Some Glitches and Solutions

Just an FYI first of all: this blog is not intended to be a "look what I can do" deal.  Although I have difficulty running due to my veins and leg, I always look at life and know that many others have it harder or worse than I do (I was in awe of the South African in the Olympics the other night).  This is just an encouragement to those that see running as difficult and really just a journal of a return to running I never dreamed of facing. 

Now, this entry is fun, not real serious but real in the sense of these are some things we all face in running, weight loss, life......the list goes on.  Over the last two weeks (week 2 and 3 of my training for November) I was faced with some decent sized normal life glitches and had to make do with what I could, here is what we did.

1. Vacation began with an overnight stop in Raleigh, NC where I needed to complete my 7 mile weekend run.  Rains and storms came, as did our departure from the hotel to meet the Ferry on the coast in time, not allowing me to get this run completed.  I was unable to do it a day early due to Austin's work schedule and my inability to push Will 7 miles in the stroller in the heat.

Solution: 7 miles is a very doable run for me, so I missed it and rather than stressing, realized that some runs are missed an it is okay.

2.  Vacation on Ocracoke Island began and lasted for a wonderful week!  It was hot, really hot, and humid, even at the crack of dawn.  I told my dad on one run, if I had to run in this kind of weather all summer, I would quit.  Thankfully in Asheville, I don't have to!  But I had 4 runs to complete during vacation so again, solution follows.

Solution: Got up as early as possible (other than one crazy day I decided to meet my family at the beach after a run in full sun at 10:30 a.m. when it was SO HOT and HUMID) and ran.  Realized that time didn't matter (never does to me anymore) and walk breaks would be frequent, but the miles were completed!  Cross trained on the off days, enjoying the scenery of a 22 mile bike ride!

3.  Return from vacation tired AND the little guy got Croup!  I got my run in Tuesday but Wednesday turned sour as Will was very sick and didn't sleep much Wednesday night (and if you are a parent you know that means no sleep for you!).  We got a run in Wednesday before he got too sick, then he promptly puked and had a high fever.  He is still recovering!

Solution: Thursday Austin worked all day, my mom had an encounter with a bear on the trails I usually hit in the evening, and Will was too sick to go out.  So I went as close to hell as I can think of and ran circles around the neighborhood, 6 times, to complete Thursdays run!

As of now we are back on track, other than finding a time to go 10 this weekend when someone can be with Will (Austin has a big tourney this weekend)!  Running is great, but we are often faced with weather changes, life changes, and other things that cause us to have to be creative.  Stick with it, and you will be okay!  Its worth the fight!

Crazy 8's 8K!!!

My sister found this race and called the family to sign up, the Crazy 8's 8K in Kingsport, TN.  It looked like a lot of fun, run at 9:58 at night, 8K, in a Crazy 8 race course pattern.  Sounded pretty cool.  Even better to me, the 20ish dollar entry fee a week before the race!  Once she and I nailed down the details of the husbands staying home with the kids, we signed up like old times, just Ash, Mom, Dad and myself.  And boy am I glad we did!

We drove the 1.5 hours over to Kingsport to get to the race venue to pick up our packets.  I kind of thought being there an hour and a half before the race was a little crazy (this is when packet pick up ended) but there was plenty of people watching to be done!  We also raided the Foot Rx booth and walked out like bandits!

The race starts and finishes at a high school about 10 times the size of my entire K-12 school with a football/baseball stadium that looked like a college!  Everything pre-race was so well organized!

Here we are before the race

A view of the stadium and finish line

We walked down to the start to watch Neil's walk and enjoyed listening to those involved in the cause for the race.  I am always a fan of races that support foundations that are local.  After chilling for a bit, we headed down to the start line with about 2500 other people.  It was a cool atmosphere. 

We said our goodbyes to Dad as he lined up closer to the Ethiopians and Kenyans than we did and we headed back to pad the pack.  This is a fast 8K and holds the world record for the time so many folks come out to try and break it.  We were not some of those folks:-)

I have been in a lot of races, big and small, and have never witnessed a crowd that could be so quiet during the prayer, national anthem, and moment of silence for our troops.  After the prayer, an "Amen" was shouted with great joy by many people, we were amazed.  I am a believer, and I was shocked at the beautiful prayer and the response of the participants. 

