So after my cute little "I'm going to get my attitude right" post on Monday, I proceeded to be in a foul, cranky mood. I wasn't feeling any relief. At my appointment with the chiropractor that afternoon, I told her I was feeling the same, if not worse, and they made me an appointment for an MRI on Tuesday evening. I wasn't exactly happy about that but I was interested in getting some answers. I have this knot to the right of my lumbar spine and I've been thinking since July, when I started feeling the pain, that it was cancerous or something awful. I am my mother's daughter, "worst case scenario" might as well be one of my middle names.
And the MRI itself, those things suck. Why did no one tell me? The form that I had to fill out had me all upset and nervous because I have a permanent retainer and I was afraid the magnets would pull my face into the machine. And the machine itself is GIGANTOR and crazy looking. When I saw the tiny chute that I had to fit into, it did freak me out a little bit. I'm not claustrophobic, but it was freaky. How do obese people get in those things? Once I got in and we got going with the loud picture taking, it almost started sounding musical to me and I would zone out into a very savasana-like state. Before I knew it, the tech came over the speaker and said we only had one more picture to take and that it would be two minutes. Adam said I was back in the room for over 30 minutes but luckily it didn't feel that way.
When I got to the chiro yesterday, she said she had my MRI reports in (a day early, when does that happen?) and that she was going to call another doctor quickly and then we'd talk about it (so OBVIOUSLY my mind went to OH MY GOD she's calling the ONCOLOGIST and I'm going to die). She was just double checking with the doctor that made the report to make sure she was understanding it all. I am an idiot.
We talked about the report, I have two bulging discs, just as she originally suspected, that are becoming more inflamed/aggravated when I do forward folding in yoga. I have some options for recovery but my first choice is to try her decompression table, which basically involves me strapping in, face down on a table that uses pulleys and the dropping of the ends of the tables to pull me apart while my back is in extension (a slight backbend). It sounds dramatic but it actually felt FABULOUS. Of course, the table work isn't covered by insurance (but steroid shots into my spine are partially covered, because THIS is what is wrong with our health care system and America loves to treat things the most invasive way possible instead of allowing the body to heal itself with some assistance and a little bit of work on my part, WTH). But this is not the time or place for my 8,000 word diatribe about all the things wrong with health care in America.
So, long story short, I did my treatments yesterday, spent the evening walking around at the State Fair (instead of sitting down, which is more painful for me) and felt better than I have in a LONG time. I taught a class of VERY beginning students today so I did more yoga than I have in weeks (but taking it extremely slow and very easy on myself) and it felt good for the first time in a long time. I'm not supposed to do yoga right now and I plan to take that seriously, but it did feel good mentally to know that I am slowly working on this healing process and that one day, I'll be able to enjoy my practice again.
This whole thing is, unfortunately, very much my fault. I put a ton of pressure on myself to finish my certification in 8.5 weeks and put pressure on myself to take poses more extremely than my body needs. One of my favorite instructors in Chicago always said "Go where you go" when we were in particularly tough postures and I need to remember that and go where my body wants to go, not putting my face on my shins just because I think that will make me a better yoga teacher and better person. I'm not as good as a teacher now because I am limited, but even that challenge is teaching me to hone my words and describe more vividly what I want my students to do. I will grow from this mostly because I'll learn what yoga really is; it is not competition with myself or anyone else. It's just "going where I go" and learning to accept that for what it is. Now that I know I don't have some flesh eating blob living inside of me (the knot is nothing to worry about and lots of people have them- the pain I feel more so on that side of my body is because one of the discs is bulging toward the right), it's much easier to feel comfortable about where I'm headed. I am looking forward to learning how to take care of my spine. I'll be a better teacher to others when this is all over because I know now just how infinitely precious my mobility is!
Thursday, October 13, 2011
the wedding that was, part 3
After riding up on the boat, we joined our cocktail hour about 30 minutes in. If I'm totally honest, the next hour or so was really stressful for me! We were pulled in about 100 directions during the cocktail hour trying to see as many people as we could. When we finally went inside for dinner, I was so anxious about greeting everyone (I've been to too many weddings where I never saw the bride and groom) that I wasn't even hungry. While the coordinator, caterer and DJ were coordinating the buffet (Mexican food, of course, this was a very San Antonio event, after all), Adam and I were served and I think I told him he had less than 10 minutes to eat.
