I give you Aimee

I was going to write about Aime but her story is so rich that I was afraid to leave out details and in this case details are so amazing that I don't want to take the risk to forget something so I am just taking some information from her website and make a summary for you....the more I learn about her the more I admire her because she didn’t allow for her disability to limit her opportunities but used it to open up new possibilities.

Aimee:

Aimee borned 34 years ago without fibulae in both legs, Aimee's medical prognosis was bleak; she would never walk and indeed would spend the rest of her life using a wheelchair. In an attempt for an outside chance at independent mobility, doctors amputated both her legs below the knee on her first birthday. The decision paid off. By age two, she had learned to walk on prosthetic legs, and spent her childhood doing the usual athletic activities of her peers: swimming, biking, softball, soccer, and skiing, always alongside "able-bodied" kids.

After graduating high school with honors, Aimee was one of three students in the US chosen for a full academic scholarship from the Department of Defense, and at age 17 became the youngest person to hold a top-secret security clearance at the Pentagon. She worked there as an intelligence analyst during her summer breaks.
As an student she decided she wanted to make it to the US Team for the 1996 Atlanta Games. She became the first woman with a "disability" to compete in the NCAA.  Outfitted with woven carbon-fiber prostheses that were modeled after the hind legs of a cheetah, she went on to set World Records in the 100 meter, the 200 meter, and the long jump, sparking a frenzy over the radical design of her prototype sprinting legs.


After a profile in Life magazine showcased her in the starting blocks at Atlanta, the world took notice. Aimee soon landed a 10-page feature in the inaugural issue of Sports Illustrated for Women, which led to her accepting numerous invitations to speak at international design conferences.  In 1999, Aimee made her runway debut in London at the invitation of one of the world's most celebrated fashion designers, Alexander McQueen. Walking alongside the supermodels of the world, Aimee's groundbreaking, triumphant turn captured the attention of the fashion media, propelling her onto the magazine covers of ID and Dazed and Confused. After making her mark in the fashion magazine standards of Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, W, Glamour, and Elle, she was also named as one of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World."

In addition to her professional career, Aimee serves on numerous boards and spends much of her time assisting various non-profit organizations, most notably the Women's Sports Foundation (WSF). Aimee served for years as Vice-President for J.O.B., the nation's oldest non-profit employment service for persons with disabilities, founded in 1947 by Eleanor Roosevelt, Orin Lehman, and others. After serving as a Trustee for the WSF, founded by Billie Jean King, she was elected as the foundation's President, a position she stewarded from 2007 to 2009.

Already at a young age, Aimee's impact on modern society and her influence on future generations is undeniable. Her likeness has been immortalized in exhibits at institutions such as the Smithsonian, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the NCAA Hall of Fame, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Tate Modern, the Track and Field Hall of Fame, and the Women's Museum, where she is honored for her contribution to sport among the "Greatest American Women of the 20th Century."

Why are you still sitting in your couch???

The Challenging Starts!!

Around two weeks ago and after having pain in my hip for some weeks I decided it was time to visit a doctor. I never do it…I cannot even remember the last time I was in one until last week and all in a sudden I went to 3 different in just 5 days!!
I didn’t want to write about running as I have already explained in my other blog but this has also changed in the last two weeks. During my short runner "career" I have been mostly injury free, just some pain here and there nothing that an over-the-counter pain reliever couldn’t solve. I thought this time it was just a more serious inflammation but unfortunately it is not.

I have been diagnosis with Osteoarthritis in my left hip, some inflammation of the bursa and joint effusion. WOW…sounds bad right? Well, the inflammation and the joint effusion isn’t that bad as they have treatment and I am already working on that but Osteoarthritis doesn’t.

I will try to explain in an easy way what this means.

Osteoarthritis is one of the oldest and most common types of arthritis. With the breakdown of cartilage, the part of the joint that cushions the ends of bones, cartilage get thinner and thinner and bones rub against each other, causing pain and loss of movement until it finally totally disappear and that is when people gets a hip replacement. It is also often called "wear-and-tear arthritis".


