10,000 Miles in 10 Years

Setback

2009-11-20T09:13:00.000-06:00

Here, I've reached a point where it would be very easy for me to say, "Forget it."

Repeated injuries and problems over the past year have really worn me out, and the anti-exercise part of me thinks that this exercise stuff is for the birds! All it leads to is pain and problems.

Thankfully, that part of me is a very small part.

The truth is that my lack of regular exercise is what has lead me to these problems. That, and my terrible eating habits. I've been malnourished enough that my bones are weak. The running that I love to do has been putting a lot of stress on bones that aren't quite ready for it. The solution is to hold off on the running for a while.

That's a disappointing set back. However, it isn't so easy to run on crutches, and that's where I'm at for the moment - on crutches. Well, sort of. Do you know how inconvenient crutches are? Especially since I am the one who cooks and cleans around here. Not to mention being on puppy patrol. It's near-impossible to pick up a peeing puppy to take her outside while trying to maneuver on crutches. Ick. Most of the time, I end up setting the crutches aside. Probably not a good thing. Still, I've been sitting a lot, and walking very gently.

Since the running is on hold for a while, I have decided to work on other ways of getting stronger. This would be a good time to learn to do a real push up, and a real pull up. I have not ever been able to do even one proper rep of either one of those exercises. I would like to be stronger, so while I can not run, I can work on strength training. To that end, I'm keeping my eyes open for some sort of user-friendly program, like the Couch to 5k Running program, only with strength training.

Sick 2

2009-11-13T06:43:00.000-06:00

Sore throat, neck hurts, head is stopping up...

I *knew* this would happen.

I'm getting sick.

Bugger.

Sick

2009-11-09T09:53:00.000-06:00

Everyone in the house, except for me, has been sick, for nearly two weeks.

Believe me, I'm so thankful that it seems to have skipped me (now watch - I'll get sick in a day or so).

I'm just tired (which, of course, is an invitation for sickness to invade a body). I haven't had good sleep in quite a few days.

After five days of not running, I went out today. Even though tired Me was saying, "Let's take a nap. I don't wanna run. Sleep would be better", I just put on my running clothes and said, "Five minutes. That's all I have to do." Once I was out there, the five minutes went well, and I said to myself, "the last time I went to the track, I ran two whole laps without stopping. Let's try three laps today. That's one whole mile."

Yikes! Tired Me began to whine again, "But what about that hill on the track? It's going to be a bugger to run up three times! Why not just see if I can do two times again?"

And the part of me that made me go out to run in the first place began to waver just a bit. Doubt began to nibble at my resolve. I said to myself, "Okay, two laps, and see how things are then." And I reminded myself to relax and smile.

Two laps in, I said, "It would be easier to keep shuffling than to put the effort into stopping. Why ever does it take so much effort to stop, anyway, when my legs are tired? And HEY! I'm still breathing well, and I was able to say 'good morning' without sounding out of breath, so I must've found a good pace."

Can I just say, it felt really, really good to be able to breathe through an entire mile? My legs got tired, but my lungs didn't hurt. Fandamntastic!

And I kept going, even up the tiny little hill. Really, it's just a small rise, no more than about ten yards long. I kept telling myself, "Hills are speed work in disguise. Every time I go up this little hill, my legs will get stronger, and I will be able to go faster." By the time I finished telling myself that, I was up!

And crap did my hip bone hurt!!!

So I decided that I will get it X-rayed Thursday (payday). I may have to switch to biking while my hip bone heals. Not so sure I like that idea, because running is what I like to do.

And I need new shoes. These are the ones that I would like to get, in lilac/fuschia. Santa, are you listening??

Gadgetry

2009-11-03T09:43:00.000-06:00

For the most part, I consider myself relatively low-tech. The latest and greatest gadgets do not interest me much.

So it was with some amusement that I hit the road for my workout yesterday - carrying a timer to set the length of my intervals; setting a stopwatch as I left, so I could time the overall length of my workout; wearing a pedometer on my hip to measure the distance of my overall workout. Definitely NOT the latest and greatest in running technology. Thankfully, the only thing I have to carry is the timer. I do not like to have anything in my hands while I'm running.

