TOES!

 I say this so much - I really should write here more. 

I am 10 days into a 6-8 week recovery after toe surgery. Yes! Toe surgery! My left foot's big toe has not moved in a very long time. At least a decade. This wasn't too big of a deal until I started running. Once I got up to 10-ish miles at a time, I'd have horrible pain, after the run. I got fancy orthotics with a"Morton's bar" and that helped. Funny story though - they wore out so I started putting a piece of metal at the toe just like the Morton's bar, under the insoles of my shoes. And I was fine! However, I started to have pain in other parts of my left side. Last December, it was my ankle. Peroneal tendon to be exact. (Hey, I spelt that right the first time!! Go me!!). I took a few months off running and was mostly okay but then in March I did a 5k on my normal route and couple barely walk the rest of the week. Not DURING the run, but after. So I finally went to the doctor. Ended up at PT where they determined that it was actually because of my toe and the compensation that the rest of my foot was doing to make up for its immobility. PT wasn't really helping though because the toe just didn't want to move. I ended up at yet a different podiatrist because the guy I"d seen in May (?) went on medical leave. Bad for him but EXCELLENT for me!! The new guy (at this point I've seen at least 5-6 different podiatrists over the years always mentioning the stupid toe) took one look at the X-ray and said "I can fix that"! I almost cried!! I know he thought I was a freak because I was SOOOO excited and paid no attention to what he actually said but asked questions like, "and then I can run again" and "I can drive after surgery right?!" Because, you know, logistics. 

We set it up for the Wednesday before my two week Fall Break so I could have some recovery time though he said I really shouldn't work (or do anything) for eight weeks. Well it didn't take me long to decide that taking the entire recovery off would be a very good idea. So I got a sub and did a LOT of planning and here I am ten days into recovery. 

The most interesting part is that I was AWAKE for the surgery. Which was good because I really don't like anesthesia. And let me tell you it was the oddest experience ever! They put a drape thing up so I couldn't actually see what was happening which was probably okay. I did basically live-post it on BlueSky though. The bone saw on my numb foot but fully awake, was an intensely odd sensation! I heard the doc say he got it to move but he could do better. YAY!! When he had sewn me up, he moved it to show me that it does indeed move. Now it's in a cast though. Eventually, I will get to move it myself!! 

Sick again?!

 I don't really feel sick, per se. But I have a cough which makes it hard to breathe at times. I went for a run today anyway. Didn't cough the whole time but the uphills were more difficult that usual. The legs and everything else felt good so yay! I really want to start building some miles but I feel like everything just keeps getting in the way. This week we're supposed to get our first real storm. So I have to figure out how to get miles in, not on trails. Probably. Oh well. 

Getting a new tattoo on Thursday. Sadly not Astros related. But much desired. The methodist cross and flame. It means so much to me. About time it was on my body. Especially since it might be a relic soon. 

It's Christmas Break, btw. Three weeks to get stuff done, and sit around a lot. Yay! 

Almost OK

Healthwise, almost OK. Baseball? Doing well!! 

Had a decent day at school. I finally don't feel like trash. Throat is okay unless I talk a lot or have to raise my voice too much. Which I didn't too very much. Still very little energy though. Oh well, two whole days to sleep :) Though I'm hoping to go for a run tomorrow. Or at least exercise. And give Slugger a good walk!

Back and forth, aggravating baseball. Benches cleared. Altuve hits a go-ahead HR top of the 9th. Pressley had a 2 inning "save"/win. It was amazing! Lead the series 3-2 and going home. Gotsta win one at home... People need to stop comparing it to 2019 WS. Please no. 

Gonna finish my book toboight. I've had to restrict myself to one chapter each night the last couple nights cuz of early alarms. Not tonight! But really, I don't have but about 40-50 pages left. Kinda sad to be saying goodbye to these characters and worlds. Guess that's what makes a good book!

Goodnight Blog!

Less Sick

I might even say better. Made it through the whole day at school. I think even a few students learned how to solve a quadratic equation with imaginary numbers. 

Although the throat is better, unfortunately the yuck has moved into the medal area. I sneeze a lot, which makes the throat hurt again. And scares the dog. He was just lying with me on the couch and I sneezed. Now he's on the floor. Which I guess is an improvement cuz he used to go outside. For a dog who is so protective, you'd think he'd get closer, trying to make me better. I think he doesn't understand why I'm making such violent noises and movement. My sneezes are generally not gentle!

Anyway, students were generally respectful of my need to speak low and not much. I think they were glad to have me back after they were supposed to learn on their own for three days. Which is exactly why I went to school today. Well, that and I've already used half my sick days! And it hasn't snowed yet!! But I'm gonna man up this winter and go to work even when the roads are gross. If I wreck the truck, can I sue them for making us go to school?

Know what I miss? Running. I had JUST started again!! Ugh. Hopefully Saturday I'll feel well enough to venture out. 

Back to watching baseball. We're winning :)

I RAN A WHOLE MILE

When I started running, I kept running because I learned that "running" doesn't mean you can't walk! I have increased my running segments but kept my walking segments at about 1 minute. I now regularly go 4-7 minutes without walking during a long run. I've done longer. I'm not afraid to do shorter. When on trails, it often depends on the terrain. On my last long run here in the desert, I went 11 minutes on a run segment.

