Guess I should introduce myself...

As I'm new to this whole blogging thing, I'm not quite certain how to start. I guess I'll start by talking about myself (this is also my favorite topic, but I digress). I've been wanting to blog for a while, but I never really felt like I had a niche, I didn't have anything that anyone would want to read about. And then I got sick, again. And I realized that maybe there were people out there who might be interested in reading about someone who's actually a normal, regular person, trying to become a better athlete and runner, while also dealing with a chronic condition that would seem to be at odds with her goals. Then again, maybe not, who knows? I mean, I think I'm pretty interesting personally, but I may just be biased.



Growing up I was a pretty active kid who loved gymnastics and swimming but stopped gymnastics around 5th grade and quit swimming my freshman year in high school. After that, I did nothing. Really, nothing. I met my husband in 2001, got married in 2003 and then by 2007 I had put on over 60lbs from when I had first met my husband and was diagnosed with CFIDS, or Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome. Those first few years were horrible; I was constantly battling flare ups, vertigo, missing work for days or a week at a time, and feeling like a prisoner to this thing.

My husband Bexar and I in 2007

By March of 2010 I'd had enough. I was at my heaviest I'd ever been, 5'4" while wearing a size 16 and realizing I wasn't so much living life as I was just trying to survive it. Something had to give. So slowly but surely and with the help of many friends and my husband, I started exercising and changing my diet and off came the pounds. I also realized that as long as I was being careful and strategic about my exercise, I was feeling better as well. My symptoms were improving and flare ups were fewer and farther between.
  

  In May 2010 my best friend and workout partner Frannie (who will be mentioned time and time again in this blog) and I drove up to Dallas to participate in a previously unheard of race called the Warrior Dash. It was a 5k obstacle race that advertised mud, jumping over fire and crawling under barbed wire. We. Were. TERRIFIED. Neither one of us had been able to run a full mile, much less a 5k and we had no idea what to expect. That shit was EPIC! Looking back, it's small potatoes compared to what we do now, but at the time it was the most incredible thing we'd ever done and we loved it!

If we aren't the two cutest badasses, I don't know who are.

By September of 2010 I'd lost 40 pounds, joined a gym and started with an amazing personal trainer Andre' (who will also be mentioned many times throughout this blog I'm sure). The next month Frannie and I did our next obstacle race: Spartan Race. Knowing how huge Spartan Race is now, it's crazy to think that we did the very first one in TX and that there were only about 700 people in attendance, compared to the thousands that attend them now.

Yes, we were actually #7 and 8.

I think that was the moment that I felt a shift in my goals and mindset. I was no longer just focused on losing weight, but instead I focused on doing more of these races, and man, did I do them. As I looked I found more and more and more obstacle races and I just couldn't get enough of them-Warrior Dash, Spartan Race, Tough Mudder, Hell Run , World's Toughest Mudder, MetroDash, GORUCK Challenge-I eventually did them all, multiple times over.

     Now, I'm sure you  may be saying to yourself, "Self, how can this chick do this stuff and actually be sick?" Yeah. I get that one a lot. While on paper all of this sounds badass as hell, the reality is quite different:

1) I'm a sucky runner. It is what it is, I've been running for 2 years now and still get really excited if I can run a 10 minute mile. I'm a penguin, I get it. Moving on...

2) All the working out and being active has actually improved my symptoms quite a bit, however that's not without a lot of sacrifice. Any of these events lay me out for the rest of the weekend, I'm completely non-functional. On a day where I do a long run or a workout with my trainer, I have a hard time doing anything else that day. I did a 12.5 hour event 2 weeks ago and I'm still not fully recovered. So while on the outside it looks like I do all these amazing things, the reality is that I have to sacrifice time with my friends or husband in order to stay healthy enough to continue.

So, I guess that's it, welcome to me and my world, as crazy and odd as it may be.