Tonight I ran 5 miles!
I would also venture to guess that not many people in my life know just how big of a deal this is. The truth is, this whole training for a half marathon thing is something I was told I would never be able to do.
When I was 20 I moved to West Texas to go to the best University on the face of the earth, also know as Texas Tech. I lived in Lubbock for about a month when I started to notice my health was taking a steady decline. In just a few weeks, I went from exercising at least an hour a day three times per week to not being able to walk across campus. When I woke up in the middle of the night because I had stopped breathing, that is when I knew it was time to see a doctor.
The next few months were a blur. I was in and out of doctor's offices on almost a daily basis and no one seemed to have any answers. After a few weeks of failed solutions, a was sent to a specialist. He was less than encouraging. He looked me straight in the eye and said, "You will never have a normal life again." He told me that I needed to forget about my active lifestyle and focus on survival. He was scared that one of these times I would go to sleep, stop breathing, and never wake up.
I had some big decisions to make, but I knew for sure the Lord led me to Texas Tech; and I refused to believe he asked me to move 1,500 miles away from home for me to die in a dorm room in my sleep. I wasn't ready to pack it up and go back to Florida. I stayed in Texas.
As you can imagine, my parents were concerned. I was taking about six different medications multiple times per day and although it was helping me to breathe, they were also making me very sick. My mom started doing research and found another specialist in Lubbock. This time she flew out for the appointment. This doctor was a lot more hopeful. He said although everything the other doctor said was correct and that I did need to be careful. However, unlike the other doctor, this one was dedicated to giving me back my life. He wasn't willing to accept "survival" as a goal. He also figured out I was allergic to the main ingredient in all of my medication so although I didn't exactly get to lessen the number of meds I was taking, at least the new ones didn't make me sick.
Exercising was still out of the question, but slowly but surly I was starting to get healthy again. By spring semester things were starting to become manageable and by the following fall I was starting to feel normal again, with the help of regulated medicine and frequent doctor visits.
However, not too long after I turned 22, I went in for one of my doctor's appointments and they found some spots on my lungs. That's when things got really scary.
I was so thankful for my Bible study partner John and his girlfriend (now wife) Elisabeth. They went to doctor's appointments with me and sat in waiting rooms while I was undergoing tests. What a blessing to be in their wedding a few years later.
After a few weeks of blood work and more scans to rule out cancer and a few other diseases, the doctors decided it was scarring. We still aren't sure how my lungs are so scared, but out of all the things it could have been, I'm thankful for the scarring.
A few months after the cancer scare, I went to work for Student Life. I remember having to sit and tell a team of people I had known all of 3 days about my medical journey. This was a big part of my testimony at the time, but I mostly had to tell them because I still wasn't 100% healthy and for people you are living and working with for three months to not know that stuff....well, as much as I really do like to keep things like that to myself, it's just a bad idea in that kind of situation. Working camps takes quite the toll on even the most healthy bodies and there was a good chance the next three months would be a struggle.
I did have some hard days while I was working camp but less than expected. There was one night when we were in California that my lungs were so tight my whole body was in pain. Out of desperation, I pumped myself with too much medicine. I could barely hold my head up. I ended up falling asleep under the lighting board during the evening worship service. The guys on the production staff were so sweet to just leave me there until we were done for the night and then wake me up and make sure I got back to my room and into bed.
My team was so great! They had this awesome way of looking out for me without ever making me feel like a sick patient.
After that summer I went back to Texas to finish college and that next year things really started to return to normal. I was starting to take less medicine and see fewer doctors. Slowly but surly over the next few years, things got better and better and now I only take medicine if I really feel like I need it, which is less than once a month.
My mom called me last week and asked how my body was doing now that I am running all the time. She was worried (and rightfully so) about the effects of the constant cardio in the high elevation. To be totally honest, it took me about five minutes to even figure out why she was asking. It was like all those prior years of struggles (that weren't all that long ago) were totally forgotten.
That doctor was right. My life was never the same, but not in the way he meant it. I am doing things physically now that I have never done before. I have never run five miles before and now I'm doing it and I plan on running 13 miles in just a few months. The conversation with my mom made me realize this upcoming race is so much more than just another goal, it's truly a miracle!
it's great to hear that you are living and not just survival. and congrats on the 5 miles ! :)
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