So my last report wasn’t… the best, happiest update. I was struggling with back pain, and right on the eve of the Boston Marathon, a race I’ve been dreaming about for SEVEN YEARS. Today I finally got the results of my MRI and confirmed the diagnosis…
Author Archives: athlettuce
A Post Titled “My Massage Therapist Says I Can’t Run Today” or “A Huge Pain in the Sacrum”
Where to start? I’ve asked myself so many times in the past few weeks to put together the timeline… when was the beginning of all this? Christmas. I’m pretty sure. But probably before then. Let’s just start there. My husband and I went to Orangetheory in his hometown over the holidays. It felt great to sweat but after the rowing portion of the class, my lower back felt a little tweaked. I had been trying to use good form, engaging my core, etc. etc. so I decided that my historically, notoriously tight hip flexors must have pulled something in my back when I was rowing. My back hurt for a week or two — longer than I expected, but everything felt muscular. I didn’t think much of it and proceeded with my life…
Austin Marathon 2018 Recap and Review (Marathon 26 and State 21 — Texas!)
Race: Austin Marathon in, you guessed it, Austin, Texas
Time of Year and Weather: Sunday of President’s Day Weekend, mid-February; 50-55 degrees and overcast for the race; high of 76 for race weekend
Size: With 17,000 runners (half, full, and 5k) this is the 25th largest marathon in the USA. Of course, the vast majority of those runners were doing the half.
Quad Rock 50 Training (T Minus 14 Weeks); Two Weeks Until the Austin Marathon; Post-Whole30 Check-In
This post is a round up of my training for the Quad Rock 50 Miler (held in CO in May), my preparation for the Austin Marathon (in two weeks!), and life A.W. (after Whole30). Let’s dig in…
My (Vegetarian) Whole30 Results and Review and What’s Next

Sweet potato noodles with cashew sauce
Nearly 30 days ago I wrote about starting a vegetarian version of the Whole30 diet. I’m here to report back on how my attempt went and what I thought of the program.
First things first. Did I complete all 30 days of the Whole30?
Checking in on My 2018 Goals — One Month Down!
At the beginning of the year, I set out a few goals for 2018. Here I’ll provide a little update on how I am doing, now that we are one month in. Note that because it wasn’t one of my official 2018 goals, I’ll write about my experience attempting Whole30 in a separate post. So the goals…
Starting (Vegetarian) Whole30! Plus, an RP vs. Whole30 Comparison
On New Year’s Day, my husband and I were driving to the ski slopes and he said “I think I’m going to do an experiment with my diet every month.” “What do you mean?” I asked. And he said, “Like, one month do paleo, one month do something else… I’d do Whole30 but it is so cliche.” “I’d do Whole30 with you,” I gamely said. And that was that. We are four days in. How is it going?