Catching up!

It's been awhile since my last post so I guess it's time to catch up. My brother Dick, did recover from his ordeal. Turns out that he had a bad reaction to the anesthesia during his surgery and his heart stopped!!!! He was "dead" for about 20 minutes according to the EMS report. Fortunately they were administering oxygen to him until they could get his heart to start beating so he didn't have any permanent damage. They didn't think he was going to make it and apparently only about 2% of patients that this happens to do make it so he was very "lucky". The surgeon wasn't even able to finish the shoulder surgery but I don't think Dick will be in a hurry to go back under the knife. He'll put up with the pain.

I'm still not running very much so I decided it would be a good time to get on my bike. I rode with Chris from the MTC last Saturday for about 25 miles. We've been talking about biking together since last August and finally did it. We're going to go to a bike event on Saturday and I plan on riding at least 25 miles and hopefully even a little further. I'd love to do about 40 to 50. The next thing I know I'll probably be doing triathlons! NOT! Maybe a duathlon!

Colleen came to visit on Saturday and Ella is getting really cute and fun. She's sitting up and is ready to explore. She is constantly looking around and is really happy. She's really good natured and never cried or fussed. She is really enamored with Chico. It's really funny how she always smiles when she sees him. He is so gentle and small that she probably feels pretty safe. Frank was using our new camera to take some pictures of her and dropped it on the coffee table breaking it. They sure don't make things like they used to. I felt so bad for him as he felt really bad. It's so small that it is kind of hard to hold on to? We really lucked out cause we went to Walmart to see what they had for cameras and they had the exact same camera reduced by about $40.00 cause it was the floor sample and I'm sure is about to be replaced with a newer model. We bought it and hopefully it will last a little longer. I think we'll be more careful although there are no guarantees.

I start a photo class at the community college tomorrow. Hopefully it'll be fun as well as informative. This class is about storing digital photos and organizing them. It seems that I put my pics on the computer and then don't get hard copies. I really need to work on that and get some picture frames filled. Next semester I want to take a class on actually taking digital pictures. It seems that I take a ton of pictures but don't really like them and feel that I miss many great opportunities.

My massage business is pretty slow and so far I've given about 6 massages and hopefully will continue to get new clients. I need to get my fliers out to my neighbors and friends.

I've been accessorizing a little more around here and the bedroom is starting to look much better. I moved the armoir and set up a little seating area and it looks really cozy. We bought a large plant at Cosco and it really warms up the room. Yes, a live plant. Hopefully I won't kill it! I'm waiting for a new bedspread that I ordered. Hopefully we'll like it. We also ordered new coffee tables and end tables for the living room. I had thought I'd refinish our old ones but they really don't work so I bit the bullet. I hated to spend more money but .... Then we had to order new lamps to go with those. I guess that's why I had put off buying new tables as I know it always snowballs! We also want to get blinds for the large windows for energy conservation. I guess I should just go for it and get it over it. The last large ticket item that I'd like to do is to carpet the guest rooms but I think that will wait for a little longer. I'm actually going to try to sell our antique bed. Hopefully we'll be able to do pretty well with that. I love it but it just isn't practical. When guests come, I don't think they're too crazy about how high it is so I think we'll just get a regular frame once we sell that.

Enough catching up for today. Gotta run!

Loving gazes

 

Here's a pic of Grandpa Frank feeding little Ella. Be sure to notice how Colleen is gazing at her beautiful little girl. Such love in her eyes!

The Ups and Downs

It's Thursday already. Time sure does have a way of flying by. It's been a pretty good week until today so I'll recap. I took Monday off to recover from my "long" run on Sunday. Tuesday I got a 6 miler in at the lake and felt pretty good. I went to SP and did an exchange massage with a women that I'm going to trade with. I get mine tomorrow and cannot wait. My whole body hurts. (again) I didn't run on Wednesday and went to both the chiro and the sports doctor. They both think I'm improving however, not as quickly as I think I should be. I did get the go ahead to do lower body strenghtening and I'm looking forward to starting that. I did a very abbreviated workout yesterday afternoon just to see how my week hamstrings and glutes would respond. It will take time before I'm able to do a complete workout but I will get there. Today I went back to the lake and ran 6 again. I had discomfort during most of my run but not too bad. I'm very sore now and will make it a point to do some self-deep tissue massage later.
I got a call today that my brother in Florida is in intensive care and not in very good shape after having a bloodclot go to his lung stopping his heart during a routine shoulder operation. I'm so up in the air now as to what to do. I should probably get my butt down there to see what I can do but then again, what can I do and I already have several commitments here as well although they could certainly be cancelled.

