Finish Lines & Milestones: Episode 162: Karen Kirkpatrick

Finish Lines & Milestones: Episode 162: Karen Kirkpatrick

Here's how people can enjoy this episode:

Guest: Karen Kirkpatrick @lupuswarriorprincess

Show Notes:

⁠⁠Karen Kirkpatrick⁠⁠ and I met originally on Instagram, but we've since met in person for this interview and for a run.

During this episode, sponsored by ⁠⁠Goodr⁠⁠, we talk about:

  • Her Flying Pig Half Marathon recap — the hills, the soreness, the soreness going up and down stairs at work, and nearly PR'ing (seven minutes off!)
  • Being a self-proclaimed "one and done" racer — she's done 28 halfs and almost never repeats a race
  • The Disney Princess Half Marathon she did five times when she lived in Fort Myers, Florida — and how she's done nearly every RunDisney race on the calendar
  • Registering for the Disney World Marathon from her laptop during a teaching conference and nearly screaming out loud when she got in
  • Growing up in Columbus, Ohio, going to Bowling Green State University for photography and then education, and — surprise — playing ice hockey for the BGSU women's club team (she learned to skate to join)
  • Her diagnosis journey: five doctors told her it was in her head before the sixth (a woman) took her hands and said "I don't think you're crazy"
  • What it's like to live with lupus — the fatigue, the joint pain, the butterfly rash, the lesions, the immune compromise, and how it affects her every day at school
  • Selena Gomez as a public face of lupus and why her story resonates
  • Her mom being the reason she started running — watching her mom do half marathons for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society in her 60s (with a knee replacement) was the nudge Karen needed
  • Her very first half marathon at Columbus in 2014
  • Finding ⁠⁠Carmel Runners Club⁠⁠ through a ⁠⁠Run(317)⁠⁠ event in 2019 and the community she's found there
  • ⁠⁠The Rally app⁠⁠ and how messages from her great-niece Evelyn and other family members carried her through the Flying Pig
  • Training for her Disney World Marathon on the Monon — using the Jeff Galloway run/walk method
  • Getting her Mickey marathon finisher ears — the thing she cared about more than anything else
  • Her five dogs (Oreo, Morgan, Zelda, Milo, and Zoe) and one Flerken cat (Blondie from Captain Marvel, obviously)
  • Flying Pig being her 28th half — and why she chose it
  • Doctors now telling her she needs to stop at 10K distances, and what her final three races will be
  • Being tested for multiple sclerosis on top of lupus — tremors, dizziness, balance issues, and what the next steps look like medically
  • SWTHZ as part of her recovery — infrared sauna + 20-minute cold plunges (yes, 20)
  • Her next two finish lines: the Indy Marathon at Fort Ben in October (for the veterans) and the Columbus Half Marathon to close it all out — with her mom hopefully waiting at the finish line to put her final medal on her

Previous Guests Mentioned

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This is a ⁠⁠SandyBoy Productions⁠⁠ podcast.

Episode Transcript:

[00:00:00] This is a Sandy Boy Productions podcast.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And I had five different doctors basically telling me I'm crazy.

And it was the sixth doctor, she literally took my hands and said, "I don't think you're crazy.

Welcome to Finish Lines and Milestones, a podcast for everyday runners. I am your host, Ally Brettnacher, and if you run, you are a runner, and every runner has a story. Join me each week as I share these stories, and we celebrate finish lines and milestones together. This week's episode is unofficially brought to you by Amazfit.

That's A-M-A-Z-F-I-T. You'll hear why when you listen to the episode. They have high quality and affordable smartwatches and wearables. So go check them out. Use code ALLYB, A-L-L-Y-B, for 10% off of your order. And now for this week's guest

karen Kirkpatrick and I met originally on Instagram, but we've since met in person for this interview and for a run

Because Karen is based in Carmel, Indiana, where I live. She is a special education teacher and self-proclaimed lupus warrior [00:01:00] princess. She has the shirts to prove it. Diagnosed with lupus in 2010 after being dismissed by five different doctors, Karen refused to let her chronic illness define what her body could do.

Since 2014, she's completed 28 half-marathons, a Disney World full marathon, and most recently, the Flying Pig Half Marathon in Cincinnati, all while managing symptoms that would sideline most people on their best day. This episode is very inspiring, and I hope you enjoy meeting Karen Kirkpatrick

Ally Brettnacher: Welcome, Karen.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Hi. For anybody

Ally Brettnacher: watching the video, Karen is wearing the cutest headband from Flying Fig. I love it.

Karen Kirkpatrick: All the little piggies.

Ally Brettnacher: All the little piggies. And she brought her medal.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yay.

Ally Brettnacher: Which is amazing. It's legit. It's very heavy. Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I didn't expect it to be that heavy.

Ally Brettnacher: I like a heavy

Karen Kirkpatrick: But when they handed it to me, I was like, "Wow, that's got some weight to it." You're like, "Oh,

Ally Brettnacher: this is like an a-" And I still

Karen Kirkpatrick: have it on me then.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, r-

Karen Kirkpatrick: But I, I like how it has a front and a back. The front has the pig face and the back has the pig- The

Ally Brettnacher: pig butt is-

butt, yeah ... so good.

Karen Kirkpatrick: So the whole thing about pigtails, and this was only the [00:02:00] 22nd running of it, so- Okay ... they got a ways to go to catch up with the, uh-

Ally Brettnacher: the Mini, they do. Yeah. Yeah. So. So only 22 years people have been trying to do both of those- Yeah ... at

Karen Kirkpatrick: the same- Doing those hills

Ally Brettnacher: those hills. In those hills. So I asked you when I saw you, how are you feeling? How are you recovering? What's that like for you?

Karen Kirkpatrick: Um, this time around it's a little bit more difficult due to the, due to the hills and stuff like that. I did train. In the winter I train more on the treadmill. I don't like the freezing cold and neither does my body, even though I grew up in Ohio.

Ally Brettnacher: a fan of

Karen Kirkpatrick: Not a fan of the cold, but I, I use the treadmill a lot and the elliptical, and I set it on a higher incline just to try to get that.

And then when the weather did turn nice enough to go outside and join the club, I would be going over the bridges a couple of times trying to get... Because there's no hills here.

Yeah. This reminds me of my college days. There's no hill.

Ally Brettnacher: like, "How do I get hill training here?" Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: So it, it became difficult, but what I realized a- afterwards, you know, I nearly PR'd this one. I was about seven [00:03:00] minutes off.

Ally Brettnacher: Wow.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I was like, " Shoot, if I would only have kept running down that hill-

Ally Brettnacher: the

Karen Kirkpatrick: the way to the finish line, I might have PR'd this."

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, man. Well, woulda, coulda, shoulda.

Karen Kirkpatrick: But, my glutes and about halfway through my calves started really hurting because there's... It is a lot of hills. It's a lot of going uphill, and you think you're done and you're not.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. So. It scares me for that reason, but- It

Karen Kirkpatrick: does. You turn a corner 'cause you get off the, levels out a little bit, you levels off and you're like going, "Okay, I'm good, I'm good, I'm good."

And then you turn a corner.

Ally Brettnacher: you're like, "Great."

Karen Kirkpatrick: good. I'm like going Oh.

Ally Brettnacher: Then going up to,

Karen Kirkpatrick: where their art museum is and stuff like that, that's the hardest part. Okay.

Ally Brettnacher: part. Okay.

Karen Kirkpatrick: trying to figure out how people were running up that hill, or hills I should say. Yeah. Like, nope, I'm walking. And more than 50% of us were walking.

Yeah. So it was, it was fine to walk it. Everybody's like-

Ally Brettnacher: like- Yeah

Karen Kirkpatrick: walk it. Do your mile the way you gotta do it.

Ally Brettnacher: however you gotta get there.

Karen Kirkpatrick: So, but it... Yeah, so my- I'm still pretty sore. Yeah. So I'm doing a [00:04:00] lot of like our fun things of hot showers, cold showers. Yeah. This and that. And a lot of, um, my favorite stuff to use on me is Dr.

Doug's Magnesium Balm.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay.

I've never tried that.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Oh, he's fantastic. He's a neurologist here in, in

Ally Brettnacher: Indiana. Oh, he's local too even. He is local.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And he has a whole line of, balms, but I like using the magnesium balm. Okay. And then after a while, after that soaks in and stuff like that... Or I'll start with, uh, the doTERRA Deep Blue, which is like a Bengay kind

Ally Brettnacher: of thing.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I've seen that.

Karen Kirkpatrick: that ... but it works great.

Ally Brettnacher: It's awesome. Well, I mean, literally whatever works.

Karen Kirkpatrick: So going up and down the stairs at work, going up and down the stairs at sch- at home has been a little bit of a trial. I'm both rails.

Ally Brettnacher: Yes. Yeah. So. Oh my gosh. Too, too crazy. How many times have you done Flying Pig? Have you done that one before?

Karen Kirkpatrick: No, this is my first

Ally Brettnacher: your first one.

Karen Kirkpatrick: it's gonna be my last one. Yeah. I'm not- Boom. Boom. One and done on that

Ally Brettnacher: one. Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: That's where I s- I kind of made my choices a long time ago to say one and done. Yeah. And just keep going and, and trying new ones.

Ally Brettnacher: That's really cool. So. 'Cause [00:05:00] as you... I mean, as you know, I do a lot of the same ones over and over again. Yeah. which is great in its own right, but there's still so many races to go do. Yeah. Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I mean, I used to do the Princess Half Marathon in Disney World when I lived in Florida. Did that five times. Wow.

Magical every time, but I did it five times.

Ally Brettnacher: times. Wow. And where in F- Did you live in Orlando area?

Karen Kirkpatrick: No, I lived in Fort Myers.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay, nice. So,

Karen Kirkpatrick: when I was getting married, we moved to Florida 'cause that's where basically he was stationed and his, some of his family was still living there and-

Ally Brettnacher: and- Okay

Karen Kirkpatrick: we lived in Fort Myers.

but went to Disney World a lot. I love Disney World. Yeah. No matter what people say, I still love Disney World. Yeah. But I've done, I've done all their races except when they changed the Star Wars one to the Springtime Surprise, I think they call it now. Okay. And I've never done the Springtime Surprise.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. So- Springtime Surprise, I've actually never heard of that.

Karen Kirkpatrick: It's in April. Okay. They do it in April, so it's just like, okay, whatever. Yeah. So they, you know... Anything to make a medal of Disney.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. It's... One of these [00:06:00] days I'll do one of those races, but now, I mean, as everybody knows with the running boom, like a lot of races are hard to get into.

Disney is one of those where it's like- Yeah ... you have to know what you're doing. Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: You have to be re- You have to be on your computer clicking, clicking, clicking, clicking, clicking, clicking. Yeah. It's like getting those concert seats, like the Taylor Swift concert seats where you're like going clicky, clicky, clicky.

Yeah. Come on, let me in,

Ally Brettnacher: let me in.

Yes, please, like, let me in the queue.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Um, because like when I, my one and only marathon I did Disney World. Yeah. And that was amazing, but like in 2021 when registration opened, I was actually at a conference for teaching-

Ally Brettnacher: the

Karen Kirkpatrick: district I was working for then.

And I'm sitting there, I'm sitting there in the office, uh, audience, and I'm going click. I had my computer on my lap and I'm sitting there clicking, and all of a sudden it lets me in. I'm like and I'm like typing as fast as I

Ally Brettnacher: You're like, "I don't know what else

Karen Kirkpatrick: don't know else I'm- "... this is happening"

putting this in right now and everything, and I nearly screamed out loud when it says, "Okay, you're in."

Ally Brettnacher: in."

I know, right? You're like, "Nobody else understands,

Karen Kirkpatrick: why I'm gonna start to scream here in a moment, and then they're like- Yeah ... "Okay, we're gonna [00:07:00] take a break now, 15-minute break for you gu- you teachers.

You can go out and go to the bathroom." And once everybody started, I'm like, "Yes, I'm in." Yeah. So I got to do my little celebration. A couple of my teaching friends, they're like going, "What are you talking about?" I said, "I'm in, doing the marathon at Disney World."

Ally Brettnacher: So cool. And for those, too, you have to sign up, like, it's not all the way a year in advance, but it sure feels like that.

Karen Kirkpatrick: about six months in advance. Yeah. You kind of have to book your hotel about a year in advance, though. Oh. So you're playing chances there whether or not you're gonna get into the race. Like, I had a friend help me, book me into one of the Disney resorts.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm. I was like,

Karen Kirkpatrick: might, I need to stay on thing, on site.

And normally we stay at Shades of Green 'cause we are a military family.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, interesting.

