AORTA News: March 27th, 2023
Race Volunteers Needed!
As a runner, we know your time is valuable. But if you have a couple hours to spare, we could use your help for one of the upcoming AORTA supported or directed races! Assisting at a local race is a fun and rewarding experience. You are surrounded by health conscious individuals that, like you, are motivated fitness enthusiasts and appreciate the effort of volunteers.
2023 Bison Stampede 5K Results!
5K Start/Finish Video
Upcoming Local Races
April 15th: Combat Cancer 5K
When: Saturday, April 15, 2023
Time: 8:00 AM
Where: Nichols Center, AU Campus
Distance: 5K
Fee: $25 (Civilian)
$20 (First Responder/Military)
$15 (ROTC Cadet)
Description: The Combat Cancer 5k is a non-profit race hosted by Auburn University Army ROTC! A scenic course around Auburn University's Campus allows you to enjoy a nice, speedy 5k while supporting a great cause. All proceeds will go to the Spencer Cancer Center in Opelika. Help us combat cancer one mile at a time! Sign up before March 8 to ensure a shirt. Online registration ends April 8th but we will have Race Day Registration accepting cashapp and venmo!
April 22nd: D1 Life 5K
When: Saturday, April 22, 2023
Time: 8:00 AM (1M), 8:30 (5K)
Where: Town Creek Park, Auburn
Distance(s): 1-Mile Fun Run, 5K
Fee: $30 (5K), $15 (1M), $20 (Virtual 5K/1M)
Description: The D1 Life Foundation was established in loving memory of Dylan Pegues, a 17 year old Auburn High student that led a life of love, kindness, and generosity through Christ. The inaugural D1 Life 5K and 1 mile fun run will take place on April 22, 2023 at Town Creek Park in Auburn, Alabama. All proceeds from the race will go towards scholarships for seniors preparing for college, as well as helping send our youth to church conferences, soccer camps, photography seminars, and much more.
April 29th: Amber’s Donor Dash
When: Saturday, April 29, 2023
Time: 8:00 AM (1M), 8:30 (5K)
Where: Auburn
Distance(s): 1-Mile Fun Run, 5K
Fee: $30 (5K and 1-Mile)
Description: Welcome to Amber's 3rd Annual Donor Dash. We are so thankful for all our participants and the ability to spread awareness of organ donation. Amber was the best nurse and made the ultimate choice to be an organ donor. She saved lives in life and death and with her organs was able to help many. Join us to celebrate the memory of Amber and bring awareness to organ donation.
Weekly Whimsy
Why Am I Tired All the Time? We Have a Few Answers
Lauren Bedosky, Runner's World
It’s perfectly normal to feel groggy upon waking. It’s simply a phenomenon known as sleep inertia that requires you some time for your energy to kick in and our body and brain to feel awake. “Hardly anyone feels fantastic when they first wake up,” says Scott Kutscher, M.D., board-certified neurologist and associate professor of sleep medicine at Stanford University. However, people typically perk up over the next 30 to 60 minutes, he says.
So, if you’re constantly tired several hours after leaving your bed, you might have a problem.
How to Know If Feeling Tired All the Time Is a Problem
We all have days—or even weeks—where we can’t seem to perk up. Blame it on an unusually heavy workload, a jump in running mileage, travel, or any number of other factors that can make the day drag.
Unfortunately, figuring out when tiredness is a problem can be tricky. “Tiredness is a subjective experience, so it’s up to each person to feel for themselves when tiredness is interfering with their life,” Kutscher says.
If you notice that you’re more tired than normal, look at your diet and lifestyle habits. “Diet is very important, and sometimes forgotten as the reason why people may feel tired all the time,” says Eric Ascher, D.O., a family medicine physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. “Sometimes, adjusting the diet to focus less on sugar and processed foods will improve fatigue.”
Staying well-hydrated throughout the day and prioritizing good sleep hygiene may help, too.
If you don’t feel perkier after two weeks of making lifestyle changes, Ascher suggests making an appointment to see your primary care physician. He or she will likely run blood tests to check for nutrient and hormone deficiencies, and screen for health conditions that cause fatigue, Ascher says. If it turns out that you do have a health issue, your doctor will be able to refer you to a specialist for treatment.
6 Reasons You Might Be Tired All the Time
While it is normal to feel tired, sometimes it can be something more serious. In fact, fatigue is a key symptom of the following health conditions.
1. Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea is a potentially serious sleep disorder in which your breathing repeatedly starts and stops while you sleep. It’s also incredibly common, Kutscher says. In fact, an estimated 26% of adults between the ages of 30 and 70 have sleep apnea, per the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
Sleep apnea can happen if the throat muscles relax (known as obstructive sleep apnea), if the brain doesn’t send proper signals to the muscles that control breathing (central sleep apnea), or a combination of the two (complex sleep apnea syndrome), per the Mayo Clinic. In any case, the result is broken sleep.
