Whole30 Days 10 and 11 - Taking it on The Road

Greetings from the North Carolina Airport.

I am on my way to a two week trip back in Kentucky to continue shooting our new television show LogHeads for the DIY Network.

I am indeed excited and proud that our production company is getting on the map with our first show but being away from home is tough.

I miss my son, I miss my husband, I miss my bed and my routines.

It's also going to be challenging to maneuver my way with this Whole30 thing.

I'm not even in KY yet and have already been faced with challenge.

I have a nearly 3 hour layover and my favorite activity (for better or worse) is eating and having a cocktail during such times.

Sigh.

OK, the cocktail has to go but certainly I can find some food? With a lot of time - I was able to visit a few of the terminals (and get some exercise in - this airport is huge!) There's not a helluva lot of choices. I mean, you can find fruit. But if you're looking for protein and healthy fats - that's harder.

I finally found a little place that had a steak salad. I got it without the blue cheese, without the croutons, without the dressing. The server promised me no oil or butter and I requested that they skip the seasoning even (for fear it would have MSG or some other non-compliant ingredient.) they didn't have EVOO and vinegar so I settled for lemon wedges.

And even after all that - I'm still a little suspect of the streak. I am pretty sure it was fine but eating out you just never know 100%.

Yesterday I hit my first other little blip - I made a seemingly delicious dinner - roasted lemon chicken, cauliflower mashed and a sautéed brussel sprout thing. It was really tasty!

But in the middle of the night I woke up and my stomach was killing me! I slept all night with a rock in my stomach and haven't felt all that great today. I'm trying to figure out what it was and all I can think is that I went a little too heavy handed with the "healthy" fats in last night's meal and it was perhaps just a touch to rich.

Who knows - wish me luck - it's gonna be even tougher on the road!

XO
Jen

Cracking the code to my tummy troubles

Well today was certainly an interesting day.

After dealing with constant stomach problems and then going to a Gastro Doc who decided to just throw pills at me, I think I finally found a guy who's going to help me crack the code.

I went to meet with Dr. Glenn Gero you can read all about him here.

He's a naturopathic doctor who takes a dietary/fitness and natural approach to healing and ailments. After checking him out, I decided that he was worth talking to and boy am I glad I did.

First of all, it's evident that he takes his health seriously. He lives a "clean-eating" life and is still on a rowing team. He doesn't just preach about health, he practices it. Unfortunately, that seems rare amongst traditional doctors now a days.

My doc rowing to health

He spent a WHOPPING two and a half hours with me. Carefully analyzing and discussing my blood work, my issues, why we were doing what tests we were doing. Have you ever spent 2 hours with a doctor? Not me. Not ever. In fact, the gastro specialist diagnosed my IBS and threw 2 toxic prescriptions at me within 5 minutes.

Anyway…

After a bunch of tests we found out that I have food sensitivities to:

• Gluten
• Dairy
• Artificial sweeteners
• Almonds (ALMONDS!?) Yes. Almonds.

I have been cutting back on gluten and dairy (though I still was having cheese a few times a week and I'm sure some gluten here and there) and thankfully I cut out artificial sweeteners a few months ago… this will encourage me to be even more diligent on all of it… but, almonds? Wow!! No wonder I can't get over my stomach issues - my milk has been replaced by almond milk for years. I eat a handful of almonds almost twice a day. That combined with a cheese stick snack and my day could be ruined and probably has been regularly.

Wow.

And by the way, it's probably worse when I combine these foods so when I did my full marathon and had a MISERABLE 26 miles of porto-potty stops it makes perfect sense now - I carb loaded the night before with pasta topped with cheese and then woke up and chased it with a bagel and cream cheese. 

Oh. Super bad move. Epically bad move.

When I'm home I never eat that. Even before cutting out gluten, I didn't do much pasta and my running breakfast go-to is typically oatmeal… since I couldn't make oatmeal in the hotel, I decided on that friggen bagel. So that could've been what did me in.

