Changes

It has been far too long since I last posted in my "marathon journal".  I am not running...not at the moment anyway.  Injuries sidelined me first - weight and work keep me from where I want to be...but I WILL get there! 

I've been switching from reading running blogs to reading "retirement" blogs.  Those are blogs of folks that have taken the plunge and become part of the traveling RV family.  Some are full-timers, some part-timers, but all are on the road and writing about their adventures.  I don't think I could EVER do a daily journal - my life just simply isn't THAT interesting, but I do think I could update when we travel and take our pictures. 

With that thought in mind I went back to the next trip we took after we went to Palo Duro Canyon over Thanksgiving of 2012 (can you believe that is almost two years ago now!).  Our next trip was spring break and we took off to go camping at Inks Lake State Park.  

After we got our campsite set up we went for our first hike.  Our site was close to the Devil's Waterhole so we walked there first.

 An HDR painting photo of one of the trees along Spring Creek near Devil's Waterhole

We then decided to walk another trail closer to the lake to look for spots where we could set up to shoot the sunrise. Love seeing the native plants along the trail and sharing the view overlooking the lake as the sun slowly set.

 One of the many Yucca cactus along the trail

 Have you ever looked at a Yucca from the top?

 Sun through the clouds over Inks Lake 

 Love the God's Rays showing through the clouds over the lake in this view

 Sun going down over the cove

 Reflection of sunset in the cove at Inks Lake 

That was pretty much it for our arrival day.  We went out just a little on Sunday as well - can't remember too much WHY now, that would be why I need to write these as soon as we get back - which is where I am headed!  Anyway... here are the shots from Sunday!
I had never really looked at Yucca blooms close up before, they are really quite pretty!

I loved the play of light on the cactus and rocks as the sun set.

And finally at the end of the day the deer came out to play!

That's all for today - but I'll come back soon to share sunrise over Devil's Waterhole and our trip to Longhorn Cavern State Park as well.

Getting There

I feel as though I may be making some progress with this getting back into it "stuff".  We started over on the C25K AGAIN... after two runs I hurt my knee and couldn't run for about 3 weeks.  I was really upset, I wanted to get through most of the training before school stuff started again - but that was not to be!  After several rounds of physical therapy for a minor tear to my chondral tendon I was able to complete Week 2 Day 1 of the program.  I ran 2.5 miles in 30:45.  I feel like some progress is being made, slow as it may be.  My focus must remain on taking it very slow and easy.  I don't want to do any more damage to my knee - nor do I want to irritate my back.  I have to remind myself that I am not entering 5K RACES, but for me 5K RUNS...there is a difference.  My goal will simply be to run the 5K and try to improve a little every time.  October is still a ways out there and I have lots of time left to train...I have only just begun!  We run again today at the gym on the treadmill, then I think we are going to take it to White Rock on Saturday... a very short outdoor run just to begin getting a feeling for it again.  I really do miss the early morning quiet peaceful pace and seeing the beauty of the trail.  I am REALLY looking forward to it!

I also wanted to take this opportunity to share some family fun.  On June 29th we flew out to Garden City, Kansas to surprise my Aunt Pat for her 80th birthday.  I hadn't seen her or a lot of my Kansas family in about 7 years so I was really looking forward to this trip!  Thought I'd share a couple of pictures from the get-together!

This is my beautiful Aunt Pat!  Doesn't look 80 now does she?

We were blessed that all Aunt Pat's living siblings were able to attend the party.  In order from right to left (and in birth order):  Aunt Pat, my Dad, Aunt Barbara, Aunt Helen, and Aunt Almeda.

Sadly we had to return home Sunday afternoon after a wonderful visit with family.  Always hard to say goodbye!

White Rock...how I miss you!

We used to run at White Rock Lake...back when we were running...back when we were doing long races...back then.  We are starting over after both of us have had run stopping injuries...so now I am looking forward to the long runs at the lake again.  Came across these pictures we took one weekend at the lake during one of our "photo-walks" and thought I would share...just a few of the reasons I miss it!

These first few are of a bench available in a small garden area next to the pump station.

 The bench

 closer look

The back of the bench latticework

The pump station and some of the lighting (or hints of):

 Flags over the pump station

Shadow of the lamps on the building

Moon between the lamps

The spillway (there used to be a hill here I hated but they graded it down a little and it isn't quite as bad now)

The spillway

Birds playing in another area of the spillway

Some of the beauty of the lake!

 Flowers along the path

 The lake through the cattails

 Men fishing

A serious rower!

We will be back soon...probably after summer when it gets a little cooler!

Race Weekend: Cowtown in Ft. Worth

It was finally here.  The weekend we had been talking about getting ready for since my surgery last June... note the "talking about".  Lots of talking - not so much doing, LOL.  We trained in fits and starts, mostly because I was concerned about the back.  We finally decided we were just going to walk the 1/2 marathon - try to match our 3 hour time (Pepaw's was 3:00, mine was 3:02) but our major goal was simply to finish!  Sometimes you just have to admit things didn't work out exactly as planned and go with the hand you are delt.

We packed up everything on Friday evening - this year I made triple sure I had my running pants packed! (Of course this meant that I totally forgot my TEAM 4:13 shirt and my Garmin!) We set everything by the door so we would be ready to leave bright and early Saturday morning.  The Adult 5K started at 8:15 and both Cotton and Candy were running that one, so we knew we needed to get there early - that meant we needed to be on the road by 5:30 A.M. - and we were!

