Time for some reflection

Good news is my ankle/foot/shin is not broken, nor are there stress fractures.  The bad news is I'll be living with this for the rest of my life. 

"Moderate Osteoarthritis"

Two words that add up to a big impact.  I mean, we all get it, right?  To some degree, and considering the last 15 years of pounding the pavement, pathways and trails, part of me is surprised it's not worse.  However, I am now forced to sit down and take a long, hard look at my running future.  As in, do I have one??

At least with the firm diagnosis, I can move forward with treatment and plans.  Dave, my sports guy, is now able to work on the area without fear of breaking me further, and I have made a triumphant (albeit small) return to CrossFit.  I was THRILLED with doing back squats on Monday.  You have no idea how happy I was!!!  All of 45#, but I don't care...it's a start and I did 35 of them!  Still can't run or jump, so when the others warm up with double-unders or sprints, I jump on the rower.  Prefer that anyway (I sooooo want one for Christmas!!).  I have still been sitting with shoulder presses and the likes, but I also did pull ups on Wednesday, dropping to the use of two thinner bands, rather than my big blue and friend.  I just have to remain careful with my dismount.  I look like such a princess with my step up to my step up to the bar!!  :)

Last night the Running Room had a grand re-opening of their Shawnessy store in Calgary, and coordinated it with a fund-raiser for our Zoo, which got hit HARD by the floods in June, to the tune of $50 million and growing daily.  Decided I would walk the 2.5k, which I did!  Ankle was a little sore, but I think it had more to do with my shoes than the arthritis.  Doesn't feel bad today, and it's no more swollen than it's usual "I've been stuck sitting at a desk all day" swelling. 

Still heading to Chicago...after all, air and hotel are already paid for, and I'll make a game-day decision as to whether I walk it or not.  At this point, I'm pretty sure I'll walk it, but will check to see if the walkers leave earlier than everyone else.  If I do walk it, I want my bling and don't want some silly "you took too long" rule to get in my way!  Really looking forward to Chicago actually.  Arrive Friday night and leave the following Wednesday, so have booked a Segway tour on Saturday, after the Expo and a food tour on Monday, followed by a canal tour on Tuesday.  A day for shopping, and wandering about and I think I'll really enjoy this small vacation.  It will be odd to plan future trips that DON'T involve racing.  Or not!
:)

That's it for me for now...watch for some changes to the Blog, as I won't be Runnergirl anymore...thinking more like XfitChick!!  Release my inner warrior and all that.  A little arthritis won't slow me down...it'll just make me go in a different direction.

Yay for fitness!

Planning an Unplanned Emergency Day

That is what I get at work, instead of "sick" days.  They are now called Unplanned Emergency Days, and are to be used for things like being sick, doctor's appointments, family issues, etc.  We still only get 7 to use through the year, but since I very rarely get sick (enough to actually stay home), I find I've been planning my UED usage this year.

It was to start with an appointment with the pulmonary specialist that Mom has, as she was to have a CT scan of her chest done on Tuesday.  It was scheduled back in April, when she was first hospitalized, and imagine my delight, knowing she was still in the hospital, so they could handle the arrangements getting her down the hall to the CT lab, and back.  A couple of phone calls to both her transitions nurse and the unit confirmed it was noted in her chart, and all was good to go.  So imagine my surprise when the specialist's office phoned to say Mom missed her CT scan, so we would have to cancel today's follow-up and reschedule the whole thing.  "Missed it?!?!"  Phone the unit, only to have them say there was a breakdown in communication, but they were taking Mom to CT that morning (yesterday)...well, that doesn't help with today's appointment, does it now?  Arghh!!!!  After talking further with the nurses of the specialist, we determined that Mom's dementia is so advanced that telling her she has to do all this other stuff for COPD is going to be a waste of effort and time.  Still have trouble convincing her to keep her oxygen in now, let alone giving her exercises and more meds to take.  Unless the CT reveals something horrid, I think we're done with this chapter in Mom's medical file.

MY CT scan is this afternoon.  Different lab and different body part!  Hoping to finally get some answers about my ankle.  Last week, it was so swollen that I was banned from doing squats.  Quite frankly the only leg exercises I was doing, and now not allowed.  Insert sad face here.  BUT I did get through the weekend with some light stuff (cutting the grass, cleaning at Mom's) and went back to Crossfit last night, where Coach had me doing my own version of Chief.
(AMRAP for 3 mins, rest 1 min, 5 rounds in total)
3 Power Cleans 135#/95
6 Pushups
9  Squats

While everyone else grunted through that, I did an EM2M (every minute on the 2 minutes) session of 5 bench-presses (as heavy as possible) and 5 strict pull-ups (no kipping), with as light a band as possible.  I started out with 55# and tried the 1 big-bertha blue band.  Settled on two thinner green bands, and was happy just to be doing pull-ups!  It's been awhile, as we were more concerned about my dismount from said bands, but I was extra specially careful, and didn't aggravate the foot at all.  After a couple of rounds of 55# (damn shaky by #5), and a round of 52.5#, I settled down at 50#.  Ended up with 10 rounds in the 20 minutes, and followed it with some mobility (stretching, ball use, rolling, etc) on both the legs and shoulders.  Feel pretty good this morning, truth be told.

Got up at the usual time to go to Weight Watchers (yes, I am that much of a geek).  Oddly enough, last week's meeting was about slip-ups and how to get past one, and this week is about being tired.  I chose to combine the two topics on Tuesday, when I was fall down tired (had to start work at 6am, to get month end done) and "paid" for it by consuming an entire bag of Lay's Garlic Caesar chips (m-eh) as well as a very large bowl of marinated seafood salad.  I was close to being sick, I was so full yet I continued to eat until everything was all gone!  The logical "WW" side of my brain kept saying "stop, you're full!" but the out-of-control, sleepy side went full steam ahead.  Paid for it this morning, but at least I got up and I went to face the music.  Many would have rolled over and gone back to sleep.  I'll take a Bravo for that!  However, I must get control of this exercise/eating/life in chaos train before I totally go off the rails.  Been finding and losing the same 2 pounds for weeks now, and that has to stop.  NOW!

This weekend was to be Mud Hero.  Sold my bib to a friend, and now I will be a Finish Line Ambassador, whatever the heck that is!  It is out of town (Red Deer, AB), and is it sad that I am actually looking forward to the weekend away??  It's only an hour or so outside of Calgary, but I need a break from reality for awhile.  Leaving tomorrow night, and returning Sunday afternoon.  Pretty much doing the same thing at Spartan next week, although I haven't heard from the volunteer coordinator.  They wouldn't let me sell my bib, but I am already registered and paid for 2014.  That was nice of them.

Heading down to Mom's shortly to continue the purge/clean.  Hoping to have her place listed by the middle of next week.  It's odd and very weird to be packing up 45 years of life and saying good-bye.  So far, I haven't had a melt-down (well...maybe some chips earlier this week???) about it, but I'm sure that's coming.  I'm trying to be the calm, level-headed one, relying on my numbers oriented right brain.  The uber-emotional left brain can just take a wee break, at least until we have an offer.  Then we can melt-down when it's really sold.  Mom is being really good about the whole thing, knowing the house is too big for just her, and that it's silly to be sitting there empty.  But again, I know one day she'll randomly ask where the house is, and why she isn't in it. 

Okay - time to finish up my latte and get on with the day.  Those cupboards aren't going to empty themselves!

Yay for fitness,