Let the running begin

Let the running begin....or rather continue as I have already trained for and completed the Rome Half Marathon in November 2011 (see awesome photo to the right in About Me). Now, let's be clear, I am not a professional runner nor is this blog meant to serve as a How-To regarding marathon training. Don't follow my running advice. The little voice I listen to in my head continually repeats "KEEP GOING!". That's it. Nothing inspirational. So, the most significant piece of running wisdom I can impart to you is KEEP GOING! And get good shoes, but mostly it's just suck it up and keep moving your legs.

This blog IS meant to shed some light on the world of autoimmune diseases. Autoimmune disease is when the body attacks itself. Scientists are still uncertain about what triggers healthy immune cells to attack health tissue instead of a damaged cells or dangerous bacteria, like immune cells are supposed to do. Over 23 million people in the U.S. suffer from one of the dozens of autoimmune diseases and it is estimated that 1 in 12 worldwide have one of these chronic conditions.

There are over 80 different documented types of autoimmune disease, the most common being Thyroid disease. Some are organ specific, like Type 1 Diabetes (attacks the Pancreas) and Addison's Disease (attacks the stomach) while others are non-organ specific like Lupus an Rheumatoid Arthritis. What is most frustrating about these diseases is that they seem to strike without warning or precedent and each disease has it's own unique characteristics. For more detailed information I suggest you visit the American Autoimmune Related Diseases webpage: http://www.aarda.org.

Over the course of the next few months I will be writing about various autoimmune diseases and how you can help researchers find a cure. I will also be contributing some of my adventures in my quest to train for the marathon which takes place on March 18, 2012. Rome is a lovely and wacky place to live, so prepare yourself for stories both fanciful and sordid.

Now you may be asking yourself why I'm doing this. Well, over the past few years I have been meeting a lot of people, especially women, my age who suffer from these chronic conditions. All these people were previously in good health and lived a healthy lifestyle, many of them with no family history of their disease. Plus, a lot of these people were, are, or have recently come to be friends of mine and, as their friend, I want to help. How can I help? First, I can raise awareness through the spread of information, thus the blog. Second, I can dedicate a small portion of my physical life to the cause, thus the running. I hope that both my brain and my body can in some way contribute to the public understanding of these diseases. Raising money to advance research would also be awesome so be on the look out for all the ways I try to get you to donate your time and/or money to help fight autoimmune disease. It will be fun!

Finally, seeing my friends take ill reminds me of my precious health and how I take it for granted. I hope that by pushing myself to run all these miles over the next several months it will remind me of how blessed I am to be alive and possess such youth and strength. Maybe I can even inspire a few of you to get off your butt and do something with your life (was that too much? Sorry, my Dutch father sometimes pushes through and I get a little dogmatic).

I hope you will enjoy reading this blog. So far my running as been a mostly pleasurable experience and the knowledge that what I am doing may help others makes me even more determined to carry out my master plan.

Tally ho!