10/10/10 Jog for Joubert Virtual 10K

Today, I woke up with a massive headache that persisted throughout the day. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, I had signed up for Laura B's 10x10 Jog for Joubert Virtual 10K. I spent the day hydrating (originally I had planned to run in the morning but I decided to wait and see if the headache took a hike. It didn't and still hasn't) and at 4 pm I took a nap. I woke up feeling slightly better but still dreading this run. Which makes me sad.

First, what is Joubert Syndrome? Why am I running for it? From the website, http://www.joubertfoundation.com/:

Joubert Syndrome is a rare genetic disorder characterized by decreased muscle tone, difficulties with coordination, abnormal eye movements, abnormal breathing pattern and cognitive impairment. These issues are due to abnormal brain development, resulting in decreased size of the cerebellar vermis and other brain abnormalities that appear as the "molar tooth sign" on a brain MRI. Although rare, several hundred individuals with Joubert Syndrome have been reported in the medical literature. Mutations in at least 10 genes cause Joubert Syndrome, accounting for ~50% of patients. Subsets of individuals with Joubert Syndrome can also have polydactyly (extra fingers or toes), as well as retinal, kidney and liver disease requiring medical intervention.

Joubert Syndrome is one of a growing group of disorders called "ciliopathies," caused by dysfunction of a part of the cell called the cilium. The cilium functions as an antenna for many cell types, allowing cells to communicate with each other and sense their environment during the development and function of many organs. In fact, cilia are required to sense light in the eye, odors in the nose and fluid flow in the kidneys and liver. Disruption of cilium function likely explains the incidence of eye, kidney and liver problems in individuals with Joubert Syndrome.

Personally, I don't know anyone who suffers from this disease (although a cousin of mine has a disease similar in nature to it) but Laura has an excellent blog and is a very supportive gal in the running community. I haven't been able to afford race entry fees and I haven't been running so I decided I would donate $10 (in keeping with the theme) and hit the pavement.

I have no pictures because all of them turned out funny since I live by myself (go ahead, feel sorry for me. Or jealous. Either way) and my printer ran out of ink while printing my race bib so no one even knew why I was running. Sigh. I knew, you know and I guess that will have to do for now.

First, I had to map a course. I opted for one in my hood which meant LOTS of hills. And traffic so a good number of stops at red lights but whatever. I threw on my UGA gear (heyyyyy we finally got a win yesterday and I could wear it with pride!) and turned on my running mix and I was ready to go. The weather was great for the run- the sun was just starting to dip, it was not humid, slight breeze and temps in the high 60s.

Unfortunately, my calves were not as ready as I was. I ran the first mile before thinking I will finish the 10K but there will have to be walk breaks. I don't have a garmin or a stop watch so I tend to use the song method. I run the length of a song or two or three then walk the length of ONE song. So that is what I did. The whole time I had to remind myself that children who suffer from Joubert's can't go out and run every day like I can. It pushed me to finish with a less than stellar time but my headache had dissapated and I felt good for doing this. It was an awesome end to my weekend!

Be sure to check out Laura's blog and the Joubert Foundation. Laura's archives have some GREAT posts about kids who suffer from the illness and they are simply adorable kids. If you have the money to donate, definitely consider doing so!

Final time: 1:10.47