As we neared our exit from the highway we were surprised at the line of cars just stopped on the off ramp and backed up for miles down the road.  We quickly decided we would go to the next exit and figure out what we needed to do from there.  Just about that time my phone rang, it was Cotton telling us he had been in that line for 20 minutes and still hadn't gotten to the street he needed!  We jumped off one exit further out and Garmin led us right to the parking area with no problem at all.  We parked and walked over to find Cotton. 

We stood along the barricades at the finish line and watched the 10K finishers, then Cotton and Candy took off for the start line. I kept thinking they would change the clock to the 5K time when they took off, but that didn't happen. I found out later it was changed on the side the racers could see, just not on the side for the spectators!  Cotton finished in just over 21 minutes - but I couldn't get my stupid iPhone camera to work quick enough to get a picture of him crossing the finish line. I thought his time was AMAZING, and he was pretty happy with it - he had forgotten just how hilly this course was!  Candy finished in just over 42 minutes - again, the hills are killer!  This was her first Cowtown, and she did a GREAT job too!  I posted the picture of her at the finish on FB - and of course that started a whole conversation about pictures of first borns...Cotton should learn to stop and pose, LOL  (Love you son!)

After everyone joined back up we walked to the cars and took off to find an IHOP for breakfast.  It was great to spend some post-race time together just laughing and visiting.  After breakfast it was back to the collisium to walk through the EXPO.  We were lucky to meet Joe Boyle - a former olympic athlete, now a running coach.  We visited with him and got some excellent training/running tips.  I wished we had more time to visit with him!  Cotton needed to get back so we went back to the cars and then headed to the hotel - hoping for an early check-in. 

We got all checked in and just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.  About 5:00 or so we walked across the street with the kids to the Ft. Worth water park...that was fun!  We walked all around looking at the fountains and pools, climbed the "mountain" and then wandered back so we could go for an early dinner - then it was time for bed.

I wasn't able to sleep very well...this was one of the NOISIEST hotels I've stayed at in a LONG time!  I listend to noise until after 2:00 AM and then had to get up at 4:30 so we could catch the 5:15 shuttle to the race...NOT a happy camper!''

We were glad we went on the first shuttle though as we were able to get chairs inside the building to wait until close to the 7:00 AM starting gun.  We ambled out to our corral (near the back) and settled in to wait for about 10 minutes.  It was actually one of the smoothest corral starts I've ever been a part of.

Actually, for the majority of the race I was very happy with the planning.  Plenty of water and electrolite drinks to keep us hydrated and TONS of volunteers. 

I felt so good for the first 1/2 of the race I couldn't believe it!  We completed the first 10K in about 1:28 - so we were ahead of pace...whoo - hoo! I was still running/walking strong and felt GREAT.  Then....the dreaded WALL.  I hit that at about 8 miles...I could FEEL myself draining.  I tried a GU hoping that would get my going again - and it might have, if it hadn't been for the hill at mile 9.  I didn't think we were EVER going to reach the top of that sucker!  By the time we finished that my legs were shot.  I never did get my pace back - although I did continue to try the run/walk pattern I had started at the beginning of the race.  Our 11 mile time was 2:40 ... we knew by then we werent going to make the 3:00 hour mark...but we kept going. 

It was really cool to get to the 13 mile mark and see the family there to cheer us on.  The grand-kids were so excited...running up and down the sidewalk with the signs they had made at the EXPO and cheering us on...made us smile really big.

We turned the corner, saw the finish line and decided to go for it.  We ran across the finish line holding our hands up in the air...Cowtown 1/2 Marathon #4 complete and in the books! 

Now we only have one more - and the plan is to actually get some training time in before we run that one!

I have decided to go back to a C25K type training program and start all over again.  Now that I know my back can handle it - not a single twinge or tweak during the entire race - we are going to sign up for some 5Ks here in the next few months, then add some 10Ks in the fall/winter time frame so we will be MUCH more prepared.  Watch out COWTOWN.  I WILL break the 3 hour mark NEXT year!!!

Sheesh!

How many times do I need to start over again? I was doing very well, then we went to Lousiana for a conference and everything went south. Came home, started again. Do pretty good during the week and crash and burn over the weekend. Always seems to be a good excuse not to work out, or to eat something I shouldn't. Today I hit the wall! Crammed with valentines chocolate and feeling disgusted with myself I proposed to Pepaw that we try to go back to our at home workouts. I ate on plan all day but was pretty wiped out at the end of the day. When we got home we talked about what we felt would work. We knew we needed to shake things up...or we would never get going again. We've been fighting it too long!

  There is a new club in town, we got a postcard in the mail so thought we'd go check it out. It is a cool concept. The machine is computerized and programmed for your goals. It is like having a personal trainer with you for every workout. plus, they have a leader board for different goals, you earn points for working out, and earn "ranks" (a new colored lanyard for your data key) as you continue to work out. You know how competitive I am - that is right up my alley. We talked it over and decided to go for it! We joined up (we'll be canceling our other membership) and we go for our initial visit and strength test tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes....

