Wet and muddy

After a few weeks of frustration I think I am finally getting somewhere. I have two appointments this week with a GI doctor and a Sports Med doctor who is also an internist to figure out my tummy troubles. After speaking to a few on the phone last week it seems like they all have the same idea, Celiac disease or gluten intolerance! What the heck is that I said. I had to google it. Hmmm, it all seems to make sense though. Hopefully after this week I will know what is "bugging" my tummy and I can get back to a symptom free training and racing world. If this is the case, I am pigging out this week on all things wheat. I LOVE carbs. It will be a morning period for me to have to give up all of those lovely flour foods. But I will do it just to run and not get sick every time! It is getting worse everyday. ICK ICK.

Today I did the NCO Spring Ahead 10k trail run. It was so fun. It was a rainy and cloudy day. It was PERFECT for a run. I think it was 60 ish deg or at least it felt that warm. To me that is tank top and shorts weather. (it was probably 50 but to us Chicago athletes it is time to break out the sunscreen and get a tan.) My brother ran with me the entire run. Or a few steps ahead. His out of shape is my in shape, thank goodness! After the gun went off, I asked him what he was going to do. He said it was more of a paced run for him with his garmin so I could probably hang with him. As we ran he kept telling me the pace. NOTE to self, NEVER wear a garmin in a race it is completely annoying. We seem to run 5:45 pace pretty consistently. Which was really shocking to me. Since my goals this year are all longer events I have not once stepped on the track or done alot of fast running. The middle 3-4 miles of this race was on a trail that was limestone, rocks and wet mud. It was great! There were times he would get a few steps ahead but I always seem to pull him back in or he slowed down, not sure which. I really worked it. It wasn't one of those I felt like I was coasting runs. I felt like I was going to hurl the entire time. But I didn't care i wanted to hold that pace and run with Brian. I miss the speed stuff! I felt a little bonkish most of the run. I get sick so much now that I am trying to not each much gluten before I train which leads to no energy. I will have to figure that one out soon. But we finished strong! His garmin read 6.44 miles. Almost 1/4 mile long! It felt like it and most the runners we talked to had the same numbers. Our time was 38:56 so I think it would have been around 37:40 which seems to make sense with the pace we were running. As we got to the finish line Brian physically pushed me in front of him so I could beat him. Brothers are awesome:) I wish someone took a picture of that! I am completely happy with the day. I needed a positive day like that after what has been going on with my training. Congrats Dad on doing great too, I think wearing the Jimmy Hendrix shirt made you faster.
OH I won the 10k and got to take home money too! Plus tons of friends and clients were there which makes our town of 100,000+ seem so small. Another great weekend.