Goodbye 2013. Review of a Nightmarish Year

Raw stats:
17-33 with a 2.47 GPA and 1,754 miles.  The mileage was not terrible but the record is by far my worst showing since starting this blog is 2009.  I set zero personal records but did progress toward a couple milestones:
-3 new states in the half marathon (California, Missouri, West Virginia)
-2 new states in the 10K (Florida and Pennsylvania)
-8 total races (7 out of town).  0 5Ks, 4 10Ks, 4 Half Mary, 0 Fulls

It is clear to me now that the chemical sensitivity was the source of the suckage all year long.  It started off well enough.  I was 7-4 through week 11 with 2 good races in 3 tries.  Then, I got a good medical report in which everything looked fine except for the low magnesium.  I had been taking Paramin in addition to the Thym-Adren without a problem for several years.  Paramin is Cal/Mag citrate supplement with a 5:3 ratio.  I usually took that in the evening and Thym-Adren in the morning.  Since the Thym-Adren contains 41 mg of Cal, I was getting 8 parts Cal to only 3 parts Mag.  That's too unbalanced and explained why the Mag was stubbornly low.  Okay, just add more Mag such that I get nearly a 1:1 ratio.  Presto!  I did that and I was sensational for the next 2 days.  However, it was downhill from there and I never did get back on track, losing 29 out of 39 to end the year.

January:
Despite the 4-0 start, I was shaky.  I was struggling with copper/Vitamin C issues and found that I could not tolerate protein bars with too much copper.  I dodged that bullet before LA but was denied an official sub-90 by a diarrhea attack (moving time was 1:29:52).  It would be my best performance of the year.

February:
The copper issues worsened this month and I found that I needed an exact amount of Vitamin C in the right form too (500 mg of ascorbic acid not Ester-C).  I found that out after race day this time, a half in 1:38 (my worst time in 3 years).  I lost all 4 weeks this month.

March:
Things turned around here with a solid effort at the Silver Comet 10K (40:58), narrowly missing my road PR.  It was becoming apparent that my Cal was high relative to Mag and was feeling the ill-effects.  Adding more Mag seemed like a miracle early but I found that I soon became intolerant to Mag as well as Paramin.  It was not until later that I learned that citrates were the problem.  I ended up not running Rumpshaker and finished the first quarter at 7-6.  It was the last time that I had a winning record.

April:
Continued downhill with a disaster at St. Louis (1:42) and eventually progressed to a point in which I could not tolerate any Paramin.

May:
Quit the magnesium and took thyoid glandulars as a temporary measure.  It provided temporary relief and allowed for a small victory in Florida at the Fiesta 10K (42:22).  It was just a patch to stop the bleeding and soon my body demanded Mag again yet I could not tolerate Paramin.

June:
Got some hope this month after starting transdermal Mag, which I was able to tolerate.

July:
Could no longer tolerate Thym-Adren with transdermal Mag and bombed at Peachtree with a new personal worst of 45:54 for 10K.  Once I stuck with only the Mag gel, I started to improve gradually and if I was able to continue the slow but steady improvement, I would have been in decent shape by the Fall.

August and September:
Transdermal Mag stopped working so I tried Mag malate and Jigsaw Mag.  Despite some initial success, it failed in the end.  I nearly bailed on the Pittsburgh Great Race but chose to run and finished in 43-flat.  On a downhill course, that was only worth about a low 44 but I did manage to enjoy the race and pick up a new state.

October and November:
Went back to the Thym-Adren and saw my dosage trend down with continued sensitivity to copper and Vitamin C.  I managed to hit the formula well when it mattered and managed another small victory in West Virginia (1:35 half) and managed a sub-20 5K with an asterisk in training.

December:
Rock bottom.  Could only tolerate either Mag or Thym-Adren at no more than 2 pills each.  Detox was my only way out and if it had not worked, I would have retired from serious running.  I do have hope going forward since I have felt very much different since the detox.