Back Pain? What Back Pain?

About a month ago I met a physical therapist through my new job. We discussed my sciatica and he gave me some new exercises and stretches to try. Wow, what a difference! The sciatica is almost gone. Just some tingling in my toes periodically. But, as a trade-off, my SI joint began an issue. The pain would wake me up at night as I tried to roll over. Getting up was about unbearable. Yes, audible moaning and groaning.

Well, I met with him again yesterday after riding and running with Rae. He palpated and massaged the joint applying pressure and it relieved the stress and dislocation. He followed with ice and electrical stimulation. He sent me out with a steroid patch on my back.I slept well last night. I still felt the pain when I rolled over, but I can't really call it pain, more of a discomfort. I meet with Dr. Odor on January 22. That is when we find out if there will be surgery.

So, I ran today with a different attitude and minimal pain. My brain kicked into gear trying to figure out what to train for. Gotta have a goal! And since I haven't touched this blog in ages I just now am seeing the challenge from Reece - that I haven't gone as far as I can. OK, 50 miles it is! I just won't pick my event until after my appointment with Dr. Odor.

Peace all, and God Bless you in 2009

Being an Adult About It

I guess it's time to post about Palo Duro. Very emotional and my first DNF. My back started to hurt at mile 9. I pushed on 10 more miles to complete the loop. Crying. I knew I could force myself to do 12 more to finish the event, but why take the chance of further injury? I was bawling when I gave them my name as a DNF. Keith, Peggy and Beth were wonderful. Thank you.

I didn't run again until a few days ago. 3 miles of Bluff Creek, and I've been limping ever since. It's a long time until April when I can get my back worked on again. Running may be from non-existent to very sporadic.

This blog will be on hold until I have anything else to report.

Nameste

Halloween

Only a runner could appreciate this story:

If the weather is nice, my front door is open until Scott comes home in the late afternoono/early evening. I don't celebrate Halloween and hadn't purchased any Hallowwen candy to give out. Unfortunately, when Scott came home, two "trick-or-treaters" follwed him up the front steps.

"Why did you have the door open? What are we going to give them?"

My only options were a can of tuna or some GU packets. Most of the food we keep in the house is fresh/refrigerated. Yes, I gave my neighbors kids GU packets..

A Good Day

Today is a good day. Last night I had Scott try some massage techniques and the shotgun technique on me. It worked! I was pain free afterward. This morning, the pain was back but not too bad.

I run up at Arcadia and really felt good. I was mentally in it and physically in it. Everything was jelling. OK, I saw 2 snakes and that messed up my karma for a bit, but I got over it.

It really makes a difference when you can tune out all the chatter...

I Don't Compete, I Complete

Sometime I love running with my friends. Sometimes it is frustrating. I met up with Lisa, Laura and Melissa this morning at Bluff Creek. Shay called right when we were suppose to start to say that she had the times wrong and would try to find us on the trails. I never happened, but oh well.

The first lap was nice, just chit-chatting with the gals and making plans for Palo Duro. We were going at a slower pace than I would have liked, but I loved the conversation. Really, that's what the Saturday runs are for. I run enough by myself during the week.

Lisa and Laura pulled out about a mile into the second loop due to time conflicts with a previous committment. So it was just Melissa and I. We're both running the 50K at Palo Duro next weekend. Right now she is stronger than me as I've been strugging with my back and the sciatica with my left leg. I am well aware that she will go at faster pace than I at PD. I joked that I'll wave when I pass her. She said that she's running PD purely as a training run for her 50M at Sunmart. She doesn't want there to be any competetion between us. I confirmed that there won't be any competetion coming from me as I'm looking at a run of longer than 7 hours. We talked about who might still be there at the Finish Line to cheer us on as the rest of the gang is doing the 20K. I said that we know at least Scott will be there when she finishes as he will be there waiting for me to come in. Then she said that she really hopes that I'm ahead of her because that would take the pressure off her... That sounds pretty competitive to me...

