IBS Awareness Month

Last week I participated in the Forum for Young Canadians for a second year in a row.  As I learned last year, it is an awesome program where Canada's brightest students gather to learn about politics and government.  One could say that I learned a lot about these topics throughout my week, but some of my personal lessons-learned were from one-on-one interaction with my students.

There is one moment that stands out for me both as an IBS sufferer, advocate and blogger and I feel compelled to share it with you.  A student came up to me one morning just prior to the start of our jam-packed day.  She was very upset and visibly stressed - the reason?  She has IBS and was worried that walking to the day's activities would trigger an unwelcome washroom visit.  We were able to find a solution for her through a taxi, which allowed her to attend the sessions but not have the additional worry about whether or not she could make it without visiting the loo.  The problem was, I automatically asked the following question: "would you like me to tell the group that you are running behind and will meet us there"?  Her response was to let the group know what was happening.

Shame on me.  As soon as she responded I felt both ashamed of myself and overwhelmingly proud of her.  For all my talk about being honest and not hiding my illness, my automatic response was to create a lie so that everyone would think she was tardy instead.  At almost half my age, my student did not feel the need to hide behind excuses, she recognizes that this is her reality and she faces it head-on.  I found her to be extremely inspiring.  She has achieved at a very young age what I can only hope to accomplish through working diligently via this blog and through my social interactions, the difference being that the truth came naturally to her and I have learned over the years that this condition is something to hide.

Given that this is IBS Awareness Month, for those of you who suffer with IBS, learn from her example by exuding confidence and not apologizing or making excuses for something you cannot control.

Getting up the gumption...

I have a confession, I was supposed to run yesterday and today, and was supposed to go to the gym at lunch on Thursday, but I did none of the above.   So, total runs this week?  Only one.  I ran 5.94 km at lunch on Tuesday.  I was actually very pleased with this result as it was my furthest distance to date and my first run in over a week.  I heaved and complained the whole way, but made it back in one piece, just in time to hit up the toilet.  

Now, as it is a long weekend I could feasibly run tonight and tomorrow at some point, but, honestly, my motivation levels have reached a new low.  The truth is that I have not felt motivated all week, whether it be to clean up the apartment, do the laundry or study for my accounting final.  For example, this morning I got up bright and early to go perform a wedding (I moonlight as a Justice of the Peace) and was home by 8:20 this morning.  Any normal person would have done something valuable with their time, but, not me.  I started off by eating breakfast and started my daily routine of email checking, blog checking, twitter checking and then suddenly it was noon-ish.  I must also acknowledge that I have discovered the magic of the internet; this has become a chronic problem since I began blogging.  I could have gone for a run this morning, but, my first excuse was that my ipod was not charged and today is a solo-run day.  I believe this is a very good excuse; running is still a cruel form of torture, so running in silence without Jon Bon helping me through it is absolutely, positively, out of the question.  However, without physically getting off my butt to check, I feel confident enough to say that the ipod is likely charged, so, running at this point would be within the realm of possibility.  What is my excuse now?  Writing this post.  So, with no additional runs to report, no bathroom emergencies shocking or funny enough to merit a post, what do I have to write about?  Nothing… and maybe everything.  For several months now I have been flip-flopping between highly-motivated and highly-unmotivated.  It is amazing how much you can get done when you have a little drive to peel your butt off the couch or out of bed, it is also just as amazing how much does not get done as soon as you make your couch your home.  I guess what I am saying is that sometimes I am just plain lazy and other times impressively motivated and efficient.  There are so many things I wanted to achieve this week:

• Unpack suitcases from last week’s trip (they were shoved in my closet to hide from party guests last weekend)
•  Fold my laundry (also a remnant from last weekend)
• Do the other piles of laundry that have accumulated
• Complete three additional runs this week
• Do two gym workouts
• Do one additional yoga workout (I did one, with a hilarious Irish woman leading the charge!)
• Do a couple sessions on the piano (the goal is to get back into playing again)
• Prepare to submit my applications for a couple of different Certificate in Public Relations programs (aiming for September 2013)
• Begin preparations to submit my writing to publications that people actually read
• Study for my accounting final (as you can see this is lower on the list than it should be)

The above is only the short-list of items to complete; I have a much longer list which essentially consists of organizing and purging my home.   I am hoping by writing this down I will feel more accountable and actually complete some, or maybe all, of these tasks.  But, what I am really looking for are ideas … 

• What motivates you?
• How do you stay motivated?
• What keeps you organized?

For those of you with children, I am in awe; I do not know how you do it.  I am looking to find a way out of my rut, I dream of my more efficient days, they did exist, I promise you they did, but I look back on those days as fond memories and fantasize about what my future could hold if I could only get up the gumption and get ‘er done. 

pretty. damn. fabulous.

