When It Rains, It Pours...

This is the first blog of the rest of my life. I was diagnosed with Lupus five days ago, but for some reason it feels like it's been longer than that. Considering my active life-style, this definitely came as quite the blow. While I've only recently had a name for my chronic fatigue and achy knees, I've been having problems for a while. I kept on researching my symptoms, hoping I'd find the disease that would be perfect. One that would be curable. I wanted to go to the doctor, point at a disease and say "Yo Doc...I want THIS one!". *sigh* But to no avail. I have Lupus.

It isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I mean, I didn't just suddenly wake-up one day and develop Lupus. I've had it for a while. Which means, I've been running, playing tennis, swimming, bike riding, and playing volleyball with Lupus for Lord only knows how long....and I definitely plan to continue to do so.

I, being myself, have researched this "running with Lupus" thing quite in depth. It appears that it is not recommended, BUT it is possible. :-) That translates to: Amanda is gonna run. Not only am I going to run, but I have every intention of proving to my new constant companion that I WILL overcome. I want to run a 10K by this time next year. I WAS...."was" being the operative word...physically capable of doing such, and actually did run a 10K this time last year. And I enjoyed every second of hearing my feet pounding on the ground, of wiping away the sweat on my face, of feeling that burn in my legs when I know that I am pushing myself to the ultimate extreme. I LOVE that feeling. I want it back. And I am now determined to have it back.

I found a few blogs on this issue that I know my friends and family (who are probably worried about my new goal in life) will want to check out. The first one is this lady named Kelly. She's an ultra-runner, meaning her "easy" day consists of running a minimum of 25 miles.

The second one is this lady named Lupe. She's got one of the most positive outlooks I have seen from a person with a chronic disease in a LONG time.

Anyways, it's a pretty day outside and I plan on enjoying it to the fullest extreme. Have fun playing in the sun!

http://ridgrunner.blogspot.com/ (be sure to check out the newspaper article on the lower right-hand side of the screen. You have to scroll down a bit to find it)

http://lulucakes.com/?p=252