30th year update

So I listed some goals for my 30th year. Most of them are attainable. I've relisted them below

• finish my BSN (estimated- spring 2014)
• lose 50 lbs
• find a job
• be more involved in the kid's schools (PTO, SBDM)
• be more involved in church (vestry maybe this year. yikes)
• be more consistent in my eating habits and have them compliment my exercise habits instead of exercising so I can eat junk
• go on more dates
• teach my kids to play the piano

My update on these goals

• on track to finish my BSN in FIVE weeks. FIVE!
• still a work in progress
• job- check. it's not a perfect job, but it's a job. 
•  definitely more involved. on the family resource council and official box tops coordinator at the boy's school; PTO secretary at the girl child's school. 
• I have been more involved in church. I decided not to run for vestry, but have been asked to be the President for ECW (Episcopal Church Women). they think I'll bring in a younger demographic.
• I have been doing far better with my eating habits. fruits and vegetables are my friends.
• dates...um. yeah, about that.
• I started teaching the kids to play, but haven't been very consistent.

so that's that. need to post about my running soon. 

thirty. 3-0. THIRTY.

so I turn thirty on Friday. how the hell did that happen? unlike a lot of people, I'm looking forward to my 30's.

my 20's weren't bad, really.  I received two college degrees. I gave birth to 3 children. I moved to KY (which I looooove). I made some awesome friends.

however, other than that my personal life has been hell. I got divorced. I've been single for about 4 years (not complaining). I haven't had a date in over a year. I never dreamed I'd be turning 30 and unemployed. sigh.

goals for my 30's

• finish my BSN (estimated- spring 2014)
• lose 50 lbs
• find a job
• be more involved in the kid's schools (PTO, SBDM)
• be more involved in church (vestry maybe this year. yikes)
• be more consistent in my eating habits and have them compliment my exercise habits instead of exercising so I can eat junk
• go on more dates
• teach my kids to play the piano

that's it for now, but I'm sure I'll come up with more eventually.

slacker

I've never been a fan of writing, but I did want to chronicle my journey back to running after injury. Because injuries just plain suck. Not running sucks even more. Then having to start back at square one bites the big one.

So Couch to 5k is going pretty well. I've finished week 5. I did extra days in week 1, took a day off in week 2. It's evened out pretty well.

The 20 minute run at the end of week five scared the bejeezus out of me. I hadn't run 20 minutes straight probably since the half marathon on October 13th. That is a long, long time. The temperature was 80 F, 90% humidity at 8am when I set out to run. When I walked out the door, I could just feel the mugginess. It was horrid. I am not a fan of summer. Never have been. Bring on the 20-30 degree runs. I'm all over those. BUT, I did it. I sucked it up. I took my time. I did it. I paused for a few seconds to stick my head under the sprinkler in front of the little retirement community by my house. Got home and I was drenched in sweat. I cannot remember another time where I dripped sweat like that. It was a good feeling.

As for how my knee/leg feels? My IT band is sore most days. I stretch it. I should ice it more. Starting to foam roll it. I've been having a weird pain in my right heel. Though it doesn't hurt when I run. So, I haven't worried too much about that.

Overall, I feel pretty good about how the recovery has been going. I haven't run more than twice a week. Though, I'm going to attempt that next week...just to see how it goes. If it bothers me, then I'll stick to twice a week. No shame in that whatsoever. I want to be able to run and if it means running only two days a week, I'm cool with that. I'm happy just to be running again.

C25k W1D1

walk 5 minutes. run 60 seconds. briskly walk 90 seconds. repeat 8 times. walk 5 minutes.

Overall pace: 14:17
Overall distance: 1.99 miles
Time: 28:30
Calories: 288

for just the intervals (cut out warm up/cool down)
Pace: 12:46
Distance: 1.45 miles
Time: 18:30


70 degrees at start, breezy. Wore new nike running capris (purple) and LRL superwoman shirt. injinji socks. Brooks Adrenaline 13.

Felt good. Only thing hurting right now is my skinned knee from yesterday's clumsiness. Quads were on fire while running, but feel good now.

recovery

There has not been much to post. I have been going to physical therapy since April 10th. I was seeing S, who I had seen a few times back in December. However, due to things at the hospital the company that hired the physical therapists did not have their contract renewed. So, I ended up seeing J in the beginning of May. Holy, crazy. It seemed like she was running around like a chicken with her head cut off.  She did not seem to know what she was doing. Granted, it was only her second day in this building.  She was on vacation last week so I saw K. He was AWESOME. For real. Finally, someone figured out why I was still having pain in my leg every day. My pain was always about a 3/10 on the pain scale. It did not matter what I did, the pain remained.  He figured out that my fibula was pressing on the tibial nerve.  All the other problems that were going on caused my leg to compensate and I guess I was walking differently which caused the bone to rub the nerve.  So, he used tape to pull the bone away from the nerve. For the first time in almost 6 months, I had no pain. None.  I did squats on the bosu ball, lunges...no pain. It was amazing.

So that is where I stand. We are taping two days on, one day off. I was discharged from physical therapy today.  I go back to the orthopedic/sports med doctor on May 28th. I am really hoping now that I have little to no pain, instead of consistent pain, that I am given clearance to run.