Karen Kirkpatrick: interesting. So there's a special hotel for military families, whether you're a veteran

Ally Brettnacher: I didn't know that. That's really cool.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And it's on site. It's actually across the street from the Polynesian. Okay. but like Shades of Green was completely booked.

You have, for Shades of Green, you have to book really early. Wow. [00:08:00] So we went and stayed at New Orleans

Ally Brettnacher: instead.

Karen Kirkpatrick: at the, Princess and the Frog" kind of thing.

Ally Brettnacher: Ok- Oh, right. Cool. So. Yeah, I have never been. I, I've been as a kid to Disney, but I haven't been back yet.

Karen Kirkpatrick: They say it's changed a lot since, you know, everything,

Ally Brettnacher: sure. I w- I mean...

Karen Kirkpatrick: But when COVID hit and they basically shut down RunDisney.

Ally Brettnacher: Right, for like two years. Yeah,

Karen Kirkpatrick: and everything was virtual. I'm like going, "I can't do virtual."

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, no. It's not the same. It's really hard. Well, and so then 2022 was your marathon, so you got in right after- Right after they reopened ... that's even luckier- Yeah ... because I'm sure people were really itching to go.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah, right after they kind of like reopened up all the races- Yeah ... and said, "Okay, we're gonna have them in person now." Yeah. "You can still do them virtual if you want, but we're gonna have them in person." Yeah. And they started redoing all the races and bringing all the races back.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: They just recently ps- brought back Disneyland's

Ally Brettnacher: RunDisney.

Right. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it was gone- I did see that

Karen Kirkpatrick: quite some

Ally Brettnacher: time. Yeah. So. Yeah. Okay, so I wanna dig into all of the racing stuff. Yeah. But I also wanna Give people a chance to [00:09:00] get to know you and, your story before finding running, and then obviously, you know, how important running has been- Mm ... in your, in your journey.

So you grew up in Ohio. Yeah. What part of Ohio are you originally from? Columbus. From Columbus. Oh, so that's perfect. I'm from the capital. Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I'm from the heart of it all, in the capital.

Ally Brettnacher: So that's where it's gonna start, and that's where, well, at least the running part is gonna end. The running part.

Spoiler alert. Yes.

Karen Kirkpatrick: We'll leave it at that. Um,

Ally Brettnacher: okay, so Columbus, Ohio.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah. Buckeye Nation. No, I'm not a Buckeye fan.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. Well, that's probably good for a lot of people listening here, I would imagine.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I'm, I've upset a lot of people by starting IU. Yeah. And going to IU for another degree, and they're like going, " Hon, you've done it through..."

I'm like, "Nope."

Ally Brettnacher: Nope, sorry.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Mm-mm. Taking

Ally Brettnacher: That's funny. IU. Yeah. Uh, and then you mentioned a sister before we started recording. Yeah. A sister of yours. You have just one sibling?

Karen Kirkpatrick: No, I have two older sisters. One lives in Columbus with my mom. One lives, just outside Cincinnati in Fort Thomas, Kentucky. Okay. And she's the one that she went [00:10:00] all out this past weekend- She

Ally Brettnacher: so wonderful

for the epic,

Karen Kirkpatrick: and I was just, I was elated with everything.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. So you're the youngest of three girls?

Karen Kirkpatrick: am.

Ally Brettnacher: So I'm the oldest of three girls.

Karen Kirkpatrick: So I get always introduced... I don't know if your parents ever did this to you, but my mom still says to people today, "You remember my baby?" Oh. I'm like, "Mom, I'm 54."

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. But I'm

Karen Kirkpatrick: But I'm forever the baby.

Ally Brettnacher: baby. Yeah. I know, I call my, even my five-year-old and my, or, and my eight-year-old. Yeah. I'm like, "You're my babies," and they're like, "We're big kids now." I'm like, "No." No, you're always- Not even close ... you're always your mom's babies ... you're always gonna be. Yeah, exactly. Exactly right.

So where did you go to undergrad?

Karen Kirkpatrick: Uh, Bowling Green State University, for all my undergrad, actually.

So first one, photography, fine arts.

Ally Brettnacher: Right. So cool.

Karen Kirkpatrick: was, it was so cool. I still do a lot of photography. I I like taking pictures. I love doing sceneries and stuff like that. I'm more of an artist than I am, like portraits and stuff like that. Yeah. I c- I used to do portraits and weddings to pay some bills and stuff, but I don't do that anymore.

And then came, went back [00:11:00] to Columbus, Ohio to work. I worked in the industry for a while. Okay.

Ally Brettnacher: while. Okay. And then- What, by industry, what do you mean?

Karen Kirkpatrick: Uh, I worked for a ca- a camera photography

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, in that industry.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah. And then I decided I didn't like being in corporate world.

Ally Brettnacher: Right.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And so I said, I was like going, "Nurse, teacher, nurse,

Ally Brettnacher: "I'm

Karen Kirkpatrick: Went teacher. Little did I know what I was getting myself into on that one. Oh

Ally Brettnacher: my goodness.

Karen Kirkpatrick: So became, went back to Bowling Green, got my education degree, and it was during that time that I actually picked up playing ice hockey So I played ice- What? I played ice hockey for Bowling Green State

Ally Brettnacher: University women's. You did?

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yes. Not the greatest, but I still played.

Ally Brettnacher: That's incredible. Did you play any other sports when you were younger?

Karen Kirkpatrick: No. I was the kid that always wanted to get out of PE class.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Okay. And look

Karen Kirkpatrick: the girl that always faked having cramps.

Ally Brettnacher: like, "I'm sick."

Karen Kirkpatrick: "I'm sick. Can't do it." Yeah. "Don't make me run."

You know, that kind of thing. I was always the girl, "Don't make me run." Yeah. "I can't do pushups. I can't do pull-ups. Don't ask me to," kind of thing. Yeah. I was like, "Nope." No, [00:12:00] I was always that person. And then I get to college and I s- that's when I started working out because we had that rec center. Okay. And that's when I s- actually started doing some workouts in here and there and stuff like that, and

But then they put together an ice hockey team for the women. I'm like going ... And it was a club team, which is fine, so they'll take all kinds of people. And I'm just like, so I learned how to ice skate and-

Ally Brettnacher: learned how to ice skate to play- Yeah

ice hockey?

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah. I took an ice, I, I actually took a, an ice, ice skating course so that I can get my skating skills better.

Right. and stuff, so like that, and then joined, joined the team. I first started off as defense, and then they moved me to wing. And I, I love hockey. I have been a Red Wings fan. Sorry, ev- for everybody who's a Chicago Blackhawks

Ally Brettnacher: Blackhawks fan.

Karen Kirkpatrick: but neither one of our teams are in the

Ally Brettnacher: the playoffs.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah, true. Um, but, um, since about '92.

Ally Brettnacher: Really?

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah. A friend turned me onto it, and then in like '98, '99, is when I joined the women's [00:13:00] hockey team- Wow ... at Bowling Green and had a lot of fun doing it. That, that kind of strengthened me up and, well, you realize when you stop doing something, you notice the weight get on.

Ally Brettnacher: Sure. Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: So I mean, it was a lot of late nights of practices and stuff like that, and then games of traveling, and I loved every minute of it.

Ally Brettnacher: Wow. Where did you travel?

Karen Kirkpatrick: We actually went into Canada a few times and- Ooh ... like close to Toronto. Nice. Yeah. We had tournaments. We would travel to other universities like Michigan State, Michigan, OSU, anybody who had a girls club. We also played

Ally Brettnacher: some

Karen Kirkpatrick: minor league, um, women's hockey teams- Okay ... too, so.

Ally Brettnacher: Wow. Did you ever play at Miami of Ohio?

Karen Kirkpatrick: No.

Ally Brettnacher: That surprises me.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I don't ... No, we never went down there.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: might have go- now, I don't know if they still have their, their team anyway. I don't know if Bowling Green still has a women- I

Ally Brettnacher: Bowling Green. I was gonna say Miami.

So I didn't know this when I, I went to Miami of Ohio. I didn't know that they were a big hockey school, but it's like- Most of Ohio has hockey ... huge. Yeah. I didn't... Yeah,

Karen Kirkpatrick: Except if you're a Buckeye. Buckeye is all football and basketball. Yeah. I'm like going, "Mm-mm." So, but yeah. So that's- Wow ... [00:14:00] that was probably my intro to actually getting into sports more.

Ally Brettnacher: Ice hockey. I had no idea. Yeah. Wow. I didn't really know this. Wow. Okay. And so then at what point in your life did you discover that you have a chronic illness?

Karen Kirkpatrick: it was in 2010 actually, and I was teaching and living in Columbus. it was right after I got my master's degree and everything, and I was, teaching a multiple disabilities class, which is a highly needs kids and stuff like that.

And one summer, about spring, summer of 2010, I started getting really severe inside pains, like my kidneys were just hurting. And people were like, "No, no, it's muscle spasms," or, "No, no, it's just stress." And I had five different doctors basically telling me it's in my head, basically telling me I'm crazy.

Ally Brettnacher: Oof.

Karen Kirkpatrick: there's nothing wrong with you." 'Cause all of my labs, all the labs that they did came back normal.

Ally Brettnacher: Ah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: They didn't do the correct labs, and it was the sixth doctor, and it just happened to be a female. And I was just like, I went, "Mm-hmm," and she took me by the hand. She literally took my [00:15:00] hands and said, "I don't think you're crazy.

There is something going on," 'cause I'm in tears. I said, "I can't function right. There's something going on. I'm getting constant headaches." I said, "I'm hurting all over. I'm swelling. I'm getting this rashes all over." Like right now, after every race, I have lesions. I'll, I'll... I have like five or six lesions right now on my mid, my midsection- Oh, no

from racing. but like I said, "I'm getting these symptoms and stuff like that. I don't know what's going on. I feel like, it feels like my body is shutting down." And they're like, " Oh," you know, all the doctors are like, "No, no, no. You're, you, you're just overworked. You're stressed," da, da, da. I said, "That can't be it."

Ally Brettnacher: How old were you at this point?

Like four- ear-early 40 or, no, 30s? I think it

Karen Kirkpatrick: was in my 30s, yeah. Okay. So it was my, it was near my late 30s. And I was just like going, "No, there's something wrong. There's something wrong." Then that one doctor looked at me, she's like going, "I wanna run these tests on you." S- so she sent me back out to get more blood drawn and stuff like that, and we had a, we had a few other things drawn out of me I don't want to talk

Ally Brettnacher: them. Yeah. It's

Karen Kirkpatrick: too painful to [00:16:00] even remember. and it came back, like the first thing that came back was my ANA, which is how your, your body balances things and stuff like that. And if it's usually above like a four or five, then there's something inflamed in you. Okay. Definitely when it comes back as a nine-

Ally Brettnacher: Holy moly

Karen Kirkpatrick: she's like going, "Yeah." And then she's looking at my other symptoms, my headaches, my fatigue, the butterfly rash, the lesions, the internal pains, and she's like going, " What I'm gonna diagnose you with is lupus." And at that time when she said that, I thought it was a d- I didn't know what it was first, but I also thought it was a death sentence.

Honestly, I thought I was dying. And, and technically, you know, your body is fighting against it, so. Yeah. And so my body was just at war with itself. Is

Ally Brettnacher: Is it something that can run in the family? Is it genetic at all?

Karen Kirkpatrick: They don't know. Okay. It could be genetic, but when I asked my mom and everything, because I was like going, I said, "I, I gotta know."

Nobody else- Has had it ... has ever had [00:17:00] that diagnosis. Now, they may have had it- And not realized it, and what I had to go through, you know, to get a doctor to believe me. Right.

Ally Brettnacher: I guess

Karen Kirkpatrick: Maybe they

Ally Brettnacher: give up or-

Karen Kirkpatrick: they give up after the first doctor. I'm like: "Don't give up. Believe. Keep pushing." And I still have to push today with doctors.

Mm. "Something is wrong. I know something is wrong. I need your help."

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. So, you know- Geez

Karen Kirkpatrick: just takes a lot of time. But yeah, it took, it took one doctor to finally say, "You're not crazy." Well, I am. That's

Ally Brettnacher: I am. But not about this. Not about this

Karen Kirkpatrick: part. And so 2010, about... think it was September or Oc-August of 2010.

She's like: " I'm diagnosing you with this. I want you to see a rheumatologist, and they're gonna get you started on everything else." And from that point, they put me on prednisone daily. Mm-hmm. You wanna talk about weight gain and wanting food, there you have it. Wow. Uh, just to get all the inflammation down.

it was close to two years or more that I was on predni- Years ... yeah, on [00:18:00] prednisone. Then, I moved to Florida in 2011 and got married. Those doctors decided to try me on new medications, which are cancer drugs.