The gun went off and we did the shuffle to the start line that felt a bit like the childhood "red light green light game."  Then we were off.  The race was flat for us Asheville folks, a few gradual hills.  Music, fans, water, luminaries, bongo drums, and other things kept us plugging. 

Ash, Mom and I started together and enjoyed the first couple miles.  The heat came as did the humidity and the race got a little tough.  Water stops were prevalent and well manned, the crowd of runners never really thinned too much. 

At the 3 mile mark you pass back by the finish and through a crowd of people to head to the second portion of the Crazy 8.  This is where we thinned a bit, up a long gradual hill but inspired by the fast fast people headed down toward the finish.  We looped around knowing we got the same downhill soon.

Ash and I stuck together, I think we both wanted to slow down but we kept going knowing we were almost there.  She kept telling me to go on if I needed to, I kept the pace knowing she wouldn't let me get too far:-) which would get her to the finish faster than thought!

We reached the downhill and continued to struggle, she said her face was numb, my leg was numb, we both wanted to puke.  When the finish is that close you just keep plugging away!  I think I lost about half of my water weight from the humidity but continued on. 

At the finish you make a right hand turn up a hill, cheered on by spectators and finished runners.  It is a short hill before you turn into the stadium to finish on the field.  I had Ash on my heels, saw Dad (he had gone to the hotel and showered and had a meal:-), waved, and he cheered Ash on!

Into the stadium we went with a great finish!  As I meandered through the crowds to get Ash and I water, I came back to find Mom and Ashley.  Dad was walking down the finish chute looking at the runners.  He had missed me!  All night we had joked I was the brightest dressed one in the bunch!  No hard feelings dad, he just thought the heat had gotten to my leg:-)

Here we are after the race, sweaty but pleased!

 Ash with two medals, one for each kiddo back home!

So overall, awesome race!  Be prepared for the humidity and heat.  Enjoy the crowds, music and organization!  The glow in the dark medals and the tech shirts are amazing, especially for such an inexpensive entry!  We will be doing this race again!

A Lot of Time Has Gone By!

Welcome back!  A lot of time has gone by since my last post, a lot of ups and downs and all arounds!  Needless to say, I am still running and doing well!  I hit the "magical" two year mark in April when the doctors said my leg would be "fully healed" and my compression sock would not be necessary on a regular basis.  So here is the update on where we stand with the sock!

I do feel a major improvement in all areas of living with my leg.  I am "sockless" during day to day activities which means the Daisy Dukes are back! Kidding.  However, I still wear the sock when I exercise, it swells up entirely too much and hurts even more if I don't use it.  So...its still me in my compression pants and my one black sock!  Running is still hard with my leg but the good news, I am doing it and I am doing more than ever in the last two years. The final verdict was that I would be able to use my leg as "normal" but it will only function to about 75% of a normal capacity.  When my oxygen levels are deprived (i.e. running and breathing harder) my leg's circulation declines even more. 

I am blessed to be able to be out running and have begun the first week of an incredible journey that I hope ends in all good ways in November!  I have signed up for a race, one that will pull my body and my mind farther than I can imagine at this point.  I am ready, I have begun training, and I am excited.  My disclaimer....I am fully prepared but not settling on a taking a lesser distance to this race.  I signed up for 26.2 miles of beauty in the battlefield of Chickamauga knowing that I would train for it but will be okay if I have to back off to the 13.1 mile option of the race. 

So let the fun begin and here is to hoping for the best!

2 Miles is better than No miles!!!

Sunny Sunday morning. 27 degrees. Wind blowing. Cramped but compressed nonetheless! Home from church with a sick little guy. Haven't been for a run for days since we have been on our own and he has been sick. This morning Austin was home and for my sanity I needed to go exercise and so did our Pit!

Bundled up (it might have taken me at least 30 minutes to get all of my compression stuff and winter stuff on) Lindy and I headed out. I set my mind to go for a short walk/run since I just needed to get out. I have learned to leave my GPS at home, I don't count miles unless I am on a marked trail so today I assume it was about 2 miles. Boy was it cold, got some strength training in going against the wind!

It was wonderful, my leg still swelled up and hurt but it was better, I was able to run the entire way with the exception of about 1,000 pee stops for Lindy, one of which occured about 5 feet from the top of a huge hill that I had "sprinted" up! I know it wasn't any more than 2 miles but at this point I was just thrilled to get out and go. I thank the Lord for two legs that move and to just be alive!

