I want to preface this blog by reminding everyone that I
have lupus and not only are my kidneys enjoying
this disease my live has been effected too. Lupies have to take extreme
precautions when in the sun. I do not
spend any time in the sun without have at least 80 SPF on, I wear hats (my
sister has helped my collection of big floppy sun hats)…
Ultraviolet
light is the invisible radiation in sunlight. "Sunlight may trigger a
lupus rash and it can also trigger symptoms of joint pain and fatigue,"
notes Dr. Bishnoi. Lupus is a disease that goes through periods of quiet and
periods of increased disease activity called flares.
Many people with lupus experience flares if they get too much sun exposure.
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Wake up call was around 3:30 am. My running buddy (and good
friend) Lynne and I were carpooling for Georgetown for the Slacker Half
Marathon which was scheduled to start at 8:00 am. Lynne got to my house at
around 4:20(ish). We loaded up in my car
and off we went. We got up there before
the crowd really hit, we parked and went to pick up our bibs. We ran to two of our running buddies (Felicity
and Cindy) as they were picking up their
bibs too. We went back to my car to get
ready for the race and I finally got to meet Renee! Lynne and I got all ready to go and we loaded
up the bus… shortly after the bus departed Lynne realized she forgot her
sunglass, so she had to ride the bus back down to get them! Once I got to the
start area I ran into Felicity and Cindy and let them know about Lynne. We
stood around and chatted for a while and then Renee caught up with us. The race start was postponed a little bit because
there were still busses on their way up with runners. Luckily Lynne made it back in time.
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| This was the good part of the course! |
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| This part of the course kicked my luppie butt! |
The race start was pretty uneventful, there was a MAJOR
bottle neck at the beginning (really needs to be reconsidered). The first 4(ish) miles were on a bike path
and there was a lot of nice shade. Water
stops every two miles. The temperature was
climbing pretty quickly especially since I was going pokey pace (I was having breathing
issues – might have been the altitude, the fires, no idea!). Once I got out of
the shade I was screwed! There was
minimal along rest of the course and I started battling cotton mouth around Mile
9. I was ready to throw in the towel, my bottom of my feet were covered with
blisters there were no water stations in sight. The emergency personal I asked
about water was a complete ass hole! I
finally got to a water stop at Mile 11, I stopped and drank more water than I
should have, it all came right back up at Mile 11.5 (just in time for a tourist
train to go by!!!!!!!!). Thank God Lynne
was at Mile 12, she walked with me to the end.
I was hurting! I had no business
touching this race, there is not enough shade and there sure the hell wasn’t
enough water! I am sure it would be a
great race for people who do not deal with photosensitivity. The scenery was amazing! The trees are
beautiful, but this race is just not one that belongs on my to do list again!
~If you hear that someone is speaking ill of you, instead of trying to defend yourself you should say: "He obviously does not know me very well, since there are so many other faults he could have mentioned"~