For a mere $350, I could get a Garmin Forerunner 310XT. Less to clip on, and probably gives me more, and more usable, information. Okay, yeah, there are less expensive thingies that would give me the same info. They have amazing functionality in a little device worn like a wristwatch, and I do want one. Probably something that comes with a footpod, so that I am prepared for the days when I have to run inside on a treadmill, which is, um, never. I loathe the treadmill so completely that I will avoid a running workout if I can't do it outside. Given that I have run in torrential downpours that have left me completely squidging in my shoes, I'm not too worried about running inside. Yeah. I wouldn't really need a footpod. 'k.

My next problem with the gadgetry is that most of the thingies are worn like watches. Why is that a problem? Because I stop watches. No kidding. The battery doesn't wear out. They simply stop functioning. I ruined two heart rate monitors, too, before I figured out that I was the problem. So spending $100+ on something that I might get to wear only a few times? Seems less than ideal.

So I have my timer, my stopwatch, and my pedometer. None of those things spend enough time in contact with my skin to be affected by my incredible magnetism. :) Besides, if I had a gadget that was constantly telling me my speed and distance, my mind would get bored. The entire time that I am running, I add distances, split times, calculate speed, and count steps in my head. It's a complete numbers game that keeps my mind off the various (numerous) aches and pains that I experience while I run. My brain would just bob in my skull like a lump if I had a watch just giving me all that info.

Fact is, I love running. I look forward to being able to run miles without stopping for a walk. Once I reach that stage, it's likely that I won't want any gadgets keeping me company. I like them now because the numbers show me proof of improvement. Apparently it isn't enough for me to say, "Hey! Today I ran TWO laps without stopping when last time, I ran only slightly more than ONE lap" (These are 1/3 mile laps, too, rather than the traditional 1/4 mile). Nope. I need the variety of numbers that allows me to see that I went 1/3 mile farther than last time, but only spent an extra 1:30 getting there. Not bad considering I've been averaging about 4:30 on a 1/3 mile lap (I never claimed to run *fast*).

However, I'm crafty, and it wouldn't take much to make a fabric band to wear under a Garmin that would prevent it from coming in contact with my skin. And it would be nice to run varying routes and still know how far I've run...

It's entirely possible that I will end up with a new gadget. Something rather less pricey, though.

Welcome to my version of "pros and cons". :D

Tired

2009-10-27T09:35:00.000-05:00

Really, really tired.

So okay, my first blog post in three weeks is full of whinging and moping. Blah.

I'm falling apart!

The run for the police department went well for me. No, I didn't run fast enough for THEM. Still, I ran faster than my first attempt, AND I ran much, much farther without stopping. About a half mile. That was very cool. I felt stronger, too. The sun was out, and even though it was late evening when I ran, the sun made a big difference after training for a month in perpetual rain and overcast skies. I got very hot, very quickly.

With that goal out of the way, I felt freer to focus on my couch-to-5k program. It was going very well, until the second workout of week three. That was Tuesday, the 20th. The problem started the Friday before, I think. I went for a run with my friend, and my right hip felt like it had a catch in it. The joint was not moving smoothly at all. I decided to ignore it.

Can I just say that it really is not a good idea to take pain reliever before running?

I did that on the next two runs - Sunday and Tuesday - and by Tuesday evening (I'd run in the morning), I had a serious limp. With every step, my right leg shrieked in agony! So I said, "take a break from running". I took walks for the next three days, limping for most of the time. Friday night, I figured that the thigh could use a good rest. I took a muscle relaxer, which pretty assured a lazy weekend for me. Those things knock me on my behind for two days. I'm SO not kidding. Saturday found me lazing about with a heating pad across my leg.

So during my lazy weekend, my groin muscle starts feeling better, and what happens? My left hip starts the same process - a catch that progressively feels worse, culminating in what feels like a pulled groin muscle. wtf???

As if that weren't enough, I pulled something in my left knee while I was cleaning my room. See, here's my hypothesis, although I could be retarded or something: Being overweight gave me chunky calves and thighs; the running has tightened the muscles, but I haven't been running long enough to lose the fat, so my legs are actually bulkier right now than they were before, and less squishy, 'cause the muscles are tighter, so when I kneel (or try to do "child's pose" in yoga), my knee ligaments have to stretch farther, and they aren't very flexible right now, 'cause I've been a malnourished, obese, lazyassed oxymoron for so long.