I really don't know how well my back is going to stand that distance of running, but I'll give it my best. I hope Melissa does as well as she wants. I'm just looking for the Finish Line.

Namaste

Thrive on the Yellow

This morning's run started out cool. With a long sleeved shirt on, I figured it would be off in 10 minutes. Wore it throghout the run. I listened to, "Wait, Wait... Don't Tell me..." and was quite entertained for the first 45 minutes of the run. It felt like I was working hard, and I enjoyed it. With about 5 minutes left to go on the run, and tripped and fell hard. Gotta love the new Montrails as it didn't hurt my toes as it usually does.

I love this Fall weather. Cool morning and warm afternoons. Gotta wonder what Palo Duro will bring. My run won't be fast, but I will complete it.

Spent some time just trying to listen to God. Trying to figure out what I'm suppopse to do. Some things are clear, others are not. I know I need to remove the toxins from my life, and foster the friendships that bring joy.

Peace.

Sneeze Much?

I ran twice today. That wasn't necessarily that plan, but that's what happened. I started with a 4 mile run in the neighborhood, but turned back after about 10 minutes. My stomach hurt and I was sneezing so much due to all the allergens. I went back out this afternoon and ran to the post office. Wanted to mail off a few items and figured I'd run some errands. On this 2nd run, I left the watch at home (because I couldn't find it) and skipped the walk-breaks and just enjoyed the run. Dang, it was windy - and I still sneezed quite a bit. Not a rewarding run day, but at least I got out there.

I've been working on the stretches that Shay gave me, and they do seem to help. Might even try a Sun-salutation today... Getting crazy!

Find peace today!

The Mental Game

The plan was for Lisa, Laura, Shay and I to meet up at Draper for a run. We hadn't all run together since the morning of my wedding, and none of us had run at Draper in months. apparently Lisa and Laura weren't paying attention when reading the email and called from Bluff Creek wondering where I was. Too funny.

Shay and I started off, both sore and tired, complaining that we would have to run slow. That changed after we started talking about work. The frustration tends to make you go faster. We ran the green loop in an hour. Ater re-fueling, we headed out again. We decided to give the Red Loop a shot. That one tends to get confusing because it has so much off-branches. I guess we were in there for about 20 minutes because after tacking on the Green, we were finished in 2:20.

We allowed our brains to convince us we were too tired to do another, and called it a day. I'm a bit frustrated that I didn't go longer and even considered driving to Bluff Creek on my way home to do a loop there. But, the driveway and couch was calling.

I wish I hadn't allowed my brain to talk me into quitting early. Right now I feel great and know my body could have done it. Oh well, there's always next time.

Happy October

What a great day for a run. I went out to Bluff Creek around 9:30 and had the place to myself. I love running out there when it's so quiet. Shay did some manipulations with my hips the other day and I'm not sure what to think of it. It's not any worse, nor is it any better. It just feels different, almost like my spine is about to popl If it does, hopefully it adjusts into the right position! My back hurt for most of the run. My neck is clicking and popping like crazy. I hate takng muscle relaxants, but I think it might be necessary for a while.

Whatever fluid I was retaining seems to be gone, as I can wear my wedding ring again, but I rather like it on the chain around my neck

Time to head to Roadrunnersports.com to order new running shoes.

May peace and joy surround you!

What The Heck Happened?

Surely I couldn't have become obese overnight, but why doesn't my wedding ring fit anymore. My fingers are so swollen that I had to struggle to take my ring off. I had planned to never take this ring off, or to make sure it was touching my hand at all time, but I had to pull so hard that if flew out of my hand and onto the table! Right now I'm wearing it on a chain around my neck.

So I took my car in for an oil change this morning. Took Scott's in for him on Friday, and the place he recommends it right next to Dolese Park. While they were changing the oil, I got in 2 loops around the park, for 4 miles. My leg hurt, but nothing to make me stop. Got the crazy idea over the weekend to try running to Podcast. I've already descovered that I don't like running to music, but I thought listening to a Podcast while running might be educational. I log on to NPR and found, "Wait, wait... DOn't Tell me" It's a satire of the most recent news stories. I laughed out loud at least 10 times. Gonna have to share that with the gan!