5 times around the lake

I made it 5 times around the lake for about 10 1/2 miles. I felt pretty good and no real pain. Each loop I continued to pass this women who was running in the opposite direction and decided to run until I didn't see her anymore. She was running slowly about the same pace as I. When I finished my 4th loop, I noticed that she had finished and was standing near the water. I stopped and introduced myself and asked her how far she had gone. She had done 4 loops (the same as I had done at that point). We chatted and had a lot incommon and she too was looking for a training partner for biking and running. She had inquired about the tri group starting at the club as I had. We exchanged phone numbers and plan to train together in the future. She only does 1/2 marathons however, at least it will be nice to have someone to run part of my runs with as well as bike. I've met a couple of other women there that I think we may be able to form some type of organized runs, perhaps an adendum to the running club that already meets there, an older and slower group!. I guess it makes sense that I'm always the oldest of the women that I meet as there just are not many my age that are out there running or working out. It'll keep me young trying to make sure that I can keep up with them. The women I met yesterday is a massage therapist for horses! Pretty cool.
Anyway, Frank came by the parking lot after running about 17 or so miles and had one more loop to run around the lake so I decided to go with him as he would be running and walking so I felt I could keep up. I had been chatting for about an hour by that time! So I ended up getting 10+ miles in and hope to increase it again next weekend.
My butt was a little sore but I iced it when I got home and it seems to be recovering quite nicely.
Time to get working out now so off I go to do some weight training! I think I'm starting to see some definition in my arms. I hope to start some lower body workouts this week. I meet with the doctor on Wednesday and will have my instruction then on what I need to do to strengthen my hamstrings and glutes!

Looking ahead!

I must be getting better as I'm once again starting to think about what races to sign up for. That is a good sign. I had a pretty good week although it was off to a shaky start. I ran on Tuesday and felt pretty good and decided to try a Pilates class on Wednesday. I didn't enjoy the class and actually felt worse after going. I felt sore and very frustrated however, I felt much better on Thursday and decided to hit the trails again. I ended up feeling so good that I "ran" 8 miles and nothing hurt! I couldn't believe it after how discouraged I had felt the day before. What a difference a day makes!!! I ran again on Friday but only did 4 (2 loops around the lake) because I knew I wouldn't be able to get a run in on Saturday. Everything still felt pretty good and I feel like maybe I will continue making progress! Tomorrow I plan on running 12 albeit very slow. I'm looking forward to being out there for a few hours. It's been way too long. So fingers crossed!

Today we went to the Pinehurst Resort which was the first time we had been there. It was amazing to see it up close. I was certainly out of my league but it was fun and we plan on going to lunch there one day soon. We were there for our training for the volunteering position that we signed up for. We are going to be working at the Jimmy V Celebrity Golf tournament in August. It should be a lot of fun. We're going to be Course Marshall's and I had no idea how much is involved! I hope I can handle it. We will get to go to the 3 golf courses on Saturday to watch the "warm-up" celebrity golfer and get autographs and just check out all the courses around as normally you're not allowed on them. I have no idea who the celebs will be but it should be fun. The celebs pay $6000.00 to play a round of golf so each foursome pays $24000.00! With 3 18 hole courses, that's a lot of money for cancer research. I think it's almost $13 million dollars! Not bad for a days work! On Sunday, we have to be very cool and keep the spectators safe as well as the golfers. We got a couple of golf shirts (dri-release)visors and pins. We'll also receive a post volunteer party on Monday after the event as well as several other perks. I think getting involved in activities like this will make it a lot more fun to be here. I hope we meet other active people from the area.

I officially started my massage business at a salon/spa in Pinehurst. My ad appeared in the local paper yesterday and I've already receive a call for 2 massages next week! I also had a client that came to the house yesterday for her massage and will come monthly here as well so it looks like I may actually start working! I think it's a good thing as long as I don't get too busy! I also met a women that I'm going to trade massages with. She is in Southern Pines and is very busy. She works 6 days a week. Way too much for me! Anyway, she is very nice and she really helped with my butt issues!

Frank is at the club working out so I thought I'd catch up on my blog. It's amazing how days go by and I don't take the time to recap the day. My goal is to try to blog almost everyday as I don't seem to be able to remember a lot of the details that are important especially in determining the cause and duration of injuries, etc!

It looks like my next "race" will be the Hinson Lake 24 hour run. I did it last year and it was a lot of fun?? Jean and Herm may come down for it so that would be really fun although I don't think Frank is going to do it. His family is having a family reunion in VA and he wants to go. I've decided to not go as it's his cousins and people that I don't really know and I think it would be easier for him to catch up if he didn't have to worry about me. Hopefully he'll get to see Jean and Herm either before or after. We'll see. He will get to see them next Month at the Cactoctin 50K in Maryland. I'm going to stay home with Chico as I won't be in any shape to run that challenging course. Again I think it will be more fun for him if he doesn't have to worry about me. Aren't I generous???
I had a brainstorm the other day and am going to try to have either a 6 or 12 hour run around the lake here at the reservoir. There are a lot of people training for the 24 hour run so it would be good turnup. It will be a fat-ass but I will still need to get the blessing of the township or the park officials. I hope we can pull it off as I think it will be fun. Very low-key and free for all. Just several hours of running in circles! Fun right?

