Happy Monday!
It’s been a whirlwind couple of days and I have a pretty strong feeling today is going to kick my butt. After working from home two days last week then taking Friday off to travel to Charlotte, it’s safe to say I’m way behind at the office and in life.
In case you’re behind as well, here’s what’s been happening in Ali Land:
- I spent the weekend in Charlotte, NC, visiting my “Real Best Friend,” Becky.
- We enjoyed a jam-packed weekend of eating, boating and catching up, and I got the confidence boost I needed from a 12-mile run on Saturday.
- I paid a little tribute to my kick-ass Dad in honor of Father’s Day.
- I wrote a guest post for Megan at The Runner’s Kitchen listing 10 reasons it’s better to put on sneakers than hit Snooze.
All caught up? Good.
My flight back to NYC yesterday morning was easy and uneventful. I slept the entire time and we even landed 20 minutes early. Thank you, JetBlue!
As much as I enjoyed my trip and can’t wait to go back to Charlotte, I always love returning to my own apartment. I squeezed in a late-afternoon 3-ish mile run then ran some errands in the neighborhood.
I spent the evening walking around Central Park with a friend, feeling incredibly lucky that I live in NYC.
People, if you’re in Central Park on the weekend, make sure you check out the roller disco area near The Mall and The Bandshell. It. Is. Awesome.
We stood there and watched for probably 30 minutes. It was addicting and made me want to put on roller skates…which would inevitably lead to my death I’m sure.
After lots of walking, a sushi dinner, a stop at 16 Handles and some shameless watching of the Miss USA pageant, I was ready to pass out.
Well, pass out and wake up several times throughout the night.
A health update: So I mentioned on Thursday that my doctor put me on Prednisone, which is a steroid that usually helps calm down any Crohn’s flare-ups that decide to pop up in my life and make me miserable. He has me on a fairly low dose, and while I think it’s kicking it, it’s taking longer than I would like.
Case in point: lots of lost sleep lately due to stomach pain. The mornings are the worst. I’ve been waking up around 2:30 am most nights and can’t get back to sleep because the pain is pretty bad. I do not enjoy this. But I know it’s just a matter of time before I’m sleeping through the night again and feeling better.
So that’s the stomach. Slowly but surely I think I’m feeling better. Though secretly I want to just take the entire bottle of Prednisone at once to make the effect a bit stronger.
Relax, Mom, I’m not going to.
But the other weird health thing that I haven’t been mentioning is some pretty bad dizziness.
Lately I’ve been really dizzy. Every time I stand up from my desk at work I find myself having to stop and get steady before I can really walk. (I did mention this to my doctor, which is when he insisted I was pregnant. I’m still not.)
During Saturday’s run, we were climbing the last hill toward mile 12 when suddenly I got super dizzy — like, scary dizzy.
I apparently yelled John’s name and told him to stop, which I don’t really remember.
I had to stop, put my head between my legs and wait for the feeling to pass. It wasn’t a great feeling.
I have no idea why the dizziness is happening. I’m staying plenty hydrated and I’m eating enough, but I feel like my head is constantly spinning and foggy. I don’t love it.
I’m hoping to make time to get in to see my doctor this week to do another blood test and see what’s going on. This week is a busy one, so I need to feel better!
Why is this week so busy? I will tell you:
- Gym tonight — it’s a cross training day!
- Addressing Save the Dates tonight (since we didn’t do a single one this weekend)
- Dinner with some lady friends tomorrow night
- Getting trained on the new computer system at work all day Wednesday
- A “Vino y Yoga” event at Pure Yoga on Wednesday night
- Plus lots of running and some resting leading up to Sunday’s Fairfield Half Marathon
That’s right. I’m running a half marathon this weekend. Crap.
And I’m wearing a new white shirt from Madewell. That makes me happy today.
I’m on a jeans kick lately. Maybe that’s just because I didn’t have time to shower this morning and was feeling rushed.
Don’t judge.
CARE TO SHARE? Tell me the best part of your weekend.
0 Responses
Dizziness is awful!! Maybe it is from stress? Sometimes when I’m really worried or stressed about something I have weird impacts on my health. I just had a stressful quarter for grad school and I had moments when I was so dizzy I had to sit down. The good news is that since the quarter ended, the dizziness ended!! I hope you feel better.
I have to say, I love your blog! I have been following you for a while and you amaze me with your determination to beat Crohn’s! I don’t have it myself but when something is off when I run I hate it. I applaud your dedication towards every part of your life 🙂 Keep up the great work and can’t wait to read more!!
So sorry to hear that the meds aren’t kicking in as quickly as you hoped 🙁
I see those skater/dancers haha in the park all the time! They always have a huge crowd around them, so they must be making some good $$$!
Ah, that dizziness is really scary. I hope the docs figure it out quickly.
My favorite part of the weekend was NOT going out on friday and instead staying home, having some beers and take-out, and watching a movie. perfect.
PS – LOVE the shirt!
oh no! i hope you feel better girlie!! You are such a trooper! I can’t even believe how much you kick ass. You are an inspiration clearly in so many ways
yikes, super scary about the dizziness; hope you get that taken care of ASAP! i love the yellow top (dress?) you are wearing in the top photo!
best part of my weekend was having a great half-ironman and celebrating afterwards!
So glad you had a great weekend! I hope you figure out what’s causing the dizziness soon – that sounds like no fun! Very frustrating.
Also, wine and yoga are like 2 of my favorite things … Can’t wait to hear about the Pure event!
