Rule-Abiding Nerd + Athlete's Heart

So.  I'm pretty by-the-book when it comes doctor and dentist visits, car maintenance, recipe instructions and such.  Meaning, I'm a rule follower.  I get excited with I see a "manufacturer's recommendation" or a numbered list of rules.  I don't exactly know why, but I've been this way my whole life.  There's something about someone already going through the painstaking process of figuring out the best sequence of events for the optimal result.  I also subscribe to Consumer Reports.  Hint: That last sentence should pretty much sum up how big of a rule-abiding nerd I am.  I do form my own opinions (there are a lot), but I'm not so stupid to go and try to reinvent the wheel for every issue or question I encounter. 

So.  I've never had a heart issue nor do I suspect I have one, but I'm also very sure I'm not a medical doctor and as to not follow in the footsteps of those amazingly (stupid) people that also do not have medical degrees but seem to be doctors in their own heads (p.s. those people annoy me more than the people that leave 1 of something just so they're not the one to finish said something - cookie, cracker, piece of cereal, drink of orange juice - and that says A LOT), I decided to have my ticker checked out so I didn't become one those horrific headlines that goes viral on Facebook about a distance runner dying as she crossed the finish line...during her first marathon.  I'm putting my body through something I've never put it through before, I thought I'd leave it to the experts. #runonparagraph #dealwithit

So. I see my doctor once a year for an annual check-up complete with the following blood work: Lipid Panel (cholesterol), Fasting Glucose (Diabetes), Thyroid Level Check (family issue), Iron Level Check (because I'm a woman of child-bearing age, not because of veganism), Vitamin B-12 Level Check (because of veganism), and Vitamin D (because we have a history, I'm vampire pale [no shimmers here], and because me likes my sunscreen.  Do not fear the needle - this information is valuable, and I advise you all to suck it up and get the numbers. 

To save you all the fascinating talk about how my doctor's visit went, we'll skip to the main points here:

1. My heart is A-ok.  I can run until my feet turn into giant, puss-filled blisters (true story), but my heart will go on (I crack me up.)
2. My doctor called me a name, and I wanted to hug her.   

The latter is obviously needing a little bit of explanation, so on with the fascinating talk we go.

While my loverly doc was listening for a murmur - this was like the longest anyone has EVER listened to my heart - she pointed out that my heart was sooooo slow.  Okay, I thought, that explains the delay here.  I knew that crazy mad athletes had resting heart rates that should otherwise deem them...well...dead, but that's not me!

It's ok, she said, this is typical.  And then it happened - "You athletes and your slow hearts!"  My (nervous) resting heart rate clocked in at 48 bpm.  Before marathon training, my pulse had always been around 70 which is fine too.  But, what?  I was officially an athlete!

Now, the fact that I ran a half-marathon in April and have been in training the last 3 months should have clued me in to the whole "athlete" thing, but seriously, I still feel like that couch potato that just goes jogging sometimes.

This is a mental thing and yes, one day my mental thing will catch up to my physical thing, but until then, I'll rely on the proof in the numbers.

And by the way, since going vegan, my total cholesterol has dropped down to the 140s.  I'm not anemic, have no thyroid issues, Vitamin D and B-12 are in the safe level, and I am diabetes-free.  Yay, plants and running my ass off.

Peace out and run on.