Moving forward

So, we are still moving, both running and circuit training.  Our eating is back under control, and I feel so much better than I have in a while! :)  I am still caffine free and I feel really good about this as I haven't suffered any "crashes" in the afternoon at work since I went back on Jan. 2.  Before the winter break I would feel like someone had pulled my plug by 3:00 and it was rush to the fridge and grab a monster just to make it through to 5:00 when Pepaw would pick me up from school.  I rarely  had trouble getting to sleep, although you would think I would after a couple cups of coffee and 2 - 3 monsters a day...  It was scary to even think about giving that up and going back to work, but it seems to be working for now.  I do miss the smell of my coffee in the morning - and I REALLY miss my flavored creamers, but if it keeps me from crashing every day at 3:00 - it is worth it.

The numbers on the scale aren't moving very quickly, but I'm being patient for the time being.  I am really being careful with what I'm eating - want to watch it for a month and see how I'm doing, then I may re-evaluate and try to switch it up a bit.  I'll keep ya posted.  Until then...I'll just keep moving forward and hoping the scale moves down!

Continuing and beginnning

So, days 4 and 5 of the juice fast/cleanse went well.  Still get VERY hungry, but I've been able to quell that with lots of hot tea or lemon water.  I just wanted to get through Saturday - and I did! 

Today started with my hot lemon water and juice, then we went to wash the car - oops, closed - and for my first 100 Day Challenge purposeful movement.  We went for a nice walk along a local hike and bike trail.  It took us 32 minutes for the part we walked.  The weather was beautiful and the company even better!  I felt wonderful as far as completing the walk - but horrible with a cold and stuffy nose!  Boy was I ever hungry when we were done!  We went to SuperSalad for our first solid food in 6 days.  I had raw veggies with a light drizzle of vinegar, salt and pepper, and two bowls of their wonderful Holiday Harvest soup.  (I couldn't find any vegetable soup!  Pepaw found it later, LOL) .  It was good and I felt like I had done well staying with my healthy eating.  I may do some juice along with a bit of veggie soup for dinner tonight too!

Day one done - are you incorporating more movement into your New Year too? 

100 Day Challenge on Facebook

Juicing Day 3

Day 3 is supposed to be the last day you feel the effects of the detoxing while juicing.  I must say the effects so far for me haven't been terrible.  A caffine headache on day 1 that I calmed with Aleve and green tea.  I then used weaker green tea on day 2 and no green tea at all today and no headache.  No real bathroom issues either.  I have been tired, but that also seems normal between the holiday tired...so I'm pleased so far.  The worst has been being hungry.  Not the kind of hungry that you normally get between meals - at least not for me.  I usually snack on some kind of junk when I get hungry like that...this is more like my tummy saying "I'm empty - no, really, I'M EMPTY - FEED ME NOW!!!" hungry.  I've learned that a little hot lemon water or herbal tea helps quell the hunger until I get everything ready for my next juice.  I also do seem to be dropping a pound or two and that doesn't hurt!  I feel OK.  The real test will be when I have real stuff to do - will I have all the energy people that have done this say I will, will I really sleep better, what benefits will I see from here on out?

I'm still surprised at how full I do get with a glass of juice.  I'm learning how to put together different fruits with fruits, and veggies with veggies to make them both beneficial and tasty.  So far, not to bad a program to try. 

Only 2  more days until my 100 day challenge starts to go along with this!  Whoo-hoo!!!

Day 2

Yesterday was day 2 of the great juice experiment.  Pepaw was feeling a lot better, some residual pain from the caffine headache, but not nearly as bad as the night before.  We got up at the usual time and while he showered and walked the dog I set out to make the morning juice.  It was called "Purple Power" and was a mixture of blackberries, grapes, apple, and ginger.  It was quite yummy!

Pepaw left and went on to the store for the rest of his days supplies and I cleaned up and left everything out for Candy.  I went off to my room to read until the house began stirring.  When I got up I made the juice for Candy...shortly after she drank her's she had to go lay down for a bit.  MAJOR caffine headache and sick tummy.  That was it for her... she thinks she'll try again after the new year when she has eaten healthier and is caffine free (which she has now accomplished!) . We have also done some more research and found a "gentler" approach to balancing the juicing and detox effects that I think will work better for her.

As for me, I continued the plan with only minor side effects.  I had only 2 cups of green tea, so I am gently removing the caffine and I think that has helped.  I had a green lemonade for mid-day, then a mix of vegetables and fruits for lunch.  Dinner was pretty good although I'll admit I changed up the recipe a little for me because I found I don't tolerate the more sour juices well...I tolerate them ok, they are simply too strong for my palate, so I toned it down a little and it worked out well for me.

I find I was still quite tired in the evening, but it was manageable.  The most bizzare thing was that I dreamed of hamburgers last night!  Went to DQ and ordered but things kept happening and I never got to eat it!

Here is hoping for a great day 3!

Juice, juice, and more juice...

Christmas has been a great time for us this year.  It has been a blessing to have Chris, Candy, and the kids right here with us and to once again experience Christmas with little ones around - their excitement is so contagious!  Our shopping was long done so we were just chillaxin' most of this week - the kids were on holiday swim schedule so I was on my own from about 3 - 5 every day...that is when I would do my "chores".  We had started back on Weight Watchers and I was just rockin' along with that too...(actually had lost about two and a half pounds!)  Then it was Christmas Eve... Rick and I went shopping for Christmas goodies for lunch (just in case Cotton and Angel came over) and we weren't sure what the plans were for meals during the day)... We came home and made our healthy dinner and waited for the kids to get back from their Christmas Eve trip.