Ally Brettnacher: Interesting. So

Karen Kirkpatrick: not radiation or anything like that, but methotrexate can make things happen, and it's just not pretty.

and did that, all of, a lot of other things to help try to take the inflammation away and stuff like that. And then, you know, and the entire time from 2011 to, to 2000, about 2000, the end of 2013, I was just like going: " I feel like I'm dying still. This is a death sentence. I'm never gonna be well. I'm never gonna be able to do anything."

I'm, And I did- and didn't, and then watched my mom. Mom in her 60s, I think she was, like 50s to 60s. Might've been her 60s, that she was doing half marathons. She was walking 'em, but she was still faster than me.

Ally Brettnacher: than me.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And she, she was doing half marathons for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. Wow. Raising [00:19:00] money. And, um, just one day in 2013, I'm like going: " This can't be the end of me." Mm. "This cannot, this cannot be it." I had to change my mental state and say: " If my mom, in her 60s, with a knee replacement and everything..." my mom the bionic woman. Mm-hmm. She's got a lot. " Can do this, I think I can do this." So in January of 2014, I signed up for Columbus, Ohio's marathon for the half of it, and that was g- And so I had-- That's in October.

I'm like going, "So I have like-" eight months here or eight, nine months here to train, and I, that's what I did, but I didn't have a coach. I was just... I was in Florida. I was just doing my best. I'm like going, "Okay, if I'm gonna do this one, then I'm gonna go ahead and sign up for Fort Myers

Ally Brettnacher: half

Karen Kirkpatrick: which would be two weeks later after that one.

I said, "You know what?" Then I found out about runDisney, and I'm like going, "You know what? I'm gonna sign up for my first princess," which is for 2015. Geez. Yeah. I'm like, "I'm gonna do [00:20:00] that one," and then... And so I was like going, " Boy, it's addicting signing up for these things, and I haven't even completed one yet."

Ally Brettnacher: I was gonna say, yeah.

I was like, "Wait a minute. You gotta do one, and then..."

Karen Kirkpatrick: maybe, no. But so I was like going, yep,

Ally Brettnacher: so- But

Karen Kirkpatrick: I'm training and y- and, you know, Florida gets really, really hot, so I had to use a treadmill be, to be in the air

Ally Brettnacher: conditioning. Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Um, luckily where we lived, they had, like a club room where they had the treadmills and everything.

Nice. So I'm sitting here trying my best and everything,

Ally Brettnacher: everything, and

Karen Kirkpatrick: got home to Columbus and flew home to Columbus and scared half out of my mind. I'm scared every half marathon I do. I am nervous, I'm scared every time I step up to that start line, every single one, and I have to just keep reminding myself of things that you've proven it before, you'll prove it again.

So I proved that I was a lot stronger than I thought I was. So that very first half marathon, even though I trained, I didn't have a coach. I didn't know there was such a thing as a running coach actually until I got here.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, it took me a very long time to figure that out as well.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I'm like going, "How [00:21:00] many years later?"

Yeah, yeah. I didn't know there was such a thing. Yeah. So I, did my best and, um, I mean, I got to see, I... My mom was way ahead of me, so I really didn't get to see her.

Ally Brettnacher: I was gonna ask if you did it together. Did you start together at all?

Karen Kirkpatrick: kind... Yeah, we started together, but she's faster than me.

Everybody's faster than me, I

Ally Brettnacher: than me,

Karen Kirkpatrick: But I, I do my own pace. I do my, do my time. But Columbus, Ohio is an interesting place to run through, and especially for, it's for Nationwide Children's Hospital.

Ally Brettnacher: I've heard this.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And they have cheer squads every mile. So I'll talk about the Flying Pig about that one, too.

But they have cheer squads every mile, and every mile is dedicated to a kid- Wow ... from Nationwide. H- and this, and this hospital is a huge hospital now because I remember going to Children's when I was a kid, getting my tonsils out and trying to escape.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I never liked hospital. But she, um, so she's far ahead of me, and it was about mile eight, I think.

Mile seven to eight is when I hit that wall.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm.

Karen Kirkpatrick: [00:22:00] And all of a sudden I started feeling the pain And I was crying. And then by mile 10, I was in so much tears I could barely see. And somebody from the cheer squad noticed, and I'm limping, I'm swelling, um, everything was just felt wrong in my body. And she came up, and she's just, like, going, "I'm gonna run with you," or, "I'm gonna walk with you."

I don't remember what she said, 'cause I don't know if I was trying to run or if I was walking. And she's like, "I'm gonna get you to the next mile." And then they passed me off for the final three miles. They, it's like going, "No, we need somebody out here with her. Get her, get her to that point." And when, once the person who picked me up at 12 got me to 13, she pointed.

She's like, "Look, look up there. You see that? That's your finish line. Go." Aw. And I wasn't expecting my mom to be waiting for me. Mm. She was waiting for me. There's actually a picture of it online, um, on Facebook. I still have it, of me and my mom. My mom put my very first finisher medal on me. She was waiting for me.

She's like, "I was hoping you were not going to have to be brought [00:23:00] back in on something else." Um- Mm ... she's like, she's like, "But you did it." And then from that point on, I knew I was addicted, and, to, to these things. And it just, I couldn't believe it. I was, then I was crying tears of joy 'cause look what I accomplished.

Yeah. I have lupus, and this is what I've done. And then my mom puts my finisher medal on me, and I'm like going, "That is my very first finisher medal. I'm never gonna get rid of this thing." and then I'm just, like, going, "Okay, I think I need a medic." Oh.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: "I need some ice and medic right now." Yeah. And my mom's, like, going, "Wheelchair."

Oh my God. And here's my mom, you know, s- so much older than me, and she's, she's fine. But then, we get back to her car and everything like that. We get back to the house, and literally they had to cut all the clothing off of me. I swelled that bad. You could not pull it off of me. We had to cut everything off of me.

Ally Brettnacher: Karen.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah. That's how bad it was for me. My body didn't know what to do, and the longest [00:24:00] I'd ever run was about eight, eight miles. That was my longest amount. Okay. So 13 was really over the edge for it. Yes. And so, yeah, that made it bad.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: But worth it. Yeah. So I try to... People come up to me all the time 'cause my shirts always say, "Lupus Warrior Princess" on the back of them, or on the front of them.

Take your pick. And, people are just, like, going, "Do you have lupus or does just somebody else have lupus?" "No, it's me."

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: "This is me. This is me on Instagram." Yeah. I

Ally Brettnacher: I am the

Karen Kirkpatrick: I am the one. There's another one. Uh, she, she joined up with me. We kind of follow each other, but she put a number one after her Lupus Warrior Princess name, so I'm the original.

She's, she's- Aw ... my counterpart, but she's such a sweetie. But we, um, but yeah, so it's, it's not easy with lupus. But I'm trying to prove that I'm a lot stronger than it, and now I've got a lot, another fight to go through,

KAREN K INTERVIEW: so

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I love, I love doing half marathons. I love doing 5Ks. I love doing Run 317.

I just love being out [00:25:00] there. Yeah. It's just, it has become an addiction.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And not just the medals.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. You're in good company. You're in good company. Yeah. So, okay. At what point did you find more community outside of yourself and, you know, your mom supporting you? But when did you find- Carmel Run Club or, like a coach I was- When did that kind of stuff?

Karen Kirkpatrick: I never had a coach. Okay. I've never had a coach for anything. I found more of a community in Virginia Beach first.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, when we're- When I lived there ... okay.

Karen Kirkpatrick: When we transferred to Virginia Beach, I met some great people. They didn't have run clubs, but like, they have some of the best half marathons there.

Ally Brettnacher: there. I've run on that b- what do they call it?

The boardwalk? Is that the

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah. There, there's a boardwalk- Yeah ... that you can run on. But like, if you do any races, make sure they're by J&R Racing. Okay.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. Okay? They're the- Out

Karen Kirkpatrick: the, they're like, they're like the, the people, the best people there. They have the best marathons and half marathons.

the worst one there that I ever did was Rock 'n' Roll. It was not set [00:26:00] up right.

Ally Brettnacher: Wow. Yeah. There you go.

Karen Kirkpatrick: was not happy with it. It was nearly four hours for me to finish that one. Ooh. That was, it was really bad, so... but like, that's when I started meeting people more, and like, "Oh yeah, come run with us.

Come work out with us," and stuff like that. Had joined a, a gym that was more of a boot camp. Okay. So I've never been, never done boot camp before, and there I was doing boot camp, and I was getting stronger. And they helped me discover more strength and stuff like that, so they were very encouraging, very helpful.

And then in 2019 when we transferred over here to Indiana, I discovered Carmel Run Club at a Run 317 event

Ally Brettnacher: actually. Okay.

Karen Kirkpatrick: In, I believe it was a 2009... Not 2009. 2019. Mm-hmm. when they did a Carmel one, because I was just looking up runs. Okay. "Hey, are there any fun runs to do around here?" Yeah. You know, "What is there to do?"

And then Run 317 comes up, and I'm like going, "Huh. Oh look, they have a run here in Carmel. I can do that-" Yeah. "... 'cause I can find my way."

Ally Brettnacher: find my way."

Karen Kirkpatrick: And afterwards, I see run [00:27:00] clubs, and I see the Carmel Run Club. I'm like going,

KAREN K INTERVIEW: like, "I...

Karen Kirkpatrick: " What's a run club?"

Ally Brettnacher: Wow.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah. I never heard of such a thing until I was here. And then after 2020 is when I joined them.

Okay. After the whole-

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, there, yeah

Karen Kirkpatrick: COVID thing,

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I joined up with them, and they are so supportive. They are amazing. our president, Gabby, she's- She's such an inspiration. Oh, thank you. She's always so helpful and everything like that. She's like, "Run it your way. Walk it your way." It doesn't matter with Carmel Run Club because if their motto is, "Run, walk, come be social."

Ally Brettnacher: Mm.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And that's all it is. And you'll find young runners, you'll find old runners. You'll find people like, "Nope, we're just gonna walk. We're just gonna take a nice walk."

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And that's it, and nobody cares.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Just move.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Everybody's out there to have a good time.

Everybody, you know, is there to support each other. You wanna PR something, fine. But like, you know, we get discounts to have a coach, you know, [00:28:00] Rachel, Yeah. And stuff like that. So I said if I wasn't finishing- Yeah ... doing all these races and stuff like that, then I probably would've hired Rachel- Yeah ... at some point.

But I didn't know there was such a thing as a running coach. I didn't know there was such a thing as a running club, none of that. And I'm just like going, "I kinda like this."

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yeah. So,

Karen Kirkpatrick: and I made my dog part of their Rovers Club too. Even though she's old- Oh ... and she doesn't really move too well anymore, I still joined her up, so.

Ally Brettnacher: Aw. I didn't, I don't know what Rovers is.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Rovers, it's part of our run club 'cause everybody likes to bring their dogs

Ally Brettnacher: That's so funny. That's so cute.

Karen Kirkpatrick: that money goes towards usually, like, the Humane Society. Sure.

Ally Brettnacher: That's great. So. Perfect. Well, and you have five dogs.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah, we have five dogs in the

Ally Brettnacher: which dog, this is your oldest dog?

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah, the oldest dog is my dog actually, Oreo. She's- Oreo ... she's, uh, an American Bully mix, and everybody's... People are scared, been scared of her. I'm like, "She's the sweetest dog in the whole wide

Ally Brettnacher: world. No,

Karen Kirkpatrick: No, mm-mm. She's not threatening. but we do have five. The oldest is actually mine.

[00:29:00] We got her in Florida. We rescued her in Florida. we used to only have, like, three, would be Oreo, Morgan, and, uh, Mandy.

Ally Brettnacher: I totally forgot

Karen Kirkpatrick: forgot there for a minute. But like... And, and, oh, and four, Holly, was, my sister-in-law's, her husband's dog for a long time. Okay. Great... It's, that dog scared me 'cause it was a chow.

I've always been scared of chows and chihuahuas. I don't like

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, yeah. They are a little scary.

Karen Kirkpatrick: a little scary.

Ally Brettnacher: Those spicy little things. Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: They always hate me. Always trying to bite me. I'm

Ally Brettnacher: I don't think they really like anybody.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I don't, uh, I don't know. I'm like, "Eh."

Yeah. but like when we moved here, it was only three dogs. Mandy passed. We had to let her go over the rainbow bridge, which was a very sad day. Mm. Um, and then like a month later, I think it was, maybe not even that, they go to the Humane Society, and all of a sudden we have, another dog.

Ally Brettnacher: dog.

KAREN K INTERVIEW: dog.

Ally Brettnacher: Uh,

Karen Kirkpatrick: name is Zelda, and she's a Catahoula Leopard Dog.

She's the state dog of, of Louisiana. Catahoula Look them up. They're beautiful.

