Running Thru Quicksand

I am NOT a morning person, so it blows my mind to realize that I actually enjoy getting up and running before dawn twice a week — all thanks to my running club! Check out why below! 👇🏻🏃🏻‍♀️

Why I Surprisingly Love My Pre-dawn Runs With A Running Club It’s pitch dark, my blaring alarm is interrupting my dream and I can’t figure out why I’m being forced awake at the ungodly hour of 4:45 AM. Slowly it dawns on me that I actually have to get out of bed and get dressed as I remember my commitment to meet a group of runners at 6 AM.

Loved seeing the sun and bright blue sky on my run!

When you’re sick or when your body isn’t responding the way you want it to, how do you feel about it? Are there things you can do (or stop doing) to treat it better? Thinking about this I realized that for a majority of my life I hadn’t been very kind to my body and it’s amazing I didn’t get sick sooner! 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

Running Thru Quicksand Running Thru Quicksand – Just a middle aged runner keeping it real as I navigate lupus and more of life's quicksand moments.

I don’t know about you, but one of the things I look forward to over the holidays is all the festive food! This year however, I was faced with a tough choice between continuing to follow my nutrition plan that helped heal my lupus or let loose for the holidays. Check out what happened and let me know — Do you face any challenges when it comes to eating over the holidays? 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

The Incredible Power Of Food – What I Learned First Hand This holiday season I was faced with a difficult choice. I could continue following the raw vegan nutrition protocol I had embarked on to reverse my lupus, or I could indulge for a few days and hope for no adverse effects. I opted for...

Ran in 17 different states in 2023! Here are some of my favorites! Happy New Year!

Foggy morning day after Christmas run! Fresh air always feels so good!

Scenes from a cold run this morning! About a quarter mile up my hill the roads got pretty icy, but I was already bundled up and moving so I used the opportunity to slow down and enjoy the scenery!

Scenes from the first snowy run of the season!

My thanksgiving run and what an injury taught me about gratitude and motivation. What’s your primary motivation for exercise — especially during the holidays?

My Thanksgiving Run – What An Injury Taught Me About Gratitude And Motivation For as long as I can remember, I’ve always made it a point to go for a long run on Thanksgiving morning. Hitting the pavement nice and early wakes me up and mentally prepares me for a day that revolves around food...

Understanding and embracing this has been a game changer for me. I have this quote above my kitchen sink to remind me how important it is to get moving.

https://runningthruquicksand.com/2023/11/16/the-key-to-motivation-and-getting-started/

The change of seasons makes spending time outdoors challenging, but it’s so important to find ways to get outside as much as possible!

How I’m Coming To Grips With The Change Of Seasons Does setting the clocks back in the fall bother anyone else as much as it bothers me? It’s definitely in the running for my least favorite day of the year. Without fail, it disrupts my sleep (for an annoyingly long period of time) while the longer hours of darkness accompanied by the cold, truly m...

Top and bottom pictures taken 30 minutes apart. God’s daily reminder to me that the fogginess and uncertainty of life doesn’t last forever. To Just keep moving forward and trusting, then before you know the whole picture will be revealed where there is usually something beautiful and better to see!

A dreary, foggy morning mimicked how I was feeling in my body. I forced myself to take that first step and what unfolded around me during my run was a perfect lesson and reminder to keep going!

How A Foggy Morning Run Revealed A Profound Lesson This morning I headed out the door into the dense fog to run in a nearby neighborhood called the Flats. My mind was groggy, the twinge of pain in my foot annoyed me and my body was tired. I chose the…

“Can drastically changing my diet truly heal my body even when doctors scoff and tell me there’s no cure?” That’s the question Paul and I have decided to answer for ourselves. I’ll be sharing our journey as we both try to reclaim our health naturally! We’d love for you to join us by reading and following along! 😁👇🏻💪

How I’m Taking Charge Of My Lupus Naturally - Running Thru Quicksand It’s the night before starting the Goodbye Lupus Protocol ( basically a raw, whole foods, plant based diet) and I’m feeling extremely weird and emotional. At our favorite restaurant today I couldn’t even finish my meal. Halfway through, I got so tired and full while a wave of panic threatened ...