Christmas morning started early - but not as early for us as in the past 11 years when we would get up at 5:00 am or so and race to Lewisville so we could see the kids wake up and see their Santa presents.  This year we were able to sleep until about 7:30...ahhhhhhhhh....

We opened gifts amidst exclamations and cries of joy.  Everyone got what he/she wanted and more...again we are blessed.  That afternoon Cotton and Angel slipped away for a few hours and came to see us as well.  We had sandwiches and chips and cookies and talked and laughed and all was good...except for my diet of course, LOL.

The day after Christmas Chris had to travel for work so the rest of us went over to Cotton and Angel's to see their new house and their tree.  Cotton was very excited to show off the new remote control we had given him for Christmas.  They ordered pizza for us and we sat down to watch the movie "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead".  Cotton had been telling us all about it for a couple of weeks and we were all excited to see the movie.  It is very inspirational!  In fact we all felt guilty eating the pizza! We had to laugh about that after the movie was over...After the show, we all talked about what happened in the movie.  Cotton and Angel had ordered a juicer and they were going to try to start eating healthier to see if that would help Cotton's migranes.  Rick, Candy, and I thought we'd like to give it a try too.  Sooooo.....

Tuesday morning I got up early with Rick and we went to the store to get some breakfast for us and lunch for him.  Now those who know us know this is pretty much our routine every day...the difference was in what we bought!  This day we bought some Naked juice.  I got enough for me and Candy. Then Rick also got some vegetable juice for his lunch and snacks. 

Candy and I tried the juice for breakfast - it was quite tasty!  Then we got the kids up and went to exchange some gifts and then we were off to Costco where we bought a Jack La Lane Power Juicer and LOTS of fruits and veggies.  When we got home we created our own lunch juices.  They were REALLY good!  The kids tried them and they kept asking for more!  Then it was off to Kroger to pick up the rest of the fruits and veggies we would need for the next couple of days.  You see....we are going to try the juice fast for about 10 days, then try to incorporate juicing into our normal routines...replacing some of the fast foods with good healthy fruits, nuts, and beans. Before we left to take the girls to swim practice, where we were going to meet Rick so Memaw and Pepaw could watch, we mixed up our first juices from the menu. Let me just say I'm so very glad this wasn't the first juice we tried!  It had beets and radishes in it and it smelled bad and didn't taste wonderful, but it was palatable and we all finished it.  Just part of the learning curve I guess.  Finding healthy combinations you like and weeding out those you don't.

I think my biggest surprise is how full you feel after a big glass of juice - and how long you feel full.  This isn't at all like the 3 day fast I did with our church several years ago!  The only problem so far has been caffine withdrawl headaches for all of us.  I have supplemented some green tea (which does have some caffine) but I'm cutting back a little each day to help with that.  In truth yesterday was a bit difficult with being quite tired at the end of the day too, but they say the first 3 days are pretty rough while all the junk you've been eating is removed from your body.  I'm hoping this is what I was feeling, and that it gets better.  I'll let you know how this journey goes, as well as how it incorporates in with my 100 day challenge!

Starting over - kinda!

So the back issues made a bigger difference in my life than I had counted on. I guess after living with it for so many years with only occasional issues I assumed once I got it taken care of everything would go back to what it was before. Before it started bothering me more so my workouts became more "careful" and less "hard"...before I began skipping runs...before I started eating "carp"... before I began climbing stairs every day which caused the pain to become chronic and make me feel like it was all I could manage just to go to work and complete a day there...then reward myself with WHATEVER I WANTED to eat! You can't go on like that forever!

When I went back for my last check-up my Dr. said I could start running again. I guess in my mind that meant that running would be just like it was "before". Well friends, it wasn't! I would go run and it would feel good, then I would go back and I could feel something wasn't "right". So we would stop and wait some more.

I finally feel that 6 months out from the surgery I am really ready to get back. I've been to the gym a couple of weeks in a row. The second run was actually better than the first. I've had no pain medication at all for my back for over 3 months. BUT...I am also about 25 lbs heavier now. My runs AREN'T what they were 18 months ago... I run, then walk, then run, then walk. My PR yesterday was 2.65 miles in 32 minutes. I was ecstatic!

We are scheduled to "run" the Cowtown 1/2 marathon in February. I really need to get some runs in ... no I DON'T think I'm going to run the entire thing. I know I will probably walk more than I run, but 4 years ago I signed up for this 1/2 with a goal in mind...they had just started a new medal series of 5 medals that make up the Texas Star. I was going to get all 5. 2012 will make #4...I WILL finish that race.

To that goal I have rejoined Weight Watchers...we'll go to our first "return" meeting next Saturday. Secondly I have decided to take up the 100 day challenge...the main point of this is:

Choose to move, intentionally, for 30 minutes every day for the first 100 days of 2012. It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you do it ON PURPOSE.

So that is what I am going to do. I don't call it a New Year's Resolution...it is simply my new goal...something that will stretch me and hopefully make me healthier in 2012!

