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| Mona, Mom, Jen, Mary |
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| Mom, Me, Jen, Mona |
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| Mom in the Gulf |
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| We didn't make this, but I still took a pic of it. Love the white sands of Destin |
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| Mona, Jen, and Mary preparing a shrimp feast |
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| Lunch with Mary's grandpa. |
After a great weekend in Florida, I jumped on the plane to New Jersey for work. I did manage to visit the boardwalk on the Jersey shore which meant seeing two beaches in one week! Nice!
Upon my return it was time for me to start to my final core course in my PhD program: Linear Signals and Systems. At West Point, everyone referred to this class as "red death" because the book for the course was red.. and well, it wasn't an easy course. I had planned for this summer to be less about running and more about taking a break and focusing on math until the end of my class. That meant spending some time brushing up on calculus which I had not touched in over 15 years. Ouch.
In the meantime, I had also signed up for the West Milton Tri (canoe, run, bike) with the encouragement of Vickie who needed a teammate. With very high temps and very low water level, it was one very tough day.
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| Before the start of a very long and difficult 3.5 mile canoe trip, 90+ degree 5 mile run in the sun, and a nice 17 mile bike ride. |
Two days later, I found myself running a 1 mile run at the Dash for Cash. My friend Jen ran as well, and it was her very first time ever running a complete mile in a race! She did great! I also won $5 at the race, and it didn't cost me anything to sign up. That meant it was the first time I had ever made money on a race. :-)
The amount of energy it took me to run that 1 mile, and the amount of energy all my runs have been taking finally prompted me to call my trail running doc. Since Peru, running has been extremely tiring. I have also lost 7 or so pounds despite increasing the amount of food at meal time and decreasing my running. While some might think this to be the ideal situation, it isn't so ideal when it isn't the norm and is accompanied by fatigue. There have also been other things that aren't exactly quite right, but I'll spare you on the details.
Trail running doc did a complete blood (CBC) workup on me, and the results showed anemia. Apparently my level should be above 12, and it registered as 8.5. He said it was no wonder I had been feeling so tired during my runs. Now, I've never been anemic in my life, and I didn't have this issue until Peru. So with the weight loss and anemia, my guess is that I brought back a few friends with me from South America.
So begins the search to figure out what exactly is causing the anemia and to replenish my iron levels and red blood cell count (which can take up to 3 months). In the meantime, I have ordered a home blood test meter that tests hemoglobin levels. Not sure how accurate it will be, but I'm always up for a good experiment. I'm really a scientist at heart. :-) By the end of August, I should be a mathematician. Hopefully in a few more months, I'll be back to being a runner again as well. Of all that I choose to be, my complete joy comes from knowing Jesus.
Onward to my favorite month of the year... July!