Many factors can cause osteoarthritis as:

• aging - the doctor says I am too young for this option…so don‘t even think about it!!! This refers to more than 65 years old people
• prior joint trauma - as I mentioned before I don’t remember any prior trauma or injury so I don’t think this is the cause
• obesity - don’t even think about this option!!! I have some meat in my bones but I am not obese! Capito!
• joint overuse- I know….this make look “Running” as guilty but we can’t call overuse at just 1 year of moderate training!!! I just started running 3 years ago and only the last one has been intense…I do not think this is overuse!!
• genetics- couldn’t find anyone in my family with arthritis but since 3 of my grandparents died very young…it is hard to say if they could have developed it.

Whatever is the reason, I have it. It is not an advance case but it has started to develop.
There is no known way to prevent osteoarthritis or slow its progression. Some lifestyle changes can reduce or delay symptoms. Treatment often focuses on decreasing pain and improving joint movement but this is something I will have to learn to live with. There is nothing I can do to revert it or cure it.


Treatment measures to slow down the progress may include:


•Exercises to maintain joint flexibility and improve muscle strength. By strengthening the supporting muscles, tendons, and ligaments, regular weight-bearing exercise helps protect joints, even possibly stimulating growth of the cartilage.
•Joint protection, which prevents strain and stress on painful joints.
•Heat/cold therapy for temporary pain relief.
•Various pain control medications, including corticosteroids and NSAIDs - I did not have a cortisone shot yet, I refused to have it as I think it is not good for your body and you just "hide" the problem for a couple of weeks and hidden it you risk to forget doing something to get rid of what originally caused the pain.
•Weight control, which prevents extra stress on weight-bearing joints.
•Surgery may be needed to relieve chronic pain in damaged joints. Osteoarthritis is the most common indication for total joint replacement of the hip and knee.


There is no cure for osteoarthritis, and no treatment alters its progression with any certainty.

As you might be imaging all these have a direct impact on running. Doctors haven’t prohibit me to run but have recommended to keep my miles low, one even told me I shouldn’t run more than a couple of half marathons per year and all of them freaked out when I mentioned the world “ultramarathon” but lets be honest, most doctors do even if you are perfectly healthy.


Of course I did my own research on the topic and read many studies and theories. There are many studies that show that long distance runners do not have more risk of develop arthritis than non runners. It is easy to think that all that pounding might hurt the joints and accelerate the cartilage degeneration but in any case this will happen sooner or later. I am not completely sure how much could accelerate the process. There are more questions than answers and it is not certain how my body will adapt to this or even for how long I have had this, may be years and never noticed before.


The true is that I don’t know how long will take this to get worst...there is no way to know if it will take decades to get worst or months or years or if I will have constant pain when running or no.  The only thing I know if that running is the last type of exercise doctors recommend in these cases. Low impact sports as swimming are more appropriate for people with arthritis.


I know many people will think I am crazy for my decision but I am a risk taker and I can’t imagine my life without running and just doing Yoga, Pilates or just running 5 miles here and there….that is not what I have planned. Running is very important for me and I am not ready to quit so I will do everything I can to keep doing it. Physical therapy, supplements, change my diet for food that help cartilages, etc but I won’t change my dreams.


I prefer to need a joint/hip replacement in 5 years than expend my life dreaming with things I did not have the courage to do. I don’t know what it is going to happen, I might have pain everyday or I might don’t have it for months. I am very optimistic and believe in the power of human mind and by sure my mind is very strong.


My plans remain the same…50 miles ultramarathon and NYC Marathon for 2010. I might just need to change the ultramarathon I am thinking to do since it is on road and if I have pain that could really hurt my joints, one on a dirt surface could be much better but I will see how the training progresses and how do I feel running on concrete. For now I need to keep training on dirt since that is the best for my joints and for anyone joints!!! I will just leave the concrete for races.


I haven’t had pain in 5 consecutive days for first time since the NJ marathon on May 2 and I am slowly going back to run .


Even though I am a little behind my original training schedule I won’t push it that much for at least 1 more week. I truly believe the best way to start a training is injury free so I want to be sure my inflammation and joint effusion is gone…arthritis is not an injury but an illness and I will never get rid of it but I won’t let it to take over my body or life…I will CHALLENGING THE BODY to overcome it!


This is why I have changed mind about having a running blog. I want to keep a register of my runs, pains, victories and failures to remind me one day that whatever happen with my hip I made the right decision because I was pursuing my dreams. Also I want to tell you the story of amazing people who has gone beyond the imaginary challenging their bodies...stay tunned to learn about them!