Here I go again....running on towards the finish!

Back to it :)

Well, it has been nearly 3 weeks since my surgery and I'm well into recovery mode. I have walked over a mile at a 16 minute pace (their goal for me was 1 mile in 30 minutes - kinda blew that one out of the water didn't I?) When I went to my 2 week check up they were all very pleased with my progress. The nurse that walked us back to wait for the Dr. was amazed at how well I was moving and commented that I could walk as well as she could :) . The Dr. had them take more x-rays of my back and I was able to take a look at how much space they were able to put back in my spine. Where once it was bone on bone, now there is space in between.

Recovery has been slow but sure. At first I was having pain going down my left leg and my thigh felt like it had a pull or tear in it. When I talked to the Dr. about it she said the thigh pain came from them moving everything in my abdominal cavity to that side to do the surgery...as for the other leg pain - that comes from nerves that have been coiled up for years suddenly being stretched out! They don't like that change very much. But the best news it that I don't seem to have the back pain at all now. Although it is too soon to tell what my pain level will end up being, right now it is looking pretty good.

So far I can go pretty much all day with no pain pills at all...an occasional pill for muscle spasms in my leg is all I need. I still take the medication at night - I still want a full night of sleep pain free - and since I don't wear the brace while laying down and I do toss and turn a lot at night I just want to be sure I can sleep all the way through.

The brace is an inconvenience I put up with. It is a "chair back" brace and keeps me from bending or twisting too much or too quickly as well as offering support when I sit or stand while the bones in my back fuse together. In one more week I get to exchange the large chair back for a smaller model unless I am driving - I'm looking forward to that! I also go back for my next check-up at the end of July.

In the meantime my training will consist of walking as much as I can and want to (I'm trying for 5 days a week when life doesn't get in the way.) I wear the Garmin just so I can track how far and how fast I go. I am also trying to lose the weight I gained while I couldn't do much of anything. So far I'm down about 5 lbs. with too many more to go - but at least I'm making progress in the right direction again. The meds help here too because they make food tast funny and the brace makes me stop eating sooner because it is wrapped around my tummy and I get fuller faster - BONUS, LOL....

Anyway, I keep on keepin' on and hope I'll have more good news to report soon!

On the Road to Recovery

I woke up really early on Wednesday morning - more nervous than anything....showered, got dressed, checked my little backpack of stuff to take to the hospital (for the 49 hundreth time), and we were off. The ride was uneventful...and check-in was a breeze. I had already pre-registered so I didn't have to go over the new patient stuff again, Kristine just verified the information and printed off my hospital scantrons and bracelets, etc. It seemed like it took forever but the sweet little gal came out and called my name and showed me to my "prep" room.

Then Esy came in. She would be my prep nurse, so she got to put in my IV and tell me a little of what to expect from the day. She also told me all the folks that would be coming to see me in the next 1/2 hour or so...I'm tellin' ya now...If you EVER need to get a large bore IV - get Esy...I didn't even feel it go in and I was watching! She is GOOOOOOOD! We joked and laughed as she finished her preparations. Then I got to meet the anesthesiologist, - Dr. Taylor, the fellow that would be assissting Dr. Shellock, the blood dr., the nerve specialist, the general surgeon that would do the initial open and close, and of course Dr. Shellock came in to meet me as well and see how I was holding up. It wasn't long after they all came in that Dr. Taylor came in and said we needed to get the show on the road. I waited expectantly for her to ask me to begin counting backwards - but I never heard it. The next thing I knew I was in my own little room - I even slept through the recovery area!

Rick stayed with me all day, Candy and the kids came by twice, I think, and Cotton and Angel came by to visit as well. It really means a lot that they were willing to come and see me!

Just a little after dinner time that evening I was able to get up and walk the ward. The walking wasn't too bad at all - it was more the getting up and down that took it out of me. After the walk Rick got all set up on the little (and I do mean little) hide-a-bed that was in the room and we both tried to get some rest.

Day 2 we woke up pretty early. I got some jello becasue by now I was pretty hungry. Dr. Shellock's fellow came by and was pleased with my progress. He gave the order that put me on a liquied diet instead of just clear liquids, so I was able to get some cream of wheat, chocolate milk, and V-8 juice for breakfast. The therapist came by about 10 and I was able to complete an entire lap around the ward with very little pain. Even the getting up and down was getting better. When Dr. Shellock came by she said I was ready to be cut loose! Whoo Hoo...they say that hardly ever happens...the normal stay is 2 days, but I was doing great.

We packed everything up so Rick could get it down to the car, they came and did some more vital checks and I was on my way home to recover.

I am so grateful for the Drs., nurses, staff, family and friends that left messages of encouragement and prayers for my speedy recovery. I continue to get better and stronger as each day goes on. My goal is to take it nice and slow, but still blow their minds with the recovery!

So the starting gun has sounded and I'm walking toward the finish line now!

Hmmmm

I have discovered that it is VERY difficult to post to a blog you started about running - when you are not running!!! I have no motivation to post, because I wanted this to track my runs and races as I learned more and more, but right now I can't run.