Since beginning this blog I feel as though my creative self has finally woken up again.  Not since I completed my thesis have I felt so motivated to set goals, to achieve something, to produce.  Running and blogging seem to go hand-in-hand, partly because it is my subject matter, but also because running gives me an opportunity to reflect on what I plan to write and how to approach it.  So, every week it is with great excitement that I prepare for my next post.  

In terms of a running recap, on Sunday I was able to complete 3k with some difficulty.  I have been getting shin splints, so stopped about every 0.5k to stretch and was honestly overjoyed to hear the Nike+ announcer woman tell me that I had reached my goal and could finally hobble home to ice my shins; I have been in a semi-frozen state ever since.  So today, with great trepidation, I set out for a run.  I was anxious for the usual reasons (running is torture, just call me poop the magic dragon), because of the shin splints, but, most importantly because I was running with an experienced runner.  A friend of mine who has completed several marathons agreed to run with me, and quite frankly, I was petrified at the thought of it; I had no idea if I would be able to hack it or if I would just drag her down.  I have only ever ventured out by myself or with my regular running partner (henceforth known as Lorenzo).  Surprisingly, it was PDF: pretty. damn. fabulous.  The chances of me venturing off this couch tonight are approximately zero, je suis crevée!  We completed 5k, but here is the kicker – no poop breaks and I only stopped once and that was to stretch out my shins.  Can you believe this?  I feel like a machine!  What a treat to have someone to run with, it made the whole experience so much more enjoyable, we went on a completely different route than I am used to, and, I ran up a hill!  With tomorrow’s promise of 13C weather we are heading out again so as not to miss this spring-like interlude.

This is what my run looked like according to Nike+:

As the weeks pass I find myself feeling more and more motivated in terms of the running and the blogging.  I have received positive feedback in both regards from some pretty amazing people who have been encouraging and supportive throughout this process, and what a help that has been.  It is funny how life can still surprise you, I received an unexpected message from my brother, and aside from the obligatory brother-like digs, he imparted some profound words of wisdom that I have been carrying with me since I read (and re-read) his message:  keep up the hard work and the work won’t be so hard anymore.  What a true gem that one is! I have been repeating those words to myself when I feel like I cannot do it anymore, so thank you brother for the unexpected kindness, you are wise beyond your years! 

On Sunday, with that very wisdom in mind, I signed up for a 5k race scheduled for March 25^th, aptly titled, Practice What You Preach.  This will provide me with the perfect opportunity to test myself in a smaller event before I run the 10K in May.  After today’s success I now know I can definitely handle the 5k and if I keep up the hard work then the 10K won’t be so hard! 

Something new

This blog has instigated a number of firsts for me, including my first blog, the first time I have shared my writing with friends and family, and now, my first foray into the world of Twitter.  I was definitely more afraid of Twitter than I was of blogging.  I knew the basic premise, I had read some tweets, but I am still discovering how to fully take advantage of it.  So, last night I decided to create a Twitter account, which took a lot longer than I anticipated.  I knew that the tweets were restricted to a certain number of characters, but had no clue that my Twitter name (probably not the accurate terminology) was also restricted.  After I discovered that Running from the Runs was too long, I was eventually able to shorten it down to Rnningfrmtherns.  Upon completion of this task I was ready to compose my first tweet – I tweeted about my new blog.  And suddenly, I had a follower!   And then another!  My husband was home studying, and I was tweeting and screaming.  And then, I noticed it.  To my horror, my follower was very interested in ... blowjobs?...  Not my target audience.  With that, my bubble was completely burst and I came to the realization that one of my two followers was in fact blowjob-related spam.  The other follower appears to be legitimate, but I am now paranoid and suspicious, I thought about removing them in case they were spam, but I really didn’t want to be rude.  So, I will have to keep a close eye on this situation.  A colleague of mine did warn me that I would have to monitor for spam, he wasn’t kidding, within an hour of setting up my account I had been spammed!  

In other news, I have signed up for my first 10K race as part of the Bluenose Marathon weekend.  I will not be aiming to beat anyone in this event; I just want to complete it without crapping my pants.  My running partner and I have been thinking about participating, but had yet to sign up.  I figured since I was on a roll trying new things that I should just bite the bullet, there is no backing out now!  We briefly considered attempting the half marathon, but, as I still can’t run longer than two 6-minute intervals in a row, I decided to play it safe.  This will give me a good opportunity to ease into it, especially since I have no idea what to expect from this event.  I really hope there are lots of port-o-potties along the way, otherwise, on May 20th I will be panic-stricken on some poor stranger's doorstep.