Well, today, I went a whole mile! That was 14 and a half minutes!! And it felt great!! I would like to point out, this was from 2.5 to 3.5 miles in a 4.7 mile run. And after that stint, I did 2 half miles, the final one up hill.

Moral of today's run: I'm making progress!!!

Long run with the runs

Yup, you read that right! You might not want to read this! I won't be graphic, though, promise.

Today I set out on what I hoped would be 7-7.5 miles. I ran to the aqueduct and then down the path (paved side). My goal was to go to the end but I wasn't sure how far that would be. I didn't want to overdo since I had to turn around and go back.

I got to the last road crossing and had gone 3.75 miles. I could see the little building at the end, but again, I didn't want to push myself. So glad I didn't!!

About half a mile later, my gut decided it didn't like me. Unfortunately I was three miles from home!!  I found that it was actually worse when I walked so I ran more than I might have otherwise. I knew there was a porta potty at a construction site about a mile from home. Could I make it 2 more miles?! Ugh!! I was on the aqueduct and couldn't exactly "step off" so I had to try. At the next road crossing I looked as far as I could see to make sure there wasn't a construction potty there somewhere. There wasn't. So I plodded on.

I made it to the porta potty just in time. After that, I was fine. I have NO idea what caused the issue. I didn't eat the second half of my Bloks on the run, just in case. I ate them later and was fine. Actually, I've been fine ever since. Last night, I ate Panera. A turkey sandwich. So, guess what? I'm not doing THAT again!! In fact, I'm going back to eating right - i.e. vegan. With occasional eggs and shrimp (SO not ready to give up my shrimp fried rice addiction). We'll see if that helps.

Now I'm recovering with the pooch. Iced my toe. It hurt most of the run. Which is interesting cuz it DIDN'T hurt until the end of my trail run last week. It's all a learning process. Still loving that process!!!

Attempted Yoga

In Texas I visited a yoga studio right down the street from the house as often as I could. The last several times I went, I went to a "restorative" yoga class. It was awesome but more about stretching and relaxing than balancing and such and what most people think of with yoga.

There aren't a lot of options for yoga here in the High Desert. There is a studio several miles from our house. Cost plus distance just doesn't seem worth it. BUT there's a gym not too far away that has yoga (and other) classes as part of membership. And it's cheap - for a gym. $20/month. So I decided to do a free-trial and try a class.

I came home and walked Slugs a little (got the mail) and watched Ellen. I wasn't sure how long signing up for the free trial would take, nor how crowded the class would be so I left earlier than I needed to - 4:30. I fed Slugger right before I left.

The class was great. I liked the instructor very much. Unfortunately, I didn't like the gym atmosphere. Even though we had soothing music on, we could still hear their obnoxiously loud music. And I jumped every time someone dropped a barbell/weight.

I did find it interesting that I was MUCH better at balance poses than I had been previously. I'm blaming the running! I could actually almost feel like I was doing tree pose instead of floundering like I used to. So YAY!

When I got home, Slugger had eaten an entire bag of potato chips. Guess he doesn't like me being gone in the evening either.

I have the exercise room all set up now so I'm going to try yoga at home for a few weeks. If that isn't working for me, I'll try the yoga studio.

Bonk!

I really don't mean to only write about running. But I'm on a mission to get better at it so it's what I do these days. Well, that and watch baseball.

Today's lesson learned: EAT DINNER! I was busy watching my boys last night and never actually ate dinner. I had the thought at one point but wasn't really hungry and couldn't decide what to eat and then it just never happened. MISTAKE!!

I didn't change up anything else that I did to prepare for this morning's "long" run so I'm pretty sure that was the difference maker. That and I didn't really have a plan of a route. But I don't think that was a factor. Where I ended up would've been just the distance I was aiming for (4ish miles).

The first mile was hard. My legs were tired. But I kept going. I was all in my head about how hot it was. I was trying a new system to deal with that. I got an extra, light-weight, collapsible water bottle that I could easily use to wet the bandana and/or my head. Turns out it wasn't all that easy. I actually stopped in order to wet the bandana. I wasn't even that hot. But I wanted to get ahead of the hot. Again, all in my head.

Anyway, I kept going. About 2 miles in, I just couldn't run anymore. I could've, I guess, but I wasn't having fun. So I walked. The entire last mile basically. And cut my route short. I think it was when I realized that I COULD cut it short that my mind won the battle. By then my legs were okay. It was just an overall, "not happening" kinda day.

Not sure any of this makes sense. But well, that's running!! Right?!

Writing while Running

Especially on my "long" runs, I tend to write blog posts in my head while running. Finding the right words to describe this or that little story seems to keep me going. Then I get home, stretch, drink my protein shake, shower, let the dog out, sit down to ice and turn on CSI:NY (my current bingewatch) and bam, it's 4 or 6 or 8 hours later and I forgot to blog. And have completely forgotten what seemed so bloggable while running. Ha. TODAY I said, NO, I AM going to write! So here we are :)

Last week I "only" went 3 miles because I was having some gut issues and REALLY needed to get home to the bathroom, if you know what I mean. I actually practically sprinted up my street. More on "sprinting" later perhaps.

