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Showing posts from July, 2010

Terminal Uniqueness

In the last few years I've started paying more attention to my body and it's needs. This has probably been the best tool for best health that I've run across. Everyone is different - you read that all the time. But there are many "recommendations" that seem to lump people into categories by age and weight - fine - but you still have to listen up to fine tune for your uniqueness. I'm a sleeper. I LOVE to sleep. I could seriously sleep 10 hours every single night. I could go to bed around 10pm and sleep until 8am, no problem. My husband, on the other hand, nearly shudders at the thought of languishing under the covers for that amount of eternity. Hubs is good on 6 or so hours, I need 7-8. I need food. Now, if you use a basic weight loss equation - you need 10 calories per pound of body weight for maintaining your weight. For me - that's 175 x 10 = 1750. To loose one pound per week you need to have a calorie deficit of 3500 (or 500 per day). So 17

One Month Later

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This last few days, the swelling in my foot and ankle has become less and less, finally!  The nail bed where the toenail was removed is pink and healthy, and it looks like things are nearly back to normal!  What a haul.

Thick Morning Run

I wonder where the term "sweating my butt off" originated. Furthermore, is there any validity to it? If ever there were a cliche that I wished were true it's this one! I headed out for a 3 mile "do-over" this morning and the weatherbug app on my phone said 87 degrees. When I stepped out the front door the only word I can describe the atmosphere with is "thick." I used to only bring hydration with me on runs over 4 miles, but lately I've needed a full 20oz bottle of electrolytes on all of my runs. A few months ago, we purchased this Nathan Hydration Belt . This thing has been well worth every penny this summer! If you do any walking or running out in the heat, this little baby will be your BFF. There are fancier models, but this one does the job. There was a slight conundrum with the spout leaking. I normally fill it with water, or Sustain the night before and refrigerate for use in the morning. Last night, my brilliant husband solved the

Total of Choices

I can't understand, standing on this side of childhood, why a kid would want things that cause them pain. Our 3-year-old has started telling me "but I WANT to be ouchie!" when I tell he something is hot...or "I WANT a sunburn" when I tell her we have to come in from the pool. Today we were driving down the street and she told me to go faster. I explained that we have to follow the rules or else we will get hurt. She very quickly said "But I want to go faster and I WANT to get hurt." Making bad choices in life is like saying "I WANT to be hurt." Poor eating and sleeping habits, smoking, over spending, all have consequences. They may not all be immediate or obvious right away - but every choice yields a result. And every bad choice will get you in the end. Good choices are even harder though. Eat right, exercise, do your best to loose those pounds and only see a 1 pound loss on the scale at a time. All those good choices don't add

Ready to Do More!

Today marks a fairly important milestone in my 2nd attempt to loose nearly 90lbs. First of all, I passed the 50lbs lost mark - and more importantly I am now back to the weight I was in 2008 when I ran the Lincoln Half Marathon. What a fantastic feeling! I weigh daily, so I was confident by Saturday that I would have this number by today - but my brain speaks "official-eze" and doesn't count any weigh in but the one on Monday. Unfortunately, today also marks the first serious migraine headache that I've had in recent years. I think the last one was when I was pregnant with Cameron (who is 15mo old). I've had several whoppers since starting the Lupron Depot injection for my endo - but none this bad. I go back to the doc on Wednesday for my 2nd injection, so I will let her know. For now - it sucks to be me. At least I only have five kids today...

Blessed to Be the Giver

In my effort to simplify and de-clutter our house, I started on the "hard" part of the basement this week. Hard for a couple of reasons. Lots of boxes to carry up the stairs...AND...lots of things to give away. Baby clothes, maternity clothes, nursing supplies. Hauled it all upstairs, listed it on freecycle.com and out the door it went! Even though I felt a little twinge when I gave those items away, it felt good. I liked being able to pass things on to those in need. When I had my first two babies, I relied on the kindness of others to clothe and surround them with needed items. I'm on a sort of quest to simplify my life. I have lots and lots shoes I haven't worn in years, I have 10 pairs of pants that I only wear 4 of, I have a cabinet full of "stuff" in the hallway that I'm not sure even what's in there! I have cooking items that are duplicates, more coats and jackets than one person should have and jewelry that I never wear. I'm goin

Tuesday, right?