May peace and join surround you always!

Long Weekend Run

Today was to be the test to see if I might be able to run the 50K at Palo Duro. Yep, I think I can!

I met Shay and Laura at Bluff Creek at 8:00. I got there about 1/2 hour early to give my back and leg a little time to warm up. We did a loop together, then Shay left to go to a football game. I really enjoyed the second loop with Laura. We're both reading the same book right now, "Three Cups of Tea." We discussed some of what the author was learning about his travels and struggles in Pakistan. We applied it to the directions we hope to take our lives. Laura and her family are considering taking a 6 month sabbatical from their current lives, to travel to a Third World country - to learn and help wherever they can. I am learning about what my priorities are. With this back injury, running 50 miles doesn't seem so important. Truly, developing a strong, healthy marriage and creating a beautiful life with Scott, and learning where we can serve together is what I want.

Laura left after the second loop. She's fighting with some congestion, so I wished her well, and headed back into the trails. I enjoyed my time alone. I thought about Palo Duro and have let go of my time goals there. I just want to complete it. My left 2-3 toes started to hurt about mile 16. I did a digital block on a toe the first year I ran Palo Duro, as I had broken my 2nd toe the week before the event. It's hard to give yourself multiple shots in the toe. Perhaps this year Shay can help me with that. It started to get pretty hot, and I was hungry and tired, so I called it quits after 20 miles. The plan was for 22, but I'm happy with 20. Long runs for the next 2 weekends, and Palo Duro - Here I Come!

Peace

Compared to Yesterday

Another 5 mile loop at Bluff Creek today. This time, as usual, without music. Now that the REDMAN is over, I started thinking about other events, or some that I could invent. I need to be creative when I run. This time, I didn't feel the fatigue, I wasn't bored. I was thinking and creating, and was suprise when the 'walk-break' alarm went off. My time was about 1 1/2 minutes slower than yesterday, but I felt better and I enjoyed it. That's my answer: no music.

I'm toying with the idea of a 50K and 50Mile event at Bluff Creek in March of 2010. I'll give Dave and Keith a few more days to recover from REDMAN, then present the idea to them.

Visited with Tanya about the idea of doing the Full REDMAN next year. We decided we want the glory of the finish, but aren't willing to put in the training hours. The motivation has to be right. Truly, I think that once was enough. I still have the 50 mile thing stuck in my head. I'll have to deal with that!

Learning New Things

So it's been a few months since my last post. Life got in the way. My wedding to Scott was the most wonderful thing! Life is good! I ran when I could, but wedding plans and sciatica took a priority.

The back and leg pain are intermittent. It never hurts when I run, but sometimes I hurt for a few days following.

My head gets in the way, too. I need to figure out why I want to go the distance. Is it for me, to challenge and improve myself. Or, am I competing with something outside of me? If it's internal, that's great. If I'm completing because of something on the outside, I need to let it go. Scott is worried that I may cause some permanent damage to my spine.

Right now I'm struggling with the Palo Duro 50K. I've done this event 3 times before and would love to do it again. The race director, Red Spicer, died a few weeks ago and I would love to honor him by running again. Doing the 20K seems like it would be going backwards in my accomplishments. But, you've got to slow down someday, right? Well, maybe not.

I'm looking at The DanMan http://www.danmanrun.com/ for my 50 miler. A very small, low key event in early February. We'll see.

My run today at Bluff Creek taught me some new things. I rarely run with music, but today I listened to an interesting variety of Christian alternative and Classic Rock. I was tired through the whole run and my legs felt heavy. I had to take a few extra walk break. I don't know if it was from fatigue or boredom. Having the music on kept me from my 'thinking time.' Without thinking, I got bored. But, on the other hand I beat my best time ever on that 5 mile loop. The first time I've ever gone under 1 hour. 59:50.

