DAY 1

I've never really been the type to put my life down on paper so when I decided to finally create a blog I was completely unsure how to start. A couple of days ago I made the blog and was soo excited but I couldn't think of anything to say so instead of writing anything I just sat staring lifelessly into the background picture I thought was awesome. Finally now 3 days later I have decided to go for it. I guess I can start out by saying the reason I decided to start this blog in the first place. I currently run varsity cross country and track and field at North Carolina State University and absolutely love it but my journey from my freshman year to now (I am currently a junior) hasn't been the smoothest. I started my freshman year struggling to cope with the increase in mileage and day to day agonized over my weak ankles. I couldn't make it through a run without rolling at least one of my ankles even on flat level sidewalks! I was a distance runner that had to wear ankle braces to make it through runs and felt fatigued the whole time. I was always tired, gaining weight, and sick to my stomach 80% of the time. My 5 ft 0 inch frame reached 124 pounds and no matter how healthy I tried to be I couldn't lose the weight or prevent it from coming. My stomach issues continue to worsen and the fatigue and anemia I had acquired in high school was not getting any better despite all of the iron supplements I was prescribed. For the most part, all I wanted to do after runs and workouts was curl up in bed and go to sleep. Needless to say, I finished my 1st collegiate cross country dismally running somewhere in the upper 22 for 6k. When I got back in the spring things seemed to be looking up until the little pain in my foot took a turn for the worse and after running through the pain for almost a month I found I had a navicular (not sure how to spell that but its in your foot) stress fracture that had actually started heal. Nevertheless I red shirted my outdoor season and let it heal completely. I continued to be unable to get through a day without wanting to roll up into a ball due to stomach pain and was miserable. My first year as a collegiate runner was worse than it was my senior year in high school which wasn't my best year either. My senior year in high school I ended up with a mild case of mono and my ferritin levels in my blood had dropped all the way down to an 8 (should be AT LEAST 20, normally 50ish for distance runners). This marked the beginning of the endless stomach saga....

I think I am going to leave the story at that for now. I have practice at 7:45 and have some stuff to do prior so I will continue this later :-)

P.S. GOODD LUCKK TO ALL MY FELLOW TEAMMATES AT RALEIGH RELAYS TODAY! GOO WOLFFPACKK!!