Somehow, we made it to every table and I think and hope we saw everyone. When I looked around and saw full plates in front of everyone, I started to relax again and enjoy the night. When it was all over, our only complaint was that it went by too fast...
Adam's groomsmen gift was custom Chuck Taylors in colors that represent the guys sports teams. In order L-R: Bayern Munich, University of New Mexico, Virginia Tech, Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago Bears, Chicago Cubs, Green Bay Packers, LA Lakers. (not pictured: my dad, whose colors were green and blue because he supports no sports teams and was lame and had to go back to the hotel because he forgot his speech and to change shoes- he was a hot mess).
Cake cutting and there was no face smooshing at this wedding, just for your information. Notice the original Lane Stadium (Virginia Tech) plan was scrapped post-Blackhawks Stanley Cup win. Our friend, Brooke, made the epic 16 layers for Adam as our wedding gift.
After a particularly funny moment in a best man's toast...
Our first dance as husband and wife was spent mostly by Adam stepping on my dress, but lovely nonetheless, because we chose a funny song (Whatever It Is, by Zac Brown Band).
My dad and I relived our awesome moment on the football field with a fabulous rendition of My Girl.
Adam and his mom cried and danced to Josh Groban (which thankfully our DJ tastefully edited the six minute song, You Raise Me Up) and I don't think there were many dry eyes in the house. I can't remember where I was during this because it was super awkward and I didn't know were I "should" have been. From this photographic evidence, it appears I am talking to my brother.
Despite my dislike for it, "Shout" was my mom's #1 request and I had to acquiesce so the oldies would have something to dance to.
My brother and his girlfriend, who was also a bridesmaid and one of my besties from college. He calls this his "cutting a rug" picture.
These are our two awesome friends that ended up marrying each other last June. Good times.
This was the last dance of the night (Sweet Home Chicago- Blues Brothers Version) and we still had a packed dance floor. We had the best guests on the planet and even my sweet Grandmother made it all the way to the end of the night, at a huge surprise to all of us.
We left in a blaze of glory and crushed up cascarones (confetti eggs, yet another San Antonio tradition).
Being the World Champion Wedding-ers that we were, we made it to Pat O'Brien's for a bit of the after party, although I'm still upset that we missed the drinking from the Stanley Cup that took place shortly after our departure.
We wouldn't have done it any other way. It was perfect and it was so representative of our personalities. Our wedding party was amazing (even with one at 8.5 months pregnant) and we had a blast dancing the night away with our rockin' families and closest friends. The only thing that makes me sad about it is that we live so far away from so many of our guests (now and then) and we'll never have the opportunity to have them all in one room again, well, at least until our 10 year vow renewal. Vegas, anyone?
*all photos, except for the last one, which was my own, are by the lovely Caitlin Hudnall of Caitlin's Creations Photography
Somehow, we made it to every table and I think and hope we saw everyone. When I looked around and saw full plates in front of everyone, I started to relax again and enjoy the night. When it was all over, our only complaint was that it went by too fast...
Adam's groomsmen gift was custom Chuck Taylors in colors that represent the guys sports teams. In order L-R: Bayern Munich, University of New Mexico, Virginia Tech, Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago Bears, Chicago Cubs, Green Bay Packers, LA Lakers. (not pictured: my dad, whose colors were green and blue because he supports no sports teams and was lame and had to go back to the hotel because he forgot his speech and to change shoes- he was a hot mess).
Cake cutting and there was no face smooshing at this wedding, just for your information. Notice the original Lane Stadium (Virginia Tech) plan was scrapped post-Blackhawks Stanley Cup win. Our friend, Brooke, made the epic 16 layers for Adam as our wedding gift.
After a particularly funny moment in a best man's toast...
Our first dance as husband and wife was spent mostly by Adam stepping on my dress, but lovely nonetheless, because we chose a funny song (Whatever It Is, by Zac Brown Band).
