Running from the Runs

I was first diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) at the tender age of 18 and have been living with it ever since.  It is anything but predictable; it ebbs and flows according to what I eat and to what I do not eat.  Above all else, it is triggered by stress.  It has taken me the better part of the past 10 years to even acknowledge how much it is impacted by stress.

If you are an IBS sufferer you may sometimes feel as though your voice is silenced by social taboos.  I too was silent for a long time; I tried to hide these problems from anyone I came in contact with.  Eventually, I realized that it was pretty difficult for people to ignore the extended bathroom breaks, and likely they already knew there was an issue.  With this knowledge came a sense of liberation, but, also the realization that there are people out there who do not feel comfortable enough to be candid about their condition.  With this in mind, I penned my first blog post about IBS and running.  The purpose of my blog, Running from the Runs, is two-fold – to challenge myself physically to see if I can learn to run with IBS, and to share my experiences with those who were waiting for someone to talk about this health issue.  I want readers to be able to learn about IBS and consider the blog to be an honest resource, from the perspective of the sufferer, not the medical practitioner.

I purposely organized the blog so that people can avoid the poop talk if they so choose.  Surprisingly, the most popular posts are IBS-related, on topics such as becoming diagnosed,  fibre, topical remedies and awkward moments in yoga.  It turns out that people are interested in IBS, likely because, according to the Canadian Digestive Health Foundation, there are about five million Canadians who suffer from it, most of them women.   There are far more sufferers out there than you ever could have imagined.  I have endeavoured to show you what is rarely talked about in polite society, in an effort to answer questions and erase stigmas.  Whether we choose to admit it or not, everybody goes number two, passes wind and has rumbles in their tumbles.  Try running with bowel problems!  It requires extreme commitment to strategically plan your eating, running and training route around your guts.  Most often, and especially at the onset of a training program, you will find yourself in situations that you would rather erase from your memory – and that of your running partner!

Running from the Runs chronicles my journey from non-runner to gazelle and everything in between.  I talk about sucking it up when all you want to do is give up; I show you the frustrating, rewarding, humorous, and most definitely embarrassing, sides of learning to run with IBS.  Essentially, I share the trials and tribulations of a twenty-something with issues relating to the junk in her trunk.

Running from the Runs can also be found on twitter.