So yay! Both hips and one knee, and it's been a week since I ran. Sounds like the not-running was just as bad for me as the running.

wah, wah, wah.

On the bright side, I learned that a cool bath works wonders for preventing muscle soreness. Didn't even need the ice. Just the cold water straight from the faucet.

So I'm going to get back to running this week, because I miss it. If I'm going to hurt whether I run or not, I might as well enjoy the running. I'll take it easy and maybe skip the push at the end of the workout that I usually do.

And get some more sleep. I might just start taking naps.

Oooh, that sounds decadent.

Tolerance

2009-10-05T11:01:00.001-05:00

Don't mind me. There are decisions that I make, and then unmake them later. I change my mind, sometimes for no other reason than because the weather changed.

So, when I decided against having the Glucose Tolerance Test (my exact words: "not gonna happen"), I did not let it rest. My mind chewed on that bone, turning it over and over, gnawing away at it, until finally, I decided to have the test done.

Why? Why would I change my mind? After all, I was fairly sure that I wasn't diabetic. Furthermore, I've already started my walking journey toward running.

Because there was a small part of me that was worried about it. I do have occasional bouts of hypoglycemia. Diabetes runs rampant in my family. My mother has it. Her mother had it. There's suspicion that HER mother had it. I do not want to end up with that problem.

So I had the test, just to make sure.

I was at the lab for over two hours. Blood was drawn, my finger pricked (with a fasting blood sugar reading of 88 - very good), and then I was given this little bottle of cold, orange colored sugar water. It was supposed to be orange flavored, too. Overall, it wasn't too bad. I had to drink it fast, and it was cold! I prefer my drinks to be room temp. I got it down within the required time frame (5 minutes), and the timing began.

At the 1/2 hour mark, more blood was drawn. This time, the needle hurt. It didn't hurt the first time.

At the 1 hour mark, blood was drawn from the other arm, and it didn't hurt.

At the 2 hour mark, blood was drawn, again from the right arm, and it hurt. This last blood draw was also the time when the lab tech pricked my finger again to get another blood sugar reading. Her monitor said 136. Anything under 140 is normal, she told me.

Yay!

No diabetes.

I'm still going to run. It'll reduce my chances of becoming diabetic.

Besides, I have a goal to reach.

Challenge

2009-10-02T19:19:00.001-05:00

In my efforts to find motivation to run, I've looked at several web sites devoted to beginners' running. There are so many out there that it quickly became information overload.

One site offered some tools that I thought would come in handy: dailymile

There are discussion boards, tracking tools, routes to run, events, and much more. Recently, I ran across a challenge that had been posted, so I thought, "Why not!"

The challenge? To run 120 miles by December 31st. That's about 13 weeks away. Wish me luck!

Technically, I've only run half a mile. I'll keep tabs on my actual running as I go along.

Wake Up Call

2009-10-01T21:04:00.000-05:00

Last year, the fall that originally injured my right leg had a cause that troubled me: muscle weakness. While running around with children, I was actually running quite a bit more than my legs were used to, and in this one moment, while pushing myself to run faster, I felt the muscles in my thigh completely give out. There just wasn't enough strength to keep me upright, and down I went. That bugged me.

That was when I decided to ease a bit of running into my daily walk. And soon thereafter, quit running or walking altogether.

The muscle weakness that caused my fall was a singular experience that hadn't recurred, since I was, of course, being lazy.

The day of the run for the police department, I took pain relievers before I left the house. I knew that much physical exertion was going to be painful, and I didn't want to feel it. Aspirin and Aleve. I'm not kidding. Both at once. It's a wonder I have a stomach left, actually.

I didn't hurt, though. During the run, I felt no pain. What I did feel was that peculiar muscle weakness again. Only more disconnected, because there wasn't any pain. Just weakness. That did not sit well with me. At all. Because that same weakness had already caused me to fall once, and injure myself, I was afraid to really push through it. I was afraid of falling again during the run. So I did terribly on the run.

Why am I going over all this again? Mostly as a reminder. Sort of a “connecting the dots” exercise. Turns out that bad shoes were only one problem that I've been running into lately as I train for my second run.

