So here's the line on my race performance:
Place Leg 1 Leg 2 Stair Leg 3 Time
===== ======================== =======
126 33:52 37:10 4:56 25:24 1:36:26
126th place...not bad! (out of 903 total individual racers)
And if you take out the time for doing the obstacles (including the Soldier Field stair climb--again, not pretty), then I was holding a pretty dang good 7 minute 30 second mile.
Yay for me!
(And if you are confused about this blog entry because you are getting everything all at once, start with the post two below).
Sunday, October 21, 2007
What about the par-tay?
Not lost in the Urbanathlon yesterday was that we also had our annual GIRF Fall Fundraiser, as well. It was totally awesome! I have to admit that I was a little tired to be all that helpful, but hopefully the "Watch your step" sign that I made prevented any major catastrophes.
In any case, the night was a blast with great food (Harry Caray's fried calamari + Cheri's chocolate chip cookies + Carol's cookies = Markus' heaven), good music, our patented "fabulous" silent auction, and a lot of great folks (Becky Rubin, holla!). I'm sure it was a rousing success, but I definitely need to single out Howard, Jenn, Sabrina, Cheri and Todd, Halley, and Rob and Jeanine for taking the lead in organizing the event, and all the other awesome folks who did so much to make it a success (Karen, Ben, Scott and anyone else who I am forgetting, but you know who you are).
You guys are awesome and our Associate's Board would not be what it is without you. And also, thanks for tolerating my truancy. :)
Holla!
In any case, the night was a blast with great food (Harry Caray's fried calamari + Cheri's chocolate chip cookies + Carol's cookies = Markus' heaven), good music, our patented "fabulous" silent auction, and a lot of great folks (Becky Rubin, holla!). I'm sure it was a rousing success, but I definitely need to single out Howard, Jenn, Sabrina, Cheri and Todd, Halley, and Rob and Jeanine for taking the lead in organizing the event, and all the other awesome folks who did so much to make it a success (Karen, Ben, Scott and anyone else who I am forgetting, but you know who you are).
You guys are awesome and our Associate's Board would not be what it is without you. And also, thanks for tolerating my truancy. :)
Holla!
I did it!
Hiya!
Sorry I haven't blogged about my race training in the past few weeks...I have been really busy at work, and to be honest, it wasn't all that interesting. I'll give the brief recap now: I ran less, and I ate more carbs. It's all about the taper, folks! And fortunately I am better at tapering myself than Coach Kent was at tapering me when I swam in college (note: to those who don't know what I'm talking about, tapering is the process of reducing your effort to build up your energy for a particular race, but not lose your conditioning. If you rest too long, you are out of shape, if you don't rest enough, you're too tired to perform well).
To be honest, I don't know for sure whether I hit my taper right, but I know that I ran 12.2 miles + 6 obstacles and I didn't feel like passing out at any time, so that's a plus. Additionally, I had no idea how long it would take me, but gave myself a (perhaps generous) goal of finishing within 2 hours. I could run 15 miles holding 8 minutes per mile, so I figured 12 miles at 8 minutes would be 1 hr 36 minutes + an extra 24 minutes to do the extra obstacles, the 0.2 miles, and compensate for the fact that I'd be more tired from switching between slow-twitch and fast-twitch muscle fibers. Sorry to bust out the medical jargon again, but basically going from endurance running to a strength activity that requires short bursts of energy is kinda hard on the body. I'll leave you in suspense to see whether I finished under two hours....
Anyhoo...the day was perfect for a race. It was in the 50's, sunny, no wind...I couldn't have asked for better conditions (apparently I am lucky with the weather for the races I choose). Thank goodness I didn't have to run in the heat that the Chicago Marathoners had! Yikes! But let's bring it back to the Urbanathlon. The race itself was so awesome...up and down the lakefront path spanning from North Beach down to Soldier Field. The obstacles were crazy fun, and I was able to handle them a little better than I had expected (since, ya know, I didn't exactly set up a marine hurdle station or a rope climb wall while I was training). The only surprises: 1) crawling on all fours through a culver really hurts the knees! It's also not fun to have your face right up the rear of the person in front of you. Yuck. 2) The marine hurdles (below) are tall. I knew that I had to hoist myself over these hurdles, but I thought that they would be at chest level. Turns out they were taller than me! It required more strength than I thought I would need, but no worries--got through them in no time.
3) I thought Soldier Field and those steps would be hard, but it was worse than I ever could have imagined. The only saving grace was that everyone else was just as dead tired, so I didn't feel as bad about myself.
A special note has to go to my performance on the rope climbing wall. As dedicated blog readers know, I had fits of anxiety thinking of how I would perform on this obstacle. I had not been on a rope since 6th grade when I was ridiculed by my gym teacher, so I had some residual anxiety. Could I handle it now? I am proud to say (and proud of myself) that I TOTALLY rocked the rope wall. It was the very last thing before the finish line, and typically towards the end of a race or workout I pick up the pace and cruise home. But I was reluctant to do this at the Urbanathlon because of the damned wall--I wanted to have energy to get over it. Anyhow, as I approached the end, I had to hurdle over the taxis (fun, by the way, and you can see me just having done that, below)...
...and then I ran to the wall, and there were these marines there yelling at us. The one closest to me yelled "just get your elbow over the top of the wall!" and in that split second I kinda thought to myself "what the heck" and took his advice. So I grabbed the rope with one hand, launched myself from the ground and got my other arm over the top...and then pulled myself over (see the end of this maneuver below). Ha!
So I guess in principle it doesn't answer the question if I can handle a true rope climb, but as far as scaling the wall, no problemo. From the end of the wall to the finish line it was like 50 feet, but I sprinted it (I thought I saw someone get over the wall behind me, and at that point I wasn't going to let him beat me. Not that I'm competitive or anything).
At this point I still don't know what my official time or placing was, but I think I finished somewhere around 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 40 minutes. I didn't check my watch when I finished because they had these people at the finish line who were all hysterical about getting your champion-chip (timing device) off you as soon as you finished so that they didn't get stolen. I'll post my official result when they put the race finishes on line.
A big special wet kiss has to go to Eileen for being my awesome cheerleader yesterday: not only did she help get me downtown yesterday morning, but she also had her bike and saw me at almost every stop on the course! All the pictures are from her. What a woman!
And finally, a HUGE thank you to everyone who supported me and GIRF in this event. Your generous contributions were greatly appreciated, but your kind notes and words of encouragement that you provided me as I prepared for my race were absolutely invaluable. Nothing keeps you from slacking off like knowing that there are people counting on you and rooting for you, and I truly appreciated that. In sum, I raised just shy of $2500 for GIRF this year. Even more than for the marathon! Thank you so much for making the event a success.
Since the blog has now served its purpose, there will probably only be a few more posts as I tie up loose ends, give you my results, etc. Thanks again for checking up on me and joining me on this awesome journey!
Much love,
Markus
Sorry I haven't blogged about my race training in the past few weeks...I have been really busy at work, and to be honest, it wasn't all that interesting. I'll give the brief recap now: I ran less, and I ate more carbs. It's all about the taper, folks! And fortunately I am better at tapering myself than Coach Kent was at tapering me when I swam in college (note: to those who don't know what I'm talking about, tapering is the process of reducing your effort to build up your energy for a particular race, but not lose your conditioning. If you rest too long, you are out of shape, if you don't rest enough, you're too tired to perform well).
To be honest, I don't know for sure whether I hit my taper right, but I know that I ran 12.2 miles + 6 obstacles and I didn't feel like passing out at any time, so that's a plus. Additionally, I had no idea how long it would take me, but gave myself a (perhaps generous) goal of finishing within 2 hours. I could run 15 miles holding 8 minutes per mile, so I figured 12 miles at 8 minutes would be 1 hr 36 minutes + an extra 24 minutes to do the extra obstacles, the 0.2 miles, and compensate for the fact that I'd be more tired from switching between slow-twitch and fast-twitch muscle fibers. Sorry to bust out the medical jargon again, but basically going from endurance running to a strength activity that requires short bursts of energy is kinda hard on the body. I'll leave you in suspense to see whether I finished under two hours....
Anyhoo...the day was perfect for a race. It was in the 50's, sunny, no wind...I couldn't have asked for better conditions (apparently I am lucky with the weather for the races I choose). Thank goodness I didn't have to run in the heat that the Chicago Marathoners had! Yikes! But let's bring it back to the Urbanathlon. The race itself was so awesome...up and down the lakefront path spanning from North Beach down to Soldier Field. The obstacles were crazy fun, and I was able to handle them a little better than I had expected (since, ya know, I didn't exactly set up a marine hurdle station or a rope climb wall while I was training). The only surprises: 1) crawling on all fours through a culver really hurts the knees! It's also not fun to have your face right up the rear of the person in front of you. Yuck. 2) The marine hurdles (below) are tall. I knew that I had to hoist myself over these hurdles, but I thought that they would be at chest level. Turns out they were taller than me! It required more strength than I thought I would need, but no worries--got through them in no time.
3) I thought Soldier Field and those steps would be hard, but it was worse than I ever could have imagined. The only saving grace was that everyone else was just as dead tired, so I didn't feel as bad about myself.
A special note has to go to my performance on the rope climbing wall. As dedicated blog readers know, I had fits of anxiety thinking of how I would perform on this obstacle. I had not been on a rope since 6th grade when I was ridiculed by my gym teacher, so I had some residual anxiety. Could I handle it now? I am proud to say (and proud of myself) that I TOTALLY rocked the rope wall. It was the very last thing before the finish line, and typically towards the end of a race or workout I pick up the pace and cruise home. But I was reluctant to do this at the Urbanathlon because of the damned wall--I wanted to have energy to get over it. Anyhow, as I approached the end, I had to hurdle over the taxis (fun, by the way, and you can see me just having done that, below)...
...and then I ran to the wall, and there were these marines there yelling at us. The one closest to me yelled "just get your elbow over the top of the wall!" and in that split second I kinda thought to myself "what the heck" and took his advice. So I grabbed the rope with one hand, launched myself from the ground and got my other arm over the top...and then pulled myself over (see the end of this maneuver below). Ha!
So I guess in principle it doesn't answer the question if I can handle a true rope climb, but as far as scaling the wall, no problemo. From the end of the wall to the finish line it was like 50 feet, but I sprinted it (I thought I saw someone get over the wall behind me, and at that point I wasn't going to let him beat me. Not that I'm competitive or anything).
At this point I still don't know what my official time or placing was, but I think I finished somewhere around 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 40 minutes. I didn't check my watch when I finished because they had these people at the finish line who were all hysterical about getting your champion-chip (timing device) off you as soon as you finished so that they didn't get stolen. I'll post my official result when they put the race finishes on line.
A big special wet kiss has to go to Eileen for being my awesome cheerleader yesterday: not only did she help get me downtown yesterday morning, but she also had her bike and saw me at almost every stop on the course! All the pictures are from her. What a woman!
And finally, a HUGE thank you to everyone who supported me and GIRF in this event. Your generous contributions were greatly appreciated, but your kind notes and words of encouragement that you provided me as I prepared for my race were absolutely invaluable. Nothing keeps you from slacking off like knowing that there are people counting on you and rooting for you, and I truly appreciated that. In sum, I raised just shy of $2500 for GIRF this year. Even more than for the marathon! Thank you so much for making the event a success.
Since the blog has now served its purpose, there will probably only be a few more posts as I tie up loose ends, give you my results, etc. Thanks again for checking up on me and joining me on this awesome journey!
Much love,
Markus
Friday, October 5, 2007
What Am I Doing Here?
If you are a new visitor to the site, check out the links to the right to see what it is I am trying to accomplish here.
Your interest and support is greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Your interest and support is greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
Monday, October 1, 2007
Ummm....awkward
I had an awkward moment before I left for vacation a couple of weeks ago.
I went to pick something up from Dr. Rubin in his clinic. At the clinic registration area, there is currently a huge poster of me with a little explanation of what I'm doing with this Urbanathlon. The idea is to try and drum up more interest, but I'm not sure if it's working. (But maybe new blog discoverers can comment on this? Is the picture of me making you interested in what I'm doing or in GIRF?)
Anyhow, I'm standing there out front waiting for Linda, Dr. Rubin's awesome nurse (holla!) to come out and meet me, when this guy walks by, looks at me, stops, looks at the sign, looks back at me, and then says "Is that you?" I must have turned bright red, but then I replied, "yes." Anyhow, this particular individual (he runs GI drug trials) was super kind, thanking me for raising money for GIRF, blah blah blah, but I couldn't help feeling mortified that I was standing next to a life-size (OK, I'm exaggerating a little bit) image of me and that someone actually noticed. But at least the person was nice to me! So I guess that part made me feel good.
The whole experience made me kinda glad that I'm not famous, though. I can only imagine walking downtown and having someone point to a billboard with you on it and saying "Is that you?". And then asking for an autograph. But maybe if you're a celebrity you are more comfortable with having your face plastered everywhere.
No, thank you. Even one strategically placed picture for a good cause induces excess embarrassment for me (but only when I'm standing next to it).
Anything for a good cause!
I went to pick something up from Dr. Rubin in his clinic. At the clinic registration area, there is currently a huge poster of me with a little explanation of what I'm doing with this Urbanathlon. The idea is to try and drum up more interest, but I'm not sure if it's working. (But maybe new blog discoverers can comment on this? Is the picture of me making you interested in what I'm doing or in GIRF?)
Anyhow, I'm standing there out front waiting for Linda, Dr. Rubin's awesome nurse (holla!) to come out and meet me, when this guy walks by, looks at me, stops, looks at the sign, looks back at me, and then says "Is that you?" I must have turned bright red, but then I replied, "yes." Anyhow, this particular individual (he runs GI drug trials) was super kind, thanking me for raising money for GIRF, blah blah blah, but I couldn't help feeling mortified that I was standing next to a life-size (OK, I'm exaggerating a little bit) image of me and that someone actually noticed. But at least the person was nice to me! So I guess that part made me feel good.
The whole experience made me kinda glad that I'm not famous, though. I can only imagine walking downtown and having someone point to a billboard with you on it and saying "Is that you?". And then asking for an autograph. But maybe if you're a celebrity you are more comfortable with having your face plastered everywhere.
No, thank you. Even one strategically placed picture for a good cause induces excess embarrassment for me (but only when I'm standing next to it).
Anything for a good cause!
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Long Time No Blog
So Oregon was really fun, and Portland was a cool city. I tried to keep my training going, but dialed down the intensity for the week (it's vacation, people). Eileen and I had an awesome time. I'd say that my running highlight for the week was taking a long run in Portland...we ran from downtown up a fairly large hill to the campus of Oregon Health Science University. We got kind of lost but then ended up running in this protected woodland area right beside OHSU. So having a single run comprised of city streets and complete wilderness was awesome.
Since then the training has been going well; I ran a 15-er the day we got back from Oregon and this morning I ran a 12 miler, with 2 breaks at one of the parks along the lakefront path to do some chinups on the monkey bars. I'm a little nervous about how the athletic obstacles will affect my running, because it is hard to get into a rhythm again. I figure I'll just pace myself and do my best.
3 weeks to go! Keep sending me good vibes.
Since then the training has been going well; I ran a 15-er the day we got back from Oregon and this morning I ran a 12 miler, with 2 breaks at one of the parks along the lakefront path to do some chinups on the monkey bars. I'm a little nervous about how the athletic obstacles will affect my running, because it is hard to get into a rhythm again. I figure I'll just pace myself and do my best.
3 weeks to go! Keep sending me good vibes.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Consumer Report
So, I ordered a Flat-D.
I think this might be too much information, but then again, so is this entire website.
Anyhow, I'm happy to report that for anyone who is interested, the product is (as Borat might say), a great success! It really deodorizes as promised.
The irony of the situation is that I have been considerably less gassy (almost next to nothing) since the product arrived, so I don't really much reason to use it. Hey, that's good news, too.
If you have days when you are a little stinky (like I do), I would highly recommend this product (even despite its sketchy website ).
Now my wife loves me again.
;)
I think this might be too much information, but then again, so is this entire website.
Anyhow, I'm happy to report that for anyone who is interested, the product is (as Borat might say), a great success! It really deodorizes as promised.
The irony of the situation is that I have been considerably less gassy (almost next to nothing) since the product arrived, so I don't really much reason to use it. Hey, that's good news, too.
If you have days when you are a little stinky (like I do), I would highly recommend this product (even despite its sketchy website ).
Now my wife loves me again.
;)
Woo-hoo!
I finally reached my max training mileage yesterday morning: 15 miles.
I am going beyond the distance for the Urbanathlon (approx. 12-13 miles) because 1) I don't know how winded the obstacle courses are going to make me, and 2) I only trained up to 22 miles for the Marathon 26 years ago under the assumption that "the adrenaline of the day would carry me through the last 4.2 miles." What a load of hooey.
I was excited because the weather was perfect for running, and I finished the whole 15 in 2 hours! So holding 8 minute miles made me happy (especially because when I was in 6th grade I couldn't even run 1 mile in 8 minutes...so I'm healing old psychological wounds). The cool thing about running this time of year is that while running North (I ran to the Shedd Aquarium from Hyde Park), it was all dark, and as I made my way back home, the sun started to rise. So it was like I was running in two different locations since the trail looks completely different with and without sunlight. On mornings like yesterday, it makes me think that I should go out for fun runs like that even if I'm not training for something.
But I know that without the goal/motivation, it ain't gonna happen.
Best part of yesterday: no resistance from the GI tract. Yay for my body!
I am going on vacation with Eileen to Oregon for a week, so this will likely be my last post for a while (maybe I'll get one in on vay-kay).
I am going beyond the distance for the Urbanathlon (approx. 12-13 miles) because 1) I don't know how winded the obstacle courses are going to make me, and 2) I only trained up to 22 miles for the Marathon 26 years ago under the assumption that "the adrenaline of the day would carry me through the last 4.2 miles." What a load of hooey.
I was excited because the weather was perfect for running, and I finished the whole 15 in 2 hours! So holding 8 minute miles made me happy (especially because when I was in 6th grade I couldn't even run 1 mile in 8 minutes...so I'm healing old psychological wounds). The cool thing about running this time of year is that while running North (I ran to the Shedd Aquarium from Hyde Park), it was all dark, and as I made my way back home, the sun started to rise. So it was like I was running in two different locations since the trail looks completely different with and without sunlight. On mornings like yesterday, it makes me think that I should go out for fun runs like that even if I'm not training for something.
But I know that without the goal/motivation, it ain't gonna happen.
Best part of yesterday: no resistance from the GI tract. Yay for my body!
I am going on vacation with Eileen to Oregon for a week, so this will likely be my last post for a while (maybe I'll get one in on vay-kay).
Monday, September 10, 2007
Party Time: Details
Both the Urbanathlon and our Fall Event at Harry Caray's are little more than a month away.
And Marla and Allen are getting married the weekend after that!
But I digress.
If anyone is wondering what the night is like, it's tons of fun. It's all you can drink, and it's GOOD alcohol, not swill like at a college kegger, in case someone out there has reservations. The food is also a selling point (for me, anyway): tons of fried goodness, but also healthier options (broiled chicken and lean steak skewers, veggie platters with hummus, fruit salad, etc.) for more health-minded individuals. Since I will have run a half marathon and done some ridiculous obstacle course stuff that morning, you can direct me straight to the chicken wings and Carol's cookies.
Mmmmmm...Carol's cookies.
The silent auction always has good stuff too: restaurant gift certificates, trips to exotic locations, tickets to Chicago places (Sox games, Shedd Aquarium, etc.), spa treatment kinda stuff, and then many one-of-a-kind items (hockey sticks autographed by Blackhawks players, framed photographs or works of art, etc.).
So if any of this sounds good to you, come out and support us!
Or even better, if you want to help us get stuff for the auction, ask your favorite establishment/well-connected friends to lend a hand.
Email girf@earthlink.net and they can tell you how to help out the Associate's Board.
And Marla and Allen are getting married the weekend after that!
But I digress.
If anyone is wondering what the night is like, it's tons of fun. It's all you can drink, and it's GOOD alcohol, not swill like at a college kegger, in case someone out there has reservations. The food is also a selling point (for me, anyway): tons of fried goodness, but also healthier options (broiled chicken and lean steak skewers, veggie platters with hummus, fruit salad, etc.) for more health-minded individuals. Since I will have run a half marathon and done some ridiculous obstacle course stuff that morning, you can direct me straight to the chicken wings and Carol's cookies.
Mmmmmm...Carol's cookies.
The silent auction always has good stuff too: restaurant gift certificates, trips to exotic locations, tickets to Chicago places (Sox games, Shedd Aquarium, etc.), spa treatment kinda stuff, and then many one-of-a-kind items (hockey sticks autographed by Blackhawks players, framed photographs or works of art, etc.).
So if any of this sounds good to you, come out and support us!
Or even better, if you want to help us get stuff for the auction, ask your favorite establishment/well-connected friends to lend a hand.
Email girf@earthlink.net and they can tell you how to help out the Associate's Board.
Ally's Law
I'm glad that I'm doing something to help other people with Crohn's Disease, but other people are doing much bigger and better things than I am.
Ally Bain is a younger sufferer of Crohn's Disease who basically wasn't allowed to use the restroom at a store when she was having what I term a "bathroom emergency", and as a result she had a very public and very embarassing accident. I can't even imagine what that must have been like for a teenager, but I'm glad that Ally and her mom turned it into a positive for everyone else. After this happened, they contacted their state legislator and eventually managed to get a law passed in Illinois: the Restroom Access Act, or "Ally's Law." As a result, now anyone with a Crohn's-y/unfortunate GI condition (where needing to use the bathroom can occur quite suddenly) must be given access to a restroom when they request it. I've been fortunate that this hasn't ever happened to me, but I know that many other CD sufferers have to schedule their day around having a restroom nearby, etc, and I think that this law is huge.
If you want more information about the Act, you can read it in its entirety here.
Or if you want to know more about Ally and exactly what went down (they can tell you better than I can), go here. Apparently not all states have this law...but they should! Individuals are trying to organize movements across the country to get similar laws passed throughout the country.
Way to go, Ally!
(Y'all know what's coming....)
Holla!
Ally Bain is a younger sufferer of Crohn's Disease who basically wasn't allowed to use the restroom at a store when she was having what I term a "bathroom emergency", and as a result she had a very public and very embarassing accident. I can't even imagine what that must have been like for a teenager, but I'm glad that Ally and her mom turned it into a positive for everyone else. After this happened, they contacted their state legislator and eventually managed to get a law passed in Illinois: the Restroom Access Act, or "Ally's Law." As a result, now anyone with a Crohn's-y/unfortunate GI condition (where needing to use the bathroom can occur quite suddenly) must be given access to a restroom when they request it. I've been fortunate that this hasn't ever happened to me, but I know that many other CD sufferers have to schedule their day around having a restroom nearby, etc, and I think that this law is huge.
If you want more information about the Act, you can read it in its entirety here.
Or if you want to know more about Ally and exactly what went down (they can tell you better than I can), go here. Apparently not all states have this law...but they should! Individuals are trying to organize movements across the country to get similar laws passed throughout the country.
Way to go, Ally!
(Y'all know what's coming....)
Holla!
Thursday, August 30, 2007
1/2 marathon
Give or take a few tenths of a mile, I have now run a half marathon in my training. It was actually 13 miles, and I held about 8 minutes per mile, so I was really happy about that. It almost didn't come to pass, though.
I originally was planning on running in the morning, and it had rained overnight so I was prepared for mildly damp conditions. However, when I made it to the lakefront (about a mile from our pad), it started raining. And then it started pouring. And five minutes later, I could have been running through a waterfall or a stream and it would have been of equal difficulty. At first I thought I would just power through--what's a little wetness when you're running 13 miles? But I quickly realized that was stupid when my socks started holding about 5 pounds of water a piece. And then I remembered the potential for blistering. And I turned around to go home, covering 4 miles in the process. (Look ma! No blisters!)
Later in the day it got super nice, so once the sun had gone down a bit (I have sensitive skin and a family history of skin cancer, so I try not to tempt fate), I gave my 13 miles another shot. It actually went really well (see initial comments above), but when I finished, my body told me it was not happy with me. Running 17 miles in one day for a body that had previously built up to 11 miles is kinda a big jump. And my digestive tract revolted in protest.
I had the runs for the rest of the day, and then into the next.
(Again, sorry for the images in this one, but at this point I imagine there isn't much that I haven't candidly spoken about when it comes to my gut).
I have never eaten so much Pepto-Bismol (or Bis-Mate, because we buy Jewel brand) in my life.
Anyhow, I was trying to figure out what the deal was: did I induce a flare? Was my condition secondary to running too hard and maybe getting a little dehydrated? I wasn't sure if my symptoms were from my Crohn's or because I was stupid.
But I took it easy for a couple of days, and that helped a bunch, and I feel good about where my training is currently at. This morning I ran 12 miles, and again it went very well. So far, so good with my body's response.
But I think I learned an important lesson (which incidentally, I have learned numerous times in the past and then have promptly disregarded): don't push yourself too hard or too fast.
Otherwise, your body will make you pay.
:)
I originally was planning on running in the morning, and it had rained overnight so I was prepared for mildly damp conditions. However, when I made it to the lakefront (about a mile from our pad), it started raining. And then it started pouring. And five minutes later, I could have been running through a waterfall or a stream and it would have been of equal difficulty. At first I thought I would just power through--what's a little wetness when you're running 13 miles? But I quickly realized that was stupid when my socks started holding about 5 pounds of water a piece. And then I remembered the potential for blistering. And I turned around to go home, covering 4 miles in the process. (Look ma! No blisters!)
Later in the day it got super nice, so once the sun had gone down a bit (I have sensitive skin and a family history of skin cancer, so I try not to tempt fate), I gave my 13 miles another shot. It actually went really well (see initial comments above), but when I finished, my body told me it was not happy with me. Running 17 miles in one day for a body that had previously built up to 11 miles is kinda a big jump. And my digestive tract revolted in protest.
I had the runs for the rest of the day, and then into the next.
(Again, sorry for the images in this one, but at this point I imagine there isn't much that I haven't candidly spoken about when it comes to my gut).
I have never eaten so much Pepto-Bismol (or Bis-Mate, because we buy Jewel brand) in my life.
Anyhow, I was trying to figure out what the deal was: did I induce a flare? Was my condition secondary to running too hard and maybe getting a little dehydrated? I wasn't sure if my symptoms were from my Crohn's or because I was stupid.
But I took it easy for a couple of days, and that helped a bunch, and I feel good about where my training is currently at. This morning I ran 12 miles, and again it went very well. So far, so good with my body's response.
But I think I learned an important lesson (which incidentally, I have learned numerous times in the past and then have promptly disregarded): don't push yourself too hard or too fast.
Otherwise, your body will make you pay.
:)
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Amazing, Scary, or Amazingly Scary?
I visited this website today.
If you're wondering how I even knew about this website, there was a two sentence blurb about it in Details magazine this month (and I am a dedicated subscriber). I read it, thought that I would go take a look, and then promptly forgot about it. But then Eileen reminded me.
So here's the question: Is this the coolest thing ever, or what? I mean, for people like me that tend to have the occassional gas problem. I have to say, if it works then it is totally awesome, because it seems like noone would ever know that you had one of these suckers on.
The weird thing is, what's up with the website? It looks kinda janky for a real company, and the guy in the upper left hand corner looks straight out of The Onion. But I'm pretty sure that this company is real. The other thing I found disturbing was this quote (straight from the website):
"Activated charcoal cloth [used in the product] was originally developed by the British Chemical Defense Establishment as a highly efficient filter medium for protection against nerve gas and other highly toxic vapors that might be used in chemical warfare. This is the reason for its outstanding advantage as a decontaminating material in commercial air and water purification applications."
So...the thing I'm using to keep people from noticing my bad gas was originally designed to combat NERVE GAS AND TOXIC VAPORS? That is frightening. On the other hand, I guess I can be pretty sure it works if they use it in war situations.
Equally unsettling:
"Flat-D now makes the Thong-D, a standard product for women."
I'm not even gonna go there.
I know I probably sound dismissive of this whole thing, but I actually think it seems like a great product...somehow the marketing is just a tad bit ridiculous, though. Either way, Eileen really wants me to try it out (bless her heart). So if you are on the fence about getting the Flat-D, check back because I'll probably order a pack and give 'em a spin to see if they work as claimed. It will probably be helpful when I go back to medschool.
All in the name of education and consumer awareness!
If you're wondering how I even knew about this website, there was a two sentence blurb about it in Details magazine this month (and I am a dedicated subscriber). I read it, thought that I would go take a look, and then promptly forgot about it. But then Eileen reminded me.
So here's the question: Is this the coolest thing ever, or what? I mean, for people like me that tend to have the occassional gas problem. I have to say, if it works then it is totally awesome, because it seems like noone would ever know that you had one of these suckers on.
The weird thing is, what's up with the website? It looks kinda janky for a real company, and the guy in the upper left hand corner looks straight out of The Onion. But I'm pretty sure that this company is real. The other thing I found disturbing was this quote (straight from the website):
"Activated charcoal cloth [used in the product] was originally developed by the British Chemical Defense Establishment as a highly efficient filter medium for protection against nerve gas and other highly toxic vapors that might be used in chemical warfare. This is the reason for its outstanding advantage as a decontaminating material in commercial air and water purification applications."
So...the thing I'm using to keep people from noticing my bad gas was originally designed to combat NERVE GAS AND TOXIC VAPORS? That is frightening. On the other hand, I guess I can be pretty sure it works if they use it in war situations.
Equally unsettling:
"Flat-D now makes the Thong-D, a standard product for women."
I'm not even gonna go there.
I know I probably sound dismissive of this whole thing, but I actually think it seems like a great product...somehow the marketing is just a tad bit ridiculous, though. Either way, Eileen really wants me to try it out (bless her heart). So if you are on the fence about getting the Flat-D, check back because I'll probably order a pack and give 'em a spin to see if they work as claimed. It will probably be helpful when I go back to medschool.
All in the name of education and consumer awareness!
Friday, August 24, 2007
Nourishment for your mind
I was forwarded this link from my friend Marla today.
Thanks, Mar!
Before I discuss it, a brief aside about Marla.
Marla is one of my BFFs from high school, and although we were supposed to attend Northwestern concurrently, she didn't disown me when I went to Kalamazoo instead. Good for me, because there are few truer friends that one could have than Marla. Although all my friends love me (I think) and know about my Crohn's, Marla is probably my friend who remembers it the most, and is most supportive of my various Crohn's/GIRF-related endeavors. I have convinced her to come to a lot of Crohn's-related events, and she always does, despite instances where she has been cornered by people who swear they know her from somewhere...
Anyway, Marla is getting married in October to Allen, who in addition to being our friend, is our insurance guy (If you are looking for an outstanding insurance agent in the greater Chicagoland area, drop me a line and I'll send you his digits). Also, Allen has Crohn's. Which is kinda fun for me because it is nice to have a friend that you can complain to about all your Crohn's-y things and they really understand, so I got lucky when Marla met Allen. And it needs to be pointed out that Marla has always been supportive of me (even pre-Allen), so if you think she's only nice to me because her fiance is saddled with the same disease, it's not true (though I'm sure it makes me even more sympathetic, if that's even possible). So basically what I'm saying is that I'm really glad that Marla and Allen found each other because they are an awesome couple, great friends, and Allen would be really hard-pressed to find someone who will take better care of him than Mar (except maybe Eileen, but she's mine). Holla!
OK, so now I'm mixing up what kind of post this is and I need to get back to the story. Basically, this group at Cornell found a link between the presence of a nasty strain of E.coli and Crohn's disease. I hadn't heard of this particular study before, but there have been many groups looking into associations between different bacterial species and Crohn's. The cool thing about the research going on now is that they can actually do something about it. There have been a lot of advances in genetic analysis, so it is possible to isolate gut bacteria and see what genes they might be expressing that can lead to an inflammatory response...and then it is possible to potentially target these genes so that the bacteria are not so pro-inflammatory. Also, comparing the bacterial composition of Crohn's people vs. healthy people can further give us an idea about what might be going on in the disease.
Did you know that you are mostly bacteria? Apparently we have more bacterial cells living on or in us than we do our own "human" cells. And because of this, the interaction between host (us) and symbiote (the bacteria--remember, they do good stuff for us in our guts, too, and that is why Dannon is trying to get you to buy their Activia yogurt that apparently is chock full o' bacterial goodness) can really influence our health. So researchers are trying to get at what signals are being transmitted between bacteria and human that might influence an individual's disease state...it's getting at a very central part of the environmental component of Crohn's (remember, Crohn's is thought to be due to environmental factors interacting with a genetic predisposition to induce disease). They are doing a lot of this kind of stuff at U of C now, also.
Always at the "Forefront of Medicine!"
PS I think eating yogurt is good for you, but any yogurt should do (just don't get ones sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. It's bad for you.)
Thanks, Mar!
Before I discuss it, a brief aside about Marla.
Marla is one of my BFFs from high school, and although we were supposed to attend Northwestern concurrently, she didn't disown me when I went to Kalamazoo instead. Good for me, because there are few truer friends that one could have than Marla. Although all my friends love me (I think) and know about my Crohn's, Marla is probably my friend who remembers it the most, and is most supportive of my various Crohn's/GIRF-related endeavors. I have convinced her to come to a lot of Crohn's-related events, and she always does, despite instances where she has been cornered by people who swear they know her from somewhere...
Anyway, Marla is getting married in October to Allen, who in addition to being our friend, is our insurance guy (If you are looking for an outstanding insurance agent in the greater Chicagoland area, drop me a line and I'll send you his digits). Also, Allen has Crohn's. Which is kinda fun for me because it is nice to have a friend that you can complain to about all your Crohn's-y things and they really understand, so I got lucky when Marla met Allen. And it needs to be pointed out that Marla has always been supportive of me (even pre-Allen), so if you think she's only nice to me because her fiance is saddled with the same disease, it's not true (though I'm sure it makes me even more sympathetic, if that's even possible). So basically what I'm saying is that I'm really glad that Marla and Allen found each other because they are an awesome couple, great friends, and Allen would be really hard-pressed to find someone who will take better care of him than Mar (except maybe Eileen, but she's mine). Holla!
OK, so now I'm mixing up what kind of post this is and I need to get back to the story. Basically, this group at Cornell found a link between the presence of a nasty strain of E.coli and Crohn's disease. I hadn't heard of this particular study before, but there have been many groups looking into associations between different bacterial species and Crohn's. The cool thing about the research going on now is that they can actually do something about it. There have been a lot of advances in genetic analysis, so it is possible to isolate gut bacteria and see what genes they might be expressing that can lead to an inflammatory response...and then it is possible to potentially target these genes so that the bacteria are not so pro-inflammatory. Also, comparing the bacterial composition of Crohn's people vs. healthy people can further give us an idea about what might be going on in the disease.
Did you know that you are mostly bacteria? Apparently we have more bacterial cells living on or in us than we do our own "human" cells. And because of this, the interaction between host (us) and symbiote (the bacteria--remember, they do good stuff for us in our guts, too, and that is why Dannon is trying to get you to buy their Activia yogurt that apparently is chock full o' bacterial goodness) can really influence our health. So researchers are trying to get at what signals are being transmitted between bacteria and human that might influence an individual's disease state...it's getting at a very central part of the environmental component of Crohn's (remember, Crohn's is thought to be due to environmental factors interacting with a genetic predisposition to induce disease). They are doing a lot of this kind of stuff at U of C now, also.
Always at the "Forefront of Medicine!"
PS I think eating yogurt is good for you, but any yogurt should do (just don't get ones sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. It's bad for you.)
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Holla! (Vol. 3)
In our continuing series, I will be honoring the people you can thank (or blame) for me and this blog...my parents.
When you have awesome parents like I do, it is difficult to really do justice to how they support me in both ways that are directly related to my disease, and ways that just make my life easier, which in turn makes dealing with my Crohn's less of a hassle. But I'm going to focus on the Crohn's-related stuff, because listing all the ways in which I appreciate them would take too long.
Basically, my parents were the ones who jumped to my rescue the minute I found out something was wrong with me. When I first found blood on the TP, it was my mom who I yelled to for help, and she put everything under control right away--she got me a GI appointment and my first colonscopy within a few minutes of my unsettling discovery. A few days later when I actually had to go in for the procedure, my mom was the one who coached me through my first bowel prep (among the most nauseating things in the world, and difficult for someone like me who basically eats constantly) and stayed in the hospital while I had plastic tubing inserted into my nether regions. That's more than enough, but then my mom let me stuff my face at P.F. Chang's afterwards to make me feel better (ask her sometime how much I ate).
Anyhow, my parents involvement in my care didn't stop there--when I returned to Germany they sent me my medication in the mail and generally checked up on me to make sure that I was doing okay. I can only imagine what it must be like for a parent to find out that their child has a chronic inflammatory disease like Crohn's, but I'm glad that my parents held it together because I might have gotten freaked out more than I did.
Since I've been on my own for the last number of years, my parents watch over me, but less directly. They call and email to make sure that I am still in good health, and when I am home my mom makes a CostCo run for me to make sure that I have enough peanut butter and cereal to eat, in the name of keeping meat on my bones. I think my parents freaked out when I lost a ton of weight a few years back, and they are happy to see me at a healthy weight again. Mostly, I am just grateful to know that my parents think of me, love me, and keep me in their prayers. Growing up it used to bug me that my mom referred to me as her "baby" (I'm the youngest of three kids). But now that I'm older I have a better appreciation for what sentiment really lays behind that name, and I'm just grateful that I am guaranteed to have two people (well, 3 now, with Eileen) who love me unconditionally and who will always be there for me, especially in case of emergency.
Here is a picture of my parents at their wedding:
And at mine:
I hope our marriage is as fruitful and long as theirs (and BTW, if I were a betting man (and in this case, I am) I'll bet it will be).
Mama and Papa, your guidance and support in so many ways has made my life easier and helped me to deal with this challenging part of my existence. You have made me what I am today, and I hope that what you see makes you proud. I value everything you have done for me, and I hope you know that I love you both very much.
Holla!
When you have awesome parents like I do, it is difficult to really do justice to how they support me in both ways that are directly related to my disease, and ways that just make my life easier, which in turn makes dealing with my Crohn's less of a hassle. But I'm going to focus on the Crohn's-related stuff, because listing all the ways in which I appreciate them would take too long.
Basically, my parents were the ones who jumped to my rescue the minute I found out something was wrong with me. When I first found blood on the TP, it was my mom who I yelled to for help, and she put everything under control right away--she got me a GI appointment and my first colonscopy within a few minutes of my unsettling discovery. A few days later when I actually had to go in for the procedure, my mom was the one who coached me through my first bowel prep (among the most nauseating things in the world, and difficult for someone like me who basically eats constantly) and stayed in the hospital while I had plastic tubing inserted into my nether regions. That's more than enough, but then my mom let me stuff my face at P.F. Chang's afterwards to make me feel better (ask her sometime how much I ate).
Anyhow, my parents involvement in my care didn't stop there--when I returned to Germany they sent me my medication in the mail and generally checked up on me to make sure that I was doing okay. I can only imagine what it must be like for a parent to find out that their child has a chronic inflammatory disease like Crohn's, but I'm glad that my parents held it together because I might have gotten freaked out more than I did.
Since I've been on my own for the last number of years, my parents watch over me, but less directly. They call and email to make sure that I am still in good health, and when I am home my mom makes a CostCo run for me to make sure that I have enough peanut butter and cereal to eat, in the name of keeping meat on my bones. I think my parents freaked out when I lost a ton of weight a few years back, and they are happy to see me at a healthy weight again. Mostly, I am just grateful to know that my parents think of me, love me, and keep me in their prayers. Growing up it used to bug me that my mom referred to me as her "baby" (I'm the youngest of three kids). But now that I'm older I have a better appreciation for what sentiment really lays behind that name, and I'm just grateful that I am guaranteed to have two people (well, 3 now, with Eileen) who love me unconditionally and who will always be there for me, especially in case of emergency.
Here is a picture of my parents at their wedding:
And at mine:
I hope our marriage is as fruitful and long as theirs (and BTW, if I were a betting man (and in this case, I am) I'll bet it will be).
Mama and Papa, your guidance and support in so many ways has made my life easier and helped me to deal with this challenging part of my existence. You have made me what I am today, and I hope that what you see makes you proud. I value everything you have done for me, and I hope you know that I love you both very much.
Holla!
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Spiritual Healing
No, not the type of healing that Marvin Gaye sang about.
I read an article in Men's Health today (if it seems like I'm totally shilling for them, I'm not. I just have a subscription and in general I think their advice is pretty useful. Although when they quote studies it often makes me cringe because they dumb down--and sometimes misinterpret--the results. But I digress). It was about spiritual healing and how it can be used to help manage chronic conditions. Apparently the author had a really nasty case of Crohn's Disease where he had over 40 inches of his small bowel resected and had been taking over 16 pills a day (!). That's a lot. Anyhow, his disease kept on getting worse (probably because he admittedly did little to manage his condition; he ate and drank and did whatever he wanted), and he eventually got so disenchanged with western medicine he went to Brazil to see a spiritual healer. Apparently a month after he went, his condition abated considerably, and it has been helpful to him. This article made me think: can we use our minds and our faith to heal ourselves?
I think so. I'm not a huge alternative medicine advocate (especially since a lot of these herbs and stuff are completely unregulated and as my Pathology teacher Dr. Meredith has told us many a time, "Nature is not benign."), but I definitely think there is a place for it, particularly with things like meditation. I can't help but think that the increased pace and stress in our lives contributes to all these inflammatory conditions (we're ALWAYS on high alert), and so to calm these things in your body by using your mind seems plausible to me. But I think that this type of stuff has to be incorporated into a broader lifestyle change: less stress, taking better care of yourself by eating well and exercising regularly and making time to relax. I don't think it's a coincidence that I was diagnosed with Crohn's after working 16+ hours/day for months at a consulting firm in Germany. I had gained 10 pounds since graduating from college (I was pushing 190 lbs; by comparison I am now about 170), didn't have time to really exercise and I always felt bad. So being able to change my lifestyle and do something that I enjoy (yay for science nerd-dom) and take time to take care of myself has probably been key in maintaining my health despite my Crohn's.
Kinda proving my point, the author gave up alcohol, red meat and spicy foods after his faith healing session. So it's a combo of mind and body (and hopefully only a little bit of meds).
When they put the article on-line, I will make a link to it, otherwise just go to the store and grab the issue with Jamie Foxx on the cover (apparently, he's a "Mens Health Guy"). In the meantime, I'm all for exploring alternative therapies that can SUPPLEMENT whatever you are doing now to manage your disease. Talk to your doctor about it.
What do you think?
I read an article in Men's Health today (if it seems like I'm totally shilling for them, I'm not. I just have a subscription and in general I think their advice is pretty useful. Although when they quote studies it often makes me cringe because they dumb down--and sometimes misinterpret--the results. But I digress). It was about spiritual healing and how it can be used to help manage chronic conditions. Apparently the author had a really nasty case of Crohn's Disease where he had over 40 inches of his small bowel resected and had been taking over 16 pills a day (!). That's a lot. Anyhow, his disease kept on getting worse (probably because he admittedly did little to manage his condition; he ate and drank and did whatever he wanted), and he eventually got so disenchanged with western medicine he went to Brazil to see a spiritual healer. Apparently a month after he went, his condition abated considerably, and it has been helpful to him. This article made me think: can we use our minds and our faith to heal ourselves?
I think so. I'm not a huge alternative medicine advocate (especially since a lot of these herbs and stuff are completely unregulated and as my Pathology teacher Dr. Meredith has told us many a time, "Nature is not benign."), but I definitely think there is a place for it, particularly with things like meditation. I can't help but think that the increased pace and stress in our lives contributes to all these inflammatory conditions (we're ALWAYS on high alert), and so to calm these things in your body by using your mind seems plausible to me. But I think that this type of stuff has to be incorporated into a broader lifestyle change: less stress, taking better care of yourself by eating well and exercising regularly and making time to relax. I don't think it's a coincidence that I was diagnosed with Crohn's after working 16+ hours/day for months at a consulting firm in Germany. I had gained 10 pounds since graduating from college (I was pushing 190 lbs; by comparison I am now about 170), didn't have time to really exercise and I always felt bad. So being able to change my lifestyle and do something that I enjoy (yay for science nerd-dom) and take time to take care of myself has probably been key in maintaining my health despite my Crohn's.
Kinda proving my point, the author gave up alcohol, red meat and spicy foods after his faith healing session. So it's a combo of mind and body (and hopefully only a little bit of meds).
When they put the article on-line, I will make a link to it, otherwise just go to the store and grab the issue with Jamie Foxx on the cover (apparently, he's a "Mens Health Guy"). In the meantime, I'm all for exploring alternative therapies that can SUPPLEMENT whatever you are doing now to manage your disease. Talk to your doctor about it.
What do you think?
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
What's on your playlist?
Sometimes I have discussions with people (or more frequently, myself) about what motivates me while I train. I'm not talking about the big things (helping others, being an example, etc.), I'm talking about the things that keep me going right at the moment, or more specifically what keeps me from being bored when I run or lift weights. Interestingly, it depends on what I am doing. When I lift, I need to have my iPod with me because I get bored in between sets otherwise. I don't wait too long, but just standing around is kinda lame, so at least listening to some tunes helps me enjoy the passing time. I've tried reading in between sets but it's counterproductive: I get interested in a magazine article and then suddenly I've been resting way too long and my workout takes forever.
In contrast, I can't run and listen to music. I don't know why...it's not that listening to something distracts me; I used to run and listen to NPR Podcasts (awesome, by the way), but for some reason I quit doing that, though I don't know what that reason is. I think I just got too lazy to download them. But I absolutely can't listen to music, and the reason is because it screws up my pace. When I get a song with a quick tempo it makes me pick up my pace subconsciously, which I guess is good, unless you are running 10 miles and you need to make sure that you have some energy coming home. Conversely, I just can't seem to pick it up once a slower song comes on. Also, a funny thing happens to me when I listen to music and run: the music "slows down." I have no idea what causes this; if it's the sweat getting onto my iPod and slowing its functioning, if sweat in my ears is impeding the transmission of sound waves, if maybe I'm just crazy, but I definitely perceive it, and it drives me nuts! Am I the only one for whom this happens? Hollaback!
Anyhow, I thought I would give you a peak at some things that are currently on my iPod workout playlist. Maybe you'll find something you like.
Basement Jaxx "Make Me Sweat." This song is apropos, I guess, but it's actually about dancing, not lifting weights (or anything else, for people with naughty minds). It's pretty techno-y and is very cool...even encouraging a multiculti approach to music--"Hip hop, soul, a little bit of crunk, a little bit of punk, a little bit of disco, drum and bass, a little bit of house, a little bit electro, all of that!"
Amy Winehouse, anything off her album "Back to Black." I think this woman is crazy, but I dig her beehive and her updated motown girl group sound. Plus she has a cool voice. If you like this album, you should check out Garbage's "Beautiful Garbage", which has a similar vibe but wasn't as appreciated
Jarvis Cocker, "Don't Let Him Waste Your Time." For anyone with a daughter or who might have one in the future, just play this song for her when she starts dating. Got a great beat, too. He was the lead singer of Pulp, for anyone who is familiar with the band.
Anything by Fergie (but mostly "Fergalicious" and "My Humps" which I know is actually Black Eyed Peas, but whatever). I know it's probably not cool to like her, but I can't help myself. Goes double for Gwen Stefani.
Gnarls Barkley, anything off their album "St. Elsewhere" but especially "Smiley Faces". If this song doesn't make you happy, nothing will.
What else should I be listening to to help me get ready for the Urbanathlon?
In contrast, I can't run and listen to music. I don't know why...it's not that listening to something distracts me; I used to run and listen to NPR Podcasts (awesome, by the way), but for some reason I quit doing that, though I don't know what that reason is. I think I just got too lazy to download them. But I absolutely can't listen to music, and the reason is because it screws up my pace. When I get a song with a quick tempo it makes me pick up my pace subconsciously, which I guess is good, unless you are running 10 miles and you need to make sure that you have some energy coming home. Conversely, I just can't seem to pick it up once a slower song comes on. Also, a funny thing happens to me when I listen to music and run: the music "slows down." I have no idea what causes this; if it's the sweat getting onto my iPod and slowing its functioning, if sweat in my ears is impeding the transmission of sound waves, if maybe I'm just crazy, but I definitely perceive it, and it drives me nuts! Am I the only one for whom this happens? Hollaback!
Anyhow, I thought I would give you a peak at some things that are currently on my iPod workout playlist. Maybe you'll find something you like.
Basement Jaxx "Make Me Sweat." This song is apropos, I guess, but it's actually about dancing, not lifting weights (or anything else, for people with naughty minds). It's pretty techno-y and is very cool...even encouraging a multiculti approach to music--"Hip hop, soul, a little bit of crunk, a little bit of punk, a little bit of disco, drum and bass, a little bit of house, a little bit electro, all of that!"
Amy Winehouse, anything off her album "Back to Black." I think this woman is crazy, but I dig her beehive and her updated motown girl group sound. Plus she has a cool voice. If you like this album, you should check out Garbage's "Beautiful Garbage", which has a similar vibe but wasn't as appreciated
Jarvis Cocker, "Don't Let Him Waste Your Time." For anyone with a daughter or who might have one in the future, just play this song for her when she starts dating. Got a great beat, too. He was the lead singer of Pulp, for anyone who is familiar with the band.
Anything by Fergie (but mostly "Fergalicious" and "My Humps" which I know is actually Black Eyed Peas, but whatever). I know it's probably not cool to like her, but I can't help myself. Goes double for Gwen Stefani.
Gnarls Barkley, anything off their album "St. Elsewhere" but especially "Smiley Faces". If this song doesn't make you happy, nothing will.
What else should I be listening to to help me get ready for the Urbanathlon?
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Overall Update
I thought I would give an update on how everything is going with the training and the fundraising efforts.
First, the training: it's going really well. August is a tough month to train because it is so flippin' hot every day, and especially this past week it was exhausting just to live--can I get a witness that this heat is oppressive? Even when I trained at the air-conditioned gym I felt like I was sweating through my clothes in record time! So that is kinda rough--but I'm still on track. This morning I went for an 11-mile run and completed it with little problem. Except for the stupid gnats on the Lakefront Path; I swear they are the scourge of my existence. Fortunately none of them got in my eye today, although I had a bunch of dead ones smushed to my chest when I finished (I know, I know, so gross...but I must have been running pretty quickly, eh?). Anyhow, my goal is to make it up to 15 miles before the event, and seeing as how it is 2+ months away, I think I am in good shape. So that's encouraging. My strength training doesn't seem to be suffering any from all the running either...I have to be strong to make it over those marine hurdles and that darn wall!
As for the GIRF component of the Urbanathlon, I want to take this time to give a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who has already donated...and there is a significant number of you. Your support is truly inspiring to me and I promise I won't let you down! If you haven't heard any sort of acknowledgement from me, fear not--your generosity has been noted by me and all the powers that be, and a proper 'thank you' will be coming, but probably once the Urbanathlon is over and I can fill you in on all the specifics. Anyhow, thus far my extremely generous benefactors have pledged over $1500 total--that is so much money!!! Thank you so much!
And, if you haven't donated yet but are thinking about it/on the fence/whatever, it's never too late--the Urbanathlon is still two months away, and GIRF is always grateful for pledges, irrespective of the time of year. But if you are inspired by the outpouring of support already, join in too! We'll love ya for it!
First, the training: it's going really well. August is a tough month to train because it is so flippin' hot every day, and especially this past week it was exhausting just to live--can I get a witness that this heat is oppressive? Even when I trained at the air-conditioned gym I felt like I was sweating through my clothes in record time! So that is kinda rough--but I'm still on track. This morning I went for an 11-mile run and completed it with little problem. Except for the stupid gnats on the Lakefront Path; I swear they are the scourge of my existence. Fortunately none of them got in my eye today, although I had a bunch of dead ones smushed to my chest when I finished (I know, I know, so gross...but I must have been running pretty quickly, eh?). Anyhow, my goal is to make it up to 15 miles before the event, and seeing as how it is 2+ months away, I think I am in good shape. So that's encouraging. My strength training doesn't seem to be suffering any from all the running either...I have to be strong to make it over those marine hurdles and that darn wall!
As for the GIRF component of the Urbanathlon, I want to take this time to give a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who has already donated...and there is a significant number of you. Your support is truly inspiring to me and I promise I won't let you down! If you haven't heard any sort of acknowledgement from me, fear not--your generosity has been noted by me and all the powers that be, and a proper 'thank you' will be coming, but probably once the Urbanathlon is over and I can fill you in on all the specifics. Anyhow, thus far my extremely generous benefactors have pledged over $1500 total--that is so much money!!! Thank you so much!
And, if you haven't donated yet but are thinking about it/on the fence/whatever, it's never too late--the Urbanathlon is still two months away, and GIRF is always grateful for pledges, irrespective of the time of year. But if you are inspired by the outpouring of support already, join in too! We'll love ya for it!
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Taxi Hurdling
So they have finally posted the stuff that we have to do in between running for the Urbanathlon.
Check it out here.
Are you back? Good. So I have to say, I was excited about doing this, but now I'm even more stoked. Taxi hurdling? Right on! I was a little dismayed to see the rope wall, because I'm not sure how great that is going to go, but I'm hoping it's low enough that I can just jump up and pull myself over. Ropes, walls and I don't mix very well.
I think my other favorite thing is the scaffolding maze. I know my balance is good enough to make it through no problem, but it will still probably take like an hour because I'll be too stupid to figure out which way to go.
Don't I look good doing the marine hurdles? I think I need to cut my sideburns, though.
If you take some time to wander through the rest of the site, you'll see that they are having a big, free festival afterwards in Grant Park--where they give away more free stuff! Here's the math, Markus style: Free entry + free stuff = awesome. Definitely gets my seal of approval.
Perhaps this will further coerce you into coming out and supporting me on October 20th? Just askin'.
Check it out here.
Are you back? Good. So I have to say, I was excited about doing this, but now I'm even more stoked. Taxi hurdling? Right on! I was a little dismayed to see the rope wall, because I'm not sure how great that is going to go, but I'm hoping it's low enough that I can just jump up and pull myself over. Ropes, walls and I don't mix very well.
I think my other favorite thing is the scaffolding maze. I know my balance is good enough to make it through no problem, but it will still probably take like an hour because I'll be too stupid to figure out which way to go.
Don't I look good doing the marine hurdles? I think I need to cut my sideburns, though.
If you take some time to wander through the rest of the site, you'll see that they are having a big, free festival afterwards in Grant Park--where they give away more free stuff! Here's the math, Markus style: Free entry + free stuff = awesome. Definitely gets my seal of approval.
Perhaps this will further coerce you into coming out and supporting me on October 20th? Just askin'.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
My Neck! My Back! My Neck and My Back!
Have you ever had really bad neck pain?
I never had...until Wednesday, when I started to get this weird crick in my neck. And then it got progressively worse over the next two days, despite application of IcyHot (watch out folks), a couple back rubs from Eileen and trying really hard to have good posture. It didn't do anything.
My response to this neck pain (which was concentrated at the base of my neck and radiated out to my right shoulder) was typically male: I complained to my wife and begged her to make me feel better (if you asked her, she would readily admit that she was sick of my whining, and I can't say I blame her), and then decided that I must keep on training and ran 10 miles Friday morning, despite the pain. You would think it wouldn't have been a big deal because I was running, not crawling 10 miles using my neck and chin, but it was. I was okay at first but by mile 8 I was pretty much in agony and had to walk/run the rest of the way home. So dispiriting! But I guess I know not to do that again. Anyhow, as I assessed my reaction to said pain, I have to admit that it is typical of every stereotype that I have heard women spout about men who are sick--they are helpless, crying babies. And also probably a little stupid. (Ladies: can I get a witness?)
Anyhow, all the people I consulted about my neck problem said that it would just go away after about a week. But that was not happening for me because I don't think I could have gone another week with this pain, it was that bad. So I did something I never do--I took aspirin. I don't take aspirin for two reasons: 1) I don't like taking medicine at all, despite (or because of) the fact that I have to take anti-inflammatories every day for my Crohn's. 2) thinning your blood and potentially giving yourself ulcers (two side effects of aspirin) isn't the smartest thing to do when you are already bleeding enough down there. But I was desperate and went for it (note: I could have taken Tylenol, which doesn't have these side effects, but that would have only been a pain-reliever, not an anti-inflammatory, and I wanted to get both effects), and miraculously, my neck cleared by this morning. Isn't that crazy? Maybe it's the placebo effect, but I don't care. I have mild soreness when I turn my head to the left, but otherwise I'm right as rain.
So, the morals of this story are:
1) Don't take aspirin or related products if you have IBD
2) Take the time to rest if your body is actually telling you to
3) Be more sympathetic to your spouse's neck and back pain if they have any, because one day it's gonna get you, too.
I also think that everyone would benefit from better posture.
Oh, and this is the obligatory, periodic link to what I am doing on this site, for any newcomers. Welcome!
I never had...until Wednesday, when I started to get this weird crick in my neck. And then it got progressively worse over the next two days, despite application of IcyHot (watch out folks), a couple back rubs from Eileen and trying really hard to have good posture. It didn't do anything.
My response to this neck pain (which was concentrated at the base of my neck and radiated out to my right shoulder) was typically male: I complained to my wife and begged her to make me feel better (if you asked her, she would readily admit that she was sick of my whining, and I can't say I blame her), and then decided that I must keep on training and ran 10 miles Friday morning, despite the pain. You would think it wouldn't have been a big deal because I was running, not crawling 10 miles using my neck and chin, but it was. I was okay at first but by mile 8 I was pretty much in agony and had to walk/run the rest of the way home. So dispiriting! But I guess I know not to do that again. Anyhow, as I assessed my reaction to said pain, I have to admit that it is typical of every stereotype that I have heard women spout about men who are sick--they are helpless, crying babies. And also probably a little stupid. (Ladies: can I get a witness?)
Anyhow, all the people I consulted about my neck problem said that it would just go away after about a week. But that was not happening for me because I don't think I could have gone another week with this pain, it was that bad. So I did something I never do--I took aspirin. I don't take aspirin for two reasons: 1) I don't like taking medicine at all, despite (or because of) the fact that I have to take anti-inflammatories every day for my Crohn's. 2) thinning your blood and potentially giving yourself ulcers (two side effects of aspirin) isn't the smartest thing to do when you are already bleeding enough down there. But I was desperate and went for it (note: I could have taken Tylenol, which doesn't have these side effects, but that would have only been a pain-reliever, not an anti-inflammatory, and I wanted to get both effects), and miraculously, my neck cleared by this morning. Isn't that crazy? Maybe it's the placebo effect, but I don't care. I have mild soreness when I turn my head to the left, but otherwise I'm right as rain.
So, the morals of this story are:
1) Don't take aspirin or related products if you have IBD
2) Take the time to rest if your body is actually telling you to
3) Be more sympathetic to your spouse's neck and back pain if they have any, because one day it's gonna get you, too.
I also think that everyone would benefit from better posture.
Oh, and this is the obligatory, periodic link to what I am doing on this site, for any newcomers. Welcome!
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
A Request
I was appraising my blog and realized that nobody ever leaves me any comments/messages. Am I amusing? Irritating? Irreverent? Drop me a line and let me know what you are thinking! I'm one of those needy types looking for feedback. I'm also actively taking suggestions for what I should post about--do you want to know more about Crohn's, IBD, GIRF, med school, the Urbanathlon or anything else? Let me know and I'll try to address it.
You can always email me, too.
Thanks!
You can always email me, too.
Thanks!
80% Oxygen
Hiya!
I'm back from my MD/PhD Conference in Keystone, CO. It was a ton of fun, and very informative, too--always nice when you can share the research you have been doing and get some new ideas. Fortunately we had some free time to enjoy the surroundings as well.
My fellow MudPhud Kent and I made it out a little bit early to make sure that we would make it to the conference on time, and it's a good thing we took the precaution because everything was delayed on Thursday and Friday going east to west. Apparently, it's bad to fly in stormy weather. I know this has nothing to do with the purpose of this blog, but I just need to share how awful the morning that we flew out was. Here are the things that happened to me, in order: woke up to torrential rain, found front window leaking, went downstairs to leave and found basement flooding, tried to stop flooding by opening up drain, sliced finger open on metal drain cover, went to airport without precautionary tetanus shot (Eileen fixed me up in a jiff), boarded plane, stood on runway for 2.5 hours, gave up aisle seat to man so that he could sit next to his 5 year old son, got switched to middle seat with crying baby next to me instead. Could it possibly have been any worse?
Actually, no, it couldn't. So when we landed in Denver, I had a beer and realized that, in fact, I would not be training for the Urbanathon at any point that day. The rest of the day was actually lots of fun. And the story ends this way: I got a tetanus shot yesterday when we got back, and I'm not dead. Yay! (FYI: the symptoms of tetanus infection present themselves 5-15 days after initial infection. But my finger, despite its deep wound, never looked particularly infected to begin with, so Eileen assured me I would be OK).
So...in addition to engaging in some hardcore nerdness, I also found time to train while in Colorado. Can I just say that running at an altitude greater than a mile above sea level is really hard? I usually like to mix up my speed when I run, but I could just manage enough energy to plod along at a single pace at the Keystone Resort--especially because it was much more hilly than I am used to (also, see title of this post). But I definitely worked up a sweat! Needless to say, the huffing and puffing probably did me some good (running this morning felt pretty easy), and it was nice to have a change of scenery, too. Running along forests and over rivers is definitely a nice break from the regular (though scenic) Michigan Lakefront.
We also went on a hike to McCullough Gulch, somewhere outside Rocky Mountain National Park. Good times! It was advertised as an "intermediate" hike, but beyond a few stretches of steep elevation gain, it wasn't too bad. And it was cool--there was snow when we reached the top!
Unfortunately, the fitness center at the resort was under construction so I couldn't train for the in between stuff for the Urbanathlon. Hopefully my obstacle course scaling abilities haven't suffered too terribly for the lost time. Oh well.
Anyhoo, it's good to be back home and with my baby (don't get too excited, I'm talking about Eileen, not an actual child). It's hard to be away from your spouse for so long (plus Eileen had to work in the PICU the day after I got back. Bleh)! Don't people warn you about this stuff before you get married? Alas and alack, lessons to be learned...
And to Shnook: the Mile High Stadium is, in fact, NOT a mile high. Hehehe.
I'm back from my MD/PhD Conference in Keystone, CO. It was a ton of fun, and very informative, too--always nice when you can share the research you have been doing and get some new ideas. Fortunately we had some free time to enjoy the surroundings as well.
My fellow MudPhud Kent and I made it out a little bit early to make sure that we would make it to the conference on time, and it's a good thing we took the precaution because everything was delayed on Thursday and Friday going east to west. Apparently, it's bad to fly in stormy weather. I know this has nothing to do with the purpose of this blog, but I just need to share how awful the morning that we flew out was. Here are the things that happened to me, in order: woke up to torrential rain, found front window leaking, went downstairs to leave and found basement flooding, tried to stop flooding by opening up drain, sliced finger open on metal drain cover, went to airport without precautionary tetanus shot (Eileen fixed me up in a jiff), boarded plane, stood on runway for 2.5 hours, gave up aisle seat to man so that he could sit next to his 5 year old son, got switched to middle seat with crying baby next to me instead. Could it possibly have been any worse?
Actually, no, it couldn't. So when we landed in Denver, I had a beer and realized that, in fact, I would not be training for the Urbanathon at any point that day. The rest of the day was actually lots of fun. And the story ends this way: I got a tetanus shot yesterday when we got back, and I'm not dead. Yay! (FYI: the symptoms of tetanus infection present themselves 5-15 days after initial infection. But my finger, despite its deep wound, never looked particularly infected to begin with, so Eileen assured me I would be OK).
So...in addition to engaging in some hardcore nerdness, I also found time to train while in Colorado. Can I just say that running at an altitude greater than a mile above sea level is really hard? I usually like to mix up my speed when I run, but I could just manage enough energy to plod along at a single pace at the Keystone Resort--especially because it was much more hilly than I am used to (also, see title of this post). But I definitely worked up a sweat! Needless to say, the huffing and puffing probably did me some good (running this morning felt pretty easy), and it was nice to have a change of scenery, too. Running along forests and over rivers is definitely a nice break from the regular (though scenic) Michigan Lakefront.
We also went on a hike to McCullough Gulch, somewhere outside Rocky Mountain National Park. Good times! It was advertised as an "intermediate" hike, but beyond a few stretches of steep elevation gain, it wasn't too bad. And it was cool--there was snow when we reached the top!
Unfortunately, the fitness center at the resort was under construction so I couldn't train for the in between stuff for the Urbanathlon. Hopefully my obstacle course scaling abilities haven't suffered too terribly for the lost time. Oh well.
Anyhoo, it's good to be back home and with my baby (don't get too excited, I'm talking about Eileen, not an actual child). It's hard to be away from your spouse for so long (plus Eileen had to work in the PICU the day after I got back. Bleh)! Don't people warn you about this stuff before you get married? Alas and alack, lessons to be learned...
And to Shnook: the Mile High Stadium is, in fact, NOT a mile high. Hehehe.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Duty Calls...
I am going to the National MSTP conference in Keystone, CO until next Monday. So no blogging for a while. But training will continue, don't worry! I'm still going to rock the Urbanathlon (I think). Send me good vibes for a safe trip!
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Holla! (Vol. 2)
To continue the "Holla!" part of my website (where I talk about people who make my life with Crohn's easier), I am going to profile the one-and-only love of my life, my wife.
My wife, as regular readers of this blog know either first-hand or have intimated from previous posts, is named Eileen. Eileen and I met in medical school at the University of Chicago and completed our first two years of medical education together. After second year, Eileen went on to the clinic and finished up in 2006, when she became a doctor (or Suga Mama, M.D., to me. See picture above). She is currently in her second year as a Pediatrics resident at the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital, where she does an outstanding job taking care of sick kids, and comes home every night with a request to adopt a new baby. Having a child will happen someday, probably sooner than I think, but I would like to finish most of my medical education and have at least one degree before I am responsible for someone else.
Eileen is Korean. There's really no point to me telling you this, except that I think it's cool that we are both children of immigrants. I never thought that when I grew up I would create a Swiss/Korean alliance, but I think it's awesome. My mom thinks it's awesome, too, because she thinks half-white, half-Asian babies are super cute (she has placed a request for a granddaughter from us). And most people thinks it's awesome because they think Eileen is awesome. To the right is a picture of us from our wedding.
Here are some of the things that make Eileen awesome to me:
1) She is a total babe. If she were a president, she'd be Baberaham Lincoln.
2) She's really smart. She's a doctor!
3) She likes a lot of the same things that I do: traveling, eating, cooking, running and watching movies, to a name a few.
4) She's really clean. She has a tendency to leave York Peppermint Patty wrappers on our couch, but other than that our place is super neat and orderly, and she keeps me in line so that I don't turn the place into a mess (Mom would be proud).
Oh, this is supposed to be a Crohn's related post? Almost forgot it's not just me telling the world why I love my wife. So yeah, it's totally sweet that I was lucky enough to marry someone with these qualities, but the list as a whole is admittedly a little superficial.
Do I love my wife for other, deeper reasons? You betcha.
1) Whenever I am sick, she takes care of me. I don't get sick very often, but Eileen is always there to comfort me, to think of ways to make me better and to pick up the slack when I am too tired to do anything.
2) She doesn't make me feel bad about my Crohn's. I know this is kinda like, duh, because what kind of a spouse makes their significant other feel bad about having a chronic disease? But I have some unfortunate consequences of my Crohn's, including bad gas from time to time, and Eileen never makes me feel bad about it. My family has experienced this unfortunate side effect when we are home to visit, and their response is "Whoa! Eileen is a saint for putting up with that!" And she is. Amen.
3) She encourages me to be active and live a normal life.
4) She participates in my GIRF things...she was my training partner for the marathon, comes to our Associate's Board party and Dr. Rubin's patient education seminars, and encourages me to support a wonderful organization.
5) Most importantly: No matter what, she always makes me feel loved.
OK, we're heading into personal, cheesy territory, so I'm going to cut this post short. But I'm still going to leave a parting message (either heart-warming or gross, depending on your level of cynicism and tolerance for public displays of affection):
Eileen, marrying you was the best thing that ever happened to me. You are the love of my life and the reason I can approach each day with optimism and contentment. Thank you for always standing by my side. I love you.
Holla!
My wife, as regular readers of this blog know either first-hand or have intimated from previous posts, is named Eileen. Eileen and I met in medical school at the University of Chicago and completed our first two years of medical education together. After second year, Eileen went on to the clinic and finished up in 2006, when she became a doctor (or Suga Mama, M.D., to me. See picture above). She is currently in her second year as a Pediatrics resident at the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital, where she does an outstanding job taking care of sick kids, and comes home every night with a request to adopt a new baby. Having a child will happen someday, probably sooner than I think, but I would like to finish most of my medical education and have at least one degree before I am responsible for someone else.
Eileen is Korean. There's really no point to me telling you this, except that I think it's cool that we are both children of immigrants. I never thought that when I grew up I would create a Swiss/Korean alliance, but I think it's awesome. My mom thinks it's awesome, too, because she thinks half-white, half-Asian babies are super cute (she has placed a request for a granddaughter from us). And most people thinks it's awesome because they think Eileen is awesome. To the right is a picture of us from our wedding.
Here are some of the things that make Eileen awesome to me:
1) She is a total babe. If she were a president, she'd be Baberaham Lincoln.
2) She's really smart. She's a doctor!
3) She likes a lot of the same things that I do: traveling, eating, cooking, running and watching movies, to a name a few.
4) She's really clean. She has a tendency to leave York Peppermint Patty wrappers on our couch, but other than that our place is super neat and orderly, and she keeps me in line so that I don't turn the place into a mess (Mom would be proud).
Oh, this is supposed to be a Crohn's related post? Almost forgot it's not just me telling the world why I love my wife. So yeah, it's totally sweet that I was lucky enough to marry someone with these qualities, but the list as a whole is admittedly a little superficial.
Do I love my wife for other, deeper reasons? You betcha.
1) Whenever I am sick, she takes care of me. I don't get sick very often, but Eileen is always there to comfort me, to think of ways to make me better and to pick up the slack when I am too tired to do anything.
2) She doesn't make me feel bad about my Crohn's. I know this is kinda like, duh, because what kind of a spouse makes their significant other feel bad about having a chronic disease? But I have some unfortunate consequences of my Crohn's, including bad gas from time to time, and Eileen never makes me feel bad about it. My family has experienced this unfortunate side effect when we are home to visit, and their response is "Whoa! Eileen is a saint for putting up with that!" And she is. Amen.
3) She encourages me to be active and live a normal life.
4) She participates in my GIRF things...she was my training partner for the marathon, comes to our Associate's Board party and Dr. Rubin's patient education seminars, and encourages me to support a wonderful organization.
5) Most importantly: No matter what, she always makes me feel loved.
OK, we're heading into personal, cheesy territory, so I'm going to cut this post short. But I'm still going to leave a parting message (either heart-warming or gross, depending on your level of cynicism and tolerance for public displays of affection):
Eileen, marrying you was the best thing that ever happened to me. You are the love of my life and the reason I can approach each day with optimism and contentment. Thank you for always standing by my side. I love you.
Holla!
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Training: July 22, 2007
Today I ran 10 miles. I was excited because I have now broken into the double digits in terms of mileage, and I also felt really good the entire run. I think it took me about 1 hour 20 minutes (I don't know for sure because I don't run with a watch--it makes me hysterical and the run a little less fun, although I will probably start using one every now and then, just to push myself), so holding 8 minute miles for a training run is good, for me anyway.
Toward the end of my run, however, I was put in a dark mood. At mile 8 all of a sudden I hear this "whoa, whoa" behind me. My subconscious brain said to me "There is a biker behind you and he is about to run you over"...so I took a quick step to the right and narrowly avoided being bike roadkill. It was a little less dramatic than it sounds, but I was annoyed because 1) I almost suffered bodily harm and 2) why can't people realize that they aren't the only ones on the path? This gentleman (I'll be kind) was biking and jabbering his mouth off to the buddy with whom he was riding and neglected to pay attention to a small detail--the path in front of him. And more specifically, me running on the path in front of him. I'd say he at least had the presence of mind to make some noise so I knew he was behind me, but clearly he was just freaked out and that was what I heard. Hey, if I'm in your way, I'm all for stepping aside--bikes are faster than legs and it's easier to take a step to the side than to navigate a bike around someone. But warning would be nice.
To expunge my dark mood (actually, I felt better once I got home and went to church, but I'm sort of getting myself worked up again thinking about it), I'm going to list some Lakefront Path etiquette that would be nice for people to mind:
1) Watch where you're going. The world doesn't actually revolve around you, so don't expect that everyone will magically move out of your way (FYI: I need to remind myself of this more than I care to admit, too).
2) Stay on the right side of the path. The reason elementary schools tell kids to walk on the right side of the hall is so that they get used to being on the right side (for driving, for instance) for the rest of their lives.
3) If you need to cross the path (for instance, to get from a parking lot to the beach), look both ways before stepping onto it! The path is probably more dangerous than most major roads.
3b) This goes double for your kids. Please watch them, keep them in line, and remind them that the path is not a place for them to play.
4) If you are going to go for a run, please leave your Starbucks coffee at home. You wouldn't believe how many people I see doing this. Drinking a diuretic while you are running--ok, these people are mostly just walking kinda on the faster side, but they have better running gear on than I do--is not a good idea. Though caffeine may reduce muscle soreness after strenuous exercise . But the key word is AFTER (and "may." The study is probably too small to be meaningful).
5) If someone waves at you, or says good morning, be polite and at least nod your head in acknowledgement. The world's not all bad, is it?
Oh, my righteous indignation! Hey, the world's not perfect and I realize that everyone has their days. And I can do better with #1-5 myself. But if everyone just put forth a little more effort...ya know?
OK. I feel way better now.
Toward the end of my run, however, I was put in a dark mood. At mile 8 all of a sudden I hear this "whoa, whoa" behind me. My subconscious brain said to me "There is a biker behind you and he is about to run you over"...so I took a quick step to the right and narrowly avoided being bike roadkill. It was a little less dramatic than it sounds, but I was annoyed because 1) I almost suffered bodily harm and 2) why can't people realize that they aren't the only ones on the path? This gentleman (I'll be kind) was biking and jabbering his mouth off to the buddy with whom he was riding and neglected to pay attention to a small detail--the path in front of him. And more specifically, me running on the path in front of him. I'd say he at least had the presence of mind to make some noise so I knew he was behind me, but clearly he was just freaked out and that was what I heard. Hey, if I'm in your way, I'm all for stepping aside--bikes are faster than legs and it's easier to take a step to the side than to navigate a bike around someone. But warning would be nice.
To expunge my dark mood (actually, I felt better once I got home and went to church, but I'm sort of getting myself worked up again thinking about it), I'm going to list some Lakefront Path etiquette that would be nice for people to mind:
1) Watch where you're going. The world doesn't actually revolve around you, so don't expect that everyone will magically move out of your way (FYI: I need to remind myself of this more than I care to admit, too).
2) Stay on the right side of the path. The reason elementary schools tell kids to walk on the right side of the hall is so that they get used to being on the right side (for driving, for instance) for the rest of their lives.
3) If you need to cross the path (for instance, to get from a parking lot to the beach), look both ways before stepping onto it! The path is probably more dangerous than most major roads.
3b) This goes double for your kids. Please watch them, keep them in line, and remind them that the path is not a place for them to play.
4) If you are going to go for a run, please leave your Starbucks coffee at home. You wouldn't believe how many people I see doing this. Drinking a diuretic while you are running--ok, these people are mostly just walking kinda on the faster side, but they have better running gear on than I do--is not a good idea. Though caffeine may reduce muscle soreness after strenuous exercise . But the key word is AFTER (and "may." The study is probably too small to be meaningful).
5) If someone waves at you, or says good morning, be polite and at least nod your head in acknowledgement. The world's not all bad, is it?
Oh, my righteous indignation! Hey, the world's not perfect and I realize that everyone has their days. And I can do better with #1-5 myself. But if everyone just put forth a little more effort...ya know?
OK. I feel way better now.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Coming out of the Bathroom
One of the choices that everyone with IBD must make is how and when (if at all) to tell people of their condition. This can be a decision that makes IBD sufferers feel frustrated, ashamed, confused and in the end, hopefully relieved. But everyone has to decide for themselves how they want to "come out of the bathroom" to family, friends, co-workers, and love interests (aka future husbands and wives).
I decided for myself that I would just tell people straight up what was going on with me and my Crohn's. I'd like to say that it's only because I am super secure with myself and that I really just don't care what people think--if my IBD is too much of a problem, then I won't waste my time with them. But I think that mostly I am quick to disclose my condition because I can't be bothered coming up with excuses or having to deal with questions/whispers/etc. about why I have to go to the bathroom a lot or why I might suddenly lose a noticeable amount of weight.
Before I go on, I just want to make one thing clear: I'm a pretty open person in general, but it's not like when I meet someone I introduce myself and then say "Hey! I have Crohn's Disease, too!" I'm not a complete nutjob. What I'm referring to is informing people that I will (hopefully) have a longterm relationship with what the deal is upfront, so that we're all on the same page--whether it be a girlfriend, co-workers, etc. This has worked out pretty well for me. For instance, one of the biggest problems that I have with my Crohn's is that I have a lot of gas (or flatus, in medicalese). I know it's not the most polite thing to talk about, but imagine if you have to work around it! On certain days (it isn't that common) the people that I work with in lab should really be canonized for sainthood...but they know why I have the problems that I do and they deal with it and don't make me feel bad about it, loving me anyway (as well as plugging their noses. Again, sorry if I'm getting a little vivid).
In general, though, I think that people need to be more upfront about the condition that they have, instead of hiding it. This relieves them of their shame, and also helps educate others. As I alluded in an earlier post, the incidence of Crohn's and other forms of IBD is rising worldwide, and people need to be aware of it--in terms of making restrooms more available to IBD sufferers, being more compassionate when someone gets ill or needs to interrupt a meeting/get-together for an (all too frequent) bathroom break, etc. I think part of the problem is that our society has a big time hangup with anything remotely related to eating and processing food, so we don't like to talk about it. But that's exactly what we need to do.
Telling Eileen I had Crohn's was relatively easy because I think she knew it before we even started dating (I'll ask to make sure). I actually told my medschool class about my CD very early on, because it came out in a Clinical Skills class we had. We had to interview a "standardized patient", basically an actor who plays the part of someone with a disease. Well, this actor was supposed to have Crohn's Disease, and in my effort to NURS (Name, Understand, Respect, Support) this standardized patient, I mentioned that I had the disease too and so I could empathize with their difficulties. I wasn't sure I was supposed to do that (obviously it's all about the patient, not the doctor), but I went ahead and did it because I thought it would be a good discussion point for the class (we watched videos of our interviews together). Basically our class decided that it was okay to drop information like that as a physician if you are 1) comfortable doing so and 2) not making it all about your problems. Obviously it is helpful in engendering some doctor/patient trust. But, like all powerful tools, it must be used judiciously. Anyhow, this is a long way of saying that Eileen basically already knew that I had Crohn's and didn't care, which is good. I think in a way it has ended up making her love me more (if it's even possible!), because she will always have a very special way of taking care of me that nobody else can. :)
So, if you have IBD and are comfortable with it, tell the people who surround you every day about your condition. The more we talk about it, the less we have to be ashamed or worried about damaging consequences. If nothing else, it will make you feel better not to carry the burden of your disease alone. And I imagine you'll find (like I did) that if anything, most people want to go out of their way to help you.
On an only moderate tangent: I was reading Newsweek and found an interesting article about dating websites for people who have a medical condition and are worried about the "big reveal" concerning their problem. If you have CD or any other disease, have anxiety about telling potential girlfriends/boyfriends, but are still looking for love (and darn it, you should be), these might be places to start! Note, however, that I have no experience with either. I found my honey in medical school.
For people with Crohn's and Irritable Bowel Syndrome: http://www.irritatedbeingsingle.com
(Totally dig the punny name)
For people with medical conditions in general:
www.Prescription4Love.com
(I don't know about the name of this site; it sounds like a bad reality TV show. But hey, it's the intent, not the name, that counts)
I decided for myself that I would just tell people straight up what was going on with me and my Crohn's. I'd like to say that it's only because I am super secure with myself and that I really just don't care what people think--if my IBD is too much of a problem, then I won't waste my time with them. But I think that mostly I am quick to disclose my condition because I can't be bothered coming up with excuses or having to deal with questions/whispers/etc. about why I have to go to the bathroom a lot or why I might suddenly lose a noticeable amount of weight.
Before I go on, I just want to make one thing clear: I'm a pretty open person in general, but it's not like when I meet someone I introduce myself and then say "Hey! I have Crohn's Disease, too!" I'm not a complete nutjob. What I'm referring to is informing people that I will (hopefully) have a longterm relationship with what the deal is upfront, so that we're all on the same page--whether it be a girlfriend, co-workers, etc. This has worked out pretty well for me. For instance, one of the biggest problems that I have with my Crohn's is that I have a lot of gas (or flatus, in medicalese). I know it's not the most polite thing to talk about, but imagine if you have to work around it! On certain days (it isn't that common) the people that I work with in lab should really be canonized for sainthood...but they know why I have the problems that I do and they deal with it and don't make me feel bad about it, loving me anyway (as well as plugging their noses. Again, sorry if I'm getting a little vivid).
In general, though, I think that people need to be more upfront about the condition that they have, instead of hiding it. This relieves them of their shame, and also helps educate others. As I alluded in an earlier post, the incidence of Crohn's and other forms of IBD is rising worldwide, and people need to be aware of it--in terms of making restrooms more available to IBD sufferers, being more compassionate when someone gets ill or needs to interrupt a meeting/get-together for an (all too frequent) bathroom break, etc. I think part of the problem is that our society has a big time hangup with anything remotely related to eating and processing food, so we don't like to talk about it. But that's exactly what we need to do.
Telling Eileen I had Crohn's was relatively easy because I think she knew it before we even started dating (I'll ask to make sure). I actually told my medschool class about my CD very early on, because it came out in a Clinical Skills class we had. We had to interview a "standardized patient", basically an actor who plays the part of someone with a disease. Well, this actor was supposed to have Crohn's Disease, and in my effort to NURS (Name, Understand, Respect, Support) this standardized patient, I mentioned that I had the disease too and so I could empathize with their difficulties. I wasn't sure I was supposed to do that (obviously it's all about the patient, not the doctor), but I went ahead and did it because I thought it would be a good discussion point for the class (we watched videos of our interviews together). Basically our class decided that it was okay to drop information like that as a physician if you are 1) comfortable doing so and 2) not making it all about your problems. Obviously it is helpful in engendering some doctor/patient trust. But, like all powerful tools, it must be used judiciously. Anyhow, this is a long way of saying that Eileen basically already knew that I had Crohn's and didn't care, which is good. I think in a way it has ended up making her love me more (if it's even possible!), because she will always have a very special way of taking care of me that nobody else can. :)
So, if you have IBD and are comfortable with it, tell the people who surround you every day about your condition. The more we talk about it, the less we have to be ashamed or worried about damaging consequences. If nothing else, it will make you feel better not to carry the burden of your disease alone. And I imagine you'll find (like I did) that if anything, most people want to go out of their way to help you.
On an only moderate tangent: I was reading Newsweek and found an interesting article about dating websites for people who have a medical condition and are worried about the "big reveal" concerning their problem. If you have CD or any other disease, have anxiety about telling potential girlfriends/boyfriends, but are still looking for love (and darn it, you should be), these might be places to start! Note, however, that I have no experience with either. I found my honey in medical school.
For people with Crohn's and Irritable Bowel Syndrome: http://www.irritatedbeingsingle.com
(Totally dig the punny name)
For people with medical conditions in general:
www.Prescription4Love.com
(I don't know about the name of this site; it sounds like a bad reality TV show. But hey, it's the intent, not the name, that counts)
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Memories (Vol.1)
This is the part of my blog where I discuss a memory that is somehow Crohn's related (I have a bunch of good ones planned, so don't worry...these aren't going to be installations detailing the minutiae of my last trip to the gastroenterologist).
Today I'm going to start with a very happy memory: running the 2005 Chicago Marathon.
This "doing a sporting event to raise money for GIRF" thing is not new to me. In October 2005, Eileen and I ran the Chicago Marathon, and in the process I raised over $2000 for GIRF via donations from family and friends. An extra special thank you again needs to go to everyone who donated, but especially to my parents and their extensive network of friends (who, in essence, have served as my adoptive aunts and uncles since my extended family lives in Switzerland). You were all so generous, and I am still thankful for the support you gave me leading up to and on the day of the Marathon (and since)!
So, the Marathon was a really incredible experience. It was 26.2 miles through most Chicago neighborhoods, and it was such a great way to see the city. The coolest thing about the race was that you really got to see the different characters of Chicago neighborhoods. Running by the skyscrapers downtown, listening to techno music and seeing men in drag in Boystown, getting distracted by the traditional Mexican dancers in their bright-colored dresses in Pilsen, being offered sliced oranges from small kids in Chinatown--it was as though the city put all its (best) faces forward that day to support the runners and (especially at the end) help you fight through the pain (The picture above is taken at around mile 13, right smack in the middle of the Loop. That's Eileen in the lower right-hand corner).
The race itself went relatively well. Eileen and I had run up to 22 miles during our training, and we had been told (as marathon virgins) that our adrenaline would push us through the final 4.2 miles on race day. This basically held true for Eileen, but was an outright lie for me. At approximately mile 22, I thought that I was going to collapse. I stopped at every Gatorade station, held back my wife from finishing strong (I needed someone to throw me over their back and carry me in case I fell over) and just had a general sense of malaise for the last 45 minutes or so of the race. It's actually quite funny when you look at my times because we were holding about 7 min 30 second miles for the first 16 miles, and then they started creeping up to 8/8:30...and from 22 on it was all over 10 minutes/mile. In the end, I didn't care, because I crossed the finish line and did what I set out to do. And in case anyone was wondering, we finished the marathon in 3 hrs 49 minutes (Eileen beat me by a few seconds--which separated us by like 40 people in the standings(!)), but Eileen would have been even faster if I hadn't been the ol' ball and chain. Hey, that's the way love goes, folks!
When we finished, Eileen thought I didn't look so good--apparently I was even whiter than I normally am, with a nice tint of green to my complexion. But lots of food and water later, I felt better. However, I was left with one thing to ponder: what is up with the people who run 26.2 miles and then can head straight to the Miller truck to down free beers? That is some hardcore training, people.
The next week was pretty painful on the joints; my marathon-seasoned friend Holly told me that it would be much easier on my knees if I would walk backwards down the stairs, and boy was she ever right (keep this tidbit of info handy should you ever run a marathon)! Other than that, though, long-term pain was pretty minor.
Here are the lessons I learned from the marathon:
1) You can do anything if you decide you are going to. I had never run any sort of race before (I am, and always will be, a water baby), but I figured I might as well start with a marathon. It required a lot of training, a lot of early mornings, and a lot of convincing myself to get out of bed--but it was worth it. If you have a goal--to learn a language or to play an instrument, to run a marathon or fly a plane--go for it! You'll be glad you did.
2) Doing things with someone you love is a lot more fun. I never would have finished if I didn't have Eileen as a training and race partner.
3) Men need to put band-aids or athletic tape or some other similar substance over their nipples if they run long distances. Otherwise, they will bleed and be subject to infection (this happened to me).
4) Chicago is an even cooler city than I thought.
5) The world is full of extremely generous people (see the first part of this post).
When I think about my Marathon experience, it makes me even more excited for the Urbanathlon. I'm looking forward to another unforgettable day.
Monday, July 16, 2007
What Is Crohn's? (Part 2)
One of the most difficult things about dealing with Crohn's is that noone knows what causes it. If pressed, people give a hand-wavy answer, saying that it is the result of environmental influences inducing autoimmunity in someone with a genetic predisposition. In fact, a few genes have been identified that appear to be linked to developing Crohn's (they are mostly genes involved in intracellular signaling that senses bacteria). Actually, one of the first was discovered right here by one of our researchers in the U of C GI Section. Holla!
Beyond this, environmental factors definitely play a role: the incidence of Crohn's is on the rise throughout the world, and it is increasing primarily in industrialized countries, specifically in urban centers. Interestingly, Crohn's has also been linked to the advent of refrigeration--crazy, huh? So basically we might be too hygienic for our own good (Note: it's okay to worry about your kids and germs, but it's okay for them to go outside and play and eat dirt from time to time, too--advice from an Immunologist, not a doctor).
Anyhow, while I won't argue that genetics and the environment are both playing a role in Crohn's, that information alone doesn't help us much. For instance, when you get pink eye, you can basically narrow down the causes why (i.e. bacteria) and treat them (i.e antibiotic eye drops). When you get Crohn's, since we don't know exactly what the cause is, all we can really do is treat the symptoms (with anti-inflammatories, immunosuppressants, surgery). Obviously this is good, but not perfect for the long run ('cuz, ya know, you need your immune system for doing other good things)...and that's why I really want us to be able to figure out the cause of Crohn's (even if it's exceedingly complicated, which it probably is), and then work on the cure.
An interesting side note about Crohn's incidence is that it appears to be less prevalent in Asian populations (though incidence in Asia is also on the rise). Is it the importation of western culture in Asia (i.e. the fast food nation effect)? The rise of ultra-clean societies (Hello, Singapore!)? I don't know. Discuss! Anyhow, the reason I bring this up is because I'm hoping that, at least genetically, Asians are less susceptible to Crohn's Disease (and anyone with information on this, I would appreciate if you could fill me in). If so, when Eileen and I eventually have children, hopefully her good genes will overpower my own and our kids will be healthy and disease-free (yes, I also plan on letting them eat dirt--although incidentally, I played outside in a lake almost every day growing up, so that can't be the whole story for me).
Can you tell that I have been thinking about this extensively? I guess that when faced with the downsides of a chronic disease, I have found two things have helped me quite a bit: planning and controlling the things that I actually have control over (incidentally, I didn't marry Eileen because I thought she had superior, Crohn's-free genes; it was just a perk), and having a sense of humor about it all.
And in case you were wondering, my pink eye is gone.
Beyond this, environmental factors definitely play a role: the incidence of Crohn's is on the rise throughout the world, and it is increasing primarily in industrialized countries, specifically in urban centers. Interestingly, Crohn's has also been linked to the advent of refrigeration--crazy, huh? So basically we might be too hygienic for our own good (Note: it's okay to worry about your kids and germs, but it's okay for them to go outside and play and eat dirt from time to time, too--advice from an Immunologist, not a doctor).
Anyhow, while I won't argue that genetics and the environment are both playing a role in Crohn's, that information alone doesn't help us much. For instance, when you get pink eye, you can basically narrow down the causes why (i.e. bacteria) and treat them (i.e antibiotic eye drops). When you get Crohn's, since we don't know exactly what the cause is, all we can really do is treat the symptoms (with anti-inflammatories, immunosuppressants, surgery). Obviously this is good, but not perfect for the long run ('cuz, ya know, you need your immune system for doing other good things)...and that's why I really want us to be able to figure out the cause of Crohn's (even if it's exceedingly complicated, which it probably is), and then work on the cure.
An interesting side note about Crohn's incidence is that it appears to be less prevalent in Asian populations (though incidence in Asia is also on the rise). Is it the importation of western culture in Asia (i.e. the fast food nation effect)? The rise of ultra-clean societies (Hello, Singapore!)? I don't know. Discuss! Anyhow, the reason I bring this up is because I'm hoping that, at least genetically, Asians are less susceptible to Crohn's Disease (and anyone with information on this, I would appreciate if you could fill me in). If so, when Eileen and I eventually have children, hopefully her good genes will overpower my own and our kids will be healthy and disease-free (yes, I also plan on letting them eat dirt--although incidentally, I played outside in a lake almost every day growing up, so that can't be the whole story for me).
Can you tell that I have been thinking about this extensively? I guess that when faced with the downsides of a chronic disease, I have found two things have helped me quite a bit: planning and controlling the things that I actually have control over (incidentally, I didn't marry Eileen because I thought she had superior, Crohn's-free genes; it was just a perk), and having a sense of humor about it all.
And in case you were wondering, my pink eye is gone.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Come Party With Us!
October 20 will be a very exciting day. In addition to my Urbanathlon in the morning, our GIRF Associate's Board is having their annual fundraiser that Saturday night. This year we will be "Swinging Into Action with GIRF" at Harry Caray's Restaurant in downtown Chicago, and as always it should be an outstanding time--all you can eat, drink, and some of the coolest people in Chicago (including, but not limited to, Howard Grill and Scott Attar). Plus, we will have our perennial "fabulous silent auction" and raffle. Won't you consider joining us? Details in flyer above.
Note: If it seems like I'm coming on too strong with all this fundraising business, please consider this just a way of giving you options: support my Urbanathlon, come to the party and support GIRF that way, buy raffle tickets (you don' have to be at our party to win; we'll send you your prize)--I am thankful for any support you can give GIRF, and any means by which you want to express it!
THANK YOU!
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Training: July 12, 2007
There's getting to be a lot of posts on my blog, so I just want to remind everyone of what I am doing here.
Yesterday I did a 2-a-day. In the morning I went to the gym, and because my legs are still really sore I did all upper body stuff. This is good for me to help me overcome my issues, but it also reminded me that I am not particularly strong in the bench press. That's okay; I don't think the Urbanathlon requires me to lay on my back and push things up off my chest at any point during the race.
The morning was fine, and that was supposed to be it for the day, but then I remembered that I had to go and take care of Brooke and Kent (friends of mine)'s cat, Annabelle. They live about 25 minutes away by bike and it was a really nice night so I decided to bike up there instead of drive** (plus, it was a greener decision). So suddenly I had my second workout of the day, which I thought would be okay from time to time because that way it gets me used to exerting myself even when I might be a little bit tired (say, at mile 12 of a 13.1 mile race). Anyhow, it was kinda late when I got started and I didn't want to wear sunglasses while biking because biking in the dark with sunglasses on is probably not the smartest idea. It was also not the smartest idea to bike without something covering my eyes, however, because there are swarms of gnats all along the Lakeshore Drive bike path. It's kinda nasty. But even nastier is that some of these little buggers got in my eyes as I was biking. Yeah, gross. But even nastier than that is that this morning I woke up with (I think) pink eye (and crusties in my eyes)! So I think I got pink eye from Lakeshore gnats (question to any doctors reading this: is that even possible, or am I just having an anti-bug reaction in my eye?). So that was kinda a bummer. But I have eyedrops, so it's not getting me too down.
The moral of the story is: don't do your second workout (if you are even going to do one) too late at night. You get bugs in your eyes.
Plus, it's hard to fall asleep after exerting yourself.
**I actually had another, secret reason for wanting to bike. I think that bikers and sprinters have really cool calves, and I would like for mine to be bigger. I know, it's kinda weird but apparently I am not the only person who has this obsession. So that is a side goal of the Urbanathlon, in addition to raising money for GIRF--to have strong legs, and specifically, larger calves, by October 20. Two people I know who have really nice calves are Eileen (hey, don't begrudge a guy for marrying a woman with a nice set of legs) and my awesome friend Melanie, who has an insightful and amusing blog about being an expat in Singapore. Won't you keep her company, too?
Yesterday I did a 2-a-day. In the morning I went to the gym, and because my legs are still really sore I did all upper body stuff. This is good for me to help me overcome my issues, but it also reminded me that I am not particularly strong in the bench press. That's okay; I don't think the Urbanathlon requires me to lay on my back and push things up off my chest at any point during the race.
The morning was fine, and that was supposed to be it for the day, but then I remembered that I had to go and take care of Brooke and Kent (friends of mine)'s cat, Annabelle. They live about 25 minutes away by bike and it was a really nice night so I decided to bike up there instead of drive** (plus, it was a greener decision). So suddenly I had my second workout of the day, which I thought would be okay from time to time because that way it gets me used to exerting myself even when I might be a little bit tired (say, at mile 12 of a 13.1 mile race). Anyhow, it was kinda late when I got started and I didn't want to wear sunglasses while biking because biking in the dark with sunglasses on is probably not the smartest idea. It was also not the smartest idea to bike without something covering my eyes, however, because there are swarms of gnats all along the Lakeshore Drive bike path. It's kinda nasty. But even nastier is that some of these little buggers got in my eyes as I was biking. Yeah, gross. But even nastier than that is that this morning I woke up with (I think) pink eye (and crusties in my eyes)! So I think I got pink eye from Lakeshore gnats (question to any doctors reading this: is that even possible, or am I just having an anti-bug reaction in my eye?). So that was kinda a bummer. But I have eyedrops, so it's not getting me too down.
The moral of the story is: don't do your second workout (if you are even going to do one) too late at night. You get bugs in your eyes.
Plus, it's hard to fall asleep after exerting yourself.
**I actually had another, secret reason for wanting to bike. I think that bikers and sprinters have really cool calves, and I would like for mine to be bigger. I know, it's kinda weird but apparently I am not the only person who has this obsession. So that is a side goal of the Urbanathlon, in addition to raising money for GIRF--to have strong legs, and specifically, larger calves, by October 20. Two people I know who have really nice calves are Eileen (hey, don't begrudge a guy for marrying a woman with a nice set of legs) and my awesome friend Melanie, who has an insightful and amusing blog about being an expat in Singapore. Won't you keep her company, too?
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Holla! (Vol. 1)
This is the part of my blog where I give big shout-outs to people who help me manage my disease.
I'm going to start with my doctor, David Rubin.
I first met Dr. Rubin when I came to U of C oh so many years ago and the student care center randomly assigned me a GI specialist to go and visit. All the GI docs at U of C are great, but I still think I got super lucky when I got Dr. Rubin. From the beginning he has always provided me with excellent medical care, but seemed genuinely interested in me as a person, too. Maybe he's just really good at faking it, but it's always nice not to feel rushed out of the doctor's office.
Anyhow, Dr. Rubin has done many wonderful things for me, and I will just give you the highlights, because it would take up way too much space otherwise.
1) Anytime I start feeling a little flare-y or need a refill on my prescription, I can get a new script from Dr. Rubin very quickly (this point doubles as a shout out to Linda, his awesome nurse. You rule, Linda!).
2) One time I had a really nasty bacterial overgrowth in my GI tract and because I'm a guy I thought it would just go away. It didn't and the pain got borderline unbearable (I'm being a little dramatic here), so I called up the GI offices and Dr. Rubin saw me half an hour later. One course of Metronidazole and a couple days later I was good as new. Whew!
3) He got me started with GIRF, so they can thank (or perhaps more appropriately, blame) him for having me around. But I got a good deal out of that one.
4) He always does awesome patient outreach/education stuff where we can learn more about IBD. Learning + food + drinks = fun with a purpose!
5) I haven't flared in a while.
6) OK, this one is maybe a little fluff, but Eileen had secretly been coveting this Dean and Deluca spice rack for years, and he got it for us for our wedding. You could chalk this up to random coincidence, but it just goes to show you how well he knows his patients--he even knows what their spouses like!
6a) I actually have to amend the last point. I really think that the present was the result of Dr. Rubin's incredibly wonderful and beautiful and funny wife, Becky. But we know Becky because of David, so he still kinda gets props for the whole thing.
7) David was on Good Morning America talking about Ulcerative Colitis (another form of IBD). I tried finding a video on YouTube, but apparently it isn't available. Darn.
Whoa! Did you see me change from calling him Dr. Rubin to David? This has been a difficult transition for me. When I first met David, I was in my early 20s and my parents always raised me to never call people older than me by their first name. I called him Dr. Rubin for a long time. Now I'm almost 30, and I consider David to be a friend in addition to being my physician (plus I'm in grad school where we call everyone by their first name), so calling him Dr. Rubin feels a little weird. But I'm not really comfortable with David--something vestigial from my upbringing, I guess. I have solved the problem by just not calling him anything when we see each other (eye contact is very effective in letting someone know you are talking to them), and addressing emails to DTR (his initials)...that seems kinda cool, right? But I'm getting better because now I refer to him in the 3rd person as David. I think part of my hang-up might be that I am going to go back to medschool and I will have to call him Dr. Rubin again, anyway. So I might as well not get too comfortable.
Anyhow, David, Dr. Rubin, my #1 doctor--thank you for keeping me healthy! Holla!
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
What is Crohn's?
Crohn's Disease is a form of inflammatory bowel disease that can affect the entire digestive tract. It is an autoimmune disease where your blood cells are basically attacking your gut (or in my specific case, the terminal ileum--the end of my small intestine--and some spots here and there in my colon). So I guess that is the great irony of my life--I got accepted to graduate school for Immunology and a year later came down with an autoimmune disease. Hooray! Anyhow, if it seems like I am being flip or bitter, let me disabuse you of that notion...living with a chronic disease is no picnic, but everyone has their special challenges in life and I am happy that I have people helping me keep my disease under control. Yay Dr. Rubin and the U of C Gastroenterology Department! You guys are the best.
In any case, living with Crohn's can be a challenge, but as I have already alluded, when you have the best people taking care of you, it makes it easier. Fortunately my own experience with Crohn's has been a manageable one, as my condition has remained pretty mild. I was first diagnosed with Crohn's in 2001 and it came as quite a shock. I had no symptoms or any idea something was wrong; I just went to the bathroom and (I'm apologizing in advance here; trying to be as minimally graphic as possible) there was a lot of blood on the toilet paper. This, as a young man, was quite disturbing to me and so I freaked out, asked my mom what I should do, and she called our family friend Dr. Jim, a gastroenterologist near my childhood home outside Detroit. He saw me right away (thanks Dr. Jim!), a couple days later I had my first colonoscopy and then I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease.
Since that day, I have been on Asacol, an anti-inflammatory medicine for my gut, and every now and then I have to take some antibiotics because the bacteria in your digestive tract can get carried away sometimes when you have Crohn's. Occasionally I have some abdominal pain, but for the most part my condition has been well controlled. Crohn's flares have been anecdotally linked to stress, however, and I had a big flare around the time I took my first USMLE (doctor licensing) exam. I got pretty sick and had frequent fevers and lost a lot of weight. Fortunately, I still did really well on the exam so I hopefully remain an attractive candidate for residency programs. However, a lot of people have complications from their Crohn's Disease that are much worse than mine. Things like perforated bowels, fistulas (when one organ in your body makes an unnatural and unhealthy connection to another, or to the skin surface) and much worse pain can be common in many Crohn's patients, and often surgery is required to remove the damaged area of the intestine. This is not meant to be a downer, but it illustrates what I am trying to do here: not everyone has it as easy as I do with their Crohn's, and I want to help them out, too.
But it's not all gloom and doom. Here are some positive things to come out of my having an autoimmune disease:
1) I had a colonscopy before both of my parents. This was very helpful when I was trying to convince them to get a colonoscopy as a preventative screening measure for colon cancer (recommended for all people of a certain age...though I swear my parents are both well under 40. Really). I knew that it wasn't too bad, and important for their health. They both got it done--good job parents!
2) I have gotten to meet a lot of cool people. You know how when you are diagnosed with a chronic disease and then you find out that everyone either has that disease or knows someone with that disease? Oh wait, you probably don't. But nevertheless, it is true. I have met some truly amazing people through GIRF who are facing the same challenges that I am, and they are doing incredible things with their lives: scientists, architects, businessmen, lawyers, playing guitar for Pearl Jam (OK, so I didn't meet Mike McCready, but I still think it's awesome). It's really inspiring and I feel very fortunate to know these people, all because I was suddenly diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. I'll bet you know someone cool with IBD, too.
3) One day I can practice truthful empathy with my patients. Nothing makes you feel for a person with a difficult medical condition like being there yourself.
4) I've gotten a lot better about taking care of myself and eating well, not drinking too much, etc. Here's a pearl of wisdom for you: smoking makes Crohn's disease worse, so if you have CD and smoke, QUIT IT.
See? Having Crohn's Disease could be a whole lot worse.
In any case, living with Crohn's can be a challenge, but as I have already alluded, when you have the best people taking care of you, it makes it easier. Fortunately my own experience with Crohn's has been a manageable one, as my condition has remained pretty mild. I was first diagnosed with Crohn's in 2001 and it came as quite a shock. I had no symptoms or any idea something was wrong; I just went to the bathroom and (I'm apologizing in advance here; trying to be as minimally graphic as possible) there was a lot of blood on the toilet paper. This, as a young man, was quite disturbing to me and so I freaked out, asked my mom what I should do, and she called our family friend Dr. Jim, a gastroenterologist near my childhood home outside Detroit. He saw me right away (thanks Dr. Jim!), a couple days later I had my first colonoscopy and then I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease.
Since that day, I have been on Asacol, an anti-inflammatory medicine for my gut, and every now and then I have to take some antibiotics because the bacteria in your digestive tract can get carried away sometimes when you have Crohn's. Occasionally I have some abdominal pain, but for the most part my condition has been well controlled. Crohn's flares have been anecdotally linked to stress, however, and I had a big flare around the time I took my first USMLE (doctor licensing) exam. I got pretty sick and had frequent fevers and lost a lot of weight. Fortunately, I still did really well on the exam so I hopefully remain an attractive candidate for residency programs. However, a lot of people have complications from their Crohn's Disease that are much worse than mine. Things like perforated bowels, fistulas (when one organ in your body makes an unnatural and unhealthy connection to another, or to the skin surface) and much worse pain can be common in many Crohn's patients, and often surgery is required to remove the damaged area of the intestine. This is not meant to be a downer, but it illustrates what I am trying to do here: not everyone has it as easy as I do with their Crohn's, and I want to help them out, too.
But it's not all gloom and doom. Here are some positive things to come out of my having an autoimmune disease:
1) I had a colonscopy before both of my parents. This was very helpful when I was trying to convince them to get a colonoscopy as a preventative screening measure for colon cancer (recommended for all people of a certain age...though I swear my parents are both well under 40. Really). I knew that it wasn't too bad, and important for their health. They both got it done--good job parents!
2) I have gotten to meet a lot of cool people. You know how when you are diagnosed with a chronic disease and then you find out that everyone either has that disease or knows someone with that disease? Oh wait, you probably don't. But nevertheless, it is true. I have met some truly amazing people through GIRF who are facing the same challenges that I am, and they are doing incredible things with their lives: scientists, architects, businessmen, lawyers, playing guitar for Pearl Jam (OK, so I didn't meet Mike McCready, but I still think it's awesome). It's really inspiring and I feel very fortunate to know these people, all because I was suddenly diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. I'll bet you know someone cool with IBD, too.
3) One day I can practice truthful empathy with my patients. Nothing makes you feel for a person with a difficult medical condition like being there yourself.
4) I've gotten a lot better about taking care of myself and eating well, not drinking too much, etc. Here's a pearl of wisdom for you: smoking makes Crohn's disease worse, so if you have CD and smoke, QUIT IT.
See? Having Crohn's Disease could be a whole lot worse.
Monday, July 9, 2007
Training: July 9, 2007
I think I mentioned that the Urbanathlon is meant to test more than just my running endurance...I actually have to be able to throw my weight around in interesting (and currently, unknown) ways. They had the first Urbanathlon last year in New York City, and from what I can gather on the website, there was a lot of climbing through contraptions and stair running. However, the thing that terrifies me is the rope climb and peg board. Because I was unathletic as a kid and pre-teen, I have a mortal fear of all things that test your upper body strength...my history with such activities is traumatizing, at best. But it's been a long time since 7th grade and the last time I attempted a rope climb, so I'm hoping for better results should I be faced with such a challenge on October 20 (hopefully years of swimming in the interim will help).
Anyhow, to protect myself from humiliation as much as possible, I have been hitting the gym extra hard to boost my strength. So far I have been using a training program from Men's Health magazine (but not the one they have on the Urbanathlon website--I'm saving that for when the date is closer). Basically today I had to do quite a few sets of barbell shoulder presses and deadlifts. I can't say that I have extensive powerlifting experience in my past, so the deadlifts were a bit of a challenge. Especially since I did 10 sets. It is now about 12 hours since I finished my workout and my back is already quite sore (though, incidentally, the lactic acid pain in my abdominal area is still preferential to the pain associated with a Crohn's flare, so I should really stop complaining). I guess I should have thought of the history of bad backs and hernias that run in my family (thanks, Paps!). But the other thing my folks gave me along with their genes was stubborn determination (thanks again!...this time note the absence of sarcasm). It's just another hurdle to prepare me for a successful Urbanathlon.
And to all concerned for my well-being...I promise I won't push myself to the point of breaking something. :)
Anyhow, to protect myself from humiliation as much as possible, I have been hitting the gym extra hard to boost my strength. So far I have been using a training program from Men's Health magazine (but not the one they have on the Urbanathlon website--I'm saving that for when the date is closer). Basically today I had to do quite a few sets of barbell shoulder presses and deadlifts. I can't say that I have extensive powerlifting experience in my past, so the deadlifts were a bit of a challenge. Especially since I did 10 sets. It is now about 12 hours since I finished my workout and my back is already quite sore (though, incidentally, the lactic acid pain in my abdominal area is still preferential to the pain associated with a Crohn's flare, so I should really stop complaining). I guess I should have thought of the history of bad backs and hernias that run in my family (thanks, Paps!). But the other thing my folks gave me along with their genes was stubborn determination (thanks again!...this time note the absence of sarcasm). It's just another hurdle to prepare me for a successful Urbanathlon.
And to all concerned for my well-being...I promise I won't push myself to the point of breaking something. :)
Friday, July 6, 2007
Training: July 6, 2007
Today I went for an 8 mile run. It's a little bit far, but also only 2/3 of the distance I'll be running come race day, so....um, still a long way to go. The thing is, my legs really hurt because Eileen tricked me into running a 10K on the 4th of July. I say tricked not because I didn't know I was running it, but rather because I didn't realize the course was all hills. I know, I know...Chicago is pretty flat. I, too, lulled myself into complacency regarding this fact. But the suburbs can get pretty hilly, especially if you are running up and down them for over 6 miles (funny, in a car they don't seem nearly as bad). Anyhow, I finished and did reasonably well (43 minutes and some seconds), but I thought I might have a heart attack by the time I was done (again, returning to the theme of a LOOOOONG way to go). And two days later my body still hurt. But I pushed through the pain! So now I'm going to take a day off. 'Cuz, ya know, the race is still over three months away, and I want to keep myself fresh.
Won't You Help Me?
Do you think what I'm doing is cool and want to lend a hand? Or perhaps you have a friend or loved one (besides me) that has IBD or another GI disease and in their honor would like to support a group of people who are working towards cures? If you are inspired by someone (or if you have other reasons...hey, I'm not askin'), please consider making a donation to GIRF on their behalf. Any amount is welcome and greatly appreciated--every little bit helps! I know that through research in basic and clinically applied science, we will find lasting cures for a variety of digestive disorders (work that I might contribute to myself, once I finally finish school--only 50 more years to go!). So much work has already been accomplished, and this is a way to keep making progress.
If you would like to support my Urbanathlon efforts and help GIRF in the process, please make a pledge and send it to GIRF at the following address:
GIRF Associates Board
70 East Lake St.
Suite 1015
Chicago, IL 60601
All checks should be made payable to GIRF Associates Board (the Gastro-Intestinal Research Foundation is an Illinois registered non-profit organization ----- Federal Tax ID Number: 36-6108156).
(P.S. If you can include my name in the memo line, I'd appreciate it...that way our folks know that I'm pulling my weight within the organization).
Or if you would like to make a donation more directly, please call the GIRF office at 312-332-1350.
Thank you for considering supporting me and GIRF!
If you would like to support my Urbanathlon efforts and help GIRF in the process, please make a pledge and send it to GIRF at the following address:
GIRF Associates Board
70 East Lake St.
Suite 1015
Chicago, IL 60601
All checks should be made payable to GIRF Associates Board (the Gastro-Intestinal Research Foundation is an Illinois registered non-profit organization ----- Federal Tax ID Number: 36-6108156).
(P.S. If you can include my name in the memo line, I'd appreciate it...that way our folks know that I'm pulling my weight within the organization).
Or if you would like to make a donation more directly, please call the GIRF office at 312-332-1350.
Thank you for considering supporting me and GIRF!
Get Your Urban On.
In 2005, Eileen and I ran the Chicago Marathon together, and in the process I was able to raise over $2000 for GIRF--dollars that in turn went directly to funding research into digestive disorders at U of C. Running the Chicago Marathon was an unforgettable and rewarding experience, but I wanted to challenge myself in other ways in 2007. As a result, I have been training for the 1st annual Chicago Urbanathlon, sponsored by Men’s Health magazine and taking place on October 20, 2007. This is essentially a half-marathon with a number of stops along the way to test your fitness. Obstacle courses, running the stairs at Soldier Field and other challenges will test my strength and agility in addition to my endurance as a runner. To be honest, I am a little clueless as to how this is all going to work...but I am excited for the challenge and another opportunity to prove that people living with chronic intestinal diseases don’t have to live a compromised life (they can be big and strong, too)!
Won't you join me? For info and Urbanathlon registration, click here.
Won't you join me? For info and Urbanathlon registration, click here.
What is GIRF?
GIRF is the Gastro-Intestinal Research Foundation, a group of individuals (both patients and friends) who support research on the causes and cures of digestive diseases. GIRF was founded in 1967 and raises money to provide funding for equipment, laboratories and the support of investigators and young physicians in the University of Chicago Gastroenterology Section. The GI section at U of C (where I’m also in medical school) is a group of full-time dedicated doctors who seek solutions to a variety of gastrointestinal illnesses that affect the esophagus, the stomach, the small and large intestines, the liver, the gallbladder, and the pancreas. U of C Hospitals is one of the premiere centers for the treatment of IBD in the United States; in the US News 2006 rankings of best hospitals, the GI unit as a whole was ranked 6th nationally. As a member of the GIRF Associates Board (composed of the young adults involved with GIRF), I help to raise money that specifically supports the research of first-year GI fellows. In addition to assisting gastroenterologists at U of C, we also seek to promote the education of the general public regarding issues of digestive health. Click here for more info.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Let the training begin!
Thanks for visiting the blog. I think I'm a good five years late to the phenomenon, but I wanted to get the word out about a great and noble cause (not that I'm biased or anything). Also, I wanted to document the experience of one guy with a chronic disease (Crohn's Disease, an inflammatory bowel disease) who is still living a normal life. Many people in the United States and around the world have debilitating autoimmune diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and the incidence is increasing. But that shouldn't keep us from leading fulfilling lives without limits! Especially for younger folks who might have recently been diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn's Disease, I hope that this site can inspire you to work hard to achieve your future goals, regardless of what extra obstacles we have to overcome.
But the main thing I'm trying to do is...raise money. I will be participating in the 2007 Men's Health Urbanathlon in Chicago on October 20, 2007. I am seeking sponsorship/donations to the Gastroinstestinal Research Foundation (GIRF) at the University of Chicago to fund research into the causes and cures of a variety of GI-related diseases. If you are inspired by what I am doing here, please consider donating to a cause very close to my heart--I want to take care of the doctors who take care of me. And in the process, take care of a whole lot of other people with diseases like Crohn's.
Check back and I'll have more information about what I'm doing, how I am preparing for the Urbanathlon, more information about GIRF and how you can donate, and maybe every now and then some personal anecdotes about life with Crohn's Disease.
Thanks for your support!
But the main thing I'm trying to do is...raise money. I will be participating in the 2007 Men's Health Urbanathlon in Chicago on October 20, 2007. I am seeking sponsorship/donations to the Gastroinstestinal Research Foundation (GIRF) at the University of Chicago to fund research into the causes and cures of a variety of GI-related diseases. If you are inspired by what I am doing here, please consider donating to a cause very close to my heart--I want to take care of the doctors who take care of me. And in the process, take care of a whole lot of other people with diseases like Crohn's.
Check back and I'll have more information about what I'm doing, how I am preparing for the Urbanathlon, more information about GIRF and how you can donate, and maybe every now and then some personal anecdotes about life with Crohn's Disease.
Thanks for your support!
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