Sorry about the whole no-posting thing. It was a crazy week last week!
Tuesday I had my sleep study doctor consultation (more on that later), Wednesday was a rest day and I set up my Christmas tree, Thursday was the race (more on that later as well) and then Eric's family's Thanksgiving, Friday was spent shopping from midnight until 6 am and sleeping afterwards, Saturday was spent in Indy with my parents at the Bodies exhibit, and Sunday was Thanksgiving with my dad's side of the family. It was a busy 6 days!
I guess I should start off with news on the Thanksgiving day race, since this is my running blog and all. The race went well. I finished, which is always a good thing! The weather was not as good as I had hoped. If I had been running straight from my apartment it would have been perfect, but because I had to stand outside in the freezing cold for over an hour before the race started, it wasn't so great. My toes started getting numb while waiting, and my feet were numb by the start of the race. I couldn't feel my feet and parts of my legs for the first mile at least. I felt like I was running so fast and I was feeling pretty good about myself until I ran past the pace clock at mile 2. My first thought was, "I'm only at mile 2? I feel like I've been running at least 3-4 miles". My second thought was, "About 20 minutes has passed and I'm only at mile 2. Guess I'm not running as fast as I thought I was." I blame not being able to feel my legs for my slower-than-expected pace. 10 minute miles aren't anything for me to snub at....just average for me. There was one water stop on the course at mile 3. It was in the shade, and so many people had gone before me that there was water everywhere on the street. Because all of this water was in the shade and it was really cold out, the water had frozen making the street into a skating rink. Not going to lie, I skated across that portion of the course. My legs needed a rest.
I ended up finishing the race in 1 hour, 1 minute, 53 seconds (a pace of 9:58 per mile...which is slower than my half-marathon pace of 9:53). I came in 5,671 out of 11,558 (not too shabby). For my division, which I believe is 25-29 year old females (or something like that), I came in 413 out of 1052. Out of all the females, I came in 2113 out of 6062. So, I did a decent job. I was in the first half of the pack. Granted, there were probably lots of walkers, but I'd like to think there were still a large group of runners behind me as well. A slow runner can dream...
Now that my race is over, I have to keep the motivation up and continue running. It's hard to run when you don't have anything to train for. Basically I just need to look at this next month as a month tagged on to my marathon training plan. I have to keep my base up to at least 5 miles. I've taken a few days off from running (mostly to heal my left little toe which has been consumed with a giant blister and raw skin around that blister...gross), so it's time to jump back on the saddle and get some running in. I'm going to keep my typical running week schedule with runs on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays. I'm really going to try to get to the gym to lift on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'll fit some cross-training (either at the gym or on a walk with Keifer) on Tuesdays and then Fridays and Sundays are my "rest days". Hopefully my legs will feel refreshed today when I go for my run. We'll see.
As far as my doctor visit went, I'm none too happy about it. I went to get a second opinion about my narcolepsy. I officially have narcolepsy even though the last doctor told me I didn't. The doctor must have been confused, because it is written in his report and the test results are plain as day, yet he told me I just didn't fit the profile. Annoying.
But I have a few options in terms of new treatment options. I can get a higher dosage of Provigil, which I have been taking and have already built up a tolerance to in one year. A higher dosage would probably work great, but there's a chance I'd build up a tolerance to that dosage, and I can only go one dosage higher before I max out. So basically that would probably lead to a dead end eventually. The other option is to take this other medication that would help me get a more "compact" sleep at night. It is possible I wouldn't need any other medication during the day. I got totally freaked out at the doctor's office when they were describing this other medication because they started off telling me, "This medication is highly controlled due to the fact that the substance was abused in the 80s and 90s. You may have heard of the 'date rape' drug. Well, this is basically what that was." Oh, great...sign me up doc! Basically the meds would put me into a deep sleep, which would allow me to go through all the sleep cycles (something that currently does not occur) and I wouldn't wake up for anything. A fire in the building...I'd sleep right through it. My dog having to go pee in the middle of the night...better learn to hold it, Keifer, mommy's passed out. I have to take two dosages in the middle of the night. The half-life of the meds is pretty short, so I should be able to wake up about 3-4 hours after taking the first dose. So what I would do is set an alarm for about 4 hours after I take the first dose (which I have to take when I'm already in bed due to the fact that it can take effect pretty quickly), wake up 4 hours later, go to the bathroom (or else you may wet the bed....yes, the doctor told me this, which also freaked me out), I could take Keifer out during this time, and then I would hop back in bed to take the second dose.
Ugh, I just don't like it. When the doctor was explaining all of this to me, I was fighting back tears. I'm not sure why I got so worked up...maybe it's the whole being completely without control on this medication thing that bothers me. Who knows. I'm supposed to be getting a phone call from the pharmacy that supplies the meds because they are the only company that has it. My appointment was last Tuesday and I still haven't heard from them. My insurance company is probably giving them a hard time. I'm waiting to hear how much it costs...it might not even be an option depending on that. If it's about the same as my current meds, I may give it a try and see how it works. I can always stop it if it makes me completely uncomfortable. It would be nice to feel rested and awake without having to rely on my current medication or caffeine. It would be nice to sleep through the night as well.
Eh, we'll see. I'm not going to worry about it for now. For now, I'm just going to look forward to the fact that in 3 weeks, I get two weeks off for Christmas break! It's already December...how insane!
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