Wow, looks like I got carried away. Better go start dinner! Carbo loading for our long run. Well, Frank is doing 20 and normally I don't consider 12 long, but it will be long compared to the 2 to 4 that I've been doing. Hope all goes well!

A "longish" run!

I ran 8 miles today which was the farthest I've gone in several weeks and actually felt pretty good. No pain or discomfort to talk about. A little tender now but manageable so I'm very happy about that. It will take a little while to get my endurance back but hopefully I'll be able to be a more consistent with running now and will be back to pre-injury stamina! I think if I just keep up with the icing, heat and using the massage ball to break up the scar tissue, I should be back to running pain free.
Next week I'll start working at the salon in Pinehurst a couple of days a week so that should be interesting. Hopefully it will work out but I am a little concerned about the room being too small and perhaps too noisy a location. I'll give it a try and if it doesn't work out I'll check out other options. There does seem to be an abundance of massage therapists around here and most of them are very busy so I'm sure that something will eventually workout.

Grandpa Frank

 
Here's a pic of Frank yesterday with Ella. He sure loves seeing his little grandbaby!

Begin again!

I actually ran/walked 6 miles today and feel very good about it. I think I am over the hurdle. The pain is my butt is almost gone although I still can't sit on it for very long but I feel like it's gone. My hamstring is still a little tender after I blew it out with the massage ball the other day. I had a massage on Thursday and I think it really helped as she was able to loosen up the muscles around the glute! Now I just have to be sure to not overdo it while trying to build back up. Frank is in Umstead today running the Sweaty Butt 50K. It was really strange to not be going but I knew it would be a real setback to try to run there. It's hot and humid so actually I was pretty happy to run "just 6"!
Yesterday we went to Colleen's for July 4th. It was really nice to see them as well as Ella. Ellas is getting big and changes everytime we see her. Erin and Josh were there as well and they are going to be a terrific aunt and uncle to Ella. It was really fun to see how excited they were to be with Ella. I wonder how long before they give Ella a little cousin! It's amazing how quickly our family has grown. One more month and we'll have another grandbaby. That will make 3 little girls! How cute is that!
Lots to do while Frank is away for the day so best get going! Gotta run!

Just shoot me!

First the good news. I went to see the doctor yesterday and he said that it was actually a good thing that my butt was still hurting and a sign that it is not something more significant. He recommended continuing with the walk/run thing, biking and running in the pool. All good news. The bad news is is that I was using the ball to work deep into my butt muscles to help them release as a deep cross friction massage would do and it really helped however, I apparently went too deep in my hamstring and it really blew them up. They're very tender and now even trying to run a little hurts. Hopefully the icing and heat therapy that I've been doing will help bring it along a little faster but it's very frustrating. I am going to a massage therapist today so hopefully she'll be able to smooth out the aggrevated muscle without making it worse. I cannot believe how much of a bummer this whole thing is turning out to be. It's been almost 2 months that I've been dealing with this and it seems now I may have set myself back a little bit more. I will certainly lose most if not all of the endurance/stamina that I had worked so hard on for the past year. I guess I'm back to where I was a year ago however then my being out of running shape was due to moving and all that that involved and not from an injury. I'm still hopefull that I'll be back to running painfree soon (the doctor is hopefully that within a month I should be painfree) and will start to build my milage again. It's really tough to be missing out on the running events that are our social outlets. Saturday Frank is going to run a fat-ass 50K in Umstead that I had been planning to do as well. Now I'll be staying home with Chico. Okay, enough whining but this seems to be a good place to do it so I'm not totally annoying everyone around me. I didn't realize just how tough it is to not be able to run for any significant length of time and will certainly have more empathy for others in the future that are injured as well. It really sucks!

Too optomistic!

Well, it looks like I was a little too optomistic. I woke up Sunday to find my my butt was still achy as well as my hip. Took the day off and did do 4 on Monday and Tuesday. It seems that perhaps the bursa diagnosis is not correct. I still think it's a muscle tear and from what I've read, it needs lots of stretching and deep cross friction massage. I've been working on self massage with the miracle balls but probably need to see a professional for the real cross-friction torture. I'm going back to the sports doctor today so hopefully he'll have some thoughts and a plan. I'm pretty much at the end of my rope and am tired of the constant ache in my butt.
More after the doctors visit.
Trying to be positive but not too optomistic.