Ally Brettnacher: I have no idea.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I... Yeah, [00:30:00] we didn't either until we got her. She's very protective of us, though. Mm-hmm. So she's, she's our protector. she's definitely a daddy's girl. She's, she's Ron. Ron is my brother-in-law, basically.

She follows him around. Mm. She always wants to be with him, which is great, but she also protects the rest of

Ally Brettnacher: the family. Yeah. Aw.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And then all of a sudden, we adopted, Milo, who is a Goldendoodle.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh. Sweet boy. Mm.

Karen Kirkpatrick: The only boy in the pack.

Ally Brettnacher: the pack.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And we took, we took him from another family because that family had kept him crated for eight hours or more a day, and they couldn't take care of him.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, that's awful.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah. So he's a good boy. He's really sweet.

KAREN K INTERVIEW: Aw. Never

Karen Kirkpatrick: thought he'd have a life this good, I guess.

Ally Brettnacher: Right. Probably. Geez, that's

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah. And then down the way, a couple houses down the way, they, foster puppies.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, dear. Well, that's dangerous. Yep.

Karen Kirkpatrick: So we had... That's when we got Zoe.

Ally Brettnacher: Zoe. And

Karen Kirkpatrick: And Zoe is part Great Dane, part Husky, and there's a few other things in her.

Oh, dear. So she's got the legs and [00:31:00] everything of the Great Dane. She still thinks she's a lap dog.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh.

Karen Kirkpatrick: But she also has the voice of a Husky. Oh, dear.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, dear.

Karen Kirkpatrick: talks back.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: So five dogs, and we, we used to have two cats. I had to let my one cat, Tekva, cross the rainbow bridge. He, he was old. He was, like, 16 years old.

Wow. Yeah. and now we just have Blondie, which we... If you've ever seen "Captain Marvel"-

Ally Brettnacher: Mm.

Karen Kirkpatrick: and I'm telling people, you have to know Captain Marvel to know what a Flerken is.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh.

Karen Kirkpatrick: We swear she's a Flerken. Okay. She's adorable, but evil.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. Yeah, I don't know what that is. Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: W- But- If you, if you guys just look up Flerken- Flerken

uh, what is a

Ally Brettnacher: That's a

Karen Kirkpatrick: That's funny. And it... Yeah. If you look up what is a Flerken on Google, it will pull up.

Ally Brettnacher: And you're like, "That's, that's-" And

Karen Kirkpatrick: it's a cat, but it's an alien cat.

Ally Brettnacher: And

Karen Kirkpatrick: And we swear she's part of it.

Ally Brettnacher: what, that's what she is. I swear to you." Yeah, so-

Karen Kirkpatrick: separate from most of the dogs.

I mean, sh- Oreo's allowed around her, but the other dogs really, they're scared of her,

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, that's

Karen Kirkpatrick: probably- There's a couple of them that are really scared of her. Yeah. [00:32:00] Like, "Nope. Mm-mm." Mm-mm. So Blondie's in her own little area. Yeah. But she's, she's, she's a good cat.

Ally Brettnacher: And so these are your babies, your fur babies.

Karen Kirkpatrick: These are my fur babies. These are the babies that, you know, most of the time I, I will now get on the floor and snuggle with Oreo- Yes ... since she can't get up on the bed anymore, just to have my therapy.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: These things are- heal me. Yeah. They make me feel a lot better after a hard day. Yeah. So even after a hard race or a hard training and stuff like that.

Mm-hmm. Just getting hugs from them and stuff like that, so. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, I'm trying to get one more dog. We have one dog, Doug. He's a Goldendoodle. Yeah.

And he's 12, and so I'm finally starting to see his... His age is starting to show. Starting to show, yeah. He has always been young for his age, very spry, but I'm starting to see it slowly. Yeah. And I'm just like, I n- I really want him to have a puppy. He'll probably hate it, but I would love for there to be some kind of transition for our family.

Yeah. It just seems like it'll be so hard.

Karen Kirkpatrick: yeah, we're, we won't get, I won't get another dog for a while after I have to let Oreo go. She has Cushing's disease [00:33:00] now,

Ally Brettnacher: let Oreo go. Yeah. She has Cushing's

Karen Kirkpatrick: It's some kind of, uh, disorder where, you know, their muscle tissue starts breaking down.

Ally Brettnacher: awful.

Karen Kirkpatrick: a lot more pain. She could have a stroke. It's different things. I, I never heard of a dog having Cushing's. I've heard of humans

Ally Brettnacher: it. I've never, yeah, I've never heard of it at all. I

Karen Kirkpatrick: never knew that dogs could have Yeah.

So yeah, it's your, your muscle tissue is actually breaking down and making it harder for you to move and stuff like that, so. She's still getting up, but she only gets up to eat and go to the bathroom. And that's about it.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Man. So perhaps describe a little bit more about what it is like to live with lupus so that people... I mean, obviously you've talked about some of the swelling- Right ... the medicines you've had to be on.

Like, do you have to do certain therapies or like what does it look like for you?

Karen Kirkpatrick: For me, it's different for every person. Okay. Honest to God, if you talk to me and then you talk to somebody else with lupus, you'll see it's

Ally Brettnacher: Different. Okay ... completely different.

Karen Kirkpatrick: So there's, and there's actually different things of lupus. I have [00:34:00] what they call SLE lupus. Okay. And so like, not sure how it came on, honestly. Not sure why, but it did, it's my organs basically and my immune system are battling. My immune system is overact- overreacting, so it attacks everything.

So it thinks that something is bad, and it's not bad at all. So like sometimes your white blood cells are fighting against your red blood cells and so forth. It's- Yeah ... it's taking away what you can normally do. So there's times that I'm swollen and I can't move. You get a lot of joint pain. Mm. You get... A lot of times, a lot of us will get that butterfly rash with, that goes across our face, so from our cheek to cheek over our nose, you'll see.

And I still have a, you'll get a little bit of scarring. You'll get rashes for no apparent reason all over your body. You get lesions that can crack and bleed, which is what happens to me now with runs and stuff like that. That's always happened. you could have numerous problems and You can have kidney problems and you need a kidney [00:35:00] transplant.

so like the one person that has shown how it happens is, is Selena Gomez, the singer and

Ally Brettnacher: has lupus.

Karen Kirkpatrick: has lupus. She

Ally Brettnacher: think I did know that,

Karen Kirkpatrick: And she ha- has been very open about it. You just don't really realize it. Like, so you've seen her weight fluctuate. Right. It's because she's been on medication to help suppress it-

Ally Brettnacher: Oh my gosh

to help

Karen Kirkpatrick: kidneys function better. She's been through it. And then she loses the weight because now she's had the kidney transplant- Mm ... and she's able to do more things, and people criticize her for that. And I'm like going- Geez ... "Okay. Guys, you have no idea what's going on inside her body when she's battling."

Yeah. So we have extreme fatigue, so there's days that I, I don't wanna get out of bed, and I have to, for work, I have to drag myself out of bed. There have been a lot more days this year that I've missed teaching because I've had to go to the doctor's. Mm-hmm. I've had to get help right away. I mean, I drove to school one day, and I was in so much pain, I thought something was getting ready to explode in me.

Ally Brettnacher: Ugh. And

Karen Kirkpatrick: my principal saw me. I said, "I gotta go, I gotta go. I gotta go to the hospital. I gotta g- [00:36:00] I gotta get outta here." He's like, "Go, go, go. We've got you covered." He's like, he, and he even said, "I've never, in the four years that you've worked for this school, I've never seen you like this." Mm. I was like, "I don't know what's going on."

Yeah. Things are not working right. And so then I have to just go on, keep going. But yeah, it can be different for everybody. And for me, when, when I do longer runs, if I go more than five miles, that's when the swelling starts to show up more.

I still do more than five

Ally Brettnacher: than five miles.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I feel great, I'm gonna keep going.

And then I'm like, "Oh, maybe I shouldn't have done that." But like, yeah, I have to do a lot of rest. I have to do, you know, I have to listen to my body. I can feel when my body is rejecting something, so technically having this coffee

Ally Brettnacher: a lot of sugar is

Karen Kirkpatrick: of sugar is not a good idea usually. That's why I have the water- Oh

'cause you need the water. Um, you need the electrolytes, everything. But you do have to listen to your body. You have to check things and stuff like that. So I mean, it's just a rollercoaster ride.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And you don't know what to expect from day to day. [00:37:00] Yeah. But a lot of my friends online that follow me, and I follow them, we talk about things. I have a lot of friends waiting in line for a kidney transplant right

Ally Brettnacher: right now. Oof.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And that makes it more hard and makes it heartbreaking- Yeah ... to watch them go through this, and that, that, you know, they're like going, "Help us raise money because we can't afford this," because insurance doesn't

Ally Brettnacher: it- Yeah

Karen Kirkpatrick: and stuff like that.

Wow. So it makes it more difficult. Um, we've lost friends due to complications from lupus. Okay. Like if I get a cold, it might change into pneumonia real fast. Mm. So I always tell my kids, "If you're sick, stay home. I don't want you in this classroom." Yeah. Yeah. I'm not the only one who's immune compromised.

Right. Can you all not bring it?

Ally Brettnacher: it? Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: So it's really difficult to convince parents, like, "Okay, you have to understand immune com- compromise here." Right. "Don't bring it to school," 'cause a cold brought to school can be turned into pneumonia, flu- Mm-hmm ... something really worse, a, a respiratory disorder af- real fast with us.

Yeah. [00:38:00] So.

Ally Brettnacher: has to be really hard. Yeah. 'Cause I know for parents it's like, "Oh, let's give you some Tylenol and

Karen Kirkpatrick: out." No, and send you off your way.

Ally Brettnacher: "Gotta get some work done." I

Karen Kirkpatrick: get it. I under- we understand that as teachers in schools, we understand parents have got to work. We do get that. Yeah.

But we also have to understand, you let a child bring something to school, then we have more people out than we can handle. Yeah. I mean, we've had, uh, days this year where we've had 19 teachers out because of illness.

Ally Brettnacher: Sheesh.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah. So it's like going, "Please." We understand that you need to work. We, uh, we totally get it.

Yeah. 'Cause we need to work, too. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But our work is with those kids.

Ally Brettnacher: With the kids, yeah. What drew you to special needs children, like teaching in that environment? Honestly,

Karen Kirkpatrick: I only wanted to be an elementary school teacher. Okay. And I only took special needs courses to boost my GPA.

Ally Brettnacher: Hmm.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And then wound up, that was what I wound up in. So like my very first classroom was a multiple disabilities classroom in Ohio, and for some odd [00:39:00] reason, I fell in love with it, in the middle school.

Ally Brettnacher: Hmm. The

Karen Kirkpatrick: The hardest years of a person's life, middle school. And I've tried elementary, even special needs elementary.

I've tried gen ed elementary.

Ally Brettnacher: am

Karen Kirkpatrick: back to middle school, special needs, self-contained classrooms. Wow. Kids who need a lot of help.

Ally Brettnacher: You are just

Karen Kirkpatrick: special- I don't know what it is. I just don't know what it is. I

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah

Karen Kirkpatrick: I just sometimes say, you know, my faith, being Jewish, it's, that's where it's called me to do all o- o- of, all my mitzvah, all of my goodness and stuff like that, to put in, to be a mensch, to, to do those things and stuff like that, to be there for those kids and stuff like that.

So.

Ally Brettnacher: Wow. That, I mean-

Karen Kirkpatrick: I...

Ally Brettnacher: the world needs people like you to do that. Yeah. That is h- I can't imagine how hard that work is.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I have about four t- more years, four or five more years. Yeah. And then I can retire.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay ... and

Karen Kirkpatrick: So

Ally Brettnacher: can retire. Okay. So,

Karen Kirkpatrick: we'll see what happens. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: I mean, I just think of a normal person who isn't battling lupus on a daily basis- Mm ... going into [00:40:00] that classroom. Then I think about somebody like you, who to your point, you're dragging yourself out of bed some days- Mm

and then doing that hard work, and so I think people should draw a lot of inspiration from that. I love- And will. Yeah. I lo-

Karen Kirkpatrick: I lo- I love my kids. I love my students. Yeah. I always will, no matter how bat crap crazy they drive me.

Ally Brettnacher: drive me. Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: You know? No matter what their attitudes are, I still am like, uh... They're like going, "Do you still love us, Miss K?" I love you. That was never the issue. Loving you is

Ally Brettnacher: you is never the

Karen Kirkpatrick: Your behavior is the issue. Oh, God. Your choices are the issue.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, man. Yeah. So- Yeah ... I always,

Karen Kirkpatrick: I always tell him, I was like, "I will always love you."

I was like, " But that's not the issue right now." Yeah. Yeah. "I

Ally Brettnacher: But I need you to listen to me, please.

