theSmudge.com

Apparently I need to stop eating bolts for breakfast and canned spinach (cans included) for lunch: My iron levels are high.

I got this surprising news because I had a bunch of blood tests done in order to get a lower health insurance rate. Though I don’t really like being stabbed with a needle, and I did NOT like fasting for 12 hours and driving 75 minutes yesterday morning without coffee, I was really interested in seeing the results — especially if my increased potassium intake would have any bearing on the test.

But the potassium result, while proving my theory correct, was actually not the most interesting one. As I scrolled down the list of results today, only one had a big red stop sign symbol in the “alert” column: My iron levels are definitely too high. I hadn’t noticed anything too out of the ordinary in my body, but symptoms of high iron include fatigue, weakness and joint pain. Joint pain! That’s the last thing a runner needs! Especially a runner who has had knee, ankle and foot issues. Shortness of breath is another possible symptom, and I was certainly out of breath on a run this weekend (though the elevation gain may have been a factor). Oh yeah, and it can eventually cause heart failure.

So I racked my brain and did some Googling and tweeting (Twitter people are so helpful!) in an attempt to figure out what had caused this iron issue. I don’t eat much red meat, spinach, fruit juice or other foods that have a lot of iron. I don’t cook on cast iron pans. I don’t actually eat tin cans for lunch. I considered the glucosamine/chondroitin/msm that I take to make my knee happy, but I ruled that out after a couple responses on Twitter.

And I considered the multi-vitamin I take, because I know I don’t get enough nutrients in my diet. I’d figured a name brand like Women’s One-A-Day would be a sure-fire way to get what I needed. Well, I’ve been taking 18mg of iron — or 100 percent of my daily needs — every day for years. I have half a bottle of the vitamins left, but I’m throwing them out immediately. The test results show that I probably do need the multi-vitamin in some areas, but if something could be affecting my joints, there is no way I’m going to keep taking it.

If anyone has other thoughts on this, I’d love to hear them. Meanwhile, I’ll make a concerted effort to do a couple blog post updates about the status of my running injury recovery, my upcoming move, and a couple “race” reports. I make no promises, though, because the next few weeks are going to be quite busy.

Did you know that the body needs water? I did. But apparently I forgot. Yes, folks, this marathon runner forgot to hydrate. I went about 20 hours without drinking water! Fortunately I caught my dehydration in time and there were no mishaps. I don’t remember driving 55 miles home today, though.

While nearly all of the blame falls on me because I’m the only one who can actually hydrate myself, a small part of it falls on the folks who put on the California International Marathon yesterday. I’m sorry, but there is NO excuse to not supply volunteers with some water, especially when they’re working 4+ hour shifts.

The marathon volunteering will be a separate post (probably not until Wednesday), and I had a lot of really great experiences. This post, however, is about water. Or lack thereof.

Saturday night I had my last drink of water around 10 p.m. I lost track of time and went to sleep very late, so when I woke up around 4:20 the next morning I was barely functioning. I had over an hour of driving to do in the dark, so I took two travel cups in the car, which means I drank about 24 ounces of coffee. It’s not clear whether coffee causes dehydration, since it’s made with water, but I didn’t have any plain water.

I was standing, lifting, carrying, pulling, moving around, yelling, cheering, and hugging runners for hours. I had no food or drink. Around 1 p.m., when I was done volunteering but was out on the marathon course to cheer some more, an ROTC cadet offered me a protein bar. Since I hadn’t eaten in about 13 hours, I was extremely grateful. Those bars are not exactly filled with fluid, though.

Then I went shopping, because I had a coupon to use. I really did not want to go shopping, but it was expiring soon and I’d paid for it. It took me forever, and then traffic going home was a bit slower than expected, due to rain. I got home around 4:30, drank about 6 ounces of water, hopped in the shower, got ready to leave, and headed to a local brewery for my running buddies’ marathon celebration.