My dad and I relived our awesome moment on the football field with a fabulous rendition of My Girl.
Adam and his mom cried and danced to Josh Groban (which thankfully our DJ tastefully edited the six minute song, You Raise Me Up) and I don't think there were many dry eyes in the house. I can't remember where I was during this because it was super awkward and I didn't know were I "should" have been. From this photographic evidence, it appears I am talking to my brother.
Despite my dislike for it, "Shout" was my mom's #1 request and I had to acquiesce so the oldies would have something to dance to.
My brother and his girlfriend, who was also a bridesmaid and one of my besties from college. He calls this his "cutting a rug" picture.
These are our two awesome friends that ended up marrying each other last June. Good times.
This was the last dance of the night (Sweet Home Chicago- Blues Brothers Version) and we still had a packed dance floor. We had the best guests on the planet and even my sweet Grandmother made it all the way to the end of the night, at a huge surprise to all of us.
We left in a blaze of glory and crushed up cascarones (confetti eggs, yet another San Antonio tradition).
Being the World Champion Wedding-ers that we were, we made it to Pat O'Brien's for a bit of the after party, although I'm still upset that we missed the drinking from the Stanley Cup that took place shortly after our departure.
We wouldn't have done it any other way. It was perfect and it was so representative of our personalities. Our wedding party was amazing (even with one at 8.5 months pregnant) and we had a blast dancing the night away with our rockin' families and closest friends. The only thing that makes me sad about it is that we live so far away from so many of our guests (now and then) and we'll never have the opportunity to have them all in one room again, well, at least until our 10 year vow renewal. Vegas, anyone?
*all photos, except for the last one, which was my own, are by the lovely Caitlin Hudnall of Caitlin's Creations Photography
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
the wedding that was, part 2
Texas weather can be notoriously crazy but we couldn't have asked for better on 10/16/10. I want to say the high/low was something like 80/60, which was just perfect to not need a jacket, nor be sitting in a sweat pile. It was worth the 14 month wait to get married in the fall.
The look on her face is so TYPICAL Nancy. And hilariously appropriate. Better not to be able to light the candle rather than one of us faceplant. Thanks for taking one for the team, Mom.
This is quite possibly one of the coolest pictures we got of the day. The photographer's assistant shot it from the balcony.
Go time for Dad and me! He managed to keep it together during our walk down the aisle. I'm 99% sure I walked way too fast.
AND we're married! After what was probably a 10 minute ceremony. You're welcome, guests.
From there, we traveled downtown and the wedding party got on a river barge to ride from our hotel to the reception site. This was hands down the best thing we did and when the venue coordinator mentioned the possibility to my dad, it pretty much sold him on the place. We even got to ride through the Arneson River Theater during a rather rowdy Tejano concert. Ballers.
Cocktail hour, complete with mariachis, was being held on the 3rd floor balcony of the International Center on the San Antonio Riverwalk. As we started to pull up, the announcement was made that we were coming via riverbarge. It was awesome to see our guests lined up along the balcony.
Our ceremony was VERY short, which was just fine with Adam and I. An old family friend and former pastor at my church was our officiant and he basically let us choose the flow, the style, the readings, music, etc. and it was very much "us". As on any wedding day, it wasn't without a couple of kinks (including a missing marriage license, whoops!) but nothing that we had to worry about. It was perfect in my eyes.
Mini snafu: My mother (bright blue) had trouble lighting her portion of the "unity candle" so my mother-in-law came back up to help her. This is especially funny since I had asked my mom at the rehearsal to practice lighting it and she refused. HMMM... my dad and I were wondering what could possibly be taking so long!
The look on her face is so TYPICAL Nancy. And hilariously appropriate. Better not to be able to light the candle rather than one of us faceplant. Thanks for taking one for the team, Mom.
This is quite possibly one of the coolest pictures we got of the day. The photographer's assistant shot it from the balcony.
Go time for Dad and me! He managed to keep it together during our walk down the aisle. I'm 99% sure I walked way too fast.
AND we're married! After what was probably a 10 minute ceremony. You're welcome, guests.