I loose track of the days. DH's schedule changes frequently, so his days off are sometimes different. It was Tuesday for a long time, now it is Wednesday. No matter to me really, it's just that I don't really know what day it is. I have all the same daycare kids on Tuesday as I do on Wednesday so I get lost in the days going by. I had a very difficult run today. Looking at how the rest of the day played out, I think I was dehydrated. I headed out about 6 to do three miles "real quick" and figured I didn't really need any water for that short of distance. It was 70 degrees and a little humid. Normally my heart rate freaks a little that first half mile or so and then I find a Happy Pace and it settles in the 145 - 150 zone (75 - 80% of max). Today I had a heck of a time getting it under 160 (88% of max). Did I walk? Of course not. I ran as slow as I possibly could to prevent myself from passing out and completed the run with an average HR of 157. Not

Running as a Worship Experience

Yesterday was Sunday and I was so very glad to start it out as a normal Sunday with my long run. Now that word "long" has now become rather relative, as yesterday's 4 miles used to be my "daily run." But I digress... I had my typical "I don't wanna, why the heck am I out here, I shoulda stayed in bed..." first mile or so. I'm just shuffling along and my foot was pretty swollen and painful still. After I had to walk the first hill I got pretty irritated with the state of my running and began the self pity mile....mile 2. At the halfway mark, I turned around feeling pretty good and very grateful that I had decided to let all creatures great and small pass me and take it easy. Plotting my future training schedule, I was mentally punishing myself for the 2 weeks that I couldn't run and the loss of fitness. Feeling very irritated with myself and why can't I just get faster!? That's when this song came on in my Mp3 rotation: As soo

Still?

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Not sure why my foot and ankle are still swollen...hurts like heck.  At least the fire in the front of my leg is out!

The Art of Compromise

I finally got back to some exercise this morning! Although I settled for a brisk walk on the treadmill - it was an adequate compromise. I actually burned some good chub by cranking up the incline. Yesterday at the library I struck a compromise with our oldest daughter. She has fought me on independent reading time since she could read. She's very good at reading, but just like everything I WANT her to do, she resists. I started thinking about it and it struck me that reading is just like exercise. People say they hate exercise. I used to hate it too! But I found something that I liked to do and it wasn't so bad anymore. I realized I may have to loosen some of my restrictions on her exposure to popular media to get her to read. She always wants these Junior Novels from the Library on a Popular Teen Singer. One of Alahnnah's good friends just goes nuts for this little Half Dressed Harlot and has everything with her printed on it from underwear to a sleeping bag. I guess I di

Strange Things Afoot

I admit, I said it. The one thing that always boils my blood when other women say it - and boy do they say it! The sentence that I made sure to say in front of my sweet husband, because he would have never believed I had uttered the words otherwise. Somebody, please slap me around...I verbalized... "I am SO bored." That's right folks. After sitting in nearly the same spot for the last 10 days, I have exhausted all the offerings of the printed and projected modes of entertainment. I have caught up on all the old magazines I didn't have time for when they came. I have watched more Sponge Bob, Avatar - The Last Airbender , and Wonder Pets than one person ever should. I think the kids and I have all lost IQ points. My rear end is beginning to take on the texture of the couch and my field of vision is so limited that I almost forgot that we have a garden out back. I have long pleaded with the Lord for rest, and after the busiest darn June on the history books, I go

Visibly Better

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Thanks to all the help I had, allowing me to stay off my feet for a week, today my cellulitis infection looks much better!

The Hives and a Fat Lip

Despite the title of this post, today was a better day. Liam mowed the front yard and cleaned the floors in the living room. Alahnnah cleaned up the dishes and played nicely with her sister. There was a marked reduction in the fighting between the two older kids. Hallelujah! I think my leg may have turned a corner. Albeit a very W-I-D-E turn. I was in a great deal of pain this morning. Stabbing versus the normal burning and elevation was not helping. As the day wore on the pain has subsided. I even went in the play room and got some dog pile time with The Littles . I had a few hives this morning in the cricks of my arms. I was afraid it was going to get bad like it did last summer. I had to go get a shot at the ER to calm it down. It was HORRIBLE. All over my face, the tops of my thighs were just cherry red because they all ran together. Nursing a baby when you have hives really stinks. FYI. I thought I had escaped a bad bout as the few that I had were all gone by lunch

Progress?

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I am DIS-sastisfied with the progress my leg has made this week.  Just for the record, I am also quite dissatisfied with the lack of attention I have received from my doctor.

