Addison's and Training: Ready as I'll ever be

Desert RATS 50

April 19, 2008

I'm doing 50 miles, join me and do 50 of something! :)

Countdown: 15 hours

How do I feel: nervous!!!

An overview of a small portion of the course. Bookcliffs in the left far background.
Look, no snow!!

We've made it to Fruita, Colorado! Actually we got here yesterday and have enough time to get settled and for me to sort and resort every single item I've brought with me in preparation of the race.

The Great Salt Lake from a car window while we're doing 75

The strangest advertising for remodeling I've ever seen. It's weird!

Thanks so much to everyone who has sent me an email or posted to me on the Hope Oasis Forum . I really appreciate it and I will get back to all of you when I can.

Thanks to everyone who will be doing 50 of something tomorrow with me. I'll be thinking of each and every one of you!

Thanks also to my fabulous husband who did all the driving down here and will most likely do all the driving back. He paid for the whole trip and is my support crew. Although I asked you all to vote for whom I should dedicate the race, I have decided to dedicate the race to Paul, my husband.

Thank you Paul for everything you do and everything you put up with from me! I dedicate this 50 mile run to you!

Here are some pictures from the course that I took yesterday. Although I fully intend to take pictures when I am running tomorrow, we'll see if that becomes a reality.

The course at about mile 13 (going up) and mile 37 (going down). Course is one 25 mile loop, at mile 25, you turn around and go do the course again the other way.

See the trail going up to the mesa? I'll come down that at about mile 23 and go up for mile 27.

Pretty!

I'm not kidding. This is what the trail looks like in some spots. It's more of a scramble up and jump down. Mile 23 coming down/mile 27 going up.

Going down the rocks above and running down the trail.

We're off to a warmer climate!

We're headed out to Fruita for the Desert RATS festival. I'm doing the 50 mile race and my husband, Paul, is doing the 10 mile race. We're packed and ready to head out as soon as Paul wraps up work for the day. We'll go from here to SLC today and SLC to Fruita, Colorado tomorrow. View from my office window last night

We had a blizzard AGAIN last night (video below) and I can't wait get out of this land of eternal cold and get to the high desert of Colorado!

There will be no Addison's posts for the next 2 weeks.

I will post about the race during this trip, I'm bringing my laptop.

Addison's disease: Symptoms of celiac disease (as recognized by the medical community)

Do you have any or all of the following that you blame on overreplacement of hydrocortisone or prednisone???

• osteoporosis or osteopenia
• B-12 deficiency
• anemia
• diarrhea
• unexplained rashes
• myopathy or epilepsy
• depression or paranoia
• infertility or spontaneous abortion
• lactose intolerance
• arthritis (that is reversed by a gluten free diet)

According to Cecil Textbook of Medicine by Goldman and Ausiello pages 853 and 854, these are the recognized medical symptoms of celiac.

Testing for celiac includes the below tests BUT

"Patients with mild disease may have negative antibody studies, so intestinal biopsy remains the gold standard for diagnosis, provided that the pathologist can recognize milder degrees of villus atrophy."

• AGA IgA antibodies
• IgG antibodies
• EMA IgA antibodies detected by indirect immunoflourescence or tTG
• Sometimes helpful: Anti-tTG IgG

Signs of Spring & Upcoming race

Please vote for the person you think I should dedicate the race to!

The snow is finally melting, just when I thought it never would. Birds have returned to Teton Valley. I've seen a robin, 2 Sand Hill cranes, a bluebird (below) and 4 white pelicans.

This is what Spring looks like in my neighborhood, Christmas lights, horses being fed by an owner pulling a sled full of hay (not pictured), snow still nearly 4 feet deep in places!

I spent a few hours this weekend getting ready for my 50 mile run. I spent a lot of that time feeling sick (mentally). It's a totally different thing to go from running on icy pavement, icy dirt and snowmobile tracks to sand and loose rock. I'm quite nervous. I had to reformulate my food/med/hydration plan because I thought about it and decided what I had in the below linked plan was not adequate. I will post my revised one whether you want to see it or not. I packed my food items, put powdered gatorade in my water bottles and picked out my outfit(s). Although the forecast is for 70 degrees and sunny, I'm prepared for many different weather conditions.