A couple weeks ago, persistent pain caused me to go see the doctor. That's something I rarely do – see the doctor. I'd rather save the money for... I dunno... toilet paper, tissue paper, toothpicks....

While at the doctor's office, I had some blood drawn, because Doc likes to run labs on everyone on a regular basis. My triglycerides had been high the last time I was there, and I have a family history of diabetes. It makes sense.

I hadn't heard anything in a while, so on my daughter's birthday (which has nothing to do with my story), I called to say, “hey, about that lab work???”

That afternoon, my call was returned.

My blood sugar was high, and Doc wants me to do a glucose tolerance test. Yeah. No thanks.

The next part, though, caught my attention: low levels of Vitamin D.

What?

I'd never heard of such! Don't you get Vitamin D from being in the sunlight?

Yes.

And no, apparently, in my case.

I had to Google it. Turns out that there's no definitive reason that I could pinpoint for my deficiency – could be my excess weight, could be diabetes, could be a mal-absorption problem like celiac disease... except I had Doc run the blood test for that and he said it was negative. He also insists that I have NO symptoms of Celiac Sprue. So how come I have nearly a whole page of them, including depression, IBS, vitamin D deficiency (which, of course, wasn't on my list at the time), and much, much more?

Can't figure out the “why” of the deficiency. Moving on.

The symptoms of it are what intrigued me: Bone pain and muscle weakness.

BONE PAIN

and

MUSCLE WEAKNESS

No damn wonder my skeleton seemed to hurt all over, and I felt like I was breaking bones left and right (mostly right)... and falling all over myself.

Yep. I'm deficient in Vitamin D. So I have to go pick up a prescription for Vitamin D at my local pharmacy, and take it for a certain amount of time to bring my levels up.

The glucose tolerance test? Not gonna happen. I'd already decided to start running, and through that, I know my appetite will change, and I'll eat more healthful foods. It's a life change that will take care of any diabetic or pre-diabetic conditions that might exist in my body. I know the disease of diabetes very well, and I don't need to pay the doctor to tell me what I already know. So it was just my cue to follow through on my decisions to improve my health and well-being... well-doing. :)

The vitamin D deficiency, though... explains so much! I like having answers that fit.

Shoes

2009-09-29T21:01:00.001-05:00

Over the weekend, I learned a valuable lesson. I'll get to it.

Remember the leg that I fell on? Well, I went to the doctor, because my feet had been hurting, and because I fell on that knee AGAIN, and it was hurting. I was certain it was a stress fracture. The doctor said, "tendinitis. Take these pills." 'K, bye! I don't like going to the doctor. Pills are the answer for everything. Isn't it possible that there was a stress fracture that didn't show up on the x-ray, because it was, well, a hairline? Nah. I'm not a doctor. Tendinitis it is.

Okay, so the leg still hurts. I've been running on it anyway. One day, after a run with my friend, my shins (both of 'em) hurt so badly that I was nearly in tears. I'd worn my old sneakers, even though I'd recently bought two new pairs of sneakers (identical make, just different colors). Thing is, I bought the new sneakers because the tread of the old ones was wearing smooth. Know what that means? The shoes were worn out! No support! No wonder my legs hurt!

In addition to the old shoes, and the two new pairs of shoes, I also had a pair of almost-new shoes. I had worn them three times total, the last being while stripping paint, which left the soles caked with hardened paint chips and dried stripping goo. So of course they couldn't be suitable for running after that! heh..

Now, about these two new pairs of shoes: I am cheap frugal, mainly because my budget forces me to be. Yes, I've read much about the value of a decent pair of running shoes. What was going through my mind, though, was that I'm not really a "runner" yet. I'm only walking/running 1.5 miles at a go. And I haven't yet reached the point where I can run the whole 1.5 without stopping to walk. My thinking was that the shoes shouldn't really matter on such a short distance.

How very wrong I was! I do not wear the same pair of shoes two days in a row, whether I'm planning to run, or simply walking. I tried one of the two newest pairs. I couldn't even finish the run. Those shoes that I thought were a bargain were entirely inappropriate for running. I'm a heavy person. I need support. Those shoes didn't offer it. Oh, I was in pain! I limped home, about half way through my run, which is to say, after less than a mile. Some pain relieving cream slathered on my shins and calves, some ice, the heating pad, a big-ass ibuprofen, and hours on the couch... that's what it took to bring the pain down to a bearable level. Both pairs of shoes went into the GoodWill bag.