You see, way back about 1987 or 1988 I hurt my back. Really bad. Bad lifting technique, combined with trying to do too much at once, combined with shifting load = back injury! I went to the Dr. but all he did was listen and tell me I'd have back problems the rest of my life - be more careful and prescibe some pain meds and muscle relaxers. So for over 20 years any time it started to hurt (or I had extremly bad spasms) I would go back, tell whoever what he had said, pick up my pain pills, sit it out and go on my merry way. It would come and go and I learned to "deal with it". Most of the time I could tell when it was getting close to the spasm stage and stop it before it got too bad. I thought the running would help - you know less weight, less load to carry, less pain...etc. Well for the most part it did I think.

Then came last summer... I was doing well for most of the summer - walking and running nearly every morning of the week. I had even shaved some time off my 5k time and I was looking forward to race season...the season that never really happened. I don't know why it never happened - it was so slow...life got in the way I guess...that seems to happen from time to time, and other things seemed more important than going to work out and run 5 days a week. I really slowed down. Then it became - well I'll get going again over Thanksgiving...then I guess I'll wait until after Christmas - we have that trip you know, and there really isn't any sense in starting again now...then it was after Christmas and I still wasn't doing much. And that is when the pain started getting worse...at first just achy...but more often than before. Maybe it was because I wasn't working out and running?

Rick and I decided to try joining a different gym thinking that maybe that would give us the old "spark" back - so we joined up and had our session with the trainers. I told the trainer about my back and she said she had something similar - but her chiropractor had really fixed her up...and by the way - he did acupuncture too. I had wanted to try that, so I got his name.

By February it was getting pretty bad - and very consistent. Even though we had cancelled the new gym membership (it wasn't what we thought it would be - we actually liked our old gym better) I went ahead and made an appointment with the chiropractor the trainer had recommended. Then it iced...not a little ice but TONS... We were out of school the entire week...but I made Rick take me to that appointment! He listened to me tell about what had happened and took some x-rays. The first I had ever had of my back - yeah, that's right, the original Dr. NEVER DID ANY X-RAYS!!! What we found was that I had no disc left at all between the L-4 and L-5 vertebrae just above my tailbone and about even with my hip bones. When I saw that I knew that was probably why all the visits to my first chiropractor hadn't really done anything! Rick and I discussed it and decided I probably needed to go see his back Dr.

Another couple of weeks and I went to see her. She took another set of x-rays and after visiting and hearing the history decided that she really needed to see an MRI before deciding the best course of action. So an MRI was scheduled and a return visit as well. When I went back what she had determined was that all my other discs still looked good and that surgery was the best option for me. The missing disc and bone on bone was more than likely the cause of the pain as well as the muscle spasms I was experiencing. I told her I really couldn't do it until May - she couldn't do it in May because she would be on leave, so we set a June date. June 15th to be exact.

Tomorrow I go for my pre-op visit, to find out what time the surgery will be, and to ask any questions that have come up, I've already done all the pre-op "stuff"...Then Wednesday it is off to the hospital to get my back fixed up.

One of the questions I'll have for her is "how long before I can run again?" I know I'll be up and walking very quickly - and they want me doing a mile in no more than 30 minutes before my two week check-up...and I don't want to push too hard to fast, but the truth of the matter is...I'm ready for this break to be over - I'm ready to start running again...no matter how slow I am. I have learned once again that it isn't how quickly I make the journey - it is the actual making it that is important to me because life is a marathon...and those take time.

I'm Baaaaaack

Well, it is official. Summer is over! Yesterday we had our faculty retreat and team building activity which typically signals the end of summer for me.

This year it was the best in a long time. We went to the Heard Outdoor Rope Challenge course. Our principal split us into teams that approximated who we worked the closest with at school during the year. 5th and 6th grades were in a group with the PE teachers, our Resource teacher that works with our grade levels, and her aide. We were a GREAT team. Even the folks at Heard said so. We were told that we made their job really hard because everything that they normally told teams to work on we were already doing. But then - we already knew that...we pretty much get along, both at work and outside of work. I think that helps.

Our day started out with a 13 foot wall to get our team over. There were 16 people on our team, 2 couldn't participate because of injuries, so 14 of us were up to attempting the task. The rules were that you couldn't use the rope to pull yourself up, once you had two people up top each time a new person got over the wall the person that had been there the longest had to go back down, and once you had been up top you couldn't help get anyone else over the wall (other than by suggestions out loud). We got all 14 people over the wall in a little over 26 minutes! Our two tallest team members boosted people up, then another member would climb over and push a bit more and the folks at top pulled people on over. The hardest two were the first and the last person. Our first person pretty much had to just haul herself over the wall on her own, and the last person we had to use an extra harness as a grip because she just simply didn't have quite enough of a vertical leap to reach the outstreached hand of our team mate. It was awesome!

Because we finished that so quickly, we had the opportunity to try the swinging log. The challenge here was to walk from one end to the other of a log suspended in the air. Easier said than done. I managed to make it without help from any of my team mates, but it wasn't near as easy as I thought it would be with my gymnastics and balance beam background.

After that, our second station was the zip-line. Normally you have to climb a ladder to some U staples in a tree...climb the staples to a platform, walk on a rope suspended between the two trees, attach to the zip line and "fly" down. Because of time limitations we were only able to do the zip line. I managed this one too - the climb up wasn't too bad, and I knew I could do the zip line part since I had done that at Sky Ranch. The scary part was that the platform is VERY small...it is really scary to try to sit down. There really wasn't a way for me to sit without looking down at the ground - and of course one of my great fears is heights. Once I got in my seated position I was ready to go .... a quick prayer and close your eyes, roll forward and you are off. It is a rush once you are speeding down the line!

