Shannon Rolls on the Electric Highway. Do You?
Here’s my story…
I was sick. Not in the hospital kind of sick, but the kind of sick where you know something is wrong and can’t figure out what. I was tired all the time, nauseous all the time, and didn’t want to eat. After six months of these symptoms I was finally diagnosed with the early stages of Crohn’s disease.
The next step was medicine and lots of it. Too much actually. If one drug made me sicker, we tried another. “We” meaning the doctor and I. We even tried ones that weren’t used to treat Crohn’s. I was turning into a guinea pig of sorts. I’d start to feel better and then some crazy side effect of the drug would rear it’s ugly head. I knew I couldn’t keep polluting my body this way.
Thank God for friendly referrals. A fellow Crohnie, who recently had a foot of intestine removed due to Crohn’s, referred me to his doctor. My new doc was my saving grace. I am now med free and 99% symptom free. I still have some bad days, but most are good.
So how does this tie into running? Well, for months and I mean almost a year I was either too sick to eat and had no energy for exercise or I was depressed and preferred the couch to a gym. Through the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) I found my motivation. I signed up to walk/run the Rock-n-Roll Las Vegas 1/2 Marathon with CCFA’s Team Challenge. I get up every Saturday at 4:30 to meet my team for training and during the week stick to the team’s training schedule. I never in a million years would have thought that I would be able to run or even walk four miles a day, but I’m doing it! I’m new to running, but every day gets a little easier and I’m able to run a little longer. The best part is that I feel awesome!
So why do I run? Running gives me the motivation to do things I never thought possible. I run to save lives and find cures. I run for the feeling of accomplishment. I run for my health and the health of my son - if I can’t be an example to him who will be? In short, I run for the Human Race.
Shannon Ciccone is a runner on the Electric Highway, training for the Human Race 10K on October 24th. She has a training blog at http://runningmybuttoff-shaninphxaz.blogspot.com/.
To take part in the Nike+ Human Race and join the team with & Shannon, click here. Share this story with friends on Facebook & Twitter! To have your running story told, email me at dockin80@gmail.com!