Lesson learned!

I bought a new pair of shoes, to give me two pairs. And they both offer decent support and shock absorbency. I can run in either pair without excruciating pain. My right shin bone, though, is still nagging me.

A Letter

2009-09-27T21:00:00.000-05:00

Back in May, I wasn't able to run the 1.5 miles to make it into the police academy, and I was certain that it was then end of the road for me as far as this application goes. I welcome to reapply in October when the position would be posted again.

Then, I received a letter a couple weeks ago. The Division of Human Services had decided to allow a second opportunity to all those applicants who did not run fast enough in April or May of this year. That included me! Yay!

As well, a friend of mine had run in April, and she didn't make it, either. She was so depressed by missing the time (by only 1 minute, 30 seconds!) that she seemed to not care at all about getting a second chance to run. She's the one who'd been saying that becoming a police officer was ALL she'd EVER wanted to do! And now she was trying to cop out by saying, "I failed! That's what I do, I FAIL! God just doesn't want me to become a police officer."

After counting to ten to regain my patience, I told her, "We can't know what God wants. Maybe he wants you to learn to fight for the things you truly desire!" It was quite a challenge to get her to turn off the TV and get on some running shoes. For the first few days, she didn't want to do anything. Somehow, she managed to drag herself through it, though. Now, she's pretty stoked, too. We walk together some days, and add jogging intervals. She can actually run a longer distance than I am capable of doing at the moment. However, I jog faster than she does. She'll be behind me yelling, "But your legs are LONGER. Your LEGS are longer!!!" That usually cracks us both up, and I lose my breath.

The second-chance run is in October. The evening of October 12th for me. For her, it's the 12th at 6AM. Yep, In the morning! Ouch!

Wish us luck!

Why? Part Two

2009-09-25T21:00:00.000-05:00

Through all the years of having babies, eating too much ice cream, and not exercising, I never lost my secret love of running. Finally, in autumn of '08, I thought I'd give it a go. I began to add jogging intervals to my treadmill routine. One day, a scant two weeks into my new walk/jog program, I was out playing with the children. While running from one of them, I fell, landing on my right knee. What a lovely bruise I had from that! The next day, when I began to jog, I felt a squeezy-cracking kind of pain that reminded me of the noise that ice makes when dropped into warm water. And my leg hurt.

For six months.

So I didn't run

OR walk.

For six months.

During THAT time period, I applied to enter the police academy. One of the tests that applicants must pass in order to enter the police academy is to run 1.5 miles in 15 minutes or less. It's a steady 6 mph pace that would get you there in time. I passed the knowledge tests, no problem. I still wasn't walking or running, though. So the day of the run dawned hot and sunny. Once I got to the run site, I realized that I was not going to have a good time. At 8:30am, the temperature was 96F. During the run, applicants could not have any water, ipods, or any other anything. The run site was flat, hot asphalt with no shade. Training on a treadmill just wouldn't have cut it for this run.

A few weeks later, I got the letter stating that I did not pass the run, and I was not invited to continue the application process. Bugger.

I began thinking about that. A lot. 1.5 miles was not a great distance. Many runners regularly log ten, twelve, fifteen miles a day. Several times, I'd reset one of the trip odometers on my car and drive through my neighborhood, mapping routes of that distance. I began walking. Sporadically.

Somewhere around my birthday this year, I remembered my idle wish of my twenties, and how I'd let that slip away. The thing is, there's a piece of advice that I am always giving to people: You have to be doing something during the years of your life. Why not exercise? It was time to take my own advice. Something about the idea of logging ten thousand miles appealed to me. Ten thousand miles in ten years.

My birthday has come and gone. I turned 32 this year. In taking my own advice, and setting my goal, I realized that I'd let one goal go: weight loss. For nearly ten years, I've focused on losing weight, and it didn't really give me a sense of accomplishment.

My goal has shifted to running. Just running. 10,000 miles in 10 years.

