mind beyond anything it had known before. i am thankful to now know what my body does and how it responds to the lack of food for a prolonged period. i'm also thankful to know that my body does not NEED to eat three times a day, or more, in order to survive. i still want to eat when i'm hungry, naturally, but if for some reason i can not eat what's given to me, or there is no opportunity to get food, or i'm stuck in transit without it, i KNOW i will continue to live and that the hunger will eventually go away.

and knowing that, realizing i'm not going to wither away if i miss lunch, also encourages me to avoid the foods that i should not eat - for example, if i go to a dinner or a party and there is nothing i am able to eat - instead of compromising, like i've done in the past, and subjecting myself to the slippery slope that is toxic food, i can turn it down and go without until i leave that situation and am able to get something on my approved list.

i have to look at the food i put in my body as the fuel that keeps my engine running. just like i can't put diesel in my car and expect it to operate beyond a few miles, i can't put toxins in my body and expect it to thrive beyond a couple of days.

people say to me all the time, "we're all gonna die anyway, so...."  well, that is very true. we are ALL going to die at some point, that is unless Jesus returns and takes us up (or sends us down, whichever the case may be). BUT ... i'm not eating this way in order to live a long life or to try to cheat death. i could care less about living to be 105. the less time i live on this decrepit earth the better! my response to those who say that is, "i don't want to live to 105, but while God keeps me here on earth i want to enjoy the years He gives me. i would far prefer to live 60 happy, healthy, feeling great years than 100 unhappy, discontent, fat, depressed, tired, sick, and diseased years."

and so i conclude... after a year and five month long journey of research, trial and error, desire, and perseverance, i have found my true north. i have found my path to enjoying my life. and i'm happy it's taken as long as it's taken. you can't learn as much as i've learned in just a few days. you can't learn how to live the rest of your life from one book. or watching one video. yes, it can set you on the right path, but you have to find your own way. if you have desire to THRIVE instead of just SURVIVE, then you're already one step ahead of most. Congratulations!

i could not have gotten here without a little help. and i have a number of fantastic *resources to thank...  (i tried to put them in order of finding/watching/reading/attending/etc.)

Super Size Me
Fat Head
Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead
Food, Inc
King Corn
No Impact Man
Forks Over Knives
Mom
Engine 2 Diet / Engine 2 Extra
Farms 2 Forks
Dr. Caldwell and Ann Esselstyn
Rip Esselstyn
Ami Mackey
Natala Constantine
TrueNorth Health Center
Dr. Alan Goldhamer
Dr. Michael Klaper
Dr. Neal Barnard
Dr. John McDougall
Dr. Doug Lisle
The Starch Solution
The Pleasure Trap
Chef AJ

*not an exhaustive list

What Day is It?

now that i'm not counting fasting days i have no idea what day it is. i just know it's Thursday. life is almost normal again. for those of you worried about my weight loss, you'll be happy to know i've already gained back 4 pounds. oatmeal, fruit, potatoes, and green veggies have a way about 'em. :-)

notice i said oatmeal. i've never eaten oatmeal in my life. i hate it. it makes me gag - the lumpy, sticky, warm texture - YUK! but yet i've had it for breakfast two days in a row. now mind you, this isn't JUST oatmeal. it's been cooked in fruit juice, probably apple, and has fruit and cinnamon added to it, during the cooking process. and then it sat there for a while, waiting for me. yesterday there were raisins in it, today banana and almonds. i don't have a clue if i can do this at home, but i will probably give it a valiant effort.

it's quiet here now. not many people. all the food extravaganza people are gone and those of us left are either coming off a fast or have just begun to fast. i have the apartment to myself, which was really nice last night, but at the same time also kinda eerie. i kept expecting someone to walk in. but no one did until the doctors this morning to check in on me.

BP 100/64, HR 60, TEMP 98, WT 140.4

yesterday i scarfed down some soup and half my salad for lunch and jumped on the bus headed east a couple of miles. i got off at the exact right spot and walked around for a while waiting for the movie to start. i had about 30 minutes to meander. there's a really nice park with a pond and lots of mossy rocks and trees. i didn't have a lot of time to explore, but what i saw was very peaceful and there were quite a number of people enjoying it. i got back to the theater just in time - Silver Linings Playbook starring Bradley Cooper - good movie. cute theater. senior day. lots of independent films it seemed.

afterward i hurried over to the bus stop ready to wait for the # 4 when here comes the # 7. i remembered i could take the # 7 first, but would have to walk a few blocks, or i could wait longer for the # 4 and get dropped at the door of TN. so to make sure the # 4 stopped at that stop, i asked the driver and he kindly informs me "no, it only stops going the other way."  well that's odd. why would their trip planning website tell me to get on at that spot to get back home? oh well, whatever. he was very helpful and said i could use my transfer voucher (15 minutes late) and ride with him if i didn't mind walking. and so i did, then i walked through the neighborhood back to TN. and since the neighborhood is so beautiful, i didn't mind.

for the rest of the evening i just hung out, ate dinner, and knitted. but i did all that in the living room of the apartment instead of the confines of my room. OH, and i turned the heater up. :-)

today i will go downtown to walk around and explore. i will also eat down there at Sonoma Taco Shop for lunch. that's right - McDougall approved veggie enchiladas, rice, beans, and chips - all without oil and 1:1 sodium ratio. :-)  i might also get a haircut. and i might also see another movie. i don't know, i'm just gonna wing it.

here's a video recap of my day and how i'm doing at the end of my expedition on foot today: