Well, today marks the start of a new year of running. Of course, there was only a 1/4 mile of running today, but I walked 2.25 miles at a brisk pace for 2.5 total. My coach was happy to see me back and it was great to see some familiar faces from the program.
This time around, I have my mom with me. She did great today and as we continue, she'll be running in no time!
My short term goal is to run this race in May: http://www.celiacwalk.org/ Mom, my sister and I were all diagnosed with celiac disease in October and it's a great way to combine running with raising awareness for a cause that has become near and dear to our hearts. Plus, it looks like there are great sponsors that are going to be there!
I figured out that we probably had celiac disease in the end of September (thanks to the wonderousness of Google and a random message board posting about celiac in a South Beach Diet forum I read), My mom spoke to a gastroenterologist about us who agreed that we needed to be tested. We had that done, and mom and I were diagnosed on October 2. I met this diagnosis with a mix of devastation and excitement. I had been overweight and despite my running over the summer, I couldn't lose the weight no matter what I did. I went gluten free starting with lunch that day and I haven't looked back. I spent most of October crying in the grocery store as I struggled with learning the diet and reading labels and looking longingly at the things I used to eat but couldn't anymore. Almost immediately, I started to feel better and my GI tract was normalizing. Amazingly, the pounds started to melt away. I read in Gluten Free for Dummies that overweight celiacs tend to drop weight as they go gluten free. To date, I've lost almost 25 lbs. I eat a lot too! And thank God that M&Ms are gluten free!
As devastated as I was, I was excited because I finally figured out why I always felt so gross. I truly have never felt better in the months since going GF. I still struggle occasionally, but it's much easier. I have figured out the best way to eat when I eat out, and I even found a great Chinese restaruant who will cook gluten free for us. They even keep gluten free soy sauce on hand!
As I restart this blog, I think I am going to shape it as a blog that addresses both my running and my gluten free-ness...what do you think?
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