I

Karen Kirkpatrick: need you to do the right

Ally Brettnacher: Yes. Yes, yes. Oh, man. Amazing. Well, let's go back to your marathon. Okay. Your first and only marathon. My first and only. I wanna hear more about that experience.

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Marker

Ally Brettnacher: Well, let's go back to your marathon. Okay. Your first and only marathon. My first and only. I wanna hear more about that experience.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I did a lot of training for that.

And

Ally Brettnacher: And what do you, when you train, too- Yeah ... like, do you wear compression everything?

Yeah, I have to- Do you, how does that

Karen Kirkpatrick: all my, like, I have to wear full legging compressions. Yeah, okay. I can't, I can't do the shorts.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I've tried running in just the shorts, uh, even just a 5K in them. Yeah. Um, but, like, from my knees down-

Ally Brettnacher: So always leggings.

Karen Kirkpatrick: always leggings, always full compressions. Okay. Now, I know you like the chicken legs.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, I do. Well, I can't really run in them much either, but I

Karen Kirkpatrick: I just- I can't run in them, but I can put them on over my

Ally Brettnacher: compression. Yes, you can.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And I do have a few pairs of them that-

Ally Brettnacher: Do you have the fly, do they have flying pig ones?

Karen Kirkpatrick: No. I was so depressed when I went, when I was at the expo,

Ally Brettnacher: Surely there's some on the

Karen Kirkpatrick: the internet ... there's gotta be somewhere. Yeah. There's gotta be pigs with wings

Ally Brettnacher: Yes.

Karen Kirkpatrick: them. Um, I was kinda depressed. I was like, "Dang it, I was kinda hoping

Ally Brettnacher: to find some-" Really wanted those. Yeah ... and wear them during the race. Yeah, yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: but, like, it always has to be full compression, uh, leggings. Mm-hmm. I've gone through [00:43:00] different types of shoes. It just depends on how my feet and everything, because forgot to tell you, ice hockey, I broke my ankle.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, shoot. Well, gosh. I

Karen Kirkpatrick: I broke my ankle playing ice hockey, got cross-checked by the University of Michigan.

and then my f- my skate went into a cut in the ice and caught it, and my body went one way, and that

Ally Brettnacher: went- Ooh, no

snap.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yep, I heard the snap. Everybody's like, "No, that was your stick." No, that was not.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, my

Karen Kirkpatrick: That snap was... I mean, they may have heard the stick hit the ice. I didn't hear the stick. I heard my ankle snap.

Ally Brettnacher: That's insane. And- Okay

Karen Kirkpatrick: and so, yeah, so I have a plate and six screws holding that together. Great. So I've gone through different shoes and stuff like that. Mm-hmm. And thank goodness for all these shoe companies and all these shoe stores that have special fitting stuff. Yeah. So, like, I've gone, started with ASICS, moved from ASICS to Hokas.

I will never w- wear New Balances. They hurt. Yeah. The arch part hurts too much. stayed with Hokas for quite some time, actually, [00:44:00] and just recently I switched to Brooks. Okay. And I know I'm wearing my Hokas today. These are my old running shoes, so I wear my old running shoes as- Yeah ... my work shoes. Yeah.

but my Brooks seem to be doing the job of not rubbing- Mm-hmm ... and causing blisters and stuff like that a lot, so. Yeah. So I have to have the right shoes, the right socks. They have to be wool so that the blistering does not really happen too

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. And- Do you do the toe socks?

Karen Kirkpatrick: No.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay.

Karen Kirkpatrick: No, because that causes more rubbing in between, and I can't do that.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. and then my shirt is usually a custom-made shirt. Wicking k- w- which usually, when I did princess runs, it, it would say Lupus Warrior Princess on the front with some special

Ally Brettnacher: design. I mean, how perfect is that, too, for the princess? And then on the- Is that where that came from, when you started that account?

I think it

Karen Kirkpatrick: actually. Okay. That makes sense. I think I changed myself to be the Lupus Warrior Princess when I started doing the

Ally Brettnacher: princess. Did, yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I was like, "Oh, well this makes

Ally Brettnacher: I'm a princess. Heck yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And so then on the back, each, each one of, of them that I had on the back would say something of the effects that, of like [00:45:00] whatever princess was the princess for that year.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay.

Karen Kirkpatrick: So like when it was, uh, Snow White, and I think Snow White was my very last one, it just, it was like going, "Still the fairest in the land even with lupus and-

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, that's good. So- Love it

Karen Kirkpatrick: so you, you kinda make up these kinda stupid little sayings on the back of your shirt. Yeah. So I just, I went with that and that's how that came.

I think that is how that came about is because, yeah, I am a princess. We're all princesses. Yeah. Even, you know, so but it's just like i- for every single one I would come up with another thing. I'd order it online saying, "This is what I want," you know- Yeah ... and make it up and- Yeah ... have it done. And then more recently, my friend Rachel, who's with the run club, whom I adore, she's an amazing girl, she made me a shirt for last year's Monumental Half Marathon. and I mean, she put Lupus Warrior Princess on the back, but on the front she put 13.1 with like shoe marks, sh- tennis shoe treads. Oh, cute. But then she put on the bottom of the sleeve, she made it long sleeve because it's cold. Yeah. I'm not freezing to death here. And [00:46:00] on the sleeve, because it was the sixth anniversary of my dad's passing- Mm

she put dad with wings and his, uh, year of birth and year of death out for, on there for me, so, and that, that was really touching for me.

Ally Brettnacher: And so when you did the full when you were here in Indy.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I was here in Indy.

Ally Brettnacher: where... And you live in Carmel. Where did you train, mostly on the Monon? Yeah,

Karen Kirkpatrick: I was on the Monon. Yeah. I did the Monon as much as I could. I was following Jeff Galloway. Galloway. Yep. Galloway's training thing. Mm-hmm. God rest his soul. Yeah. I was, I was so sad when I heard he passed.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Karen Kirkpatrick: and so I was just using his run-walk thing to, and everything, and I'd be getting up really early in the morning to do the long runs, from run from my house to the Monon, which is about two miles right there. Okay. And then get on the Monon, run- far down the Monon, run back up the Monon, run back to the house, doing the run-walk method and stuff like that.

I think the farthest I ever went was maybe 14, 15 miles.

Ally Brettnacher: Before your marathon?

Karen Kirkpatrick: Before my marathon. And everybody's like, "Oh, [00:47:00] no, you're supposed to be do like 18 to 20." Yeah. And I'm like going-

Ally Brettnacher: Well... I'm

Karen Kirkpatrick: I'm getting a little scared to be going out on the Monon that early in the morning anymore," because I did run into a few shady people.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, it can be. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So I don't really like

Karen Kirkpatrick: like to run on the Monon when it's dark.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. I don't blame you.

Karen Kirkpatrick: plus the drivers. Well, that too.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, in the morning you don't know what you're gonna get with people paying attention. Yeah, totally.

Karen Kirkpatrick: So, made a, made my way down to Florida, me and my husband drove.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay.

Karen Kirkpatrick: We always d- we've always driven as a family when we moved to Virginia and Indiana, we've always more driving to Florida 'cause then we can stop at Buc-ee's. Yeah, true that. Is

Ally Brettnacher: it easier on your body to drive versus fly?

Karen Kirkpatrick: No, actually it's not. Okay. but I did most of the driving anyway.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Wow.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Get down there, we drive overnight. this time there was a snowstorm going through Tennessee, which is really weird 'cause normally- Yeah ... you don't have a snowstorm in Tennessee. Right. But once we made it past Tennessee and got into Georgia, we're like, "Okay, clear roads finally."

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. That's an adventure.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah. So we get down there and everything like that. So 'cause it's great to have a car, that way we can go to

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, yeah

Karen Kirkpatrick: get all the, get all my

Ally Brettnacher: Good old [00:48:00] Publix.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And then go to the hotel and get checked in and everything, and then usually head out to the parks or

Ally Brettnacher: whatever.

Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And just have a little bit of fun, get ready and stuff like that, and couple days later, out there running.

But I wasn't, I-I'd definitely... I was doing great actually up until about mile 18, I think it was, is when I really felt it. And here's another thing, it's really hard to pull up compression pants when you gotta go to the bathroom bad enough.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, no. It's hard enough for anybody else- Yeah ... let

Karen Kirkpatrick: and then I'm swollen and I'm like going, I'm like, I'm like going, "Oh God, there, here goes my time," and everything.

I'm catching up with the people I was running with because I was running with one of the pacers. Yeah. And I'm like going, "Well, forget that. I'm just gonna try." So by mile 18, I was just like, " Oh my gosh. Somebody help me. Hashem, I'm looking up at you, please help me get through this." I'm like going, "What did I do?

Ally Brettnacher: do?"

Karen Kirkpatrick: What did I just get myself into? I'm gonna be picked up. The balloon ladies are gonna catch up with me." And then what's behind the balloon ladies is all the people on the bikes telling you to get on the bus. Oh, man. Yeah, I can't. I, I gotta earn my ears. [00:49:00] Yeah. And so this guy who was, you know, y-how you were with Ainsley's Angels.

Yeah. This guy was pushing a person, who was basically wheelchair-bound. Yeah. And the, the wheel kept like breaking

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, no.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah. And he's just like, "Well, we just have to make it to mile 23. We have to make it to mile 23. You stay with me. We're gonna make it to mile 23, 'cause once we enter into Hollywood Studios,

Ally Brettnacher: they

Karen Kirkpatrick: pick us up

Ally Brettnacher: They can't

Karen Kirkpatrick: I'm like, "Really?" He's like, "Yeah." He's like, " Let's just get to there." So here we are at mile 18. I'm like going, "Okay." Going through the parking lot at Blizzard Beach and stuff like that, and coming through. I'm like, "Okay, I can see the park. Okay. We're making it. We're making it." Once we entered, Hollywood Studios, we were like, looked at each other, we're like going,

Ally Brettnacher: "Happiness

Karen Kirkpatrick: and everything.

And they were passing out chocolate.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I was like, "Yep. Mm-hmm. Chocolate." Like, "Can I have more than one?" Yeah. They were passing out good chocolate, too.

Ally Brettnacher: chocolate bars? Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: the candy bars? Yeah. Like the... They were like not... A little bit bigger than the mini Hershey's that you

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, nice.

Karen Kirkpatrick: like going, "Can I just have a couple, please?"

Yeah. 'Cause, you know, chocolate helps [00:50:00] release the lactose that's building up in your, in your system. Yeah. And so I'm just like, I'm eating a couple of those, shoving those in my mouth. I'm like,

Ally Brettnacher: in my mouth."

Um,

Karen Kirkpatrick: and then, like every mile they have water and Gatorade or Powerade, whichever one they use. I

Ally Brettnacher: know. Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah. But like, we got into Hollywood Studios, We finally got that wheel to stay on.

Ally Brettnacher: That's gotta be so hard. We have talked about that with my team. Like, we're like, "We don't know." I have no- We had our wheel fixed before we started the race

Karen Kirkpatrick: I had no idea how you guys push somebody

Ally Brettnacher: It's not as hard, it's not as hard as it seems. I know it seems very hard.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I watch people with strollers, and I'm struggling to watch you guys- Yeah ... with strollers. I'm like going-

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah

Karen Kirkpatrick: "Okay, my arms hurt just watching you guys." That's all I have to say. That's all I feel like. My arms hurt watching you guys, 'cause I can't lean on something like that.

Yeah. 'Cause that hurt. That just makes me feel like I'm gonna hurt my shoulders and arms and

Ally Brettnacher: stuff-

Karen Kirkpatrick: like that. So kudos to all you guys that push for Ames' Angels. I really commend you on it, and I, I love that. And so

we finished. We got through Hollywood Studios, and when you exit Hollywood Studios, you're actually exiting where the entrance is.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay.

Karen Kirkpatrick: and of [00:51:00] course, all the parks are full with, people that are wanting to ride the rides and go do all this other stuff. They're getting really mad at us because we're blocking the way. Ugh. So they have to wait until so many people cr- come through, and there's a big opening, and then they- Yeah

let them cross over and stuff like that. Right. Yeah. So we're going down the boardwalk then, uh, where all that high-end stuff is between Epcot and Hollywood Studios, and I run into a, a woman who actually was doing the Dopey Challenge. Never.

Ally Brettnacher: Never. Yeah. Never.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And she had twisted her ankle somewhere on the course, and she's

Ally Brettnacher: limping. Oh, no.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And she has to make it in by a certain time to get the Dopey medal.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, shoot. And this is the last one. For anybody who doesn't know what Dopey is, 5K,

Karen Kirkpatrick: K, 10K, half- Half ... full. Yeah. And you do that all in four days. Yeah, crazy. I'm, "Nope.

