Feeling discouraged
 

I've tried in the past to lose weight, and I've never stuck with it. This time, I started training for a half marathon without worrying about the weight aspect. I've stuck with it for almost 4 months now. I didn't start weighing myself until 2 months ago, but I've lost almost 15 lbs in those 2 months.

I'd finally gotten past the sucky part of running and was really enjoying it. Then about 2 weeks ago, it got really hard and miserable again. I'd blamed it on the increase in pace I'd just had. I ran my first 5k on the 16th, and I was supposed to run my first 10K on Thanksgiving. My back had started hurting on Sun, but biofreeze helped so I thought it was maybe just from all the hills in the 5K. Then Wed afternoon, I had a lot of abdominal pain. I called DH & told him I was skipping the 10K. He got someone to cover for him and took me to the ER.

I have a kidney infection, which scares me because how did I not have any symptoms before it got so bad? I also found out that I was born with only one working kidney. :eek: Fortunately my overall kidney function is still within the normal range for people with 2 working kidneys. My mom apparently knew I only had the one and never told me. :mad: Between the one kidney having work harder plus the infection, I also have crazy high blood pressure and am now on meds. :(

I had really hoped that I would just take a wee off from running and then ease back in. The side effects from the antibiotics are rather unpleasant, so it looks like I'll be about for at least the 10 day course. After that, I still have to be careful. One of the side effects is tendon rupture, and it can occur for months after stopping the meds. Among the factors that increase risk are being athletic/physically active and kidney problems. :cry:

Oh that is hard. Seems like a lot to get hit with at once, when you were just getting into the groove of things. I'm sorry you're having to deal with that. Is there some other exercise you can do more safely? Maybe swimming or biking? I hope you can find something you enjoy. It might take some attention to diet now to maintain your loss, but you can do it. Hang in there, I hope you feel better soon.

That is a lot to take in at once, so my suggestion is to be gentle with yourself and just focus on doing what you can. None of this is your fault, and it sounds like the kind of thing that needs time to improve. I'm sorry you are going through so much. I hope things get better soon.

Thanks. It's just so frustrating to have pushed through all of those runs that I didn't want to do, and just when I get to the point that I WANT to go run, I can't run. :( I miss it.

That is a lot to take in! But you will come back stronger after a nice long break. One of my friends had to take time off running for bloody noses and she's back and faster than ever. It was almost 2 months before she got clearance to run again.