Of course I ordered a beer, but I asked for water right away — which took a long time to arrive. I didn’t drink all of the water. I was beyond tired when I got home, and I had a little more water before crashing into bed. I awoke this morning with a splitting headache. I had a hunch it was a water issue, so I forced down about half a glass before showering and hurrying off to work. I was eating toast and drinking coffee in the car, and my stomach got mad — which never, ever happens to me.

Then I got to work, got out of the car, and felt woozy. Within 20 minutes things had continued downhill. I found myself dimming my office lights because they were too bright, and I started worrying that it was a migraine. I found some Excedrin, and I tried to drink more water. The Excedrin finally kicked in, but I was really worried because home was a 55-mile drive away. I decided to leave while I could still drive.

On the way home I took the advice of a friend who runs 100-milers: I stopped at McDonald’s and got fries with salt and a Coke. I apparently managed to eat them, drink the Coke, and almost finish my 24-ounce bottle of water.

I say “apparently” because I don’t remember the drive home. I do recall finishing the book I’ve been listening to on CD. At one point I had no idea where I was and thought I’d missed my exit on Interstate 5. I got home without incident, and I have no idea what I did for the rest of the afternoon. Tonight I discovered that I’d done a load of laundry, so that was a pleasant surprise.

Now I have consumed more water and tea (another way to get more fluids in), and the cobwebs have cleared from my head. Looking back, I estimate that I went for 20 hours with no water other than 24 ounces of coffee. I like water, I use my Brita pitcher, I run marathons — I know about hydration! And yet I had nearly all the early symptoms of dehydration.

So, kids, drink your water. And remind me to drink water, too!

I’ve kept pretty quiet about my leg injury updates because, frankly, it’s depressing. I apparently had a setback and there’s nothing I can do but wait, since stress fractures must heal completely. Despite a previous experience and the vast majority of runners’ tibial stress fracture stories online, mine is taking longer than expected/most to heal. And that leads me to this:

If you’d like to run the sold-out Texas Marathon (finishers get the biggest medal in the country, and a rubber duck) on Jan. 1, let me know. It’s completely legitimate because the race, unlike most, allows transfers and refunds. It costs $60 and I need to know before Nov. 30, because that’s the cut-off date for me to just get a refund. Either comment here or e-mail me at layla @ thesmudge.com and we’ll work out the details.

I’ve wrestled with this decision, but there’s no way I will be in marathon shape in 54 days. There’s a waiting list for this marathon, so I shouldn’t put it off any longer — if someone else can run it, they deserve to do so.

If you want more information, here’s what I wrote about the marathon in a blog post on June 2:

Is it wrong for me to be very amused by the website of Kingwood, Texas? It doesn’t hurt that their town motto is apparently “the surfable forest,” and one of their featured businesses is Heather the Pet Nanny (whose website features a rather fascinating bouncing yellow tennis ball). And, when asked their favorite meat to eat, visitors to the website overwhelmingly selected beef.

As if that’s not enough to make Kingwood interesting, it’s just two miles away from the town of Humble (the H is silent, according to that link). Humble became a happening town after a 1904 “oil gusher” brought people in droves for work.

Why am I jabbering about Kingwood, which is 1,926 miles from Lodi? Because it’s home to the Texas Marathon, that’s why. Oh come on, you knew there had to be running involved if Layla was posting.

They always say things are bigger in Texas, so of course the marathon’s medal is the biggest in the U.S. At 2.2 pounds, that’s definitely one to wear through the airport or else it might push luggage over the weight limit. Finishers also get shirts, rubber ducks, and pizza. That is a nice bonus, because pizza usually sounds like the best thing on earth to me when I finish a long run. And, hey, a rubber duck has to be cute, right?

The race is on Jan. 1, which means it’s 1/1/11. I’m a bit of a numbers nerd, which is one of the big reasons I’m running the Portland Marathon on 10/10/10. I surprisingly got into the lottery for the New York Marathon, which will be held Nov. 7, a mere four weeks after Portland. So, I’m thinking of just going completely nuts and running a third marathon within 90 days of Portland, so I can qualify for Marathon Maniacs membership. It’s either that or the much closer California International Marathon in Sacramento.

So. Who wants to go to Kingwood with me for New Year’s?