Ally Brettnacher: Not ever gonna do that.

Karen Kirkpatrick: But like, so I'm trying to encourage her to keep going and everything.

She realizes I have lupus and I'm still going. We get into the World [00:52:00] Showcase. We, when we entered in, there's my husband. For the first time, my husband's on a course to see me. Mm-hmm. But he doesn't have a beer in his hand.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: "Where's my beer?" We're entering where England is. "Where's my beer?"

Ally Brettnacher: I have run this many miles. Yeah. I need a beer.

Karen Kirkpatrick: and everything. So, but like, you know, by the time we make it to the other side of the World, World Showcase, I just... She's like, oh, she looked at her watch and she's like, "Oh my gosh." I just, I was like, "What?" She's like, and that's when she told me she had to make it in by a certain time to get that medal.

I was just like going, I said, "Push as hard, try as hard as

Ally Brettnacher: can." Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I said, "Then once you cross that finish line, get into the medical units" - Yeah ... "like, right there." Yeah. but like, going through the parks is... I cry, I cried every time we entered into Magic Kingdom. And you turn down Main Street USA and you see that castle.

Ally Brettnacher: Oof.

Karen Kirkpatrick: and I'm crying. Yeah. And you get to run through the castle 'cause there's a walkway right through the castle. So we run through the castle. That's, you know, one of my pictures. I'm like, "Hey." "See, we came out of the castle." but to me, it's a big moment for me. I'm crying 'cause, [00:53:00] 'cause it's around mile six to seven.

Mm-hmm. And then you're going back out and through the back areas and stuff like that, and you get to see all the characters. No, I do not stop for character pictures. Yeah. The lines are always too long, and I don't care to be picked up. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Just because I wanted to stop. Right. I said, "Nope, I'll get my pictures when I go to the

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: but you have so many people supporting, just yelling and screaming. They don't care who you are. And they're being so, so uplifting and everything. And even if you're n- even if they're not there to see you, they're still holding up signs that- Mm ... say, "You're doing magically well," all this stuff.

Yeah. Yeah, all these cute things. And then

when you leave Magic Kingdom, that's the longest road back out. Yeah. Hottest and longest part is out on World Drive. I'm hoping they kept the, the, the thing the same going through all four parks, because then we go through Animal Kingdom.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh,

Karen Kirkpatrick: And you get to go through the back part of Animal Kingdom, where all these animals are.

Ally Brettnacher: That's cool.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And you never get to see this. So all of a sudden a zebra pops up, "Hey, what's going on?"

Ally Brettnacher: And you're like, [00:54:00] "Okay, this is good." I'm

Karen Kirkpatrick: then a giraffe goes, "Hey." There's a giraffe maybe. "Oh, I see you. Okay, how you doing?" Yeah,

Ally Brettnacher: really

Karen Kirkpatrick: So you get to see some of the animals and stuff like that, you know, where they get care, taken care of and stuff like that. And then you come out and you're back out on a road, and have to go through a parking lot to hit, then, then into Hollywood Studios, through part of Hollywood Studios. Hollywood Studios is not that big.

But you get to go through the, past the, uh Tower of Terror Oh ... one of my favorites, and everything. And then back out But down their main street and out, and then World Showcase of Epcot. I'm just like, "Well, somebody needs to hand me a beer from Germany. Something here, people.

Ally Brettnacher: from Germany.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Help me out."

back out, and then you end up, you're back out on, right outside Ep- Epcot in their parking lots is where the finish line

Ally Brettnacher: is. Wow.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And so, but it's a lot of fun and I've gotten recognized, by the announcers-

Ally Brettnacher: Oh. 'Cause

Karen Kirkpatrick: 'cause they've had the same announcers for years. And they'll-

Ally Brettnacher: Galloway. Yeah. Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: They've had the same announcements for years, and if I turned, if I turned, 'cause my front of my shirt would say Lupus Warrior, she's like, [00:55:00] "Hey, she's here again. There's Lupus Warrior Princess." Oh, wow. And then when, once I crossed that finish line, it was like, " Oh my gosh, I did this," and everything. And I didn't go for medical.

Ally Brettnacher: I was gonna ask you if y- if that's typically something that happens after

Karen Kirkpatrick: every race. Mm, no. And I was surprised I didn't go for medical

Ally Brettnacher: that one. Yeah, after a marathon.

Karen Kirkpatrick: a full marathon. Yeah. 26.2 miles, you'd think I would. Right. But I'm like going, I had one, a one-track mind. Beer. No, actually

Ally Brettnacher: Oh. My one-track

Karen Kirkpatrick: My one-track mind was, "Get that medal, go get your ears." 'Cause you- Oh ... you get Mickey ears. You get like the old, cap style ones with the ears- Oh ... and stuff, and it says marathon finisher

Ally Brettnacher: it. Oh, okay.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And i- if you get picked up, you don't get the ears. You'll get the medal 'cause you paid for it, but you don't get the ears, and- I see

I earned those ears. I want my ears. Okay, yes. And I went and got my ears, and then they gave me my, bag to put it all in, and then you start grabbing Powerade and water. Oh. And then they have a really nice snack box-

Ally Brettnacher: Mm

Karen Kirkpatrick: and, and everything. And then I hobble my way to... My husband calls me. He's like, "Where you at?"

I said, "I'm [00:56:00] getting on the bus to go back to the resort." He's like, "Oh, I thought you would come into the park." I said, "Are you nuts?"

Ally Brettnacher: I said,

Karen Kirkpatrick: "It was a mile to get out to the start line."

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Oh my gosh.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I said, going, "And I just did 26.2." I said, "And it's now like a half mile to get to the bus. No."

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. I will see you...

You get back, I'll see you later. Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I was just like going, "You go to the park and everything." Get dinner. Yeah. I, I'm, I'm going back to the hotel. Yeah. I'm going back to the resort now. Yeah. And bad part about the resort is that they drop you off in the front, and that the New Orleans ones, the French Quarter New Orleans ones,

Ally Brettnacher: they

Karen Kirkpatrick: have the front part, but all the rooms are basically- Yeah,

Ally Brettnacher: All the way in the back

Karen Kirkpatrick: all the way in the back. Yeah. And far away. Yeah. And so here I am getting off the bus backwards. This is something I've learned, that if you have to get on a bus to go back to a, a hotel or whatever you're staying at- Yeah ... and you're on a bus, anything with stairs, backwards. Yeah. Get off of it going backwards.

Ally Brettnacher: I've heard that.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Because you're using a whole nother set of muscles, and that's what I did. Everybody's staring [00:57:00] at me, I was like, "No, go off backwards. You'll get off

Ally Brettnacher: better. Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Just let me know that, you know, I'm doing okay. Yeah. That I'm not gonna fall.

Ally Brettnacher: on somebody.

Yeah. Yeah. Fall.

Karen Kirkpatrick: So, and then it's hobble back to the room, and then elevator up to

Ally Brettnacher: the... To go to bed. so what made you be like, "This is the only marathon I'm doing"? When did you decide that?

Karen Kirkpatrick: I always said to myself, "I'm never doing a full marathon. I'm never gonna do a full marathon." And then s- I think it was because of COVID, and the lupus, and being so scared of everything,

Ally Brettnacher: and

Karen Kirkpatrick: friends do the Disney full, looking at runDisney stuff, I'm like going, " I have to do at least one full marathon, and if it's gonna be any full marathon, it's gonna be Disney's."

Mm. "'Cause I know I'll have fun. I know that there'll be so much support and stuff like that." I'm not taking a, a shot at something that's not going to be worth it And I was just like going, "I can't," I still can't believe I did it. I have to look at my medal and my ears, I'm like going, "I did that."

Ally Brettnacher: that." "I did that." Yeah. Wow.

Karen Kirkpatrick: and, and then that, after [00:58:00] that, you know, it was a great experience, but I told myself, because literally I did go back to the hotel room, took an ice bath. I had them bring up, up much ice for me. Yeah. I threw it into the bathtub. Sure. Tried to g-get some of the swelling down and stuff like that.

I mean, I was able to get undressed. Okay. Don't get me wrong there. But it was just like going, "I need to, I need to cool down. I need to get cleaned up." Ice bathed myself, took a hot shower, and ate. Normally I don't like to eat too much after I run because I just feel sick to my

Ally Brettnacher: stomach.

Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And I just, I laid down and I went to sleep and stuff like that.

My husband comes back to the room. He says, "Hey, it's almost dinner time. You ready to go to Epcot?"

Ally Brettnacher: to go to

Karen Kirkpatrick: And I thought I was. Oh. I thought I was. I said, "Yeah, I'm ready for my margarita and beer." Yeah. "I'm ready, you know, ready to have a good time and everything, and ready to..." And I was, I was doing all right. I, I mean, he's like going, "Do you want me to get you a wheelchair or anything?"

I was like going, "If I get anything, I'm getting one of those scooters so I can drive people over."

Ally Brettnacher: there you go. Get out of my way. Right.

Karen Kirkpatrick: so but I always had a special outfit on so I can get my picture taken with [00:59:00] characters. Mm-hmm. With my medal, with my ears. Yeah. And it was like, I had the margarita, I had tacos.

We went up to Germany, I had a beer and a pretzel. Mm. And I'm like, we're going through, we go to Japan, I get some sushi and this and that, you know. Just enjoying my time, and some sake and everything. So here I am, I'm like going, "Uh-oh." And I started to crash fast.

Ally Brettnacher: Ooh, yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And my husband's like going, "I I reserved us, through the Disney app, a spot to, for the, for the fireworks display here at Epcot." Aw. And he's like, "Let's go sit down. Let's go, let's just, let's just go sit down over there-" Yeah ... and, and see, you know, is it good." And we're passing by the American part of, of the world. So Casey said, "Can we stop and get something else to eat?"

'Cause then at that point, the hunger is starting

Ally Brettnacher: hit. Yeah. Yes.

Karen Kirkpatrick: so I got something to eat and got, uh, an app- one of those hard ciders to go with it. Yeah. And so then we go and we sit down i- in the area that was reserved and everything, 'cause he, that's where he got our spots. And I [01:00:00] sit down, and I put my head on his shoulder and passed out.

And he's like, "Oh, crap." I could tell you... He's like, "You got..." He's like, "We gotta go back to the room, I think." I said, "Yeah, we have to go back to the room 'cause I, I can't, I can't stay awake for fireworks. I mean, they're gonna start going off and I'm still not gonna be awake for it."

Ally Brettnacher: Wow. I said,

Karen Kirkpatrick: "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

He's like going, "The bus was faster than, than anything." So we got on one of the Disney buses and, and, and everything, and I basically was falling asleep on the bus too. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Gosh. I mean-

Karen Kirkpatrick: It, it was hard

Ally Brettnacher: a lot. So

Karen Kirkpatrick: and that also told me I can't, can't do a full marathon without having to sleep forever.

Ally Brettnacher: Right. Yeah. So,

Karen Kirkpatrick: you know, so we didn't start, I think... Yeah, we took Monday off from work that- That's good ... that day too, and we s- drove back Tuesday. Okay.

Ally Brettnacher: Okay. Man. So we, we took

Karen Kirkpatrick: a, we took a full kinda-

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, good ... let's

Karen Kirkpatrick: this full time here so, 'cause else I'm not gonna be able to drive. Right.

Ally Brettnacher: So impressive. That's, I mean, it's amazing for people to run a full marathon. But then I think about [01:01:00] you accomplishing what you did with what you've had to overcome to do that. Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: But I w- I watch ev- That's amazing ... I watch a lot of people overcome

Ally Brettnacher: things. It's, I mean, it's true. But it's-

Karen Kirkpatrick: It's heartache.

You know, I've watched, I'm watching Alex.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah ... on Catch

Karen Kirkpatrick: to Cancer

Ally Brettnacher: Up To Ca- shout

Karen Kirkpatrick: such a fan of his now.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, he's wonderful.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And I w- I track him on whatever app, whatever-

Ally Brettnacher: Wherever he is in the world

Karen Kirkpatrick: yeah. Wherever he

Ally Brettnacher: he is in the world, I

Karen Kirkpatrick: watch him. I'm like, "Track him. Track him. I'm

Ally Brettnacher: you."

Karen Kirkpatrick: you." Yeah. Yeah.

And his... You know, I watch him slow down, I watch him speed up and everything. I'm like going, "Yep, I know this one." But I'm always in such awe of people

Ally Brettnacher: who, who

Karen Kirkpatrick: who do so much good in this world. I mean, you, you guys with An- Angie's Angels, uh, doing so much good, running these marathons for others, and making it a point to say, "Hey, you know, these people deserve something too," and everything.

