You gotta fight...for your right...to paaaaaaaar-teeee!

I've been thinking about posting about why I am doing the cycle for a while now. Yeah, I'm doing it for charity for a friend at my old work and a kid that deserved a whole load more than they got in life. But thats not the only reason. Before you think I am going to get preachy, I'm not. It's just so you understand my way of thinking and reasoning behind why I do things.

In August 1996 I became sick, I lost a lot of weight in a very short time. I was vomiting, running to the toilet every five minutes, being dizzy and losing hair quickly. It took two years to diagnose the fact I had Crohns Disease (ps that link is pretty gruesome so don't click if you are squeamish)- at first the docs thought I had food poisoning but after 6 months we figured either my mum was a TERRIBLE cook or I had something else. Since no one else at home was sick it couldn't be food poisoning.

Anyway, those two years totally changed me, I had to re-think my future, re-evaluate "friendships", and re-plan my idea of who I was. Some of it was easy. The career change came naturally to me. Twelve years and one major operation later and I've sorted my future (as far as anyone can really), made some excellent friends at college, work, and across the world. The only thing that still plagues my daily life is Crohns. It's never going to go.

To say Crohns plagues my daily life isn't actually correct. I am far too stubborn to let it. It does control certain aspects of my life. I can't, for example, eat if I am going to be on the bike for more than 2 hours. I can't eat just anything either. I need to control the fibre, sugar and fat I eat so my reduced intestines can cope with it.

And thats one of the drivers for me doing so much training and actually saying yes to doing 240 miles on a bike. I WILL NOT give in. EVER. Every day I take Immuno-Suppressants to try and stop my body rejecting parts of itself (similar to those of a transplant patient). Every day I take a whole load of Non Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDS) to reduce the inflammation in the gut. Endurance Training helps me out by reducing my immune system further.

You'd think that would leave me wide open to getting sick, but to be honest I am too stubborn to let even a small cold get in my way. Hell even when I have full blown fevers which result in me looking like I've stepped out the shower I still get myself up out of bed and carry on.

Life isn't easy for anyone, some of us have physical issues to over come, others mental or emotional. What counts is how we deal with the challenges thrown at us in life. I'm not going to let that challenge beat me. Most of us won't be fortunate enough to have the things we want in life handed to us. We'll have to strive to get them.

So do as the Beastie Boys say and "Fight, for your right...to PAAAAAAAAARTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Just remember to enjoy it along the way.