Journeys

While I don't want to come across as constantly negative or down, I want this journey to be true, to tell the ups and the downs, and unfortunately my leg is going through a down time. I can't ignore the fact that I am so very thankful for my life, for my son's life, for a leg that works. I was not involved in some horrific car accident or cycling accident, I have not fought cancer, I have not lost a child after birth, the list goes on. So when I think of that I ask myself, do I have a right to be upset, to be frustrated? The answer, frustration is part of being human, it is something that we deal with but we have to learn to overcome. This is tough for me, this is the first injury that I have had that has taken time, a long time in my book, to begin to recover. The verdict is at least two years until it is healed enough to forget. To me, that is a long time.

In a world of social networking it is tough, it is hard not to want what others have as it is plastered all over every time one gets online. Runners World comes in the mail every month, and while I love looking at it, it makes me want what I don't have, what I used to have. Facebook is a constant, "ran 4 miles", so and so ran 15 miles, so and so ran this half marathon, and the list continues. While I am so very excited that others are running, trust me I longed for many people to share in the enjoyment of running that I had during the days that I ran, it is so hard not to want it so bad that it never leaves your thoughts. I have taken a brief time away from Facebook (for many reasons, not just running issues) and have considered ending my subscription to Runners World, but I am not ready yet.

Last night as I had a hard time going to sleep, thoughts raced through my head. Many times going back to my attempt to run on Saturday January 1, 2011. I don't think I made it 5 feet before my one left knee cap turned into about 5 knee caps from the swelling, my thigh was big enough to hide a small child, and my mind was ticked. So ticked, that I refused to stop, I kept going but my going was walking, not running. I was determined to go the distance that I set out to travel no matter how slow or how bad it hurt. I made it, but it was defeating, I didn't run, i couldn't run.

Many may wonder why I am trying so hard, why don't I just swim, why don't I do something else that does the same as running used to? Because I learned to love to run. I can't give it up. While it doesn't define me, it is part of me, a part of me that makes me feel so good when I go, so good when I am done. I want that back and I am not ready to give up yet.

A Trip to the Doctor

Tuesday, December 28, 2010 I finally gave in and called the doctor. I was discharged from my vascular surgeon a few months ago, however, today I was terrified. A week and a half ago I went for an 8 mile run with my dad, it was wonderful, I almost had a feeling of normalcy. Although I was running 11 1/2 minute miles (much slower than my pre-pregnancy time), I had hope that I was on my way to running a half marathon in early January. Despite the pain in my leg, I was able to run 8 miles, able to finish. Running is painful now, it is hard, I never know what my leg will do, but I long to do it and I want to keep running.

The next weekend I decided to try for 9 miles, one more mile, it was fine last week so I thought nothing different this week. Mile 6 hit and I took my needed 1 minute walk break at the mile marker, and then it hit. My left leg went numb, I could feel the circulation try to start again, after minutes it made it to my knee but different from the other times it stopped there. It never seemed to make it beyond my knee cap. But I kept going, kept walking and running, hoping for recovery. Through my compression pants and my One Black Sock, I could see that my leg was twice the size of my right leg. After a few days I thought it had recovered but on Tuesday it felt different, it was causing my pants to feel tight on my left leg, it was falling asleep when I sat, it was going numb when I drove in the car. So.....reluctantly I called the doctor (I'm a tough it out kind of person, I don't like to give in to the need to get help) and then told me to come immediately.

Once at the doctor I got the amazing news that it was okay, my leg could stay (I laughed, but the doctor with all seriousness said that it was a legitimate concern. Trust me, I am thrilled that everything is okay but it is still a journey. He then said to keep running, to keep trying, to keep building up the miles as I can. BUT....I never know what I am going to get. He said that I could go out one day and be perfect and wonder why I can't feel that way every day. I could go out the next day and it could be horrbile, swell, and just not want to go. So this part of the journey is hard, each day I put on all of my compression stuff and my One Black Sock to go for a run, I do it unsure of what the run will bring. Will I go 5 feet and have to turn around and go home, or will I make it a mile or 9 miles.

I love running, I will continue plodding along in this journey, hoping that the doctors words that this will be better in 2 years (now 1 1/2 years) is right, hoping that soon I will be able to run with less pain. Through the pain I continue to run, it is my "me time" it is my quiet time, my time to set aside the other stresses of life and enjoy the peace and quiet of my time running, one foot after the other, one foot followed by one foot in One Black Sock.