But I've, I watch... I've had people come up to me

Ally Brettnacher: see

Karen Kirkpatrick: I have lupus, and they're like going, "You're doing great," or, "You know, my mom has this," or I see [01:02:00] people wearing shirts with sign- bib- special bibs on them. One said, "F cancer," this past weekend. Yeah. Like, her dad had cancer, and it said, "F cancer." Yes. You know, so you knew what she was running for.

And all these people that just, even if they don't have a disability or they have a disease of some sort- Yeah ... it just, it amazes me the strength I see from people who never have done a marathon before, and they choose to do, like, Disney, or they choose to do, like, the Flying Pig Marathon.

Ally Brettnacher: Marathon.

Karen Kirkpatrick: don't know why, but hey.

Ally Brettnacher: Why? Like, hey.

Karen Kirkpatrick: mean, I know why I chose to do it. Yeah. But it's just like going, I watch people of all ages, of all sizes. you know, I get shamed a lot. Uh, just people look at me, and they're like going, "But you're so big." And I said, "You just can call me fat. It's fine. I'm extra fluffy, I know." " How do you do it?"

I'm like going, I said, "I do have a lot of muscle, but yes, I have a stomach and everything." I said, " What does it matter? I can do these things. If, if I'm doing it, you can do it."

Ally Brettnacher: Right.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And I see people of all sizes, of all ages accomplishing things that people are still sitting on their couch.

Ally Brettnacher: [01:03:00] Yeah. And I'm

Karen Kirkpatrick: like going, "Get off the couch."

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. They're the ones sitting on their couch, you know- Yeah ... trolling people on the internet- Yeah ... while you're out, you know-

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah, while we're out doing this. Yeah. "Nobody wants to hear about your runs." Well, I'm sorry, then don't follow me.

Ally Brettnacher: Then keep scrolling. Yeah. There's plenty of- Yeah

plenty other things to see. I have

Karen Kirkpatrick: of hate on- online, so. Yeah,

Ally Brettnacher: I'm sorry that you do. Yeah, it's hard.

Karen Kirkpatrick: hard. I've got... I'm not, I, I don't wanna say I've gotten used to it, but that's why my profiles are private now. Yeah. 'Cause I don't, I can't, I can't handle the hate on some things. I'm doing my best.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Yeah.

You definitely... Nobody deserves that- Yeah ... at all. Yeah. So why did you choose Flying Pig? I don't know if you, you said.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I-- No, I didn't say. I, you know, after... Okay, Flying Pig is my 28th half marathon, 28th one since 2014, and I chose the Flying Pig 'cause my mom did it. And I don't, me and my sister are not sure what year

Ally Brettnacher: she did it.

Karen Kirkpatrick: We know it was in the 2000s, we believe.

Ally Brettnacher: believe.

Karen Kirkpatrick: but we don't remember what year she did it. And she, my mom, an [01:04:00] amazing woman, amazing inspiration, and I apologize to her profusely because of how I was as a child. but, she did it, and I'm just, like, going, you know, and the doctors are telling me now, "You have to slow down.

You can't do such long distances anymore. The farthest we want you to go is a 10K. you need to wrap this up. You need to stop this," which breaks my heart because there were so many more races I wanted to do. I wanted to go back to Israel one day and, and

Ally Brettnacher: and

Karen Kirkpatrick: do Tel Aviv and do Jerusalem- Mm-hmm

'cause they have some beautiful, beautiful half marathons and marathons. And then, like New York, I wanted to make it to New York's half marathon one day. Yeah. Yeah. you know, but I can't. Yeah. And they're like, they're, "No, Karen, you have to stop now." so I said, "Okay, well then I've gotta make my final three count."

Mm. And so my final three, I said, "Flying Pig."

Ally Brettnacher: big."

Karen Kirkpatrick: I said, "Mom did it. I'm gonna do it." Those hills are killers, but I do recommend it. It's [01:05:00] so much fun.

Ally Brettnacher: fun. I've heard. I've heard it's wonderful. Every- The crowd support,

Karen Kirkpatrick: yeah, the crowd support was just amazing. Somebody had a real pig on the course. Wow. Yeah. You got to pet a pig.

Ally Brettnacher: Excellent.

Karen Kirkpatrick: That was like at mile six, seven. Somewhere in that area. I don't remember, but I've got a picture of

Ally Brettnacher: it. Yeah. Aw.

Karen Kirkpatrick: cute. They put wings on it, too. Oh. They put those fairy wing-

Ally Brettnacher: That's adorable. I picture it. Um- Yeah

Karen Kirkpatrick: such a cute pig. And then, like Elvis is singing to you up near Eden Park, Walnut Hills area.

all these people, all these groups who take station miles and are cheering for you are holding up really special signs, and then all these people who come out to cheer their friends and their family and everything, but at the same time are holding, some of them are holding the same signs.

Cracks me up. I mean, they, you know, the whole, the same one of, "You're running better than the government." Right. Yes, we know.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, we've had that one for a few

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah. And then your, " Pain is temporary, but your Strava is forever." Yeah. I said, "Well, I have to say my Garmin is forever." Yeah. changing to [01:06:00] Amazfit as soon as I can afford it.

Oh, good. Got the ring, gotta get the watch. Yeah. but different things like that. You get, I don't know who you are, but I'm rooting for you." Yeah. And people with funny signs, "You bacon me proud," instead of

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, yeah ... one.

Karen Kirkpatrick: It's like so, gotta stick on the pig theme- Yeah ... and stuff like

Ally Brettnacher: I like the, "The pain is French for bread."

Yeah. That's one of my

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah. Uh, somebody had one of, something like that up and everything. A lot of people had, "Hurry up and finish, you can drink sooner."

Ally Brettnacher: Right, yeah. The

Karen Kirkpatrick: The beer will be... You know, it's like, I was like, "Yeah, we know. Believe me, we know." The bling and the beer is the biggest things.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But like,

Ally Brettnacher: I,

Karen Kirkpatrick: I mean, Flying Pig,

Ally Brettnacher: I

Karen Kirkpatrick: didn't think it was gonna be like it was, but it was just amazing. Everybody, everybody on that course, you were never alone on that course. People were coming up to me, giving pat on the back. People, you know... When I did Monumental last year, World Vision Group prayed on me- Aw

to help me get through it 'cause, you know, I was talking to them about, my dad and that was my why that [01:07:00] time. Yeah. Speaking of Abby. Yeah. Abby inspires me to keep going, too. Yes. but now I'm like going, "Okay, my why this time is because of my sister Beth." She has type 1 diabetes. Mm. she is a very strong woman, very caring woman. she's always tried to take care of all of us surprising she's not a teacher

Ally Brettnacher: herself. Yeah. But yeah,

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah. But my why for this one was because of my sister.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Mm. You know? And, and it's Lupus Awareness Month, so anybody with lupus- Mm ... you're part of it too.

And it's Jewish Am- American Jewish Heritage Month.

Ally Brettnacher: Well, look at that. So

Karen Kirkpatrick: doing it all- Yeah ... for my Jewish brothers and sisters too - Yeah. Yeah ... and all my Israeli Jewish brothers and sisters, so.

Ally Brettnacher: That's so special.

Karen Kirkpatrick: it's, it's nice that all, all three things kind of fell into one thing, so.

Nice.

Ally Brettnacher: Meant to be, for sure. I think so. I don't believe that's an accident.

Karen Kirkpatrick: So right now I'm debating whether to do Carmel again.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, boy. Yeah, right. You're like, "Well, it is in May now."

Karen Kirkpatrick: at the end of May, how-- what's the weather like again? Oh, wait, it might [01:08:00] be a little too hot."

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Well, I hope not.

So. I hope not. I hope they get a good... They deserve a good weather

Karen Kirkpatrick: I hope so. Yeah. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on that

Ally Brettnacher: Absolutely. If

Karen Kirkpatrick: I don't run it, I'll be out there cheering with the

Ally Brettnacher: Running Club. I will be out there cheering,

Karen Kirkpatrick: for sure.

Ally Brettnacher: 'Cause I will not be running 'cause I have the Full Mo the day before now, so.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Oh, that's right, it is the day before.

Mm. Yeah. Ooh. So but

Ally Brettnacher: be out there e- even if it's in a chair laying down. I have

Karen Kirkpatrick: I have to give props to everybody that does the Full Mo on. Holy. Yeah. That's an ultra right there. Yeah. I'm like,

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Mm, mm, mm. Oh. I'll be out with the

Karen Kirkpatrick: club that day probably, and we'll probably do a quick run. So we'll see you guys out there.

Ally Brettnacher: Please. So, Please. Okay. Well, I'm gonna ask you the end of the podcast questions now- Okay ... because I wanna talk about your final two finish lines. Okay. okay, but the first question is, what is your favorite running mantra and/or song?

Karen Kirkpatrick: Um, a lot of times I tell myself at the beginning of the races, including Flying Pig, 'cause I get so anxious 'cause I was in the [01:09:00] front of the start- Ah

of, of my corral. I was like, "Oh, my God." And I was just like... And then I kinda turned around like, "Oh, my God. Oh, my God, I'm starting." So it's really hard, and I have to remind myself, " You've done this so many times before, and you're gonna do it again."

Ally Brettnacher: you're gonna do it again.

Karen Kirkpatrick: just going to finish." Yeah. So when I'm out there, if I start doubting myself, I, I kinda take from "Finding Nemo," " Just keep swimming."

Ally Brettnacher: Yep. I like, I really like that ... just keep swimming To running, yep. Very

Karen Kirkpatrick: run- One foot at a time. You're doing just fine. Yeah. All that kind of thing. I just keep telling myself things. With music on, I mean, it really does depend. I really don't have a, a, a specific song. Mm-hmm. my sister was cracking up because of the DJ and the songs that they were playing, and you could hear it and everything. She's like going, "Can he just pick a type?" I said, "No, those are running music." Right. It's all- So, like it'd go from AC/DC to, like, like Imagine Dragons to something inspir- you know, all these inspirational kind of things.

It's, like, going... So it's just, like, going, it really depends on what I'm feeling. It really [01:10:00] depends. But I, it's like going, "Who's gonna inspire me to keep going, and what am I gonna be listening to?" A lot of times when I'm on the road and out there, a lot of times... I mean, I don't have it up loud, but I have usually, like, like some kind of good beat to it.

It's usually, like, some kind of... I have, like, a gym motivator mix on my thing that-

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, that sounds good

Karen Kirkpatrick: a good beat- Right ... constant beat that I

Ally Brettnacher: battle To keep you going. You just need the-

Karen Kirkpatrick: and stuff like that. And then this last time I used the Rally app. Thank you so much for that inspiration. Yeah. I highly recommend anybody who's gonna run a marathon, half marathon, I don't care what it is, get into that r- Rally app, download that.

Ask your friends and family to, to do it because, like, the very first message, the very first mile was my great-niece Evelyn.

Ally Brettnacher: Aw.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And she started to make me cry.

Ally Brettnacher: cry. Yeah. That's the thing- She- ... is they make you cry. That- They'll make you cry-

Karen Kirkpatrick: make you cry. They'll make you laugh. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: she, you know, she recorded the very first mile one, and, and then my other niece...

I have a lot of nieces and nephews. Mm. And we're a high military family. but, like, they're [01:11:00] saying, like, my other, my adult nieces and nephews saying k- some funny things to me and everything, cheering me from afar. Family saying, "You've got this. You know you can do this. You've done it before. Just keep going."

And that's, that's what m- matters to me, and that's why I keep telling people, like, going, "If you think you're gonna struggle in doing a marathon or half marathon, download the Rally app-" Yeah ... "and then ask people to record," 'cause it really inspired me to keep going. Yeah. You know, people s- reciting, uh, from, from the Torah- That's cool

and the Tanakh and everything. I'm like going, "Okay," and from the Bible. I'm like, "Okay." It's j- it, you know, but it helps-

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: hearing that, so, but I always tell people that. But I don't have a particular song. I, but I do, like, like keep... Just listen to it, and sometimes I'll find some inspiration somewhere, so.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah. Mm.

Ally Brettnacher: And then, you know, next finish line or milestone?

Karen Kirkpatrick: It is the Indy Marathon at Fort Ben, and I am... [01:12:00] My why for that one is for all the veterans.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh.

Karen Kirkpatrick: all of, and all the ones that are still deployed. we are f- we are a military family Um, high military family. Boy. my brother-in-law still has w- his, his son-in-law is still in the Army.

great guy. Great guy. But like everybody, almost everybody who is an adult in our family has served. Wow. And at least in my in-law's side. Yeah. I mean, my dad did serve in the US Army when he, uh, came over after World War II. Wow. And, um, he survived the Holocaust, so we were just like, "Okay."

Ally Brettnacher: Holy crap. Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Our fam- we have rich ha- family history going.

Ally Brettnacher: we?