From there, we traveled downtown and the wedding party got on a river barge to ride from our hotel to the reception site. This was hands down the best thing we did and when the venue coordinator mentioned the possibility to my dad, it pretty much sold him on the place. We even got to ride through the Arneson River Theater during a rather rowdy Tejano concert. Ballers.
Cocktail hour, complete with mariachis, was being held on the 3rd floor balcony of the International Center on the San Antonio Riverwalk. As we started to pull up, the announcement was made that we were coming via riverbarge. It was awesome to see our guests lined up along the balcony.
The boat ride was perfect. While I claimed all along that it wasn't a big deal if the weather foiled our plans, in retrospect, it was such an unforgettable part of our day. Ironically, it was probably the cheapest part of the day!
Next up: Party Time (and the last in this fabulous little series, I promise)
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
the wedding that was, part 1
We (ahem, I suppose it's only me these days because Adam doesn't want to come here and tell our three readers (hi, Mom!) how happy he is to be in Texas) started writing in this space during a difficult time in our journey that brought us here to Dallas. I am so happy I revisited blogger because it's been fun to already look back and see the wide range of emotions that we went through. I can't imagine how funny it will be to read the early angst-y entries in 5 or 10 years.
When I stopped blogging before, it was mostly because I had pigeon-holed myself into writing about running and my charity walk, which I wanted to take a break from. But also because I had no work life to speak of (as I would not have discussed the family that I nannied for online) and I spent most of the remainder of my time bouncing back and forth from Chicago to San Antonio to spend time with my ailing grandmother and do all of our wedding planning. While I adored reading wedding blogs, I didn't want to blog the step-by-step particulars of our wedding beforehand. I still have no regrets about that. I have a fantastic album made by our wonderful photographer and 150+ guests to reminisce about it with.
But, as our first anniversary rapidly approaches, it seems appropriate to remember what was the best day of my life so far. And if I'm quite honest, I'm not sure what could approach it, as I don't think the days of my potential children's births will be quite the same awesome party. Please excuse the fact that I broke the posts up. I realize that is one of the most annoying things a blogger could do but I want to do the day justice.
Part 1 is pre-wedding:
Adam and the guys got dressed in the fellowship hall of my childhood church.
Some poker may have happened, not sure how Presbyterians feel about gambling...
For us ladies, getting dressed was SLIGHTLY more of a project. Getting my dress tight enough was a THING requiring many people.
I always thought the Bride's Room at church was so regal and I'm not sure I ever imagined that it would be me getting ready in it one day. (Also, not sure that I was prepared for not being able to put on my own shoes and garter, HA!)
We did a "First Look", which took some convincing on my part because Adam wasn't originally on board. In retrospect, it was 100% the best decision we made. It made us both much more relaxed and we only needed about 10 family pictures after the ceremony.
It also afforded us time to walk across the street to take pictures in front of this doozy of a mural, that I've heard my photographer made famous by having a huge canvas print of this shot in her office. I've seen it pop up with other couples on her blog. It's very San Antonio, which was what we were going for.
With our entire wedding party, they were all great sports and we couldn't have asked for a better posse to stand with us and they were all the life of the party at the reception.
When I stopped blogging before, it was mostly because I had pigeon-holed myself into writing about running and my charity walk, which I wanted to take a break from. But also because I had no work life to speak of (as I would not have discussed the family that I nannied for online) and I spent most of the remainder of my time bouncing back and forth from Chicago to San Antonio to spend time with my ailing grandmother and do all of our wedding planning. While I adored reading wedding blogs, I didn't want to blog the step-by-step particulars of our wedding beforehand. I still have no regrets about that. I have a fantastic album made by our wonderful photographer and 150+ guests to reminisce about it with.
But, as our first anniversary rapidly approaches, it seems appropriate to remember what was the best day of my life so far. And if I'm quite honest, I'm not sure what could approach it, as I don't think the days of my potential children's births will be quite the same awesome party. Please excuse the fact that I broke the posts up. I realize that is one of the most annoying things a blogger could do but I want to do the day justice.
Part 1 is pre-wedding:
Adam and the guys got dressed in the fellowship hall of my childhood church.
