The Good & The Bad Leading up to JFK50

My apologies on being MIA as of late.  With training taking up more hours than usual, I've been side tracked.  I've also been preoccupied with another matter, which I'll get into in a second.

First off, I am super excited about this weekend's JFK50 race. 

This past weekend I ran 24.3 miles on Saturday on mixed trail/pavement and felt very consistent and strong.  Then Sunday I woke up early and met some friends for another 13.6 miles.  I was surprised to find that I did not feel sluggish or tired.  In fact, I felt great; 7:37/mile for just over a half marathon.  I was VERY tempted to do more, but called it a day and went home to rest. 

After my great weekend of running, I am psyched to have 50 on the schedule for Saturday.  My mind is already part way there I'm so excited!! 

However, all this excitement has been slightly tainted recently by something that I've been getting checked out. 

I peed blood.

Also known as Hematuria.

TMI?  Oh-well.  Back in October, the week following my first ultra training run, I came home after a 15 mile run and peed blood.  It went away after an hour, but served it's purpose in scaring me.  Without going through all the details, I had zero other symptoms, but I went to see my doctor anyways.  They thought it was Rhabdomyolysis which is a form of muscle breakdown.  If so, that would have indicated that my body may not be ready for an ultra.  Thankfully, tests ruled that out.  Yay!!  The bad side was that it meant the cause of the blood was unknown.  My general doctor was not concerned given my low risk for pretty much everything, but is keeping tabs on me for a month to see if it occurs again.  In the mean time I went ahead and saw a Urologist.  I have a full work up to do over the next month, but he told me point blank that he doesn't expect to find anything. 

For roughly the last 3 weeks, I have been concerned with the effect my running may have on whatever the underlying issue is that caused the blood.  I obviously have not ceased running, but I've kept it in the back of my head that I may very well need to pull out of the ultra for health reasons; a very hard fact to swallow as an endurance addict.  I asked both doctors what their suggestion would be if I peed blood again during the JFK50.  My regular doctor said to stop running and pull out of the race.  My Urologist laughed at that and told me to go ahead and keep running as long as I don't feel any pain.  While he told me I will likely have a knee replacement in my 40's (yeah, I was confused about that too), he said that running isn't going to do any significant damage.  

In the end, I am of the opinion that I'll never know where the blood came from, but as always, Better Safe Than Sorry. 

So despite blood coming out of my body in ways that it shouldn't, I have a green light for the JFK50 which compliments my excitement very well!

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Questions
1.  Have you ever had to pull out of a race for health reasons?
Thankfully, I have not.  I've pulled out of races because I had not recovered in time for them, but nothing beyond muscle soreness. 

2.  Have you ever peed blood (other than monthly women!)?
This was a first for me and hopefully a last.

3.  What race is next on your schedule?!
The JFK50 is up this coming weekend and then possibly the WMAC 50k in December and the Goofy Challenge in Disney World in January.


DREAM.  BELIEVE.  ACHIEVE.