May peace and joy surround you!

Too Late, Too Much Mud

Fridays are my long run of the week. I've shifted the training schedule to have Sundays free to spend time with Scott. I had to work until 11:00 this morning so I didn't even get started on my planned 18 miler until 11:30. Bluff creek was rather muddy in spots. In one place I slipped, cartwheeled my arms to stay up and think I pulled a muscle in my left shoulder.

Staying motiviated during this run was a challenge. I just wanted to go home and lay down. I kept telling myself, "5 more minutes." Well that lasted for 2:36. I think I ran about 12 miles. Truly I believe had I got an earlier start, I would have made it. Gotta remember not to pick up Friday morning shifts. Also, gotta get used to the warmer weather. My left leg hurt for a while, but when I shortened my stride, it felt better. Maybe stretching will help.

Rest Day

No running scheduled for today, but I sure got in a work out at the hospital. I was running around all day. After work, I surely was tempted to go home and nap, but made it to the gym for some weight lifting. Hmmm, I seem to be finding motivation. Having to wear an amazingly fitted dress can do that! Exactly 100 days until the wedding~

Warda Cardiac Run is exactly 6 months away~

What Beautiful Day

The weather reports are prediciting up to 2.4 inches of rain today, so I thought I'd get out and run early before the rain. I forgot what it's like to be the first one on the trails in the morning. I had to break all the cobwebs! With my face! No snakes today, but I saw probably 10 rabbits and a couple of playful cardinals. Whenever I see cardinals, I think of my mother- One time when she visited me here, she commented on all the cardinals in my backyard. She mentioned that she had never seen one before. Now that she is gone, when I see a cardinal I say, "Hi Mom." It's here coming to visit me.

The aroma of the hyacinths was great! At least I think it was hyacinth. I should try to find out.

My left foot didn't hurt as much as yesterday. I need to pay attention to my gait. I'm probaby favoring it due to the sciatica.

Did the Winter Solstice Route again. With music this time. Apparently music doesn't change my pace much. Only 1 minute faster than yesterday. 1:14:40. 5:1 6.2?

The TriFuel schedule has me riding today, but that's not going to happen. I still have to give my bike a tune-up. I napped rather than work on the bike. Motivation is different when you're not training for an Ironman!

Trying To Be Healthy

I started the day with a trip to the Y. Did my upper body workout, then went straight to Bluff Creek from there. As planned, I lifted weights rather than swim. This may be a challenge to blend the TriFuel Program with the 50K running schedule - we'll see.

My run was great up until I saw my first big snake of the year. - a 4 ft black snake. We just looked at each other. I've discovered I'm more afraid of snake when they are on the move. This one was just sitting there. I carefully went around it.

The ball of my left foot is tender. Time for new shoes!

Setting Goals

Here I am, planning my wedding and dreaming about running a 50 miler. I hope to incorporate my training with getting in the best possible shape for me wedding. - You know, defined arms, fit and toned back - my dress is strapless. I'm considering using the same training schedule I did for REDMAN, but switching the swim workouts for weight-lifting. But then again, will htat give me enough run time to prepart for a 50 miler?? I may have to mix it up with the 50 miler training schedule. Scott and I have talked about my 50 Miler Goal and he is very supportive. He is justvery concerned that with my sciatica and all that I might cause permanent nerve damage to my leg. I've assured him that in my attempt to achieve this goal, I will be smart enough to quit if I need to.

My wedding is 102 days away. I don't like my body right now. B: 35.72, W: 32, H: 39,.25, T: 20. I've gained 3 inches on my waist and hops since the REDMAN. Gonna shed that. I have 12 weeks.

I'm going to do this the smart way - eat healthy and work out!

Here are the Goals:
Wedding date weight - 134 or lose 2.5 inches off waist and hips.
No puckering of waist of wedding dress
Train healthy for 50 miler - either Heartland (Kansas) or Cardiac Run (Texas)
Make Scott a big part of my life and I'll do the same for him!
Glorify God through all of it~