The best part of my weekend was Governor’s Ball!! 12 hours of dancing barefoot on Governor’s Island listening to awesome music with good friends, good beer and over-priced food = amazingness!
I really hope you get the dizziness under control soon. I know how frustrating that can be.
As for my favorite part of the weekend, it had to be laying out at the pool. It was a perfect way to relax after a run :]
Best part of my weekend? First NYC Trader Joe’s trip. Holy wow! That place is so cheap and the food looks so good. Win win 🙂 Next best part…16 handles. Duh.
The dizziness must be a little scary…I hope the hydrating and eating regularly helps. I get dizzy when I get up too fast or climb stairs when I forget to take my iron supplement, so that’s always a reminder for me to take my supplement. Glad you are feeling better for now and your doctors are doing a good job of monitoring you.
Looks like you had a great weekend! Mine was lovely too – I was visiting with my family, which included lots of fun, relaxing, and eating of course 🙂
P.s. your post yesterday about your dad was so sweet and made me tear up. He is obviously a very important figure in your life!
Oh man. I really hope the doc has some answers for you this week. Feeling dizzy is no good.
I’m glad you’re weekend was so good. Mine was really low-key, but we had a really nice family day yesterday for Dad. I love when my whole family is together.
Oh dizziness is scary! I agree with Christy about getting your iron levels checked. I never experienced dizziness but mine were really low. I have been taking liquid iron supplements for about a month now (the liquid ones absorb better) and I think I can definitely notice an improvement. That said, too much iron can be really bad for you so I would make sure you are low before supplementing.
Sounds like a fun week! I am doing the Fairfield Half too! Are you taking the train there?
Yay Fairfield Half! I’m driving up with a group of people Sunday morning. Would MUCH rather be staying in the area Saturday night. Oh well!
Vino y Yoga? That sounds like my kind of event! I hope your stomach gets better sooner than soon. And I know you don’t need it, but good luck with the half marathon! I’m running my second race ever (lovin’ those 5Ks!) in a few weeks and I’ll definitely be channeling you!! Also – I loved your guest post on Runner’s Kitchen. I’m trying to get into the morning gym thing… here’s hoping this is the summer I can pull myself out of bed at 4am!
xo – Marie
Chocolate & Wine
I love madewell! They always have such cute and classic pieces. I hope you start to feel better!
You could just be experiencing vertigo .. and the dizziness may have nothing to do with anything other then that.. It happens to me occasionally and I ususally freak out over nothing!
My weekend has been awesome.. for a gazillion reasons..since I am in San Fran for vacation!!
Dizzy=scary…hope you get it figured out. Please please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.
Vino y yoga sounds AMAZING.
UGH feeling dizzy is the worst thing – I hope you aren’t feeling it too much today at work, that would kill me with all the computer time!! I’m glad you had an awesome weekend though and I HOPE those meds kick in super fast!!
My weekend was awesome – the highlight? Picking strawberries with my husband and sister/boyfriend – it was so so fun, and a gorgeous day for it 🙂
aww sis, I’m glad that was the highlight of your weekend! one of mine too 😉
Ali, seriously, you look so cute in your outfits, I love them!! I hope the dizzy spells pass soon, and before your half!
I was having some really serious bouts of dizziness when I started getting into some longer long runs last year when I was training for my first marathon. It was really bad, I actually blacked out in Trader Joe’s because I got so dizzy! I went for blood work and they said it had to do with my iron levels being really low. The doctor said that women typically have lower iron levels than men as it is and runners even less and vegetarians, even less than that. So I’m screwed on all accounts. I started taking iron supplements and it went away, but I’ve noticed that if I go a few days without taking them, the dizziness comes right back. You should look into taking some iron supplements, it can’t hurt you in any way and it sounds like you’re going through exactly what I was. Good luck and take care of yourself girl! Marathon training is no easy business!
Ah- dizzy is the worst! I was experiencing that a bit a few months ago.. I ended up just snacking more and drinking Gatorade bc I didn’t know what was up. I have lately been trying to make sure I drink lots of water throughout the work day, esp when I’ve run in the am.. Like I refill my water bottle twice before noon and twice after noon. per the advice of my wise intense-workout-loving boyfriend.
I hope you feel better ASAP! The best part of my weekend was lots of good food, Cuban and Mexican, courtesy of Father’s Day festivities. Yum!
I hope you feel better soon! Being dizzy like that is always scary, usually when it happens to me it’s just because I am very dehydrated. One time I almost passed out in the gym locker room and had to fill out an incident report because someone thought I looked really bad.
ps-I am jealous of all of the races in NYC! I was just trying to look for some around me and there was nothing. I really want to run another half soon!
So sorry about the dizziness! How scary! I’m actually going through a similar thing, too! Although its getting a bit better, the thought is its vertigo, but I haven’t had time to really address it with the right doctor yet…(I should probably get on that). Hope things clear up quickly for you!! Feel better!
I ran my first 5k this weekend! The Purple Stride at the Cleveland zoo. Worst course ever for a beginner – all hills! It is benefitting pancreatic cancer, which I ran in honor of my grandma, I am so proud of myself because I have come so far (I’ve lost 82 pounds so far!) And I’ve only been running for like 3 months! (I didn’t lose that weight in 3 months, just to clarify lol!)
That’s so great! CONGRATULATIONS on the 5k and the amazing weight loss. Keep being awesome!
I’ll be at the Vino y Yoga event on Wednesday too!!! I am so happy I will have a friend there!!!!
Hope you feel better soon.. this all sucks.