Face the sunshine

I recently took part in my first official trail event and was pleased to see that even at more official events there was still cake at the end of the run! There were two events taking place on the day, a short run of 6.6km and a longer run of a whopping 16.8km that I think I would have struggled to walk, sounds a great, long distance! As it was my first event I registered for the shorter run to see how I got on and judging by the entries for the longer distance am glad I did as they looked like professional athletes that could go on to bike and swim after their event. Everyone was emailed a required kit list in advance of the day and here's a photo of mine in an Inov8 'ultra race' pack...I don't think I'll ever be racing anywhere and certainly not in any 'ultra' mode! In my pack I had: windproof jacket, running cap, waterproof trousers, waterproof jacket, compass, spare change, tissues, protein bar, babybel, banana, water, my phone, a map of the route ...

I'm supporting the 'Colostomy UK' 50K challenge which aims to prove that having a stoma is not a barrier to being active by inviting people with stomas to do a variety of activities that count towards an overall 50,000KM over a 6 month period. People can walk, jog, run, climb, swim or cycle any number of metres and can also raise funds for the charity through sponsorship. I'm already trying to be fairly active and the reason I started this blog was to show people that you can live a healthy and active lifestyle when you have a stoma so this challenge was something I was keen to get involved with. After registering I was sent a pack which contained a 50K challenge t shirt that I could wear when exercising to help raise awareness and a pedometer to track my progress. I'll then log any activity on the Colostomy UK website which can be done daily, weekly or monthly. There's a live counter on the website that shows the total of KM travelled so far by every...

The photo on the right was taken just before my one year stomaversary (anniversary of having a stoma) and the one on the left was taken by a friend about a year before. I know how long it can take for the side effects of steroids to wear off and I have a full on 'moon-face' in the left photo as I was still taking lots of steroids and had been on them for a long time. Although horrified at first when the photo on the left popped up on a Facebook timeline from a 'year ago today' I was actually pleased to see it as I felt in comparison to recent photos, I am looking a lot better/healthier. I feel that my hair is a lot thicker, healthier and is able to grow and I just generally feel better in myself. It's great to have photographic evidence to show me how much the steroids had affected me and to see how far I have come in a year as I think sometimes it's easy to forget just how poorly we have been/how much we can go through with Crohns or Ulcerative Colitis. A...

Before I had my second surgery for Crohn's I had more time to prepare for it and worked to strengthen my core. I continued to do this after surgery and do basic exercises at home to get me mobile again during recovery and ready for a higher intensity level of exercises. The below exercises can all be done at home, I just used an exercise mat for added comfort and for some of the pelvic floor exercises in the me+ programme I did these on my bed to begin with as advised by my stoma nurse. I checked with my stoma nurse and my surgeon at follow up appointments when I could begin exercising. The below Convatec me+ recovery programme includes videos that take you through foundation phase, to progress phase to getting fitter phase. I still do some of these exercises now and will continue to do so to keep my core strong. Coloplast Core 4 (videos) Convatec me+ (this is a free support programme that gives members access to exercise videos)