Yeah. Wow. But we, um...

Karen Kirkpatrick: but yeah, so since we're high military and it's at Fort Ben,

Ally Brettnacher: and

Karen Kirkpatrick: just like, it's still an Army base. I'm like going, "This one is for all the vets." Yes. My why is because some of them have given up everything.

Ally Brettnacher: Mm-hmm.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And some have ga- some gave all, some gave some.

My husband does not like to be thanked for his service because he's lost some brothers [01:13:00] and sisters- Wow ... on it. And I'm just like, "Okay." But I thank everybody who has served. We had, actually was surrounded by a couple guys. One was carrying the US flag, and it's very inspiring to see that. Yes. And one was carrying, uh, a flag that said, "Thank you, veterans," and he was running for the veterans on that for flag gig.

So that's my why on that one. But Fort Ben is next, beginning of October. Mm-hmm.

Ally Brettnacher: And then

Karen Kirkpatrick: then two weeks later, back to Columbus, Ohio to finish it out, and hopefully my mom can get downtown. My sister can get her down there. One of my sisters can get her down there. Get her

Ally Brettnacher: her there, that

Karen Kirkpatrick: her g- get her to that finish line.

Help, help, and that she can put my final finisher medal on me. Yeah. And that will be my last half marathon finish line. Not my last race ever, 'cause I've- Yeah ... I'll still be doing Run 317s. Yes.

Ally Brettnacher: Tell people what that is. We didn't mention that

Karen Kirkpatrick: Oh, yeah. Run 317 is, well, we call it a run and a party, actually.

Um, but

they have five, it's a five run series where you run, different areas [01:14:00] of Indianapolis, different neighborhoods, and like it always starts at Fountain Square. and that usually, it's usually the hottest one.

Ally Brettnacher: It's like,

Karen Kirkpatrick: it's hot again."

Ally Brettnacher: hot again."

Karen Kirkpatrick: but like in the summertime, and like one Thursday a month, sometimes two Thursdays a month to get it done, they, we go out, we have the race, we run 3.17 miles since our area code is 317.

Yep. and we run that, and then there's a huge party afterwards. And like they raise money for charities. Actually, Catch Up to Cancer is Carmel's charity. Mm. So we're like, "Okay, I donate to that one." But like there's different charities that will sponsor a race, and you can donate to them. But like, just a huge party afterwards.

A lot of fun, a lot of food you can get, and diff- different areas give you different types of food. Mm-hmm. You can try things. You can just hang out and have fun with your friends. They always have DJs going and- Yes. Yep ... and then that's where I, I met up with Sweat House one day.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, yeah. [01:15:00] Shout out to Sweat

Karen Kirkpatrick: yes. People- Thank you, Jeanette ... if

Ally Brettnacher: if you have not gone to a Sweat House, there's locally, there's one in Carmel- Carmel

and Broad Ripple. Yeah. Almost BottleWorks. Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: they're very close to finishing up

Ally Brettnacher: BottleWorks. Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: But yeah, I highly recommend it. That's my other part of my recovery is usually a Sweat House visit.

Ally Brettnacher: It's contrast therapy too, by the way-

Karen Kirkpatrick: yeah, contrast therapy. thermal spa, doing... I do it with the red lights on and not any other color usually. Yeah. And then cold plunge. Everybody's like, "Oh, you only have to cold plunge for a couple minutes." Yeah, I do it for 20. I'm laying back in that thing

Ally Brettnacher: could see my

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah. Everybody makes that face like, "20 minutes?" You know how long... It took me a long time to build up

Ally Brettnacher: to that.

Well, yeah. It took a long time. I would hope. Gosh. I mean, I did- But, but- ... three minutes last time, I think. Maybe four, and I like built on another minute, and I was like, "Yes."

Karen Kirkpatrick: all in your breath. Yeah.

Deep breaths. I just go, "Come

Ally Brettnacher: I get in and I'm like Yeah. You have, but you

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah, you ha- but you have to

Ally Brettnacher: breath in.

Karen Kirkpatrick: breath in- Deep

Ally Brettnacher: The

Karen Kirkpatrick: as you're putting the foot in- Yeah ... and everything. It's like- Yeah ... "Okay." And then I [01:16:00] sit down and I start doing bathroom. I'm still doing deep breaths and everything. I'm, like, praying my butt off to make it through.

Yeah. But, like, after about 10 minutes, I'm not shivering anymore. My body has become-

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah, used to

Karen Kirkpatrick: it ... used to it and- It's like, "Oh." But yeah, people are like, "Well, you did that for 20 minutes?" I was like, "Yeah, I was in the s- thermal spa, the sauna part, for 30." Yeah. Right. "So I'm hot." Yeah. So

Ally Brettnacher: cool down.

Karen Kirkpatrick: this is how I do it.

Ally Brettnacher: Oh my goodness. That's

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah, so it, it really has helped me with my lupus, with a lot of things. But now, we never touched on it, that now I'm going into the doctor's for- Yeah ... multiple sclerosis testing. Um- Yeah ... I did see my n- I did see my neurologist, and so now I'm on other medications for that.

I finally got off lupus medications, thanks to my chiropractor. Oh, good. And getting that, getting those adjustments weekly has helped a lot too. Interesting.

Ally Brettnacher: Interesting. Okay.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Um, my body has finally, like, settled down, and then all of this started coming on of not being balanced, these bad dizzy spells, and again, me having to basically yell at doctors, saying, "There's something wrong."[01:17:00]

Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I'm falling up the stairs, falling down the stairs. I'm th- think I'm lifting my leg, and I'm not, and then that's when I fall.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: so the world will go on a tilt vision-wise, so I'll feel off balance. Mm-hmm. I'll get dizzy. I get lightheaded. I get nasty headaches, and that was what I was scared of.

In my purse, I have my migraine medication 'cause he put me on different migraine medication. He's like going- Mm-hmm ... "I want you on this just in case."

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: different things, numbing. I have tremors now. uh, yesterday my tremors were really bad. They weren't so bad after the race, which was kind of shocking, and it's probably because I drank so much Gatorade on that course.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. And everything. I tried to stay as hydrated as possible. But, like, my hands will do really bad shakes. My legs will go side to side instead of up and down.

Ally Brettnacher: Jeez.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah. So I'll have really bad tremors and so now I have to go get an MRI, maybe a CT scan. Mm-hmm. They gotta check my brain. Yeah. And then they're probably gonna go from there and they're gonna...[01:18:00]

It's not a spinal tap per se, but they are gonna take some spinal fluid- Yeah, test that

Ally Brettnacher: test that.

Karen Kirkpatrick: to test that, um, along with oth-other blood tests to test f-for other things and stuff. So now it's the next layer and stuff like that. Is it, is it really lupus or it, you know, is it now the next thing? 'Cause if you have one, autoimmune disorder, there's a chance you have multiple autoimmune disorders.

Hmm. So you can have lupus, you can have rheumatoid arthritis along with MS and everything else. You can have, like, I know people with four. Jeez. They have been diagnosed with four different ones, because you really can't tell the difference on some of them. Yeah. But, like, everything else is, like, going, "Well..." I was just, like, going, finally screamed loud enough at the doctor saying, "There is something wrong again." Yeah. Yeah. So but yeah, so going into that, it just makes it,

Ally Brettnacher: makes

Karen Kirkpatrick: more difficult, so I have to watch what I do. I did get lightheaded during the flying, Flying Pig. The world did kind of start going on its side, so I had to slow down.

So w-when you, if you, if I look at my times, I know exactly where it [01:19:00] happened. Yeah. my watch tells me things. The ring from Amazfit, I'm loving this ring. I'm- I,

Ally Brettnacher: I love mine too

Karen Kirkpatrick: I'm, like, going, "This thing, I think it's actually saving my life

Ally Brettnacher: Jeez. And the- Well, there you go. That's a testament. I, it's,

Karen Kirkpatrick: it's actually...

It gives me such insight, more insight than my Garmin does-

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: that I'm just like, "Oh, thank you." So I was, like, going, "When..." And it costs so much less than any others. Yeah. And I was just, like, going, so when it went on sale, I was like, "Yep, buying." So you're

Ally Brettnacher: one that told me it was even more on sale than- Yeah ... I thought it was. Yeah. I was like, "Sign me

Karen Kirkpatrick: me up." So, uh, you know, I was worried about wearing a ring while racing 'cause I swell. Yes. But- Oh, yeah ... I didn't notice it. Okay, that's good. Honestly, I didn't notice it at all. Thank goodness,

Ally Brettnacher: 'cause that... My coach Rachel actually got an Oura ring stuck on her finger. She had to go to the fire station and get it cut off.

Karen Kirkpatrick: it cut off. God.

Ally Brettnacher: Which is terrifying.

Karen Kirkpatrick: I'm always scared that something's gonna get stuck. But, like- Yeah. Yeah ... like my watch, I, the band of the watch is what bothers me most- Yeah. Yeah ... when I, when I'm running and stuff like that. But

Ally Brettnacher: But

Karen Kirkpatrick: getting tr- getting to track [01:20:00] through my ring, my sleep, my oxygen levels, you know- my moods more.

It's catching it more because all of a sudden an alert will come over my phone saying, " we're noticing that it seems like a stressful moment right now. What's going on?"

Ally Brettnacher: "I'm in the middle of a half-marathon." Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: Yeah. But it didn't come, it didn't really do that during a half-marathon, but it's just like, it, it knows, it knows like, they're like going like, "Your heart rate is a little too high at, when you're supposed to be resting, when you're supposed to be asleep."

Yeah. I'm like going, "I wonder if that's the new medication."

Ally Brettnacher: Right. Yeah. That's helpful to know.

Karen Kirkpatrick: to know. Yeah. So different things that it tells me. Mm-hmm. So trying to catch things as quickly as I can, hence the fact I wanna switch to the Amazfit watches- Mm-hmm ... and have that coincide with the ring and everything to, to be able to

Ally Brettnacher: give

Karen Kirkpatrick: doctors

Ally Brettnacher: more- Right.

Have everything in one place. Give it... Yeah, be able to show that. Those- Yeah. So I'm gonna have

Karen Kirkpatrick: I have to keep a log of everything.

Ally Brettnacher: Jeez. Yeah.

Karen Kirkpatrick: a lot. So I mean, my doc- my regular doctors were just like, "Oh, check, check [01:21:00] your blood sugar level. All the dizzy spells maybe mean you, you don't have enough s- food or

Ally Brettnacher: something."

Yeah. Right. Something like that.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And nope, blood sugar was fine. Never shot way up high, never sh- dropped too low. Blood pressure is fine. I said, "See? Something's going on." Told you

KAREN K INTERVIEW: Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: well. Well, I'll be thinking about you- Thank you ... during this time as you're trying to figure that out. That's, I mean, that's a lot.

Karen Kirkpatrick: And trying to finish up the school year. Yeah.

Ally Brettnacher: God. In May. It's like May...

Karen Kirkpatrick: things- May is a stressful month for us teachers. Yeah. Yes, it is. That's why they put Teacher Appreciation Week

Ally Brettnacher: Happy Teacher Appreciation Week. This'll come out maybe a couple weeks after, but just every teacher know that appreciate you so much.

Karen Kirkpatrick: We try very

Ally Brettnacher: hard. Yeah. Yeah, you do. Well, thank you, Karen, for doing this.

Karen Kirkpatrick: for letting me come out. Oh

Ally Brettnacher: Oh, my gosh, absolutely. Such a pleasure.

Karen Kirkpatrick: It's always nice to talk to you and I, I hope I get, get to come out running on Friday mornings again. I

Ally Brettnacher: so too. Yeah, now it's almost summer,

Karen Kirkpatrick: so- Yeah, so now as long as I'm not doing my second job.

Ally Brettnacher: Yeah. Of course. Well, yes. Well, then you better come, come out. I'll

Karen Kirkpatrick: I'll be coming out on Friday

Yeah. Absolutely. Good. Well, thanks to [01:22:00] everybody who listened.

Yes. Thank you guys so much. I appreciate y'all. Happy running. Yay. Yay.

Ally Brettnacher: Yay. You did it.

If you enjoyed this episode of Finish Lines and Milestones from Sandy Boy Productions, go to the show notes and sign up for our weekly newsletters. also go follow Karen on Instagram. She is Lupus Warrior Princess. Thank you Goodr for supporting this episode, and guys, wish me luck.

I am running my first 50K, my first ultramarathon, this Saturday, May 30th, and then I am cheering at the 20-mile mark of the Carmel Marathon that was rescheduled from its original date in April. So can't wait to cheer everybody on on Sunday.

Hopefully, I will still be able to stand. All right. Thanks for listening. Make sure you're subscribed so you can hear race recap episode with my coach coming soon. All right, bye.

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