It's time for my yearly post

Well, it looks like it is time for my annual post on the blog.  No apologies, my life, like everyone else's is busy. 

This past year has been a doozy!  I ran the half marathon on October and did as good as could be expected.  I was about 1/2 an hour slower than I wanted, but training was interrupted due to chronic pain and illness. 

I was diagnosed with endometrosis in September after a month of tests, painkillers, late nights and lots of doctors visits.  It was a tough time, and things got tougher as we progressed through the Fall.  There is no cure for endo, it is a painful, pervasive and terrible ordeal.  I'm just thankful I didn't show symptoms until last Fall.  The Fall and winter are really a blur for me, I don't think any of us realized how bad things were.  I was just trying to manage the symptoms as best I could, and trying to keep everything together though a haze of chronic pain, and uncertainty. 

I ended up having a complete hysterectomy in late March, and I am now completely recovered.  The surgeon was shocked when during the surgery they realized I was in stage 4 endo, not the stage 1 or 2 they had been expecting.  I was pretty asymptomatic for the years it took for things to get that far out of control.  I'm surprised at how good I now feel 8 weeks post surgery, and how fast I healed. 

Now to get back to running and training for the next race.