Why? Part One

2009-09-23T20:45:00.001-05:00

It's a daunting goal for me. While I was out walking this morning, my mind was teeming with ideas of what to write, and how to say what I wanted to say. Now, my brain is nearly empty of thoughts related to this goal and this blog. It could be because I didn't come in straight away to write about it. I let myself get distracted. That's something I need to work on - focus.

My age is something to which I've always given too much thought. As a child, 10 years old was a major milestone - a full decade old! Then, 13 was big, and 16. Of course, I couldn't wait to reach 18 and freedom! While most people would think that 21 would be the next big birthday, for me, it was 20 - two decades! Wooo! And then 21. No, I won't bore you with a detailed list of the excitement of every birthday. The point is that I found reason to celebrate each passing number. Every year a milestone.

During my teen years, I wanted very much to be on the track team at school. For various reasons, I was unable to stay on the team for very long. What I found during my biref tenure was that I was remarkably out of shape, even though I was slender. Actually, in eighth grade, when it took me nearly 15 minutes to run a mile, I knew I was out of shape. By the middle of ninth grade, though, I was able to do my mile in just under 9 minutes. I felt a sense of accomplishment, and I fell in love with running.

When I turned twenty, I sort of thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be cool to be uber-fit at 30?" And then, because I hadn't been able to keep up with any exercise plan (not even running) for any length of time, I checked myself with, "Hmmm... wouldn't it be cool to be MORE fit at 30 than I am at 20?" It was more idle wonderings than any real goal setting. That may have been my problem.

Most of my 20s were devoted to raising children. I gave birth to my first child right after I turned 22. It would be easy to say that the extra weight that I'm carrying is "baby fat", leftover from my two pregnancies. However, it wouldn' t be true. After both births, at my six-weeks checkup, my weight was one pound heavier than my pre-pregnancy weight. In fact, with my daughter, when I went into the hospital to give birth, I weighed only TWO pounds more than my pre-pregnancy weight. And she was 7lbs, 6oz. Nope, not baby fat.

The truth was that post-partum depression hit me harder than I thought it would, and ice cream became my very best friend. When my daughter was five months old, I went on an ice cream bender that lasted two months, and added 32lbs to my 6' frame. I'd reached a lifetime high of 239lbs. Far, far too heavy.

And over the course of the next eight years, I would lose and gain the same 32lbs. Or so it seemed to me. Since that time, I have not ever gotten my weight below 200, and I wasn't able to keep it off for any length of time. Additionally, I'd be plagued with bouts of depression. Because I have quirky body chemistry, I couldn't take any anti-depressants for it. Walking always helped, though. I just seemed to have a difficult time keeping myself motivated to walk on a regular basis. Something would happen to keep me from my walk, for a day, two days... any longer than two days, and I just wouldn't get back to it.

This is NOT a weight loss blog

2009-09-21T15:32:00.000-05:00

It could've been. So many people take up running, walking, biking, swimming, or whatever other exercise to help them reach their goal weight. That's laudable, and I am certainly not saying anything against anyone who chooses that route. Kudos to them. After all, one of my favorite bits of advice: You have to decide what you're willing to put up with. And what you're willing to do differently when you can no longer put up with what you'd been putting up with.

Bad grammar and disclaimer aside, my point was supposed to be this: My blog is not about weight loss (because I was certain you couldn't ascertain THAT point from the title. Doy). Why do I feel a need to state that, and why do I feel a need to engage in a one-person dialoguish sort of discussion about it?

Okay. Focus.

Running! That's what my focus is going to be. Ten years of worrying about losing weight hasn't done me any favors. When I went to the doctor the last time, my weight was 227lbs, and I am still 6' tall. That means that my BMI is 30.8. That qualifies as obese. Ten years of worrying, and I'm still obese.

Somehow, when I decided that I wanted to run, I concurrently decided not to worry about losing weight. When I walk or run on a regular basis, my appetite changes, and I begin to crave healthful foods. I eat less, and drink more water. It's a side effect that I like. Additionally, my family likes my improved mood! Walking is the only anti-depressant that works for me.

So while I will track my weight during the course of this project, it isn't going to be my main point. Just so I keep that straight in my own head. A ten year habit won't broken overnight. I'll need to remind myself more than once, I'm sure.