Running - my Team Bangs progress

One of the things I love about this journey I am on with the Team Bangs On the Run project is the personal challenge every time I have a run in my training schedule to get out there, to do it.

Take today, for example.

50 is the new 20. And 30. And 40...

So lovely people, readers of the Dexterous Diva will know of my journey with endometriosis. I don't want to use the word "struggle" as it evokes a negative image of something overcoming me, when I am doing my best to maintain a sense of equilibrium with it - facing the beast square in the eyes if you will.

Not a lot of people know this...

....but sometimes, when my endo causes my stomach to be bloated I literally cannot walk.

A run speaks for so much - Team Bangs 2 and why

I first discovered running when I was 18.

My mate Ben would come and throw stones at my bedroom window at 6.30am to wake me up, fag in hand, an image my mum still holds dear. We would jog around a local park, splutter and cough our way back, but I discovered for the first time how beautiful it is in the morning before the world awakes. I learnt that there is a time zone that exists only for those who rise with the birds and that I rather liked it. That, and the undiscovered muscles I remember talking about in the common room, which we thought sounded like a good band name.

The F word

One would have thought, dear readers of my blog, that I would be wise to it by now.

One would imagine that I would re-read my posts, check through my diary, and say "ah, last month at this part of my cycle I was in bed for 2 days, so I shall therefore be prepared".

No. The f word comes to bite every month, without fail, and I am always annoyed by it.

Fatigue.

Immense, all-consuming exhaustion. Bone aching, head to toe, marrow-draining tiredness. The kind that rest and sleep don't quench; this is a body in pain, an inner dis-ease of dis-order, the kind that reminds me that ease and order are, for the moment, a million miles away.

This kind of fatigue is non-negotiable, calendar gate crashing and whole-heartedly shit. I have a life to live, children to play with, work to do, runs to train for, but no - endometriosis says I must be in bed, dreaming with the familiar hallucinations of white-hot pain.

Nudge me in a month's time. I always forget.

 

An unattractive truth

In my continuing quest to raise awareness of endometriosis, my main weapon is quite simple.

Talk about it.

Roooooooar - rest, rework and the raw update

So, dear readers. Its day 5 of the raw kickstart programme and how am I doing?

Dealing with disruption

One of the biggest factors, for me, in dealing with a chronic illness is the life disruption factor on a daily basis.

The pain, fatigue, self image issues, emotional rollercoaster and depression are all massive players in the life of an endo girl, but the very fact you can't PLAN anything without knowing full well that pain may be hideous that day is a very difficult one to deal with.

Day 1 - Polly Nobles 7 day kickstart and my raw reservations

[caption id="attachment_1085" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="The fabulous Polly Noble"][/caption]

 

As regular Dexterous Diva readers know, I have dabbled with the raw food lifestyle on and off to deal with the chronic, life changing symptoms of endometriosis.