“Our bodies don’t like interrupted sleep, so someone whose sleep is very interrupted is going to go through their day feeling as though they had poor sleep the night before,” Ascher says.
2. Autoimmune Disease
Autoimmune diseases like lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and type 1 diabetes occur when your immune system mistakenly attacks the healthy cells of your organs and tissues. While symptoms vary depending on the disease, fatigue appears in all of them. In fact, fatigue is often the most debilitating symptom for people with autoimmune disease, notes Harvard Health.
“When someone has an autoimmune disease, their body is in an inflammatory state, and that puts a lot of stress on the body,” Ascher explains. That’s why you might feel tired all the time.
3. Iron-Deficiency Anemia
According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), iron-deficiency anemia is a condition that develops if you don’t have enough of the mineral iron in your body. Iron is part of red blood cells, a protein that carries oxygen throughout your body and helps your muscles store and use oxygen. Without enough iron, your blood can’t deliver enough oxygen to power your body, leading to tiredness and fatigue, the NHLBI explains.
Certain conditions can make it hard for your body to absorb iron, including celiac disease, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and kidney disease. If you have one of these conditions, you may develop iron-deficiency anemia. However, iron-deficiency anemia can also occur if you lose blood. People with bleeding in the gastrointestinal or urinary tract, traumatic injuries, or heavy menstrual periods have a higher risk of iron-deficiency anemia, per the NHLBI.
4. Depression
Depression is a common mood disorder that affects your feelings, thoughts, and actions. You may feel persistently sad and hopeless, lose interest in normal activities, and/or feel anxious, notes the Mayo Clinic. At the end of the day, depression will cause you to feel fatigued more often than not, Ascher says.
It doesn’t help that people with depression have a higher risk of sleep problems—75% have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, per Johns Hopkins Medicine.
5. Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition that happens when your body doesn’t respond to insulin, a hormone that lets blood sugar into your body’s cells to use as energy, per the CDC. When your cells don’t respond to insulin (called insulin resistance), sugar builds up in your bloodstream, eventually leading to type 2 diabetes.
Fatigue is one common symptom of type 2 diabetes, and may even stick around after you’ve gotten your blood sugar under control, per an August 2018 editorial in Diabetes Therapy. There may be several reasons for this, from lifestyle and nutrition choices to the mental energy needed to manage diabetes on a daily basis to the hormonal changes that come with type 2 diabetes, researchers say.
6. Hypothyroidism (Underactive Thyroid)
Your thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland in the front of your neck that makes thyroid hormones. “These hormones regulate many different things, from metabolism to temperature,” Ascher says.
For some people, the thyroid gland doesn’t make enough thyroid hormones—a condition known as hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid). “If your thyroid is underactive, you may feel sluggish and tired, because your thyroid isn’t producing enough hormones to keep up with your body’s needs,” Ascher explains.
You face a higher risk of hypothyroidism if you’re female, older than 60, have had thyroid surgery or treatments, recently gave birth, or have an autoimmune disease, notes MedlinePlus.
Link to Runner’s World article
Quote of the Week
“Exercise not only changes your body,
It changes your mind,
your attitude and your mood."
― Anonymous
Video of the Week
The Best Way to Grab a Water Cup From An Aid Station (2:52)
Navigating mid-race aid stations are chaotic enough, even without the possibility of spilling everything before the cup reaches your mouth.
** AORTA provides this informational video to its members as a courtesy and does not endorse any particular product, process or service.
Ongoing Events
RunGo For Turn-By-Turn Directions!
RunGo provides turn-by-turn navigation allowing you to just enjoy your runs without having to think about looking for street names and when you may have to turn next. Other great features include, audio cues with your running stats, split updates, the ability to share your runs via social media, and create new routes. Another great feature of the app is the ability to work offline. You can create and download your routes ahead of time, before your run so you don’t have to use data during your run.
Race Volunteers Needed!
As a runner, we know your time is valuable. But if you have a couple hours to spare, we could use your help for one of the upcoming AORTA supported or directed races! Assisting at a local race is a fun and rewarding experience. You are surrounded by health conscious individuals that, like you, are motivated fitness enthusiasts and appreciate the effort of volunteers.
Water Stop Volunteers Needed
Water stop signs and coolers are available at the following location: 1536 Professional Parkway, Auburn, AL. (Thank you Adahli Massey!). Coolers and signs can be picked up Monday-Thursday from 8AM-4PM and on Fridays from 8AM-12 noon. Items are in the room next to the back door. If you are unable to pick up supplies on these dates/times, e-mail clemster@aol.com to make alternative arrangements (we deliver!).
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