Oh, I know, "don't try anything new on race day." A few weeks prior I had, had a bagel the morning before my Jersey Shore half and it didn't seem to affect me. I also assumed bagels and pasta to be a relatively bland food so I didn't think that it would cause issue… Guess I was wrong.

Hmmm and I wonder if the sports drink they served was "sugar free" and used a artificial sweetener? I guess that would be a trifecta of tummy troubles. Who knows.

There were a few other minor issues that I have to deal with too - and it was all very fascinating. 

Good news is, chocolate, coffee, avocados, rice, red wine - all thumbs up foods :-) 

Also, I swore off bananas 4 years ago because I assumed I was allergic to them since I always got a stomach ache when I ate them. Doc says I am not sensitive or allergic to them! It could've been the skim milk I was using with them for my smoothie or the "light wheat" bread I was making my sandwich with but it wasn't the banana! Oh I hope that is true, I would love to eat banana's again and will put that to the test.

The Dr. gave me three supplements to take for my stomach, one was an IBS formula that he has created. Stomach issues is his specialty and he says that I won't ever have to buy that one again because it's healing. He also gave me some super probiotics and magnesium (the magnesium is for a suspected deficiency for all the cramping I get in my calves and feet - a side issue). The supplements cost me significantly less than the drugs medications that the Gastro dealer doctor tried to push at me and Dr. Gero promises me that I'll feel completely better and passed symptoms by Wednesday - less than a week!!!  

We will see. I'm excited to give it a shot… And now I'm off to throw out my whole jar of almond butter :-( 

XO

Jen

PS: So what does this mean for my "celebration" foods? Well, lets face it, I'll probably not swear off pizza for the rest of my life but I'll probably generally avoid it… I still might suck up the tummy ache for a pancake post half-marathon - or maybe I won't… Taking it one meal / day at a time. Thankfully, I'm pretty disciplined.

Tummy troubles

Pantoprazole - not taking it. Nope.

Ugh.

So I continue the journey in trying to figure out why I have a tummy ache every freakin' day of my life. 

Tests recently came back that showed no allergies to anything. Cutting out dairy and gluten seemed to make me feel a little bit better in other ways but, still, the tummy troubles come back.

Today I got to go see a gastro doc. He asked a few basic questions and quickly decided that it is probably IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). Could be. I guess. I'm no stranger to Web MD so based on my symptoms I could have that or about every other stomach ailment on the planet.

He prescribed me TWO medications to take for the next 6 weeks. 

One is called Pantoprazole.  The other is Dicyclomine. He didn't hand me a prescription he sends it in "electronically" so of-course, I don't write down the names and didn't know what I was getting until I got it home.

Ugh again.  I'm pissed.

First of all, I'm not a big fan of just taking medication. I mean there's usually 800 side effects and frankly, I'd rather live with the stomach ache. Plus, I hate not knowing exactly what I've got. We're guessing at a diagnosis and it makes me feel like I'm taking the meds for the fun of it. I'd rather adjust my diet or something but I'd have to find a doc that believes in that approach I suppose. I probably should've spoken up while there but didn't even think about it until I was in the car. I was expecting him to run some tests or something before just giving me drugs.

Secondly, after looking up the medication, the first one doesn't even seem to address my issues. This is typically given to people with Gerd (reflux disease). That is one thing I know I don't have. He asked me if I ever take an antacid at the end of the appointment, and I told him I very occasionally take a tums (and that's when I've eaten total crap and have a little heartburn. That's not a mystery to me…) I've pretty much decided to not take the Pantoprazole. 

The second med (the Dicyclomine) has it's own list of shitty side-effects but at least that one is supposed to address IBS specifically.  But it's got side effects like the ones I'm trying to avoid like 'stomach pain,' vomiting, and upset stomach. WTF - great it cured my stomach ache with another stomach ache! Awesome. It also makes people drowsy (just what I need) and how about this little ditty:

you should know that dicyclomine reduces the body's ability to cool off by sweating. In very high temperatures, dicyclomine can cause fever and heat stroke.

Well isn't that just awesome for running in the summer. Sounds great.

