The Physical Challenge: Week 11

Training Days: 3     (To Date: 40)

Rest Days: 4    (To Date: 37)

Weight: 150.5     (Net Gain/Loss: -9.5)

Running Days: 3     (To Date: 30)

Running Miles Logged: 33.4     (To Date: 279.4)

Average Run: 11.1     (Short = 4.6, Long = 22.1)

Cross-Training: None

Patience.  When you’re talking about a 50-mile race, the virtue of patience definitely applies.  You’re not going to sprint 50 miles.  It’s not going to be over quickly.  You can’t be in a hurry or a rush.  In other words, you have to be patient; content with the fact that the miles will tick by relatively slowly, stride by stride, hour by hour.  In this sense, reaching the finish line and the end of the race involves a good bit of anticipatory waiting.  You know it’s coming, but it’s not here yet.

During Week 11, that same paragraph could be said to describe life here in the Bronski household.  We’re imminently awaiting the arrival of our second child.  We thought she might arrive last weekend, but didn’t.  Then we waited all week, and nothing.  Then this immediate past weekend came and went.  Patience.  Anticipatory waiting.  We know she’s coming, but she’s not here yet.  (Though hopefully will be soon!)

It’s helpful, too, to bring a good bit of patience to the gluten-free lifestyle, especially when newly diagnosed.  You likely won’t get better overnight.  It will take time for your body to heal.  There may be setbacks, when you’re unintentionally exposed to gluten.  You’ll have to learn where gluten hides in supermarket foods, and have more than one conversation with a server at a restaurant.  Through all of it, patience will make the process much better.  And remember, with patience comes anticipatory waiting.  You might not be fully healthy…yet, but you’ll get better.  That finish line is coming.  Stick to your training; stick to your gluten-free diet.

Speaking of the nexus of gluten-free and training, this week, huge thanks go out to Debra S., Daniel S. (no relation), Amber W., Peggy G., Joan Z., and Nancy M. for your generous donations to the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness!  With your help, I’ve now raised $1,135, which brings me to 23% of my goal of raising $5,010 for the NFCA.  If you’re reading this and haven’t made a donation, I’d greatly appreciate your support.  Please check out my fundraising page and consider making a donation.  If you’re debating whether or not to support the great work of the NFCA, consider this: a recent Mayo Clinic study looked at Celiac Disease in the 1950s in the United States.  Researchers found that people with undiagnosed Celiac Disease (and hence, who were not on a gluten-free diet) were 4 times more likely to have died in the decades following, compared to healthy members of the “normal” population.  To think…with better awareness and better diagnosis, many of those deaths could have been prevented.  That’s where the work of the NFCA comes in.

– Pete