Another runner's story: Leaving colitis in the dust

This posting comes from Thad, another Saturday morning running pal as well as a blogging mentor (check out ncrunnerdude.blogspot.com):

The reasons I run are multi-fold, but I guess the main reason is for motivation and my health. Those two kind of go hand-in-hand for me. I started running in college just for the fun of it. I'd never done anything athletic in my life. I was one of those fat kids in the plaid ToughSkins. Remember me? My biggest accomplishment was eating a twin-pack of Lays potato chips in one sitting. My brother was the sports star in the family: football, baseball, basketball, tennis. 

    All I ever saw was team sports. It wasn't until my first 10K -- the 1984 Great Raleigh Road Race -- that I discovered you could participate in a sport as an individual. I learned that I loved competing with myself and trying to better my time with each race. That first race was slow, by the way: 1:06. But it got me started in the world of running.

   I never ran anything longer than a 10K until 1997, when I ran my first marathon, New York City. It was a great experience, and I was hooked on long-distance running. 

   In 2001 I had a setback. Doctors diagnosed me with ulcerative colitis. After I got my first episode under control, I was sort of depressed and didn't run. I gained a little weight and felt like crap (no pun intended). Then, in the summer of 2002, another setback involved surgery, a week in the hospital, and a month out of work. But this time I had a different attitude. I was so grateful to get out of the hospital and join the living again.

  I decided that I wasn't going to let UC rule my life. It was early fall 2002 and I decided to run the 2003 Country Music Marathon in March. About the same time I took a friend, Rick, up on his invitation to run with his pals on Saturday mornings. That first run, it was just me and Rick, and all I'd gotten up to was 6 miles. Rick's usual Saturday run was 11 miles. Rick said, "oh, if you can do 6, you can do 11. No problem." I ran the route and hurt like hell the next day, but I'll be forever grateful to Rick for his invite and for him pushing me to do that first 11.

   I've been running with that group (the BlueLiners) for more than 6 years now and watched the group grow. I've discovered that I need a yearly goal of at least one marathon to train and run. Oddly enough, the running (and my medication) seem to keep UC at bay. I still have episodes , but not as frequent or as bad. Of 13 marathons, I've had to back out of only 3 due to UC-related problems. Not too bad!"