I know that I will not be able to do any long distances for quite a while. I am okay with that. I sold my bib for the Iron Horse Half Marathon yesterday, it saddened me to do so...but I know it is for my health that will not be able to do it. Maybe next year...

So, while I wait to go back to the doctor this is what I am doing: leg raises (20 each side), side leg lifts (20 each side), prone leg lifts (lie on stomach lift legs, 20 each side), squats (3 sets of 12), monster walk with green tubing, side to side walking with green tubing, IT band stretches (3 sets of 30 seconds each), soleus stretching (3 sets of 20 seconds each), hamstring curls while sitting (3 sets of 20, both sides).  I am also part of a group that does planks and push ups each day, this month we are doing two sets of 18 push ups and two- one minute planks (one day 115ish of doing them!).

If I am able to run again, my goal is to do the Midsummer Night Run on August 10th, the day after my 30th birthday.

and a diagnosis. finally.

Saw the new doctor on Tuesday (it's taken this long to get here as my darling girl keeps face planting and we spent some time at the ER today).

his thoughts...

• hamstring tendinitis
• pes anserine bursitis
• IT band problems

plan is to

• take methylprednisolone (a corticosteroid, to decrease inflammation), 6 day dosing
• take naproxen twice a day for 2 weeks, then prn after that
• start PT which will include ionotopheresis to both my hamstring tendon and my IT band as well as the usual hamstring, IT band, etc... exercises. first appointment is April 10th
• go back to the doctor on May 28th

future running plans?

• no running still for at least 2-3 more months, maybe longer. depends on how my body reacts to meds and PT
• no long distances until I'm in an average weight range. I need to lose about 50ish pounds for that. 
•  when I return to running, I can still do about 15-20 miles/week but have to break it up in 2-5 different runs. nothing more than 5 miles in one run. 
• focus on intensity. maybe there is a sub-30 5k in there for me?

so that's that. very happy to have a plan in place. it sure beats being blown off by some orthopedic fellow who doesn't know what he's talking about and told me never to run again. so for now, there's hope. I can deal with that.

busy busy busy

I started a new class this week for my BSN called Leadership and Management. If you knew me, you'd probably laugh at me taking such a course. I'm hardly what one would call a leader. I can manage and follow...but I'd rather be behind the scenes.  I was dreading starting a new course. I enjoyed my week off entirely too much. I read probably five "junk novels" as my brothers used to call them. It was amazing. I really need to make time for that more often.

I have been so busy lately with the kids. It has been crazy, but I honestly wouldn't change it for anything. I have loved seeing them have some new experiences and trying new things.  Things at home have been better for them, with their behavior.  Maybe they were bored? I don't know.

But seeing how much #2 has started to love soccer, really makes me happy. I had always hoped one of  my kids would like it, I LOVED soccer growing up, 1/3 kids isn't so bad.  #1 has started participating in a boy's running club at school for 3rd-5th graders. It has given him a lot more self confidence. He is really proud of himself. It helps that he has several friends in the group as well. I think this will be better for him than basketball. It doesn't hurt that I like running more than basketball...

Poor girl child though, she's kind of left out now with no activities. I don't have much more time to add anything else in our schedule. We have been working on reading and she is picking it up very quickly. She had a concert at school with her preschool class last week and she rocked it. She told me after that she didn't want to do it, but she knew she just had to get up there and do it. It was seriously adorable to watch them all do their songs and dances. I'm almost dreading her going to kindergarten...she's already so "grown up" that I'm not ready for her to actually grow up.

The job situation still just sucks. I had a really promising interview, sounded like the job was mine. Well, looks like they hired someone else. I am almost ready to just give up on nursing in general. How am I supposed to use life application in my BSN classes, when I'm the only person in my cohort that isn't practicing as a nurse. Sigh. Someday. Right?

There are a lot of other things I cannot post about that are weighing heavily on my mind. It is family related and due to privacy, I will not share. Prayers are appreciated in that direction though. I love my family and would do anything for them.

It is looking like my ex-husband might be coming back sometime the end of June. Though it could be anywhere from the beginning of June to the end of July. I jokingly tell him that if he doesn't come back until July that I am running away. I will go away for awhile. I feel I deserve that after 10ish months of being an only parent. I know I am a single mom. I did bare the brunt of their care even when he was here. But him being gone, I lost my time to see my friends. Though it has helped me to focus more on the kids, which I needed to do.

Then there's the knee. It's doing ok, still hurts. I have an appointment on the 26th for a 2nd opinion. The doctor I'll be seeing is in charge of a Running Clinic. Even if he gives me the same diagnosis that "nothing is wrong with me"...I'm hoping that he'll give me a way to manage the pain I do have. I find it ridiculous that I can't even run around kicking a soccer ball with my son without my knee hurting. I just want to be able to do normal activities. I don't think that is asking too much. I want to be able to work a 12-hour shift without having pain.

I feel that this last year has really taken a toll on me. I lost my job almost 11 months ago. I lost my "me" time in September when my ex deployed. I lost running which was my only stress relief in November when I was told not to run because of my knee. I feel like I've lost my friends.  If that doesn't make a person depressed, then hell...I don't know what would. I'm starting to lose hope that I'll ever run again pain free. Losing hope that I will ever work as an RN.

It's not like anyone reads this, but if you do...sorry for the lengthy mumbling.