You Take the Good, You Take the Bad

Remember this? I thought of this show and it's theme song today while having a "Bad Alahnnah Day." She spent more time in her room today than she did downstairs with the rest of us. I decided that removing her from the situation in addition to counsel is the best thing to do to deter the behavior . Spanking her has never worked. Taking away a favorite toy, restricting access to TV or computer at her designated times, time out, stern words, screaming and hollering...none of that has ever proven to yield any other result than MY utter exhaustion. She hates to be separated from the action. So - that's what I did. She spent from 9:30 to 11:00am in her room for screaming at her sister (I mean SCREAMING). It was going to be a 15 minute "cool down" stint, but she rolled her eyes at me and told me that "wouldn't work anyway." *head exploding* This afternoon, she and her brother were doing chores - she in the bathroom and he in the toy room -

Is It Better? Maybe a Little.

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Well, it doesn't seem to have made great strides since yesterday.   Again, it is better in the morning which is great!  Today I will not over do it and suffer at night.  I'm learning!

Common Ground

What could I (a 34yr old woman) possibly have in common with an 18yr old young man? Well other than the same Mom and Dad...not much. My youngest sibling is a great kid, athletic, intelligent and good hearted. Okay - maybe we have more in common than I thought... ;) Recently he told me he would like to run the Lincoln Marathon with Dave and me in May of next year. I am SO excited to hear that he has an interest in running! With the marathon being 10 months away, I'm very confident that he will be able to train for and run the whole thing...it's me that I'm worried about! I found a 5k in his city on Labor Day weekend and downloaded Hal Higdon's 5k Training Schedule to give to him. He's a football player, so he is good at following a nutrition and training schedule. Last night we did some texting back and forth to talk about how our training is going. Mine - at a standstill right now - but his is coming right along! I guess I'm just stoked to have somet

On The Mend

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You can see where the redness has reduced in surface area.  The nurse drew around it yesterday.  I have my foot wrapped to try to reduce swelling.  Minus the worst hot flash I've ever had today (thank you Lupron) I'm feeling a bit better!  I am dreaming of taking a 1 mile walk on Friday.

Enjoying My Gifts

I will now run down the many benefits to having a nasty, debilitating infection on my leg. After reading this, you to may want to go out and have your big toe smashed, the nail removed, and then follow it up with cellulitis in your leg. Well, maybe. Maybe not. Here goes... I get to sit and rest all the time! I haven't washed a dish in 4 days!! I have not hauled any laundry, nor folded any clothes. I have been able to keep up on all of my friends FaceBooks , Tweets, and Tubes de You. People bring food to the house and give me extra hugs. They offer to help me and pray on my family's behalf. I can go to bed before 9pm without any flack. I haven't worried about bettering my 5k time, nor has my left knee given me one bit of trouble this last week! I get to read "Baby Farm Animals" over and over to Cameron, and sit with Susan snuggled up on my lap while she re-assimilates after a long afternoon nap. I get to read my own book until I get tired of it, then I

Onward

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Today the pain is more focused and the redness, while darker, covers less surface area.  I don't especially feel well, either.  Kinda tired of being sick.

Happy Independence Day

Wow...that's a honkin ' word. In- de -pen- dence ...whew! I bet you were thinking that I might write something thoughtful about that word and what it means to me. Nah. I'm not feeling very "deep" right now. The good news is - it's after 1am and the neighborhood is blissfully quiet! The bad news is - it's after 1am and I'm up to experience it. I got up to take some drugs because my leg is killing me (can't even have the sheet on it). The pill got stuck in my throat so I opened a package of crackers and sat down with the new Runners World. Then I got to thinking about our newest challenge on www.3fatchicks.com and how I hadn't finalized the team assignments yet - the challenge starts tomorrow - eek! Anyway, did that and remembered that I missed writing these last few days. I feel like SUCH a whiner I don't even want to put my thoughts down. Trying to stay positive. Tomorrow I am going to bring some weights up from the basement and ge

At the Hospital

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Well...three days on some nice strong antibiotics and my infection is just getting worse. I just had some blood drawn and we shall see. Pray for me, please.

Ouch

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Only 24 more hours til I start to get better...

Okay, I Think I'm Done

As of today I am done feeling sorry for myself. My pity party concerning the events of the last month is now over. Thought you'd like to know.

Just So You Know...

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This is what it looks like when there is nothing wrong with you foot and leg. My shin has hot red spots now and walking is very painfull. When I DIE then they will believe me that I'm really sick...