Woman with connective tissue disease to do first Bloomsday with elliptical-powered walk

As a young child, Jocelyn Whitfield-Babcock watched Bloomsday runners from her grandmother’s land near Doomsday Hill. That 5-year-old Jocelyn decided one day she’d run the race.

She always wanted the T-shirt, too, as she grew up in Suncrest and friends wore them to school the next day. But her plan ended abruptly at 13, with a diagnosis of polymyositis, a connective tissue disease that triggers inflammation and muscle tightening. It’s thought to be an autoimmune disorder, and it makes strenuous activity difficult.

“As a little kid, I wanted to do Bloomsday, and I heard, ‘You have to get older,’ ” Whitfield-Babcock said. “Then, when I was a teenager, I was way too sick and it was, ‘Well, there went that.’ ”

Medications helped, and for 30 years she managed to stay as active as possible. She also has arthritis, and a heart condition related to polymyositis.

Then, two recent factors caused Whitfield-Babcock, now 43, to rethink achieving Bloomsday – to believe she could finally have her day in the race, at least virtually – on Tuesday.

First, the disease is a “use it or lose it” condition, she said, meaning her muscles feel less stiff after gentle-on-joints activity, and doctors encouraged use of an elliptical exercise machine. Elliptical training helped her do well on a family hike in June. Second, Bloomsday has kept its pandemic-era virtual registration that allows people to complete the race on any course, day or location worldwide.

“I intend to complete the 7.46-mile journey in 2.5 hours on May 2 at the Salvation Army KROC Center,” Whitfield-Babcock said.

“This was something that I couldn’t conceive of in my wildest dreams from having that heart condition to having a muscle condition, there was no way. Honestly, I don’t think I could do it in person at all. There’s something about the concrete. I can go about a mile and then I’m hurting, but on the elliptical machine, I think I can do it.”

She first pursued elliptical exercise for a different reason.

“I started training a year ago because my high-schooler wanted to go on a hiking trip in the Redwoods. I didn’t want to be out of shape, so I started training on this elliptical. After we were hiking and I did really well, I thought, ‘I might be able to do that virtual Bloomsday.’ ”

Whitfield-Babcock’s stamina on the machine has grown, with a recent workout clocking in at 5.5 miles – just 2 miles short of Bloomsday.

“I think I can pull this off. I’m going to do it all in one shot on May 2, because that’s fair. Everyone else running it in-person has to do it on the one day.”

Now a Post Falls resident, she’s also seeking pledges as a motivation, to support ongoing construction of the Faith Walk Community Fitness Park, a 10-acre multiuse park that will have adaptive training options in Coeur d’Alene.

She wants to stay as active as she can, because the disease can cause permanent tightening of the muscles. Eventually, the muscles break down and become weak, she said.

“As the disease has progressed, I am having some difficulty swallowing, and on occasion enunciating words, and walking down staircases.

“Fortunately, over the course of 30 years, it has progressed slowly.”

She’s following doctors’ supervision and advice for careful exercise.

“I am watching my heart rate. I have a target my doctor gave me that’s a little under what’s normal for someone my age and weight. I keep a good eye on it. My doctors have always suggested using an elliptical, because the smooth, round movement won’t hurt my joints and it helps stretch my muscles, and then to do water exercises.”

But she admits she’ll likely do a little leap in the air, or perhaps shed tears, when that T-shirt arrives.

“I’m very thankful they have that out there still to do the virtual race, because it’s the only way I’m going to get a Bloomsday T-shirt.

“I’m going to wear holes in that thing, because I’m going to wear it so much.”