Some poker may have happened, not sure how Presbyterians feel about gambling...
For us ladies, getting dressed was SLIGHTLY more of a project. Getting my dress tight enough was a THING requiring many people.
I always thought the Bride's Room at church was so regal and I'm not sure I ever imagined that it would be me getting ready in it one day. (Also, not sure that I was prepared for not being able to put on my own shoes and garter, HA!)
We did a "First Look", which took some convincing on my part because Adam wasn't originally on board. In retrospect, it was 100% the best decision we made. It made us both much more relaxed and we only needed about 10 family pictures after the ceremony.
It also afforded us time to walk across the street to take pictures in front of this doozy of a mural, that I've heard my photographer made famous by having a huge canvas print of this shot in her office. I've seen it pop up with other couples on her blog. It's very San Antonio, which was what we were going for.
With our entire wedding party, they were all great sports and we couldn't have asked for a better posse to stand with us and they were all the life of the party at the reception.
Next up: ceremony and travel to the reception.
Monday, October 10, 2011
closing up shop on the pity party
My back is still jacked. The chiropractor thinks I have a herniated disc in my lumbar spine (low back- L4 if you want to get particular, due to my symptom of wrap around pain in my glutes and the front of my hip).
I have had two treatments at the chiropractor and since Friday, I've been faithfully icing it at least three times a day. The icing part may not sound like much, but I have this thing where I really hate to ice anything due to an unfortunate skin burn incident during the marathon training, where Adam told me to quit being a wimp and I ended up with a faint discoloration on my right leg to this day. I've been banned from practicing yoga, which does affect the way that I teach somewhat, for the time being. I have three (expensive) treatments on the docket for this week. But the worst of it is that I'm not feeling any relief yet. My x-rays came out fine, there was a tiny white spot on the vertebrae where she thinks I'm having the issue that is a little arthritic looking but nothing that we shouldn't be able to correct. After two more weeks of treatment, I'd have to have an MRI for a closer look at everything if I haven't felt any improvement. I won't think about that happening yet, because it a. ties my stomach in knots and b. it's not going to be necessary. I will feel better soon.
It's been a difficult and emotional process for me. I don't like being limited in my mobility but I also am in either sharp pain or discomfort about 70% of the day, especially when sitting down. I can't seem to find a single seated position that feels right. I feel awful for anyone who has chronic spinal pain, it's AWFUL. I spent several days having a personal pity party and luckily Pinkberry is a drive from the house so I have been too lazy to actually go there despite lots of whining that I want it.
Having this giant pity party hasn't done anything for me. It's actually really stupid. I am young and healthy and my body will heal itself if I am patient and give it time. I have nothing to feel sorry for myself about. We are here in Texas, where the temps are still in the 80s everyday instead of inching our way toward the long, hard winter. I have hardly opened our coat closet (and we actually HAVE a coat closet)! We are celebrating our first anniversary this weekend and even though we've had some crummy things happen this year, overall, I can look back and say that our relationship is the best it's ever been and we've strengthened our marriage by dealing with hardships together. I am doing EXACTLY what I want to do as far as my own work, I have my dream jobs and I'm getting to spread my passion and love for yoga and running all around. We have friends all over this area who've opened their homes to us and come to visit ours. We have enough room in our home to properly host our families. We have Higgins who is the dearest soul of a dog. We are happy and feeling truly satisfied with our lives. Just ask Adam about his life here and he will tell you he loves his job and that he can play golf or go to the driving range several times a week (he'll also tell you that he's getting better at golf, ha!). I have a little thing going on in my back but it hasn't limited every activity for me, I can still do anything that doesn't involve a lot of bending over. I will be fine and I firmly believe that once I get my mind behind it, I'll start to feel better. It's been easy to think about the large birthday I have in another month and a half and think of myself as old and decrepit, but that's not the right attitude to have to fix this problem. Consider this pity party OVER.