After a quick lunch break we were off to station 3. Here we saw bungee cords strung in a spiderweb shape between two trees. The objective was to get all members of our team from one side of the web to the other without touching the cords and you couldn't use a hole more than two times. We quickly developed our plan and "carried" it out, once we had two members through (one rolled under the web, the other stepped through a large hole on one side that was fairly low) we started with our smallest team member, lifted her up and simply passed her through the smallest, highest hole. Then continued this process until we had everyone through. The next to last person crawled on the backs of three of us to get over, since there weren't enough people left to pass them through....and the last person simply rolled under.

Our final task of the day was called the mountain save. There were 3 platforms. We were divided into two teams of 8 people and placed on two of the platforms. One member of each team was blindfolded as an "injured hiker" We had to move from our platform to the middle platform and the to the platform the other team was on without touching the ground. They had to do the same thing. We were given two planks to accomplish this with. Neither plank would reach all the way across the space between the platforms. We figured out that if we placed one plank as far out as we could, had 3 people stand on the end of the plank to hold it steady, we could send one of our smaller team mates out on the plank where they could place the other plank - lined up - to the other platform. This created the bridge to go across. Using this strategy several times we were able to get all 16 people to the right place.

All in all it was a good day - and a nice way to get to know the new members of our team and see how they approached problems - how they "fit in" to the dynamics of the already established teams.

After we returned to the school, I rushed home to change clothes and get to the gym. It was a short run day - I managed 3.25 miles in 35 minutes on the treadmill and another 2.2 in 20 mins on the elliptical. Wish I could run as fast as I can move my legs on the elliptical!

Monday we have the official opening of the school year with convocation and workshops. Then I'll be off and "running" for another year!

Bugged again

After a brief hiatus I'm bugged again. Body Bugged that is. Back in March when my subscription was up for renewal I decided I needed a break. A break from strapping the hardware on my arm every morning....a break from worrying about how many steps I had (or hadn't) taken that day....and a break from typing in every bite I had eaten. I had been 'bugged' for over a year at that point and felt pretty good about knowing what I needed to do. And I've done "O.K." I haven't gained or lost much...just hanging steady. BUT now it is time to get back on track again. Having that marathon motivation going is just what I needed. I would like to get back down to where I was this time last year (that is onlly 4 lbs away) .... I know I'll feel better running if I do that.

The other cool thing - and one of the things I missed while not wearing my bugg - is when you do something special - like hiking the mountains in Colorado - you can actually see how many steps you are taking and how many calories you are burning. I think everyone that was there was wishing I was wearing the bugg and mentioned it at least once....good incentive. We have a couple more hiking trips planned this year and it will be interesting to compare those hikes with our normal weekend activity levels.

They have come out with a new version of the body bugg - V3. It is slimmer, black, and goes on your left arm instead of your right. I like it a lot better than my old one. It isn't nearly so obvious under the sleeve of your shirt....a lot of people won't even notice it at all.

So - I'm bugged again. This time though I'm not the only one. Rick is bugged now too. It is kind of fun to work with him and to realize how much you have to think about the activity to try to get those steps in! We have a tendency to think we are much more active, walk a lot more than we reallly do. It is the same thing I went through when I got mine the first time.

Yesterday was our first day wearing the bugg - by the time he got home I had over 6,000 steps to his barely over 2,000.... we both broke 10,000 before bedtime - a good thing and our goal for each and every day.

This is one more way for me to measure progress as I work toward the goal of completing the marathon in December. I'm not even kidding myself into thinking I can run the entire distance...that will be my challenge, but I'm trying also to be realistic about it....but the pedometer portion of the bugg is going to let me know if I'm working harder each week toward my 26 mile goal. We'll see how that works out as the weeks contine by.

One of THOSE days

You know, you never think it will be one of "those" days when you wake up. It seems like just an ordinary, regular, same ol' same ol' day when it starts. You get out of bed, you make the coffee, you let the dog out, you get ready to shower, you complete your morning routine. You are now dressed, made up and ready to go. It's all good! Then IT happens. What is IT you ask?

You get ready to walk out the door to go to the workshop you have been attending and your purse is missing....not totally unusual...You have been known to set it down in other than the normal spot. You don't panic, yet. But today is different. Today it is not in ANY of the normal spots.

"Hmmmmmmmm", you say, "let me think(as panic begins to set in) ....where did I have that last. I know I had it yesterday when I attended the workshop, I had to have it because that is where my keys to the car are and I couldn't have driven there without it. Oh yeah....I put it in the back of the car."

THE BACK OF THE CAR?!? Oh no, it can't be....but it is. The purse is in the back of the car...the car is locked...and hubby is already at work. Your workshop starts in 30 minutes....OK, it is officially now the start of one of THOSE days.

You call hubby and explain what is going on. He offers to come unlock the car...."No," you say, "I'll just call ****** and let her know that I won't be able to make it today - please pick up my stuff for me." You make the call, leave a voice mail asking her to call you back ASAP, sit down at the computer to get some work done, and the phone rings. It is hubby....