Celebrating today. It’s the first time in a long time where I felt like I had energy on a run. I even decided to test myself by throwing some sprints in the middle miles just to feel my body go faster. And for once I didn’t feel terrible! It was so awesome to be able to take a full breath and not feel pressure throughout my chest and body. I don’t want to jinx myself, but my last few runs I’ve experienced no fluttering or palpitations or pain from the lining of my heart. Keeping positive and pressing forward one day at a time!
Even met a family of friends on my run! 😁🦌

No struggle means no strength.
No mountain means no mountain peak.
No setback means no comeback, and the comeback is yours for the taking.
~Max Lucado

Lupus be damned! You aren’t going to stop me!

I’m able to hold a faster pace now for longer! And my heart rate isn’t skyrocketing! I’m still pretty slow but it’s definitely an improvement! Just gotta keep moving forward! Lifting weights has definitely helped! 🏃🏻‍♀️🤘💪

*t

The purpose of this page is to connect with people who may be struggling with lupus, or any other autoimmune disease, as well as long Covid, or other chronic illnesses that leave you feeling frustrated. I hope to share the things that I’m learning along the way, including the victories, the setbacks and the comebacks! It helps me to feel better and puts things in perspective when I write about what I’m experiencing, and if I’ve learned anything over the past two years, it’s that I am definitely not alone. I’ve heard from so many people who are struggling (especially since having Covid) with lingering symptoms and undiagnosed autoimmune conditions. Let’s lift each other up and share our stories so that we can learn from each other and be stronger together. 💪😁

(And I’m going to get better at taking running selfies 😂 Sorry kids😘)

Summer has always been my favorite time of year. This year I had to approach things differently. It wasn’t always easy but I learned a lot about how to feel better and avoid triggers! Check it out below!

How I Survived My First Summer With Lupus For as long as I can remember, I’ve always worshiped the sun. Growing up I spent every summer on a lake where I’d spend endless hours swimming, sailing, running, and challenging my friends to see who could get the darkest tan by summer's end.

So grateful for a beautiful nature trail to run on at our campground in Iowa! Got a nice 5 miler in, mostly in the shade! The shade is a game changer! And of course the trail reminded us of the XC course at Washingtonville so it was really fun to run on and feel like we were running XC again!

Found some shade in OK! It was still hot but I needed to move! Felt good when it was over! Now we’re headed north!

In case you missed it: Lupus in the summer 👇🏻

https://runningthruquicksand.com/2023/07/24/why-having-lupus-sucks-in-the-summer/

There’s still a lot to learn and get used to!

Why Having Lupus Sucks In The Summer - Running Thru Quicksand This will be the first week that I’ve put up a big fat ZERO for running mileage because it’s been WAY too hot to run. (Or even move for that matter!) It’s not for lack of intention. I’ve tried getting up really early to beat the sun before it had time to completely set the

Preparing For Summer On The Road With A Lupus Diagnosis - Running Thru Quicksand It should come as no surprise that since my “official” diagnosis a few weeks ago, I’ve read two books, countless articles, and listened to several podcasts about lupus. After tons of research I’m finally at peace with the diagnosis and believe it is accurate. (I’m actually surprised my fir...

The timing of last weekend’s festival at first made things stressful, but it didn’t take long for things (especially my attitude!) to completely change! See link below for a recap and pictures of our amazing weekend!

Learning A Valuable Lesson At A Music Festival Festival season is upon us and it’s unquestionably my favorite time of year. To kick things off, this past weekend we drove 13 hours to Indiana for the boys to play the Kingdom Come Festival...

When Negativity Calls, Movement Changes Everything I’ve heard it said a million times that perspective is everything. Although we may not always be able to control our circumstances, we can learn to control how we react to them