I guess I’m just not happy unless I’m doing something stupid (or as I prefer to call it, epic) to write about.
I have been in love with the idea of ultrarunning for a long time and I thought that was where my running ws headed. Then I was diagnosed with Lyme disease. So much suddenly made sense. In the last five years my life has become a Lyme disease symptom checklist: fatigue, headache, irritability, insomnia, depression, hot flashes, memory loss, joint pain, neuropathy, etc. I knew something was wrong with me but test after test came back negative. I thought I was having the worlds worst case of menopause and I seriously considered that I might be losing my mind because I was so not me.
At first I was thrilled. I figured that I would do my course of antibiotics and then I would be myself again. And it worked! But only for three weeks. For three glorious weeks I could think, I had energy, I wasn’t irritated and angry at everything and then the Lyme was back.
My new project needed to be something stupid (epic) enough to jolt me out of the escalating stasis I have been inhabiting. I’m 55 and running out of time to do all the questionable things on my bucket list. In ultrarunning it is a tradition to get a buckle after completing a 100 mile race. Can you see where I’m going with this?
Yep – my new blog is called Buckle Up Buttercup because it will be, mostly, about my quest to get a 100 mile buckle in one year. I know that it is not possible to meet cutoffs in even the flattest, least technical race because I am a slow runner, so I had to get creative. I found a race called Across the Years that has a 24 hour, 48 hour, 72 hour, and 6 day race. Anyone completing 100 miles in any time frame gets a buckle.
So here is the plan. Me and Tim are doing the 24 hour race, December 29th, mostly as recon. Then next December we will go back and do either the 48 or 72 hour race. Tim wants to try for a 100 mile buckle as well. Yay – I love it when Tim wants to do stupid (epic) things with me. We plan to do a lot of hiking and a few races to train. I plan to use this blog for race reports as well as for general advice about running with Lyme disease. I will also share some easy gluten free recipes. This time next year I hope to be writing the race report about getting my 100 mile buckle but even if things don’t go as planned it should be an interesting journey.
As of this post we have finished our 24 hour race and my race report will be out next week.
Please leave a comment (I love comments) or ask a question about Lyme, or anything else. Except math – I’m terrible at math questions.
Hooooo! More race reports! Also, we’ll need signup sheets for support crew for your ultra runs! I do have a lyme question — did you ever remember seeing the typical bite mark they say to look for? I suspect more people have it than they realize, just because we were looking for a bullseye.
I’m working on that race report right now. We would love it if you could crew for us next year. Even better do the race with us. We plan to rent camper so there will be a place to sleep and lots of food. Your duties as crew would include making hot chocolate during the night and yelling,” suck it up buttercup “ when I start complaining. I’m not sure what Tim would need. It would seriously be so awesome to have you there.
I don’t ever remember seeing the typical bullseye rash. There are two tests that I did to check for Lyme. I did the Eliza test which is less accurate but covered by insurance and the Western Blot that was over $300 and not covered. They were both clearly positive. I , also, think that many people have Lyme and don’t know it.
Jane. It is so good to hear from you. I should have my race report from our first 24 hour run posted Monday. Spoiler, it did not go as planned. A big hug to you and John.
Great to see you on this website, Sharon! Keep it up! Very busy weekend for us so will chat another time.
Love,Jane