I Got Nothing

Hi Friends!  Well, it's been about two weeks since my last post and I feel bad about that.  If I was a real writer, I would say it was writers block, but I just haven't done anything that exciting to write about.

My workouts have all been good but I can't help but think about what it would feel like to run.  As much as I want to, I am afraid of hurting myself worse than I already have.  I have made some improvements and am now going to PT once a week.  Partly because most of the exercises we do I can do at home and the other part because insurance only will cover me for 15 more visits.  We are being conservative.

One of the things that we do at PT is, to me, crazy.  I have now been put in traction 3 times.  Yes, traction. You know, how they used to torture people in the Middle Ages.  I think then they called it The Rack.  Ok,  kidding aside, this has actually made me feel better, which is a good thing.  I'm just as surprised as you.  During the procedure, I am not in pain and when we are done, I am in less pain then when I walked into the building.  I have recently had more good days then bad, so bring it on.  I am not afraid of you Rack!

Over the weekend, my family and I got to enjoy Cupcake Madness at the Village Inn.  This was our second year and, once again, we were not disappointed.  There were so many great cupcakes and I wish I was able to try every one.  I couldn't, of course, but if you were there with me, you would know that I tried my hardest before I had to give in the towel.  LOL

For those of you wondering if the Tooth Fairy came, she did.  My little man wrote a cute note explaining what happened and she left him $2 in quarters, a carrot and a note telling him that he is not the first to swallow his tooth and that she looks forward to getting his next one.  His next one, by the way, is loose as we speak.  We will keep a closer eye on it this time.

I know most of you are saying to yourself, "a carrot?."  You did not read it wrong.  For some reason, that I cannot explain, my parents thought it was funny to leave a carrot or celery with the money under my pillow.  I wanted to continue the tradition as it is a very fond memory for me.  I am smiling just thinking about it.

So I guess that is more something than nothing. Ok good, I feel better now.  Thanks for reading.

Run strong, think big.

Game On! Final Week

Well, I am happy to say that Game On is over!  But, very sad to say that my team lost.  The scores were close. The winning team had a total (4 weeks) of 3148.7 and our team total was 3007.4.  This is disappointing and I feel bad because I had two really off days with low scores.  Oh, well it is done.

Now, this diet was about changing how you eat and about having good habits and getting rid of bad ones.  You had to be sugar free.  I have to say, that I was amazed at how many things had sugar in them!  Things you wouldn't think had sugar did and it was one of the top 3 ingredients.  Now, I don't think I could give up sugar totally but I am more aware and will read labels a little closer.

You also had to eat 5 meals a day.  This I really found difficult but did it.  You were allowed one meal off  for each week and on those days, I found that I was so excited to eat whatever I wanted, that I overdid it and never got a 5th meal in.  I didn't like that I was so focused on food and when and what I was going to eat.  The eating part was all about planning and that is something I am not good at.

Some of the easier things for me were sleeping.  Yes, sleeping.  The diet says you need to sleep 7 hours a night and you got 15 points for that.  Nice, I love sleeping and in that category, I got a perfect score.  Exercise was also not a problem.  You had to exercise for a minimum of 20 minutes a day.  I only missed two days so this was also a higher score for me.  Plus, I exercised way more than 20 minutes, but unfortunately, no extra points for that.

Next up, water.  I had to drink 3 liters of water a day.  For some reason, this one had me nervous.  I didn't think I could do it.  I was surprised to learn that I drank at least 2 liters when I was working out.  This made it easy and something that I will continue to do.

I had a weight loss goal for this plan.  You had to pick either weight loss or fitness goal.  I have never tried to lose weight before, not because I didn't need to, I just never focused on it.  I am happy to say that I am down 6 pounds and have decide that I want to lose a few more.  I will blog more about that in a different post.

On to my good and bad habits.  The good one I picked up was to eat breakfast everyday.  I hated this.  Don't get me wrong, I know how important that meal is, but I just don't like to eat when I get up and if I am in a hurry, that is what I cut out to same time.  I thought by eating breakfast, I would feel better but the only thing it did was make me less hungry at lunch.  Since stopping the program, I have eaten breakfast but not every day.

My bad habit that I had to give up was added salt.  I will take a salty food over a sweet one any day.  This was super tough for me and I was mad at myself for choosing a habit that was food related when I was having trouble with the new food to begin with.  I did it though and feel better for it.  I almost had a perfect score for this.  I messed up on the first day of the plan by using a product to flavor my food that I thought was salt free but wasn't'.  There is no room for mistakes in this plan so that was minus 10 points.

So bottom line, I am not a fan and would not do this again.  I think a healthy diet and exercise is all you need.  This diet, I see as more of a fad, and maybe, for some who like competition, this will work for them.  

So on to some good news!  My back is really feeling great.  PT has been wonderful for me and yesterday was my best day so far.  I am excited to see a difference in myself and will definitely come out of this stronger.  I also had a PR.  I went 10 miles on my bike and finished in 29:53.  I was psyched about this as my prior time was 33:03.

