I have been a middle distance runner since 9th grade and am now 44 years old, I came down with RA right around my 39th birthday. I know, right? great birthday present!
At first there was no way running was going to happen as I had to have a cane to even walk for a while. But once things settled down I would try again, and again, and again, get depressed, feel better, and try again. Sometimes I would just start feeling better and then a flare would kick in and take me down for a month or more. As all this was happening I was slowly putting on a little more weight each year. (pre RA weight 155 lbs, current weight earlier this year 178 lbs., I'm a man so this weight is still considered okay but not for me to feel my best) I decided this spring I had to take advantage of any good periods or risk giving in to the disease altogether. As of right now I have be running for 2 months, and have gotten my distance up to 5 miles about 4-5 days a week. My weight has gone from 178 to it's current weight of 165, but, I'm not going to sugar coat this, I hurt every day! I'm much stronger now and I have not had a bad flare since before I started running again and I plan to take advantage of every minute of it. You see, I think RA comes and goes in stages and you have to "really" take advantage of the good periods as they will make the bad days much easier. My goal is to get to 160 lbs or lower, run some 5k road races, maybe a 10k and if god is willing a half marathon would be a dream to run again. ( I will probably break down in tears if this were to happen.)
Take advantage when you can and grab back some of the years RA takes from you, it might piss it off and it'll kick back but don't give up and keep trying!
I know this is a womens post to women but I find so few things about running and RA, I enjoyed reading the posts and felt compelled to share. Thanks
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I have been a middle distance runner since 9th grade and am now 44 years old, I came down with RA right around my 39th birthday. I know, right? great birthday present!
July 14, 2010 - 8:35pmAt first there was no way running was going to happen as I had to have a cane to even walk for a while. But once things settled down I would try again, and again, and again, get depressed, feel better, and try again. Sometimes I would just start feeling better and then a flare would kick in and take me down for a month or more. As all this was happening I was slowly putting on a little more weight each year. (pre RA weight 155 lbs, current weight earlier this year 178 lbs., I'm a man so this weight is still considered okay but not for me to feel my best) I decided this spring I had to take advantage of any good periods or risk giving in to the disease altogether. As of right now I have be running for 2 months, and have gotten my distance up to 5 miles about 4-5 days a week. My weight has gone from 178 to it's current weight of 165, but, I'm not going to sugar coat this, I hurt every day! I'm much stronger now and I have not had a bad flare since before I started running again and I plan to take advantage of every minute of it. You see, I think RA comes and goes in stages and you have to "really" take advantage of the good periods as they will make the bad days much easier. My goal is to get to 160 lbs or lower, run some 5k road races, maybe a 10k and if god is willing a half marathon would be a dream to run again. ( I will probably break down in tears if this were to happen.)
Take advantage when you can and grab back some of the years RA takes from you, it might piss it off and it'll kick back but don't give up and keep trying!
I know this is a womens post to women but I find so few things about running and RA, I enjoyed reading the posts and felt compelled to share. Thanks
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