No sympathy, please.

[graywacke]

to the OP...
i was dx with RA at age 24, i'm 36 now. at age 26, i ran my first marathon (my first race of ANY distance) with the arthritis foundation...i was pissed that i had RA, and i needed to prove something to myself. at age 31, i got married but first i got a personal trainer, lost 20 pounds, got a road bike, and quite frankly got into awesome shape and totally redefined myself in terms of being an athlete. i also ran 3 more marathons (at 4:00:46, very respectable i think), did a TON of halfs and shorter races, a bunch of sprint tris, and always tried to push myself to get new PRs. at age 33, i had a baby, so my priorities changed a bit, but i still eeked out some running PRs at the shorter distances.

now to the part that is more relevant...in 2009, age 34, the RA got into my neck and ankle (previously it had been largely my wrists...making cycling challenging in term of shifting and braking). running...nope. although i am getting back into it, my talonavicular joint in one ankle has been eroded and i've lost a lot of range of motion. and a lot of running fitness. i ran one 5k in december, and even though i did try to just be happy to be out there (and i was), it may have been my slowest race pace ever (slower than my marathon pace, and this was just a 5k). i WANT to run again..i sort of can, but not fast or far...and that SUCKS, mentally. i tried to do more cycling (and i did...go to www.californiacoastclassic.org, i did this in the fall and it's awesome and raises $ for the arthritis foundation), since i hadn't really done any "racing" i didn't have the ame expectations for myself as i did running. i got a lot better at swimming, and lat summer entered 3 "aqua-bikes" which is basically a bike-swim, you're "allowed" to not do the run part of a tri. heck i even won one. but i had NO competition, so that was bittersweet.

i guess this...you will just have to get through it. it DOES SUCK. i can't sympathize, but i can EMPATHIZE because this is me, too. i am going through it NOW too. i cry sometimes, when i see runners out on the road and think, i used to be able to do that. i miss who i was. but it does get better...the RA part, it comes and goes. when you get on the right meds, it will get better.

i have a blog...www.musclesandra.blogspot.com feel free to comment there, and i think you can email me too through that.

clare

[Xrayted]

Hmmm. Interesting thread. But just barely. Here's my take on it all...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMO8Pyi3UpY

Yeah, that's about what I think of it. Smile and have a nice day.