Anyway… I don't know yet what I'm going to do - it makes me want to throw out both meds, never go back to the doctor again and just live with the stomach aches. 

I am so annoyed and frustrated right now about it - and I did personally like the doctor.  He's also supposed to be one of the best. I just feel like this is the result I'm going to get everywhere. 

Sigh. 

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In more fun/interesting news…

In case you don't remember, I was invited to run the Ragnar Race in January 2013 - From Miami to Key West. The Ragnar is a 200 mile 12 man relay race (or 6 man ultra).  I am so excited and honored to be on the team - each member of our team has lost an average of 100 pounds or more! How's that for cool? 

We are trying to come up with a cool name for our team. One that speaks to our weight loss journey but is also kind of fun.  Katie, who writes the blog, "Runs For Cookies" has a great giveaway going on! She's giving away a GARMIN! Woo Hoo - and you get a bonus entry for the giveaway if you throw your suggestions for a team name in. So CLICK HERE to read about the giveaway and pony up a name.

Hope you are having a great day.

Do you ever decide against taking medication that your doc has prescribed?

Do you know anyone who has IBS? Do they take meds or do they just live with it?

Should I give one or more of these meds a shot - am I being a baby? 

What do you think we should call our Ragnar team?

XO

Jen

I am a marathoner! Rock N Roll San Diego race recap.

First of all, I would like to say thank you to you guys in the running community. It never ceases to amaze me how generous this community is with support, advice, love, shoulders to cry on and everything else in between.  I truly don't believe I would've gotten to this point without you all.  It truly took a village to raise this runner…

A huge thank you especially to Lesley at Racing It Off. Lesley you are wonderful. Beautiful inside and out. Your generosity of giving a place to "some girl on the internet" to sleep and having this experience with you was absolutely priceless and I'll always remember the entire thing as one of the highlights of my life. Thank you, thank you.

Sherry, many thanks to you too. I loved getting to know you and had a fabulous time.

jen - lesley - sherry - Jion AKA "frankie" ;)

Now on to the race:

I landed on Saturday and as soon as wheels were down and Lesley had made the pickup we were off to the Expo. The place was a mob-scene and I was starving so we pretty much made the bib pickup and headed out after a little looking around.  The rest of the day, we took easy. I even had a "celebrity sighting" at the hotel! No other than The Boring Runner himself, Adam! I was so excited to see him but unfortunately didn't get a chance to chat or get a picture with him. (If you don't read his blog, you should. He's a talented runner/writer and don't let the name fool you - so funny and awesome.)   

Then, we got all of our race stuff set up and ready to go.

We visited Little Italy and found a delicious little Italian restaurant to carb-load at.  

The next morning we were up and off to the race by 4:30 AM. 

Got in my corral which was an embarrassing 32 out of 34 corrals for full marathoners, but we all have to start somewhere. My est. time of arrival at finish was around 5:45 - which I was pretty confident I could nail.  (And probably even do a wee bit better…. but.)

Only 31 more corrals to go!

So after waiting for 31 corrals to go before me, finally it was our turn - And off we went.  The weather was perfect. I was feeling excited and optimistic in-spite of a weird cramp in the arch of my foot (before I even started running!) and the fact that I had lost a GU .5 miles into my run. Oh and for some reason my Nike+ started and then stopped so I got ripped off of a few miles of running… 

Kind of a crazy start to a race but I wasn't gonna let anything break-a my stride…

The first 5 miles were glorious, I was happy and feeling good. And then, OH NO. What the hell!?  Why does my tummy feel so icky??? 

TMI alert. If you're not a runner or a parent you may want to turn away now.  You've been warned.

I had just taken my first GU and all of a sudden I needed a potty. Now. And the "please don't poop my pants" inner chant started. My stomach was revolting. Was it the Cyto-max that the race had in place of the gatorade I was used to? The pasta from the night before? A gu gone bad? The morning coffee brewed in that little hotel room pot or just the stomach flu coming in at a bad time -- I don't know but it was one of the worst things that could happen.  Let's just say that I made BFF's with every porta-potty stop along the route - I lost count after visiting around SEVEN of them. Fantastic. Running made it way worse and this was upsetting though I tried to keep my spirits as high as possible. I ran when I could, jogged/walked when I had to. 

