Hey there modern vegans and vegan curious.
It's Margaret, and welcome back to ModVegan.
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Today I want to talk with you about disappointment.
Especially athletic disappointment.
I ran the Calgary Half Marathon last week, last Sunday, so I guess it's just been about
a week since I ran it, but I finished in my worst time ever, it was the 150th anniversary
of Canada celebration run - they had the marathon, they even had a 150 kilometre race that I
took my kids to the beginning of.
And that was really exciting.
We got to meet one of the runners, and it's just so awesome that they do that.
And a reminder, when I was looking at the results just to see how the guy that we met
did in the race, a reminder that it's really awesome just to finish a race.
When you look at something like that, there were plenty of people who started the 150k,
and couldn't finish it, for whatever reason.
So, that's something to keep in mind.
I think that whenever you do any kind of sport, you have to just remember it's important - at
least for me - I'm doing this for fun, I'm not doing it because I get paid.
I definitely would never get paid for the way I run.
But it's something that you do because it's healthy, it's fun, you enjoy it, it's a great
way to remain active and everything like that.
And over the last four years or so, since I started running, I've just really enjoyed
it.
One of the hardest things has been though, that I've gotten worse every year, it seems
like.
And it's weird, because when I'm training, I usually - I've done better every year in
training.
But I've just had some really not so great races.
And especially this one was a bit of a disappointment in some ways, because I've been running faster
than I ever have in training before, and I was pretty sure I was going to beat my own
PR.
I was hoping to get in around 2:15, but did not happen.
I was 15 minutes slower than that, so it was not a good thing.
But it's complex, right?
But I read a really great article today in Runner's World by Caleb Daniloff, and it was
called "I went Vegan, but I didn't PR - What the heck?
WTF?"
And it was just - it was so funny, because I know how that feels.
You know, when you feel like you've done everything right and you still don't PR.
And I really enjoyed this article, because, the guy that wrote it, he started out by saying
he was really hoping that going vegan was going to improve his running time.
He was aiming for a sub-4 marathon, and he ended up way over 4.
And he was a little disappointed.
But he also knew that it was about the training and everything like that.
There's so much more that goes into it than just your diet.
Because diet is really important, training is also important, and I would say actually
diet in some ways is one of the most important things, but if you aren't able to train and
stuff like that, that does make a difference.
And for me, I didn't tell you guys, but I did end up actually in the hospital.
I injured my back and was really hurt a couple of weeks ago.
And that was 'cause, also probably 'cause I hadn't been as consistent in my training,
and I was running really fast on my longer runs, and I think I just was tired and sore,
and the next day I was bending over to get a cookie tray out of the oven, and it was
like "snap!"
I just - my back went completely kerflooey.
I couldn't even walk.
It was horrible.
So, the fact that I was actually able to run two weeks later - it was a little bit less
than two weeks after I injured my back that I was able to run the race.
And during the race, I just kept reminding myself, you know, "it's pretty amazing that
you're here and you're running, a couple of weeks ago you weren't sure if you'd ever walk
again, so this is just - it's a good thing."
And it was one of those races, I think I was about you know, 14k in, no, no, more like
12km in or something like that, and I just - I knew I wasn't going to be able to maintain
my pace.
And I felt like I had a choice at that moment whether I was going to be ending back up in
the emergency room with an injured back, or was I going to just kind of let it go, let
go of that dream to be able to finish it in a decent time, and I just knew that if I kept
pushing myself, I wasn't going to make it.
And sometimes you have that feeling when you're running, especially on longer races, you just
know that you can't push yourself past a certain limit, or you're just not going to be able
to finish.
So it was one of those kind of, disappointing things.
But it was also a good thing.
And this year has been kind of an interesting year.
Because I know in terms of veganism, I've been really healthy I have great B12 and Iron,
and I know that because I had another health problem that I had to see the doctor about,
and my first concern, actually, was "what if it's my B12, or what if it's my Iron?"
And I knew I would be able to deal with those things.
I had a plan.
If it was B12, I have friends that have B12 - they lack the intrinsic factor for B12,
one of my friends has to get B12 shots.
So I know that that's something that you have to be prepared to do.
I was prepared to do that.
But it turned out it wasn't my B12 at all.
I actually had really low white blood cell count.
And I haven't heard back from the doctor about the second blood test yet, so I think I'm
good, because I think he would have called me if there'd been a problem.
Because with the first one, I got a call right away.
But, yeah, it was just - it's been a little bit of a challenge, if I'm being honest with
you guys.
It's frustrating when things aren't going well with your health.
But it was good for me, because what I ended up doing - I found out that one of the medications
that I've been taking for years actually can cause low white blood cell count.
And I was taking an antidepressant called Wellbutrin, and that actually, after a couple
of years, if you're taking that, it can start to interfere with your white blood cells,
and cause you not to be able to fend off bacterial infections and things like that.
So, it's good that I'm off of that, and that's a good thing.
I actually had - after I went off those things, for some reason I had a psoriasis outbreak
for the first time in years, and I think it was maybe a reaction to quitting all those
medications all of a sudden.