Whew! Except for eight hours of sleep, I was basically online non-stop from Saturday afternoon until past noon Sunday, watching athletes cross several finish lines on what was a busy weekend in the running/triathlon community. Let me tell you, as blogger Luau can attest, it was exhausting!

Saturday was the Ford Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. In the world of triathlon, this is the ultimate race of all races. There are a few lottery spots, but almost everyone has to qualify in another triathlon in order to get to Kona. Once there, they have to reach certain points at certain times or else they’re pulled from the course. The heat and humidity are intense, and the bike and run are done on black asphalt past black lava rock on a course that has no shade. I’ve been along the whole course many times and have NO desire to attempt such a thing! Did I mention that it involves a 2.4-mile ocean swim, 112-mile bike ride and a 26.2-mile run? It was broadcast live online, and it was so fun to watch people in a place I know pretty well. The announcers did a great job and had some impressive details about many of the athletes. I also knew of a few of them, so that was fun.

I was up and at my computer with a cup of coffee a little after 8 a.m. this morning. The Chicago Marathon, with 45,000 registered runners, had gotten started a couple hours earlier. I ran this race last year, and I’ve been to Chicago several times, so of course I was looking forward to seeing how this one shaped up. It’s also one of the things that first got me into Twitter — last year I found some people on there who were also running Chicago, and I’ve kept in touch with most of them. My Twitter running network has since greatly expanded, so this year I knew a lot of people running it. The weather was quite warm, but everyone I was following made it across the finish line.

Meanwhile, the Portland Marathon, which I was supposed to run, also went down this morning. They had a record-high 13,000 people running the full marathon in steady rain. I was also following a bunch of people in that race. Some are Twitter friends, and some I met in person when I was in Portland last month.

Between all the Twitter people and more running buddies I’ve met through blogs and websites, I had a lot of stuff going on. Both marathons had live tracking, and Twitter was a steady, unending stream of updates from runners’ support crew, and even from a couple runners who tweeted along the way. Meanwhile, all of us virtual spectators were comparing notes and updating one another. At one point, I apologized to my non-running Twitter followers because they were probably overwhelmed, but I didn’t hear any complaints. I think most of them know I’m fairly obsessed with running, anyway.

So many racers had so many incredible stories. From the heartbreaking disappointment in Kona, to the Boston Qualifying run with two seconds to spare, to the birthday bash in Portland, every person out there had a unique story. A local woman ran Chicago in 2:45:09 to qualify for the Olympic Trials, while another woman battled illness through 6 hours and 28 minutes of rain. Another one spent many hours in the scorching Chicago heat, contemplated giving up, but knew she couldn’t let down all of her Twitter supporters — and she did cross the finish line.

There are so many incredible stories from this weekend and I’m afraid of linking to some and missing others (though I’ve already decided that one of them will be this week’s Friday Friend feature). So I have a new goal: When I get down in the dumps about something running-related, I’m going to also tell one of those runners’ stories and link to their site/blog/Twitter page. It will give both me and you readers some perspective, and it will give a tiny bit of credit to those determined runners.

I went on another half-mile test run today to see if my stress-fractured tibia hurt at all. Like Sunday’s test run, it did not hurt. But I was ever so slightly aware of it, which I think means it needs a little more time off. If my leg is completely healed, it should feel normal; if I feel anything, it probably still has a few extra blood cells lingering around, finishing the healing process.

I’m not letting this discourage me, because I KNOW my leg is almost better. I am NOT going to risk damaging it further, because a little more time now will mean all the difference in the future. In the meantime, I’ve realized how much I’ve slacked off on stretching and most exercise, so that laziness stops today.

I looked back at my logs from summer 2008, when I got a metatarsal (foot) stress fracture. (It was the other leg, so they’re not related.) I thought that had taken eight weeks, but in counting the weeks again today, I realized it took a bit less than 10 weeks before I was out running again. Then, including a couple weeks of really struggling to get any mileage in because I was so out of shape, I had eight weeks until the Nike Women’s Half-Marathon. That was a hilly course and I had no hill training, but I ran what was then a PR (personal record) for me, then added on miles to total 17. Seven weeks later — 15 weeks after coming back from injury — I ran my first marathon. That time wasn’t even my slowest marathon time.

