As I wrote about my disappointing Mt Evans Ascent the other day, I grappled with the grief I still sometimes feel surrounding my chronic pain. I realized that one of the most difficult aspects of a chronic medical condition is its on-going nature. Duh, right? The problem is that the losses accumulate. When I was 21, … More Perpetual Loss
Stats: Distance: 14.5 miles Vertical Gain: 3,900 feet to the summit of Mt Evans Goal: sub 3:00! Last year I finished in 3:03, 3 minutes short of earning an engraved rock. Coming so close to the coveted rock only drove me to want it more…so this past year earning it has been … More Mt Evans Ascent Race Report
Great news! I’m excited to announce that I was selected to participate in the Medtronic Global Heroes Program! Every year, Medtronic chooses 25 patients whose lives have been radically transformed by their medical technology to run the October Twin Cities Marathon as a “Global Hero.” A friend told me about the program a few months … More Medtronic Global Heroes Program
Stats: Distance: The race was supposed to be 50K (31 miles) but due to flood damage and a re-route, ended up somewhere approaching 34 miles. Vertical gain: 8,000K, felt like 10K! Goal: To better my time from last year. In 2013, I was worn down from my first 50 mile race immediately followed by a … More Dirty 30 Race Report
Lately I’ve noticed a string of articles with titles like, “What Not to Say to a Woman Who is Expecting,” or “10 Things Not to Say to Someone with Cancer.” There’s many, many more with the same idea, all published in popular online outlets in the last few months. Here’s one for migraines and one for chronic pain. Both … More “What Not to Say…”
I have a confession: I’m harboring a particularly insidious habit. When speaking about my headache, I tend to abbreviate the term and refer to my body part most affected, my head. “My head’s bad today,” I’ll tell my partner, as if my head were a teenager in need of a drastic parental intervention, like a … More Language Positivity
Recently someone asked me what advice I would give to another person with chronic pain who hoped to become physically active. After reflecting on the question a bit, I’ve come up with a few suggestions that might be helpful. (With the disclaimer that I’m not a physician or a physical trainer, just a fellow chronic pain sufferer.) … More Advice for Pain Sufferers
You know that Bryan Adams song about the summer of ’69? Every time I hear the line, “Those were the best days of those lives,” I cringe. I detest the idea that a certain period of our lives can be “the best.” What is Adams saying? That everything after the age of 18 was crap? … More Peak-Bagging Nostalgia
My partner and I have had a long-standing joke that whenever I dissolve into a fit of pouting silence (I won’t comment on how often this happens), that he tells me to “use my words” as if I was a three-year-old. Often, I feel like telling my headache the same thing. When it gets grouchy … More Charades
A few years ago an acquaintance remarked on my overly-active lifestyle that I must be running from something. I am. My pain. Since developing meningitis in 2001 at the age of 18, I’ve had a chronic, incurable daily headache that hasn’t left me even for a moment. In the first three years after becoming ill, I … More Why I Run
Lynn K Hall 
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