Trail jogging with a stoma is a good idea

Being healthy is very important to living a good life in my opinion. Even though I have a stoma, I still love to actually be active and especially outdoors. That is because the outdoors is where I find great joy. It is that peace that I feel that worried me the most when I heard I was going to need an ostomy. It was not the fear of the surgery, but the thought of not having that special time for myself when I am able to run through my hard day and find a great time of rejuvenation. That is why I am so happy to tell you that running is normal and can be done with a stoma. It was in no way a hindrance to my favorite part of my life. That small 30 minutes to an hour every other day still happens. Now it is a little different now, but it still happens. I am not a super professional runner or a medical doctor. What I am is a fan of jogging and I have a tip or two for you.

Don't think I just got out of surgery and went straight to jogging. That would be a bit silly. I wish I would have been able to do that but I had a lot to learn. The new lifestyle change that everyone told me it would be was not acceptable. Instead of a lifestyle change, I decided I would not accept mediocrity. I decided that I would learn how to get the gear that would allow me to live normally. The history records show that I didn't have to have a massive lifestyle change. People have had stoma's for hundreds of years or more and they have lived incredible normal lives. Reinventing the wheel is stupid to me. I love that others have figured things out and are willing to teach them. I live by what others have done and improve upon that.

My advice would be to learn from others first. Find people that do what you want to do and also have a stoma. Learn how they did it and how they are able to succeed at it. Read their posts and blogs and learn from their mistakes. If they are willing to share it then you won't have to actually make the same failures that they did. It is because of this that I am so grateful for them. There are massive runners who have a stoma who can teach you and me so much. One of these guys ran an Iron Man Competition and it gave me hope. That is an amazing work. The competition is crazy hard and long and if one guy with a stoma can do it, we can do just about anything. The motivation I got from that allowed me to go out and find my own passion again. It allowed me to feel confident in starting to jog.

The fact is that it is a privilege to still be able to do it and I think I am blessed and you can be too. I started walking around my home. Then I started adding in hills and elevation. Then I started on the elliptical and then finally jogging. Keep learning and trying new things and don't be afraid to fail.