I have had two treatments at the chiropractor and since Friday, I've been faithfully icing it at least three times a day. The icing part may not sound like much, but I have this thing where I really hate to ice anything due to an unfortunate skin burn incident during the marathon training, where Adam told me to quit being a wimp and I ended up with a faint discoloration on my right leg to this day. I've been banned from practicing yoga, which does affect the way that I teach somewhat, for the time being. I have three (expensive) treatments on the docket for this week. But the worst of it is that I'm not feeling any relief yet. My x-rays came out fine, there was a tiny white spot on the vertebrae where she thinks I'm having the issue that is a little arthritic looking but nothing that we shouldn't be able to correct. After two more weeks of treatment, I'd have to have an MRI for a closer look at everything if I haven't felt any improvement. I won't think about that happening yet, because it a. ties my stomach in knots and b. it's not going to be necessary. I will feel better soon.
It's been a difficult and emotional process for me. I don't like being limited in my mobility but I also am in either sharp pain or discomfort about 70% of the day, especially when sitting down. I can't seem to find a single seated position that feels right. I feel awful for anyone who has chronic spinal pain, it's AWFUL. I spent several days having a personal pity party and luckily Pinkberry is a drive from the house so I have been too lazy to actually go there despite lots of whining that I want it.
Having this giant pity party hasn't done anything for me. It's actually really stupid. I am young and healthy and my body will heal itself if I am patient and give it time. I have nothing to feel sorry for myself about. We are here in Texas, where the temps are still in the 80s everyday instead of inching our way toward the long, hard winter. I have hardly opened our coat closet (and we actually HAVE a coat closet)! We are celebrating our first anniversary this weekend and even though we've had some crummy things happen this year, overall, I can look back and say that our relationship is the best it's ever been and we've strengthened our marriage by dealing with hardships together. I am doing EXACTLY what I want to do as far as my own work, I have my dream jobs and I'm getting to spread my passion and love for yoga and running all around. We have friends all over this area who've opened their homes to us and come to visit ours. We have enough room in our home to properly host our families. We have Higgins who is the dearest soul of a dog. We are happy and feeling truly satisfied with our lives. Just ask Adam about his life here and he will tell you he loves his job and that he can play golf or go to the driving range several times a week (he'll also tell you that he's getting better at golf, ha!). I have a little thing going on in my back but it hasn't limited every activity for me, I can still do anything that doesn't involve a lot of bending over. I will be fine and I firmly believe that once I get my mind behind it, I'll start to feel better. It's been easy to think about the large birthday I have in another month and a half and think of myself as old and decrepit, but that's not the right attitude to have to fix this problem. Consider this pity party OVER.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
the saddest race ever
On Saturday, the Running to Drink posse met up (minus a couple, BOO!) for the Vineyard Run in Grapevine. Spoiler alert: we all falsely assumed that it was a 5K.
It was GORGEOUS WEATHER, I was wearing my long-sleeved thumbholes running shirt for goodness sake! I had been biking and Bikraming all week and taking Higgins out for mini-runs so I felt good about my "training" progress since the week before. I wanted to run hard and see where that took me. Unfortunately, I can't remember my exact 5K PR from a race two Februarys ago in San Antonio but I think it was something like 29:20. My goal is to one day finish under 29:00, which would be lightening speed for this old tortoise.
I love the small races here, it's so much easier to run faster when you aren't weaving in and out of, oh, 35,000 other people (ahem, Shamrock Shuffle) and I started out with a decent pace. I felt really good on all the hills and just kept pushing my pace as fast as I could without ralphing or having breathing problems. When we got to the end, I looked down at my heart rate monitor and realized that I was hauling some serious butt. I crossed the finish line at less than 26 minutes, but I just knew that there was no way I'd actually ran quite that fast. My time from the week before was over 31 minutes! I saw Adam and at this point I had a couple of tears happening. Running that hard always makes me feel a rush of conflicting emotions: disappointment that I gave it my all and was still slow, appreciation that my body can run at all, etc. I think my first out of breath words to him were something to the effect of "there was no way that was a full 5K, right?" and he said that the announcer was apologizing to everyone because the race was only about 2.75ish miles instead of the 3.1. He said that the lead cyclist made a wrong turn on the course somewhere so we got a little bit shorted. I was so disappointed because I was still running pretty close to PR pace, and either way, I would have most likely broke 30:00, which is always an accomplishment for me. What a bummer!
