Something Was Wrong and Nobody Could Tell Me Why
Perimenopause Symptoms Misdiagnosed: Four Years of “Normal for Your Age”
For four years my body kept sending signals about perimenopause symptoms misdiagnosed as normal aging. And for four years I kept getting the same answer. Normal wear and tear. Normal for your age. This is the story of what my body was trying to tell me, and why it took until Valentine’s Day 2026 for me to finally start listening.
Who I Am as an Athlete And Why That Context Matters
I have run 23 marathons. I have been a runner my whole life.
Back in college I learned the hard way what overtraining actually feels like. Stress fractures in both legs at the same time from overuse. I made a promise to myself after that: never again. I would never push so hard that I injured myself.
So when things started going wrong years later, I knew it was not that. I was not overtraining. I was not doing anything extreme.
So what was happening?
2021: Paris, Honolulu, and the Knee Braces I Was Already Wearing
It starts in 2021.
I ran the Paris Marathon with my little sister, who lives in France. We celebrated with macarons and champagne, because of course we did. But I was already wearing knee braces at the time. We completed it, we celebrated, and then I turned around and ran the Honolulu Marathon in December like I always do for my birthday.
The knees were already signaling something. I just was not ready to listen yet.
2022: Both Knees Give Out at 44
Then comes 2022.
I was walking down the back halls of the Capitol with my friend Kelsey and my knees literally gave out on me. I had to grab the railing to stop myself from falling. Kelsey looked at me and said: girl, you need to go get your knees checked.
So I did. MRIs, the whole thing.
The orthopedic surgeon told me: normal wear and tear. Normal for women your age. Maybe you should think about stopping running.
I was forty-four years old.
I chuckled to myself and thought, yeah, okay. Maybe I would not do anything crazy like Leadville or Kauai with the elevation gains. But stop running? That was never actually an option.
I got cortisone shots in both knees, started strength training seriously for the first time since college, made the Brooks Run Happy team, and went to Utah for run camp that summer. At Arches National Park, when everyone else was taking the switchbacks up the mountain, I went straight up. Because switchbacks are boring. My knees held up just fine. Ran Honolulu in December. Never stopped.
2023: Frozen Shoulder and More Perimenopause Symptoms Misdiagnosed at 45
The weekend the legislative session ended in 2023, I got on a plane to Cancun. I needed a vacation.
I went to check out the hotel gym, saw one of those bars you hang from, and jumped up to grab it like I always would. My shoulder popped out of socket and I fell to the ground crying.
Frozen shoulder. I could not lift my arm straight up. I could not do any weight bearing. Taking my sports bra on and off was honestly the hardest part of my day — and I would cry doing it.
I spent the rest of that Cancun trip doing Pilates on the beach and going to the spa. Because that is what you do.
Same orthopedic surgeon…Same MRI…Same answer.
Normal wear and tear. Normal for women your age. Cortisone shot. Physical therapy.
I was only forty-five.
Brooks took us to Santa Monica that summer for Hype Fest. I ran all the way to Venice Beach and back with my teammates. Shoulder still could not go overhead. Running was completely fine. Never stopped.
2024: Plantar Fasciitis in Both Feet — Becoming a KT Tape Expert
Twenty twenty four. I did not make the Brooks team that year so I picked two brand new marathon spots to keep myself excited — Eugene, Oregon in the spring, and the Hawaii Bird Conservation Marathon on the Big Island in December.
Eugene was totally fine. But somewhere after that, plantar fasciitis. Both feet.
No injection this time. Just me, a freezer full of water bottles, and enough KT tape to wrap a small country.
I ran the Run for the Water here in Austin in November, fully taped up. I ran the Merrie Miler in Honolulu and hit a seven minute flat mile with plantar fasciitis in both feet. Then ran the full marathon. Still taped up. Still had not connected a single dot.
Three body parts. Three diagnoses. One answer every single time.
Normal for your age.
Looking back now I can see it clearly, this was perimenopause symptoms misdiagnosed as simple overuse.
2025: The Gut Crisis That Finally Made Me Stop
In April 2025, I got what I thought was really sick. Lethargic, no energy, could not get off the couch. My gut completely fell apart. Blood work was off. Everything was off.
I ended up fasting for a couple of days, then white rice, bananas, crackers — easy things on the gut.
This was the first time my body actually made me stop running. I started walking instead. A lot.
I got a second colonoscopy that summer. Inflammation both times, but never a real diagnosis. By fall, everything had come back to normal on its own. The bloating was gone. I lost all the weight I had slowly been gaining. I felt amazing for the first time in years.
So I signed up for Honolulu. Because of course I did.
Race morning was a two-mile walk to the start line in a monsoon. Soaked before we even started the 26.2. The course was so crowded I could not pass anyone so I settled into an easy, comfortable pace the whole way. By the end, my Garmin flagged it as a zone 2 recovery run.
A marathon. A recovery run.
I had no idea I was literally running on empty and no idea what my body was actually running on. I felt great.
February 14, 2026: The Morning Everything Changed
Training for the Austin Half Marathon had been going amazingly. I was running with the Spy Belt team, feeling strong coming off Honolulu. Everything felt good.
And then I woke up on Valentine’s Day and my whole body just hurt.
Not training soreness. Not the kind of tired I know from hard weeks. Something else. Something I had never felt before.
I ran the half marathon anyway — and I will forever be grateful to Amber for staying with me the whole way because I was struggling. She was my SPI Belt partner that day and I am forever grateful.
I have not felt quite the same since.
That was the morning I finally decided: I am going to find out what is actually going on. I am going to take things into my own hands.
There Was a Thread: Perimenopause Symptoms Misdiagnosed for Four Years
Four years. Knees, shoulder, feet, gut. Every provider gave me an isolated answer. Every single one said the same thing: normal wear and tear, normal for your age.
And I believed them, because what else do you do when the person with the medical degree tells you that?
This is what perimenopause symptoms misdiagnosed looks like from the inside.
But here is what nobody told me.
There was a thread connecting all of it. And it took a DEXA scan, a comprehensive blood panel, and finally deciding to look for my own answers to find it.
That story is next week.
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