Right past the half way point, I even ran a block off the race course to visit a 7-11 to buy a travel packet of immodium. The teenaged clerk gave me a funny look and I kind of shot him a look that said "F" you in return and headed back out. For the record, the medicine didn't really help but it was worth the try.

Whoaa! We're half way there! -Jovi

No matter what, sometimes sh*t happens. Uh, sometimes literally and I was determined to still enjoy this day and make it the best day ever, dammit. My legs felt good, my mind appreciating as much as possible and I told my tummy that I wouldn't let it rob me of this day.  Once I started, there was never a doubt in my mind that I would cross that finish line. Lesley even promised to come back and drag me over the line if she had to- so I had faith I would get there.

I ran/jogged/plodded/walked on only 1 1/2 GU's and a half packet of sport beans. Not ideal fueling. I kept drinking water and took a little of salt but even water hitting my belly sent the wave of cramps and another "please don't poop my pants" awful feeling but I knew that I had to at very least hydrate if nothing else.

Right around mile 15 when I was feeling particularly ick there was an angel sent from heaven in the form of an old friend I know from a job we both worked at years ago. I knew she was a runner (in fact she did the goofy challenge at Disney this past year) and TNT coach but never thought I'd see her on the other side of the country during a marathon.  At just the right time, I looked up to see Alison and it was like the happiest moment ever. I didn't know she was going to be there and she didn't know I was running. I saw her and screamed her name. She looked at me and I could tell she didn't recognize me.  Alison hasn't seen me in 65 pounds or so. When I identified myself, she almost fell over and her warm hug and "OMG you've lost so much weight, you're running the full!?) and other enthusiasms gave me so much needed energy - it was better than anything.  I'm so grateful that i wasn't looking the other way, or at my feet or whatever else that I do when I run and saw her. I needed that SO BAD.

At mile 18 I helped a girl who looked like she was going to die. She was panting. People were just running by her and I felt like she needed at least a kind word. I reluctantly gave her the half of my remaining sport beans and found her some water.  She was cramping bad and didn't look great. She was TNT person so someone came to help her and a medic came - then I was on my way again.

My tummy never got better and I spent a "blissful" 21.2 miles running with a rumbling tummy and underfueled but what are you gonna do? 

When I hit mile 25 I started to get choked up. I was gonna make it. I did it. I faced down no fuel and tummy troubles, previous injuries, foiled running plans, an imperfect training regime and making friends with 50 porto's along the way and I was going to complete my first marathon.  I thought of my friend Sara and her recent journey and her mom - I thought of Lesley and Jason who've been great, great support. I thought of Emz and her 24 hour treadmill run, I thought of my darling husband and son and I thanked God that I made it the whole 26.2 without pooping my pants.  

I came down the homestretch and ran that last mile. Finish strong. I saw Lesley cheering me on -- when I crossed, I smiled big for the camera (as Jason suggests) and then broke down into an ugly cry. I was so happy.

26.2 and still smiling

It was the best day but the worse "race."  Well. I beat Al Roker's time but my final time? A disappointing but it is what it is, 6:20. Boo.  I am disappointed. Mainly because I know that if I didn't stop every mile and could've run what I was planning to, I would've done way better. But, I am proud that I didn't quit and kept my spirits up in the face of the troubles. Plus, the upside to all that stopping/walking nonsense, I never hit a wall, never really had leg issues and it was a good experience in that regard. 

And while I'm a little creaky today, I'm really no more creaky than the day after any long run. I feel like I really didn't give it my all if I'm feeling this "good." I know I didn't (even with very good excuse) and that bums me out. 

I am definitely having the post-marathon day blues. All that training, anticipation, bitching, moaning, dreaming, fearing, looking-forward to - gone. Done. Over. Do I dare sign up for another? Oh I want to with every cell in my body. But we'll see. For now, it's just we'll see.

XO

Jen