But it's nice.
Now I'm not taking any medication at all.
I know I told you guys last year that I was taking Cipralex and Wellbutrin.
I am totally off of both those, and that's really nice.
I've taken those for a couple of years now, and it's nice not to have to take them anymore.
At least for now I feel really good and that's a really nice positive thing.
I think for now, what I'm going to try to do is run more, be more consistent.
Watch my diet a little bit more.
I've been eating a little bit lower fat diet, which I think is helpful.
I'm not completely no oil, I'll still eat the occasional thing with some oil in it.
But overall, I've been, you know, mostly avoiding oil and things like that.
And that's good.
But, sometimes you just kind of have to put the hard work in.
There's no magic bullet.
Just like this article from Runner's World was saying.
Even if you're vegan, there's no magic bullet.
Sometimes you do have to watch what you eat.
Sometimes you do have to be careful.
You do have to go to the gym.
You do have to work out.
It's just the way it is.
And so, I guest what I want to say is, veganism is not some kind of a magic bullet.
It definitely helps.
It certainly can improve your health.
But if you're healthy already, you may not notice as much of a difference.
And that's why I'm vegan for ethical reasons.
I'm not necessarily vegan because I want to be an UltraRunner or anything like that.
Even though there are people like that that are showing that you can do anything.
And I think this is the real key: you can do anything that you would do eating animals,
eating plant-based.
It doesn't really make a difference.
If you're vegan, and you want to be, you know, a world champion power lifter, we have vegans
that have shown that that's totally possible.
You know, we have Olympic weight lifters that are lifting great weights as vegans.
So we know that it doesn't stop you from doing anything that you would want to do.
And it definitely can help you.
If you're not eating a healthy diet, it's going to make you healthier.
And I think probably inside, one of the things that was great was the doctor - I told him
that I was vegan, and he praised me.
He said "that's awesome, and I'm so happy to see that you run and things like that,
that's really good."
And when he got my blood tests the first time and I had the really low white blood cell
count, I asked him, my first question was "oh, you know, am I iron deficient or anything?"
And he said "no, your iron is fantastic.
Your B12 levels are great."
And he also commented, "you also have some of the best cholesterol numbers I've ever
seen as a doctor."
So that's a really great thing.
So I know that at least inside, my body inside is pretty healthy.
I may not be an amazing athlete, but I enjoyed being able to be active, and I know that my
diet is contributing to that, it's helping me with what I do, so that I can keep doing
this for my whole life.
And that's another thing I'd always encourage you guys with athletics and things like that...unless
you are a professional and you're getting paid to do it, something I always remind myself,
and my friends and I talk about - this is something that we want to do until we're old.
And grey.
And I want to be still running when I'm 70, 75, 80.
I want to still be able to do that.
And that's my goal, really.
It's not about being so much faster, even though I definitely want to break 2:15, finally,
in my half marathon!
Which I think is pretty doable.
I do want to do that.
But it's not really about that, it's about staying fit, being with my friends, and being
active, leading a healthy life.
And those things are so important.
And so, today, I'm just trying to embrace the fact that this Sunday I'm going to go
for a nice run with my friends, I'm going to be able to do it, I won't have re-injured
my back, I'm going to take better care of myself, especially when it comes to my back.
I've realized that I need to strengthen my core more, and focus on that.
I can't only run as my only form of exercise.
I need to do a little bit of other stuff.
But, yeah.
It's a reminder to me to keep valuing my health, I think the whole thing that happened with
the blood test, with the white blood cells, it really made me reevaluate just taking medications
because I had been for a long time, and thinking about whether it was really helpful for me,
and even healthy for me.
And just trying to improve things overall.
I have to say that I've been a little stressed out over the last few weeks, too, probably
the back injury and that weird health problem and stuff like that - but I've just been kind
of stressed out and tired, and it's not always easy.
And it's one of those things: everybody goes through periods where they just feel like,
you know that their work isn't valued, and everything like that.
It's just, we all face that, but I think the important thing is to remember why we're doing
it.
And for me, remembering why I do YouTube, remembering why I run and things like that,
it's been really important to me over the last couple of weeks, and I just - I hope
I'm able to find a good balance in my life and keep working on being a healthier person.
And I hope that all of you can find that, too.
And do check out that guys article in Runner's World, it was really great, Caleb Daniloff
"I Went Vegan And I Still Didn't PR" basically was the title of the article.
Good article.
Check it out.
He did finish the article staying strong as a vegan, you know, searching Happy Cow for
a good place to get something to eat.
So, it's good.
We can all change our lives and improve our lives, and it's all just about growing as
a person and as a wannabe athlete.
Thank you guys so much for watching.
If you enjoyed this video, please be sure and give it a like and subscribe.
And I would love to hear from you guys, what you're doing in your life to be a little bit
healthier, how you are working on veganism and maybe some athletics and stuff like that.
'Cause it is important to stay active.
I think it's one of those things that really does help you in life, and gives you a lot
of strength going on with everything in your life.
Thanks for watching, take care, bye!
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