Today I didn't really have a goal in mind. I just wanted to run and see what happened. I haven't been running during the week very much (maybe once...) so I'm not sure if upping my long run mileage is a good idea. And I really just wanted to have a GOOD run, ya know?! I set out on my normal route - the beginning is generally one of two paths, through a neighborhood or not - through neighborhood one to get to neighborhood two. Last week I skipped the second and basically just went home.  Today I decided to go all the way through two and see how I felt to decide how to get home. I love having options!

I got almost through when I met Jax and Bailey - brother and sister Lab/Dobermans (my guess). They seemed VERY excited to be running about on their own. Jax stayed with me around a corner and down a hill. I have learned that if I tell a dog to "go home" they usually do! Jax did not. So I turned around to take him back to where I'd first seen him. On the way, we saw his dad over the fence who was very glad I had found them! We met at the corner. Bailey had hung back and was getting some love from neighbors. At this point, I changed up how I was going to get home since I'd just backtracked at least .25 UP a hill... in the end, I think it actually meant I went a little farther.

The rest of today's run was fairly uneventful. I ran more and walked about normal. Meaning I actually ran for 4-6 minutes most stretches and still walked 1-1.5 minutes. I felt VERY good!! It was what I've decided is pretty ideal running weather. About 40 degrees, light wind and sunny. I started in gloves and earmuffs but they came off about 2 miles in. By the end I was even tempted to shed my long sleeves! I've said it before - I get HOT when I run!!

I LOVE my new watch!! I don't even use all the fancy things that it probably can do!! Today I paid a little more attention to what it told me my pace was. I don't know how it determines pace, but it seems to be accurate. That's not the right word. It does change pretty quickly when I switch from running to walking. (I totally had a better way to say that when I was writing this in my head at mile 4 but I don't remember what it was!) Eventually, I'd like to play with pace but right now I'm happy just running! They say it's good to do "sprint" intervals. I say "sprint" in quotes cuz I'm pretty sure my "sprint" would be slower than Usain Bolt crawling through mud. I can also set the pace I want to go and the watch will yell at me (beep?) when I deviate. Interesting. So not ready for that yet!

Couple weeks ago one of the things I wanted to write about was the excitement in that I'm running more. Had another occurrence today of the same situation... I generally use landmarks to decide when to run/walk. I keep an eye on time but landmarks (hydrant, street sign, mailbox) help me gauge running up or down hills, etc. More times that not lately, I'll get to the landmark and decide to go a little further to try to push myself. Several times now, I'll think "okay I'll run to there" and then all of a sudden, I'm running right past it not realizing I was supposed to have stopped. This sure does do good things to the mental game!!

Okay, Slugger wants to go sit in the sun some more. Sound like an excellent idea to me :)

Sunday Morning Run Observations

I ran over 5 miles today! My farthest yet!! I felt good. It wasn't quite as hot but still not exactly cold. I'd say I probably ran about 4 of the miles overall. Not bad! Here are my observations:

- some churches have better attendance than others
- I'm not the only one out and about burning calories
- I like having Nuun with me, but not in a leaking water bottle
- running is actually kinda fun
- my new shorts are still working right after I washed them (you never know with spandex)
- always make sure strava is actually recording
- I like running more with Slugger cuz he gives me an excuse to slow down, stop and smell the flowers, etc.
- my new (4th try) hydration pack is great
- dogs don't bark as aggressively, if at all, when I don't have Slugger with me

Seems like there was more...

Not What I'd Planned - Some Healthy Thoughts

I was going to write about something but now I can't remember what! Must be in the part of the brain with the 2nd question I was going to ask my boss on Monday. I remembered as I was falling asleep last night... it had something to do with May... oh well!!

Instead I'm going to put in writing my commitment to being healthier (again). Yesterday I bought myself a fitbit. It's a plastic bracelet that tracks steps taken, sleep patterns, heart rate, among other things. You can challenge and support other people who also have them - like coworkers and friends, across the world! This aspect is what sold me on it. I love a good, healthy competition!! (I'm winning my first challenge so far!)

If you're a regular reader, you know that in the last year or so, I've lost 25 pounds. Yup, still at 25 pounds lost! The good news is that I've maintained my current weight through some stressful weeks recently (prom!). But I really want to go at least 5 more, preferably 10, I think. At this point, it's more about how the clothes fit and such.

Anyway, my recommitment to health, and the vegan lifestyle, is really more about how I feel, and how my brain is working. I am out of it 95% of the time it seems like!! Okay, now that the stress is better and I'm sleeping more and better, it's more like half the time. But it is still bothersome!! I forget words or use the wrong one, can't remember what I need to be doing, forget questions as above, and more. It's annoying.

Oh, and because I am SOOO excited to paddle board as often as possible when I get to Big Bear in 6 weeks :)

So, now that I've written it down, it's real. Healthy, fit, fabulous 40 here I come :)