"Hey, how about ONSTAR? Can't they unlock the doors for you?"

Whoo, hoo! THAT day may be coming to a quicker end than anticipated....So, you call Onstar. You give them all the pertinent information (also store the number in your phone, which for some reason ISN'T in your purse, locked in the car....who knows how THAT happened). After a few minutes of checking out all the info the nice man from Onstar informs you that they will now connect to your car.

Tapping your toes you wait impatiently. "Hmmmmm, is your car outside?" the nice man asks.

"Why no," you reply, "it is in the garage. (Nice and safe from vandals, you think smugly to yourself.) OH, you realize....."Would it help the signal if I open the garage door?", you ask.

"Yes, that might help."

OK......open door. The signal has been successful...you give them a call back number after they inform you that it will take about 10 minutes and do NOT touch the door handles of the car. You wait. And wait. And wait. The phone rings....THAT day is not over yet.

"This is Onstar calling about your locked car. We have been unsuccessful in unlocking the car, we would like to try again."

"Please do!"

"We will call back in about 5 minutes, thank you for your patience."

You wait. And wait. And wait.

Your girlfriend calls back. You inform her you will be late for the meeting, that you are a complete dufus and locked your keys in the car, but Onstar will be rescuing you and you will get there eventually. She says she will let your team know....(you can hear her trying not to laugh while she is on the phone with you!)

Onstar calls back. "I'm sorry, we have been unsuccessful with unlocking your car after 4 tries."

It is definitely one of THOSE day. You call your girlfriend and let her know you WON'T be at the workshop after all...please pick up your materials for you, you call hubby and let him know you are stuck at the house, and you come back inside and laugh at yourself, for what else can you do but look at the humor of the situation. Life throws you curve balls when you least expect them....one of these days I'm going to take one of them and hit a home run with it!!!!

Hmmmmm

Well, they opened the registration for the White Rock Marathon. I thought we were going to run it. I was getting ready to put it in my race list even. Then I went to register. $90.00! EACH! I don't want to pay $90.00 to run 26 miles and probably not be able to walk for a week. Are they all that expensive??? Am I doomed to not reach my goal of a marathon this year because I'm just to cheap? Perhaps this is the way I'm to find out that 1/2 marathons are the most I need to do and I just need to focus on getting that time down.... Hmmmmmmm I'll have to think about this some more.... Hmmmmmmm

Just bloggin'

Today we will run Arbor Hills again. We've been a little remiss in our training the past week. Seems life has been in the way...again! You know how that goes, you plan on running - someone comes over, you plan on running - there is a good show on TV, you plan on running - you take a nap, etc...

Nah, it hasn't been quite that bad, I call it more of a recovery time from our back to back weekend races, but we haven't run as much in March as we normally would have. We do have a race a week from Saturday and we took a look at the elevation map - thus the trip to Arbor Hills to practice our "elevation running". It starts out uphill!!! It goes uphill for a long time!!! I think we need to practice on some hills again!!!

Seriously, I do think that our practice there helped me a LOT at the Cowtown, and it certainly can't hurt, so off we go. I may even try a few intervals to help with my speed. We will be going to the hills today, Sunday, and hopefully at least one day next week to prepare. I'm going to try to improve my time over the three runs. We did elect to be chip timed for the race, just for our own information. I would so LOVE to finish the race in around an hour. (My best is 1:06). BUT I'm NOT going to set a goal time this race. As I mentioned in my last post I think that this is hampering me in the long run (pun intended) because I think that my subconcious mind keeps me from doing my best when I do that...so my goal will be to complete the race without walking. Of course a lot of that will depend on how bad those hills are! We ran this race MANY years ago (around 1985 or so) and it didn't seem that hilly, but then I was a lot younger and not nearly so wise in the ways of hills either, LOL...We'll see how it goes...wish us luck!!!

Starting a New Running Year

As I sit here on New Years Eve reminiscing over last year (including reading my last post, lol) I thought I'd add a little challenge for the new year. I had already challenged myself with my Nike+ on their website to run 75 miles in January. The most I've ever run in one month is 82 - and that included a couple of half marathon training runs back to back! 75 sounded doable for me, so I challenged myself to do that. It comes out to an average of about 2.5 miles a day.

After I challenged myself with that goal I was surfing around some other sites and saw a Nike+ challenge and I thought, "Hmmmmmm, THAT looks cool". I went to the site again and looked around. I figured out how to start a challenge and set one up! It is called "75 miles to start the year." I posted on the WW bulletin board about the challenge and told the forum readers that it was open to all. By the time I finished posting and sent Rick to check it out I already had 8 people signed up for the challenge! Looks like I'm not the only one ready to start the new year out running!!!!

I went out today to check the progress and a few more people have joined the challenge and that is when I figured out how to add it to my blog so you can follow along on the progress as well.

Wish me luck! If I win a challenge I get a little "virtual trophy" to put in my trophy case. I actually joined 3 other challenges as well. One for teachers, one for age groupers, and one for another distance. I'm hoping that all this will continue to work as incentive to keep me running and putting in the miles so I can reach my ultimate goal of completing the White Rock Marathon in December of 2009.

Here's hoping you have a happy and healthy 2009 too!