I dedicate each mile I run to....

It's just not Thanksgiving in Austin without the Turkey Trot.  This year was the 20th year.  Austin is a very healthy type of city and for this I love it.  Usually most turkey Trots in other cities are a 3 mile 5k but not Austin. It has to be five miles.  Running and I broke up for a while but now we are so very happily reunited and so I ran the Turkey Trot for a few reasons.  I needed to know that I could still run like I did before my Pulmonary Embolism.  I truly really love running and I wanted to burn off a large amount of calories prior to Thanksgiving dinner.  I decided that each mile should have a meaning or a dedication of sorts.  So here is what each mile meant to me.

Mile 1-  This was for my recovery in the first two months.  I couldn't walk up a flight of stairs without getting winded but it was OK because I was still around to get winded.

Mile 2- This mile was dedicated to the next two months.  I realized I was stronger than I ever thought possible and I resumed something that I vowed to finish and I did.

Mile 3- This mile was dedicated to all the people that supported me throughout my recovery.  It was rough and I couldn't of made without the great support that I have had

Mile 4- This mile was dedicated to all of the newly created  goals that I will conquer.  Before Everything happened I would never have aimed as high or dreamed as big as I do now.  Strength will do that to a person

Mile 5- Well this is the most important one.  I ran this mile the fastest and hardest.  I dedicated it to all  the people that didn't get as lucky as I did and did not survive there blood clots.  I owed  it to all those people who countless stories exist.  This is why it was my fastest  and best mile to date.  I am truly blessed.  It was my best Turkey Trot run because I am here and I get to run.

My Adventures In Advanced Revelation Fit Boot Camp Day 1

I woke up bright and early today to attend boot camp.  I will be attending on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.  I was so excited even at 6:00 AM in the morning.  I worked out with a group of great  ladies.  I like working out in a group setting.  I find it to be very motivating.  The workout was hard but Coach Michelle the boot camp instructor  made it a lot of fun.  The workout was composed of weights and cardio.  My favorite move of the morning was the "dead bug" exercise for your abs.  I truly felt like a dead bug by that point so the move was funny to me. We lifted some heavy weights but Michelle was great when she got me a smaller weight but not to much smaller.  I took a few weeks off for some much needed rest so now I am working my way back into weight training.  The positive for me is that I must be extremely careful to not hit my head because of the Coumaden that I take so I feel much more safe and comfortable with someone there to instruct me on form.  I can't wait to see how I progress the next few weeks without feeling scared to lift heavy. I have realized that everyone needs a little help sometimes.  I am already sore and I can't wait to do it all over again.

Texas Shredder April 2011 Training Has Begun!!

Yes I am officially announcing that I have started training for The Texas Shredder Bikini Competition.  I was looking for an awesome way to celebrate my one year anniversary of my Pulmonary Embolism.  The Texas Shredder is just a few days shy of that one year anniversary.  I thought about pretending that it never happened but that would make everything I have been through worth nothing.  So I embrace it and I am more strong than before it happened.  It makes me work harder everyday and for that I am eternally grateful.  I was always a sucker for a good before and after story.  Stay tuned for my training updates.

Yes Recovery

I get a lot of questions about recovery after my Pulmonary Embolism so here is some information on my personal experience with recovery.  When my blood clots first initially happened I could find little to no information on recovery.  This was frustrating.  I wanted to know when the pain would stop and when I could work out again.  After fully researching what had happened to me I came to grips with the fact that it could be a while.  The thing about recovery is that it really is so specific to each individual.  So this is the story of my recovery...

I am now five months out.  My blood clots happened on May 3rd.  Today I truly can say that I feel great but the first few months I did not feel so great.  I was in really good shape when it happened to me and I do believe that my good health had a lot to do with a fairly quick recovery.  The first three weeks I was in an abundance of pain but I had some great pain medicine to help me out.  The other hard part was that I began taking coumaden in the hospital and it took several months for my body to get used to this.  Now I can hardly tell that I am taking it.  In the beginning coumaden made me very tired, dizzy and it seemed hard to carry on an intelligent conversation but over time these side effects have gone away.  I slept a lot in the beginning and at first this was really hard for me to do.  It took three weeks before I could lay flat again due to the pain.  I sleep on my back so when I could lay flat I slept for days.  My best recommendation is to take all the time you need to rest and recover.  I pushed it a lot and would do to much and then it would take several days for me to recover.  I did start to workout after three weeks but nothing hard core.  I eased my way into it and worked form there.  I ran a 5k six weeks later but I am a half marathon runner so I am trained to do this.  My 5k was not the fastest race I have ever ran but its my best race because I able to do it.

I had very slight asthma prior to the blood clots but after this happened it became severe.  The shortness of breath did not go away until mid August.  I worked out a lot because this was the only time I did not have shortness of breath.  My body was actually doing what it was supposed to by helping me breath when I was working out.  This may not actually work for everybody.  I think working out distracted me from the shortness of breath and made feel strong.

I traveled by plane for the first time in July.  I went to Jamaica on a 4 hour plane ride.  I really do not recommend this as the cabin air and humidity was very irritating to my asthma but I kept my inhaler with me at all times and had a great vacation.  Today I have not used my inhaler since August 1st and I have no shortness of breath.  My energy levels are back but just in the last few weeks.  I still take some naps here and there.  Naps are a good thing.  I work out five to six days a week and I can finally say that I am back to 100%.  If you are reading this and recovering from a Pulmonary Embolism, it does get better so hang in there.

The Day It All Changed

May 3rd 2010 was the day everything changed for me.  After being in excruciating pain for most of the night I went to the doctors office where after many test and one CT Scan later it was established at the age of 34 that I had a Bilateral Pulmonary Embolism in my heart and lungs.  I missed the symptoms a few weeks prior.  I had a swollen and sore calf for five days but I was a runner so I assumed it was a injury from one of my many runs.  The pain in my leg did go away but three weeks later the blood clot had traveled to my heart and lungs.  Ironically the day before it happened I felt amazing.  After being in the hospital genetic testing showed that I tested positive for two genes called G20210A and Factor V Leiden Mutations.  This is called a genetic blood clotting disorder.  My condition was aggrevated by 20 years of taking estrogen in the form of birth control pills.  So May 3rd I was put on a blood thinner called coumaden for the rest of my life.  This blog is about my daily adventures with coumaden and all the things that come along with it.  Its also about my recovery.  The one thing that I found when I was researching my recovery is that there is not a lot of information about what you are supposed to feel like and what you can expect.  So this blog is about my recovery and my daily adventures and shenanigans.  While everybody is different this is my story and my experiences that I want to share  in hopes of helping other people to not be scared and to know that its going to be OK.