No one has gotten back to me about swim lessons.  I will call them one more time and then look for somewhere else.  I'll keep you updated.

Thanks for all the positive comments and support from my last post.  I am confident that I will be ready for 13.1 in October.

Run strong, think big!

Stupid Injury!

I am struggling with my injury today.  For one, it is so beautiful here and in my opinion, prefect running weather.  Secondly, I feel good and feel like I could run.  But here is the thing,  yesterday, I couldn't stand straight until the early afternoon.  Why is that?  How could I feel so bad yesterday and so good today?

This has me baffled and I will talk to the therapist about it tomorrow.  Am I doing something differently on those days that I feel so bad?  I don't think so but who knows.

I was hoping to have a solid 5 mile base under my belt before I got into serious half marathon training.  Now I am feeling nervous and afraid I won't have enough time.  This is no small race that I am planning on doing either.  It is the Nike Women's Marathon and I am doing it with Team In Training in San Francisco!   There is a lot of things that come with this race.  Training, fund raising and a trip across the country.  I need to be certain I can do this.  It is a huge commitment not just for me, but for my family.

Ok, so 6 to 8 weeks of PT brings me to the end of April/middle of May.  Best case is I can run again in April, worse May.  The half is October 14.  What are your thoughts?  Can I do this if all goes well?

Thank you, friends!

Run strong, think big!

Game On! Week 3 and Doctor Visit

Three weeks down on Game On and I am feeling very relieved going into week 4.  Relieved, because it is almost over.  I had thought this was going to be more fun.  I know, call me crazy.  What type of diet is fun?  Apparently, none.

I thought it would be fun because it is a competition.  I thought there would be friendly banter between the two teams, but we have all be so nice and encouraging, it's sickening.  Ok, no it is not really sickening, just kidding, but you know what I mean.

I did really well this week.  In fact, I would of had a perfect week if it hadn't been for Monday.  Not sure why Monday was so bad, but it was.  I only had 3 of the 6 meals, didn't finish my 3 liters of water and did not exercise.  I finished the day with only scoring 58 points out of 100.  I was so mad at myself, I decided that the rest of the week had to be perfect.  It was not easy but I did it.  Not sure how it will help the team.  I haven't seen the new totals yet but I am hoping to come out in the lead.  We have been trailing for the first two weeks, and I really want to win.

Come on team, we can do this!  Rah, Rah, Rah and so on...

Now on to my visit at the doctor's today.  I have degenerative disc disease.  This is no surprise as I already saw the MRI results.  We are going to do PT for the next 6-8 weeks, which is exactly what I was hoping for.  As angry as I was, I now am starting to feel better mentally.  I am sure PT will work for me without any drastic measures, such as surgery.  My first PT session is Thursday and I am a little excited to go.  I am so looking forward to feeling better and be able to stand straight when I wake up.

Not me.

The bad news is no running.  The doctor I am seeing is also a runner and she says I will run again.  Just give it a little time to heal and feel better and all will be good.  She encouraged me to learn to swim, as that is great exercise for your back.  So, that is on my list of things to take care of this week.  Sign up for swim lessons.

So all in all, I am in a good mood.  This crazy diet is almost done and I see a light at the end of the tunnel with this injury.  It is only gonna get better from here, I just know it.

Run strong, think big!

A Few Words About Me

I have seen this on a few different blogs and thought it looked fun.  Basically, it takes words form your blog or another text that you like, and it randomly puts them together.  If you would like to try it, go here.

Sorry it is so small, working on it.

So, in other news, I ran a little today.  Just a mile but I feel really good.  I am hoping to do a couple runs a week, even if they are short.  I am pretty sure when I see the doc on Monday, she is gonna have a different idea, but you never know.

Also, the Tooth Fairy came.  Little Man wrote a letter to her explaining what happened and he put it under his pillow.  She left him $2 in quarters and a very nice note.  She also left him a carrot, which I thought was funny.  My mom and dad, for some reason, always put a carrot under our pillow when we were growing up and I wanted to continue that tradition.  He thought it was weird but I don't care, it made me happy and I think when he is older he will appreciate it.

Run strong, think big!

Dear Tooth Fairy

So the good news today is Little Man lost his first tooth!  The bad news, he swallowed it.  I couldn't believe it.  Since the moment he knew it was loose, he never stopped touching it.  I mean never.  It was actually gross, but to him it was amazing.

Now, all his friends, it seems, have been losing their teeth before him.  Some, are on their 3rd and 4th ones. This has been a main topic in our house for the last 4 weeks.  I have to admit, I was getting excited too.  I have the baby tooth box out and waiting for the first of the baby teeth.  For Christmas, Santa brought him a pillow that holds his tooth for under his pillow.  We got that out last night as I was sure it was coming out any minute.

That minute was this morning durning breakfast.  He was eating cereal.  He said,"ouch", and I turned to him and he followed that up with, "my tooth came out!"  Yeah!!!  Where is it?  Well it wasn't anywhere that we could see.  Not on the table, the floor, in his bowl or stuck in his clothes.  Oh, boy, now what?

I could see the panic in his eyes and then the tears.  I felt so bad for him.  We looked one more time to make sure it wasn't in the milk.  Then I did the only thing I could think of, I hugged him.  I assured him the Tooth Fairy knows and will come anyway, but I am not sure he was buying it.  I sent him off to school and I am sure he enjoyed showing off the spot where a tooth used to be and I hope that makes him feel better.

So what did I do with my afternoon, besides laundry?  Well, I searched the internet for letters to the Tooth Fairy.  Well, isn't that what you would do?  I found all kinds of letters for all different reasons here.  I have one printed out and ready to go.  When Little Man gets home, I will have him write his own letter to the TF telling her what happened and I am sure she will come with money and a nice letter that says, "no worries."

So, tell me, what are your Tooth Fairy traditions?  How much money is the going rate now a days?  Have any of your kids swallowed a tooth?  What did you do?

My back is feeling pretty good.  Today I rode my bike but not much else.  I think I may try and go for a run tomorrow and see how I feel.  It is going to be 56 here and that alone makes me feel better.  I won't over do it.  If I feel good, I would just like to go a mile.  If it hurts, I will stop.  Wish me luck.

Run strong, think big!

Game On! Week Two, Recap

So week two is done and my team is losing.  This is very disappointing but we have 2 more weeks to go.
Come on guys, we can do this!

I started off the second week, still starving.  This had me going a little crazy and I was getting mean.   On the Game On website, there is a place where you can calculate how many calories you should be eating in a day.  They ask your age, weight, how active you are, etc.  I put in my info and was told 2100 is my magic number.

Now, this was Tuesday, day two of week two.  I had already had 3 of my 5 meals for the day.  I added up the calories of those 3 meals and it came to 575.  No wonder I was so hungry.  I was literally starving myself.  This also explains such a big weight loss.

I adjusted my portions and finished the week strong.  I did not lose any, but I kind of figured it would all balance out once I stopped starving myself.  I do plan to lose this week.

So, that is all for now.  Unfortunately, no real great news as far as work outs go.  My little man is home sick so no gym for me today or yesterday.  These are the times, I wish I had a treadmill in my home.  Oh well, I will be back at it tomorrow.

Run strong, think big!

FirmMan, HaHa, Yeah Right!

When I out lined my year of races in this post, I mentioned how I wanted to volunteer at a race.  I think this would be a fun thing to do, as well as giving back a little.  I have thought about this a lot, not sure about which race I would want to do this at.

My first thought was Rock and Roll Providence, which is on my racing bucket list, but then I saw this.  A half Iron Man in the town that I live.  Now, that is the one for me.

I think most of you know by now, that I can't swim.  Not only can't I swim, I have a small irrational fear of the water.  Not so much in a pool, more like the ocean.  Since my injury, I have decide to learn to swim and get over it!  I found a place that gives adult lessons and I will be doing that soon.  I think I am more excited than scared so I am looking at that as half way to getting over my fear.

I see some tri's in my future,  maybe including, this FirmMan.  (Are you happy now MB? Not only did I put it in writing, it is floating around the blogosphere!)

Anyway, I will let you know when I hear back from them and what they say.

Run strong, think big!

Mr. RWM, Do Not Read

OK, that may be a little dramatic, but I don't think he is going to like what I have to say.  I ran today!!!!!
Not long but still, I ran!

First let me tell you that last, I woke up in the middle of the night and  moved funny and guess what, I pulled a muscle in my shoulder.    I know what you are thinking, "Seriously, what else could go wrong?!"  I am thinking the same thing.  Now this pissed me off, big time.

I am ONLY 40 years old.  I have two small kids who need me to be 100%.  I cannot be hurt.  So I did the only thing that would make me feel better and that is to run.  Now it wasn't far but it felt so good.  I walked a little than ran for .50 miles, then walked, then another .50 miles, walked and then ran .25 miles.  1.25 miles, a total of just over two miles in 30 minutes.  I think I could of done more, but I didn't want to push it.  I feel really good right now and hope I don't pay for it later.

Here is the thing, I am mad and I am not going to give into this pain anymore.  I am bigger and stronger than this and it will not keep me down.  I have one thing to say to you back pain, (cover your ears if you don't like bad words)  GFY!  That's right, GFY back pain!  I am going to run, walk, bike and learn to swim and be the best I can be and you are not going to stop me.

Honestly, I know Mr. RWM is going to think I will make things worse, so I will do what the docs say, but I will not sit still.  I am ready to get better and I plan to be better sooner than later.

I have big race plans in my further and I will not miss out on them.  I will finish 13.1 in October and then from there the world.  Ha Ha, just kidding.  Or, am I...

Hope you are having a great day.

Run strong, think big!