When I Couldn’t Outrun Arthritis, I Learned to Joggle

Rather than write my own blog post about joggling and arthritis, I thought it would be much better to let my friend Dana Guglielmo be a guest blogger for this topic, since she has arthritis and is an amazing joggler who holds a world record certified by the Guinness Book of World Records. Without further delay, here is her inspirational story.

When I Couldn’t Outrun Arthritis, I Learned to Joggle

By Dana Guglielmo

It was the camaraderie and entertainment that first lured me into the sport of joggling (juggling while running), and when I say entertainment, it’s a two-way street. I try to make the people around me laugh with the joggling; in return, the runners and spectators make me laugh with their hilarious comments. Joggling is basically an open invitation for people to talk to you (and make inappropriate ball jokes).

“What, did I seriously just get passed by a girl juggler? You just completely emasculated me!”

My new hobby has inspired countless laughs, but perhaps the most important gift it brought me was a new approach to battling a chronic condition: Inflammatory arthritis.

***

“You know, Dana, when you run so many miles it makes me wonder what you’re running from,” my friend joked.

I was heading out the door for my second run of the day; that week I had run close to 50 miles. I laughed about it, but there was some truth to her statement – I was definitely running from something.

I began joggling last year, and as I faced the challenge of running with three hacky sacks spinning in a cascade pattern, I also faced a new challenge in managing my arthritis.

Not only did my medications stop working for me, but I began having serious side effects from them. But lowering my medications risked damaging my joints; increasing them risked damaging vital organs.

I couldn’t win.

After trying to outrun my arthritis for seven years, I realized my arthritis had outrun me.

Gone were the days that I could wake up, pop 8 pills, inject more medication into my stomach and expect to feel amazing on a 15 mile long run. The same medications that enabled me to outrun the disease for seven years had stopped me dead in my tracks.

Change was in order. So I stopped trying to outrun my arthritis, and instead, I began learning how to manage it along with being an athlete.

I met with a new rheumatologist and dietitian that both fully support my dream of running marathons. Under their guidance, I lowered my medications and altered my diet. As it turns out, the best diet for arthritis patients is the same diet that nearly everyone should follow to be healthy.

For the first time in my life, I took it easy. I chilled out. I let go of my need to perfect every little thing. I exercised based on how I felt, and not what my training schedule said.

With my new lifestyle and positive mindset, the juggling ball of arthritis became significantly lighter. I stopped running with fear and denial, and began moving forward with confidence.

In time, I stopped running from my arthritis. Joggling helped me to manage my health in a way that running never could do on its own. Sure, there will be days that I “drop a ball” and have pain, but you’re allowed to drop a ball – even in an official Guinness World Record attempt!

Whether it’s juggling my hacky sacks or juggling arthritis, I hope to be juggling everywhere I go – running included.

Funding Research To Cure Arthritis

Joggling4Arthritis

Dana Guglielmo’s blog – Beating PRs & Beating Arthritis

Follow Dana Guglielmo on Twitter

Secrets of speed joggling

I’m not that fast of a runner, but lately I’ve been doing 10 mile joggling runs in a little less than 1:20, mostly without dropping. I even recently did a 5K in 21:39, which is a new record for me, and I didn’t even drop once. In fact, compared to how I was doing last summer, I am both faster and dropping less.

How is it possible to do this? Obviously, it takes a lot of practice. Once you get used to joggling, juggling while running becomes so hard-wired into your brain and muscle memory that the juggling is mostly automatic. Deciding when to switch from automatic mode to conscious control mode can be tricky. For complicated tricks, I have to put myself into conscious control mode, which means focusing more on the balls, and less on my surroundings. Obviously, I am in conscious control mode when there are many people and obstacles around. I don’t want to bump into anyone or have a ball hit someone in the face!

This is why most people do their speed work on tracks or on paths with no obstacles. The “rules” of course are rather simple: Let your running set the rhythm, and the faster you run, the faster and lower your juggling pattern. I learned this from Perry Romanowski and Joe Salter, two amazing jogglers whose joggling tips were extremely valuable for helping me improve my joggling. These rules are actually the basic rules of joggling, but it is helpful for even experienced jogglers to review them and make sure they are adhering to them.

Besides this, what I do to try to joggle as quickly as possible is to try to expend as little energy as possible on the juggling, so my leg speed is minimally compromised. One way I try to do this is to try to harness as much energy as possible from the up and down bounce of running to help my arms throw the balls. I even try to take this to the extreme of trying to not throw the balls at all, I just have them effortlessly bounce off my hands in a juggling pattern. Okay, so I don’t actually do this, but sometimes I like to think I come a little close to achieving this energy efficiency ideal while speed joggling. There are times when I try to pretend that the balls aren’t even there and I am not juggling; I have mixed success with this crazy approach.

Sometimes I also like to think of my arms as propellers helping to push me forward; just because I’m juggling while running doesn’t mean I can’t use my arms like other runners. This probably doesn’t help, but we like to think it does.

All the ordinary rules for improving speed among runners apply:

• Interval run once a week
• Hill runs once or twice a week
• One long slow run once a week
• A short speed run once a week or every 2 weeks

For intervals, I alternate between 30 second maximum speed running with 30 second very slow running for 13 minutes. Before I do the intervals, I run slowly for 5 minutes to get my muscles ready. Intervals can be brutal. I rest and eat a recovery snack or meal after this, and may do a separate 5 mile run later in the day. I used to do 5 mile runs immediately after doing the intervals, but I stopped doing this when I noticed no improvement. I also drink probiotic beverages or eat fermented vegetables to help prevent gastric distress while running fast or long. I think it helps.

What do you do to improve your speed? And if you’re a joggler, how do you speed joggle?