May 1 - A New Diet & New Beginning

I'm sure you're probably tired of hearing about my stomach issues. Frankly, I have had it up to HERE with them myself. This last bout was bad. Really bad. On Friday, just before I left work, I started feeling crummy. I'd planned on riding an hour after work but instead I rode straight home. I barely made it. It hurt so bad I thought about going to emergency but I couldn't move. It was like my whole stomach was cramping and well...it wasn't pretty. The next day, I felt better but my stomach still hurt. Like my cat had been using my stomach as a trampoline while wearing cowboy boots...and a weight belt. Ok, slight exaggeration there. But only slightly.

I didn't run or ride on Saturday and went to the Renaissance Faire instead. Because I, of course, don't know how to sit still. I did pretty well for a few hours and then I just couldn't take it any more. I was disappointed because I didn't take as many photos as I wanted to. :( There were some new creatures there called the Fantastikals that were a dream to photograph. These are a couple of photos of them.

You can see the rest if you'd like on my website: New Images. Not even the plethora of photo opportunities could keep me there. Also, really disappointing that I didn't get to enjoy some of my favorite foods there. Sigh.

Anyway...I decided to take Sunday off completely too. And on Monday, I rode to work and decided to run during lunch. My stomach was still not happy during that run but it wasn't bad. I just took it easy. The thing that freaked me out was that I couldn't breathe very well. It's like someone has tightened a strap around my middle so I can't take a full breath. It wasn't an issue on the bike but when I was running, it became an issue. It's a rainy/drizzly day in So Cal today so I ran to work. Same thing this morning. I had to slow WAY down so it didn't hurt. It isn't the bouncing around that bothers me (though my mantra for the morning run was Light & Easy), just taking deep breaths. Of course, the first couple miles have some nice little hills so those weren't a lot of fun.

It was very, very frustrating because I'm supposed to be working on speed! All my plans for getting faster are falling by the way side. It's not fair!

Ok, I know life isn't fair but still...this has been a pretty crummy year so far and I'm just ready for there to be no more pain or stomach issues for the rest of the year. Anybody listening up there? Please?

With that, I am starting a new diet today. I thought I was dealing with the stomach bug that was going around the office but this has been going on way, way too long. So I'm going to start eliminating food to see if that helps. (Although I got sick on Friday after eating pretzels. What could be more bland than that?). I don't think it's dairy causing the problem but we'll see. My plan is to pick one type of thing and eliminate that and see if I start feeling better.

I have got to do something. I just hope this works. Did you have to cut anything out of your diet? How did you figure out what the problem was?