Our next 5K on the schedule is 10/29 so I guess I'll go for the new PR then, but this one was a little bit of a heartbreaker. Luckily the Mimi's Cafe Strawberry Lemonade Mimosas that I had with brunch smoothed over the disappointment.
It was GORGEOUS WEATHER, I was wearing my long-sleeved thumbholes running shirt for goodness sake! I had been biking and Bikraming all week and taking Higgins out for mini-runs so I felt good about my "training" progress since the week before. I wanted to run hard and see where that took me. Unfortunately, I can't remember my exact 5K PR from a race two Februarys ago in San Antonio but I think it was something like 29:20. My goal is to one day finish under 29:00, which would be lightening speed for this old tortoise.
I love the small races here, it's so much easier to run faster when you aren't weaving in and out of, oh, 35,000 other people (ahem, Shamrock Shuffle) and I started out with a decent pace. I felt really good on all the hills and just kept pushing my pace as fast as I could without ralphing or having breathing problems. When we got to the end, I looked down at my heart rate monitor and realized that I was hauling some serious butt. I crossed the finish line at less than 26 minutes, but I just knew that there was no way I'd actually ran quite that fast. My time from the week before was over 31 minutes! I saw Adam and at this point I had a couple of tears happening. Running that hard always makes me feel a rush of conflicting emotions: disappointment that I gave it my all and was still slow, appreciation that my body can run at all, etc. I think my first out of breath words to him were something to the effect of "there was no way that was a full 5K, right?" and he said that the announcer was apologizing to everyone because the race was only about 2.75ish miles instead of the 3.1. He said that the lead cyclist made a wrong turn on the course somewhere so we got a little bit shorted. I was so disappointed because I was still running pretty close to PR pace, and either way, I would have most likely broke 30:00, which is always an accomplishment for me. What a bummer!
Our next 5K on the schedule is 10/29 so I guess I'll go for the new PR then, but this one was a little bit of a heartbreaker. Luckily the Mimi's Cafe Strawberry Lemonade Mimosas that I had with brunch smoothed over the disappointment.
Monday, October 3, 2011
everything hurts
I'm taking three days completely off of exercise, which for my life here in Dallas is pretty drastic. I've been on the move pretty much since we landed here but my problems that originated in my low back, caused issues with my glutes and have moved back to my low back aren't getting any better. I got on my bike yesterday morning and it didn't feel good. I rode to White Rock and pretty much rode right back home because I couldn't ever get comfortable.
I have these knots-like objects in my low back and they are KILLING me right now. I can't even sit in a hard backed chair without feeling a bit of discomfort but I'm in a great deal of pain anytime I lift. I've tried every remedy that I can think of on my own but the time has come for me to breakdown and visit the chiropractor. I'm not looking forward to it because I'm angry at myself for "letting this happen" and I'm mad that my body won't heal itself. And also, doctors of any kind make me marginally uncomfortable and I hate spending the money on it. I hope they just prescribe me with needing lots of massages, ha!
So, Higgins and I are taking our rest days and going on a mini-vacation to San Antonio. He's super excited to meed his Uncle Milo Dog. I'm super interested to see how he deals with a four hour car ride. No bikes, no running, no Bikram and I'll come back 10 pounds heavier from overindulgence on bean and cheese tacos :)
I have these knots-like objects in my low back and they are KILLING me right now. I can't even sit in a hard backed chair without feeling a bit of discomfort but I'm in a great deal of pain anytime I lift. I've tried every remedy that I can think of on my own but the time has come for me to breakdown and visit the chiropractor. I'm not looking forward to it because I'm angry at myself for "letting this happen" and I'm mad that my body won't heal itself. And also, doctors of any kind make me marginally uncomfortable and I hate spending the money on it. I hope they just prescribe me with needing lots of massages, ha!
So, Higgins and I are taking our rest days and going on a mini-vacation to San Antonio. He's super excited to meed his Uncle Milo Dog. I'm super interested to see how he deals with a four hour car ride. No bikes, no running, no Bikram and I'll come back 10 pounds heavier from overindulgence on bean and cheese tacos :)
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