This Sunday will mark 10 weeks since my tibial stress fracture. If, and this is most definitely just an IF, I feel perfectly fine to start running again, that would give me 12 weeks until the third marathon I had planned for this fall/winter. Honestly, I don’t know if that’s enough time. While I’d lose the non-refundable registration fee, I haven’t paid for the hotel and airfare yet. The airfare isn’t a lot, because it would be a stop on the way between holiday plans and I found a fairly good deal, but other things (hotel, car rental even if I can split it with friends, meals, other random stuff) add up.

So I don’t know yet if I’ll run that marathon. I wouldn’t be looking to beat my current record, since I just don’t have enough time to train for that. But the race happens to be in a state I’ve never visited, and it happens to be on Jan. 1. The nerdy side of me really, really wants to run that 1/1/11 race, especially since I had to cancel my dream 10/10/10 marathon. Additionally, the last couple years I’ve had some very crappy New Years, so I think a marathon would be one of the better ways to start off the new year.

Conclusion: I don’t know! If my leg continues to feel fine in normal activities, I will probably let myself test it out again Saturday. Meanwhile, I’m going to stretch and bike, even though I grumble about it. I did ride 16 miles yesterday for an average of 16.5 mph, so at least that’s something.

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Oh, and I fixed it so that people can actually comment without having to find the super-secret login page. I hadn’t realized how ridiculous it was. Feel free to comment!

Eight weeks ago, I ran a 20-mile training run, at the end of which my leg was killing me. Almost seven weeks ago, I made my last attempt at running, then went to the doctor and got the dreaded tibial stress fracture diagnosis. The only way to heal such a stress fracture is to avoid any hard-impact exercise — such as running.

And so, despite the inevitable downward spiral into a pit of endorphin-lacking despair, I ceased all running. The pain gradually and steadily lessened. A couple weeks ago, I started talking about a test run, but I was still feeling occasional twinges of mild pain in my leg and knew it wasn’t ready. I’d already put in weeks of recovery, so I wasn’t about to jeopardize my progress.

A few nights ago I put on my running shoes and walked around the house. A month earlier, my leg protested the instant I tried wearing my running shoes, but this time it was OK. I even tried hopping up and down a few times on the injured leg. It didn’t seem to mind, but I wasn’t sure if maybe I’d felt a tiny twinge. I told myself that if nothing hurt, I’d run a maximum of  half a mile on Sunday or Monday.

Today, Sunday, I put on my running shoes. Then I proceeded to wash all my windows (yes, took the screens off and cleaned them, too). The walking and standing on tip-toes felt fine. So I strapped on my Garmin GPS watch, switched it from biking to running mode, and set out down the street.

After a short warm-up walk, I began to jog, telling myself to go slow but let it feel natural. After exactly a quarter of a mile, I stopped and evaluated — did it hurt, did it feel weak, were there any twinges? The funny thing is that the only thing I noticed was a bruise I’d given myself falling off my bike while trying to learn new pedals. It’s near the stress fracture area, which is a ridiculous coincidence. I pressed all over the area of the stress fracture and honestly asked myself if it hurt. It did not. So I ran the next quarter mile and obediently followed my plan to stop at that point.

Four hours later, I don’t feel any pain. I’m actually trying to be a bit of a hypochondriac, because in this case it’s so much better to err on the side of caution. To that end, I’m not going to run tomorrow but instead get out on my bike. If I don’t feel anything amiss, I will let myself go on another test run Tuesday. Even if I pass that test with flying colors, I’m NOT going to let myself plan for the future until Wednesday, at the earliest. I love running too much to mess it up.

Oh, and do you think it helped that I wore my Operation Jack t-shirt today?

(No, I’ve never run for seven hours. I volunteered, as I mentioned in this blog post, and Sam blogged here.)

Meanwhile, tune in tomorrow for my weekend wrapup that might just include photos of a blindfold.