Blog Challenge Day 10: Memory

The first memory I had planned to write about was one of the most vivid memories of my childhood.  It also makes me sound like an egotistical, arrogant jerk.  In a nutshell, my first day of kindergarten I cried the whole way there.  Typical.  The teacher, who was used to this for obvious reasons, tried to calm me down by telling me all the fun stuff we'd be learning that year.  Which were all things I already knew.  This was the day I realized that many of the people around me are pretty dumb.

Hey, I sound a bit like a jerk anyway.  Oh, well.  Let's proceed to my second choice of topic.

Just over a year ago I began a running program called "Couch to 5K."  I was overweight, depressed (the dosage of meds I was on were 1/8 of what I take now, so basically they did almost nothing), and I had a dog who was going nuts because he didn't have enough opportunities to really burn off some energy.

I only followed the program for 5 or 6 weeks which was when the running times drastically increased and my asthma because a real problem.  So I began to run as much or as little as I felt like and at whatever speed didn't cause a severe asthma attack or cause pain in my left knee which isn't horrible, but isn't great either.

Admittedly there were times that I wouldn't run for a couple of months or so, then I would take it up again.  Each time I was further along stamina-wise, which was encouraging because I wasn't starting from scratch.  Last autumn I sprained my ankle and had to take 6 weeks off.  It was horribly frustrating, but I sucked it up, gained 12 pounds, and was very cranky.  Within a month of running I'd lost the weight again just in time for Foxtrot (my English pointer) to be diagnosed with terminal hemangiosarcoma.  I still ran, but only twice a week most of the time.  When I had to put him down exactly a month ago I didn't run for about two weeks.

But new running shoes, new ear buds (the sort that don't fall out of your ears), an armband for my iPhone, and Gatsby's impatience got me back out on the trails.  I was surprised at how easily I picked it back up again; I was more or less where I was a month prior.

Now Gats and I are back to running every other day which has over time become something we absolutely love doing together.

Yesterday the thought popped into my head while running that I bet I could run a 5k now!  That has been a goal of mine since I began running, when a two minutes jog had me out of breath.

The epiphany that immediately followed that was, "wait a minute, a 5k is only 3.1 miles!  I do that every other day!"  It is one of the best feelings in the world to not even realize how far you've come and then have it hit you like a ton of bricks!  I was so amazed and proud of myself.

So, who is down for running a 5k??  We can just run our own if there aren't any coming up in Tucson in the near future!  :)

Sudden Hiatus, Explained

The past week has been a tumultuous one.  On Monday, I was laid off from my job with little to no hope of returning.  About a quarter of the company was laid off due to the extremely weak global market in our industry combined with pervasive mismanagement across the board.  Still, I valued and relied upon my job to support myself and provide a home for myself & my dogs (all three of us have chronic medical conditions).  It came as a shock that I was eliminated simply because I lacked seniority; I had expanded my job (which was extremely easy and only took a few hours of the day) to tracking all of our parts & raw materials orders for purchasing (which in addition to working with vendors involved working closely with the project manager & project engineers).  Basically they got two positions filled for the price of one.  If they truly intend to salvage and save the company with financial cost being the bottom line (and the reason so many were laid off), they would have been wise to keep such a hard-working and valuable employee.  Ah well... like I said, the company is badly run from stem to stern.

Okay, enough about that.

Wednesday was a deeply saddening day.  I wrote about Rusty, the older German shorthaired pointer that I would be fostering to determine the severity of his health and/or behaviour issues.  Thankfully once his very long nails were clipped he got around much better with only moderate osteo-arthritic stiffness.  However, upon examining his teeth I found that he was much older than the 9 years we were told when we rescued him last May.  I estimated his age to be anywhere from 12 to 16.  His back teeth were worn almost to the gumline and the front were ground down considerably so that he had a difficult time chewing dry food.  His most notable symptom was that he was easily disoriented and when confused would stand there and cry pitifully unless someone was there to talk to him & calm him down.  Even after spending several days with him (during which I was home most of the time), I don't believe he even recognized me; I was merely a reassuring presence when he became frightened and confused.  Because of the severity of his dementia we made the decision to have him humanely euthanized.  While that is always a heartbreaking decision to have to make, his quality of life was so poor that giving him a release from that constant suffering was the most compassionate gift I could give him.  RIP sweet Rusty.

The rest of my week was consumed with Thanksgiving and the weekend was mostly spent cleaning, reorganizing and decorating my home for Christmas (my favourite holiday).

Last night I went for a run with R. for the first time in a week.  I really surprised myself by running 10 minutes with only a 3 minute rest, then running a quick 7 minutes followed by a nice long cool down walk!  While I've given up the C25K program, I plan to still run twice a week (with R. or Gatsby or both) and then do yoga, Zumba, and bike around town the rest of the time.

Running: Post-Plateau

Whew!  Not only did I survive last night's run but it really felt good.  Stretching before and after made a huge difference and I think instead of sticking to the C25K program to the letter, R. and I have decided it's more important to just keeping running, keep running longer, and keep improving our stamina.  If it takes us a little while longer, so be it.  Our goal was to become more healthy and fit, first and foremost, with the 5K giving us a tangible goal to keep us motivated.

Today is the first day in over a week that I don't feel sore or disillusioned about running in general.  I feel like I've overcome a hurdle and will be in good form for Thursday evening's run with R.!

In other news, don't weigh yourself after you just ate a big sandwich for lunch (even if it was only rye bread, mustard, pickles & veggies).  It's disheartening, to say the least.

Not-So-Cool Running

To be frank: the past week (Week Five) of C25K was the absolute worst.  I don't know if I've hit a sort of "running plateau" or if I'm progressing faster than my body can manage.  Every day the times increased, which was without question a challenge.  The first two days I completed the regimens (barely) and while I felt mentally happy to "finish" them, I felt physically awful and so sore that I've given up biking, walking the dogs, etc. because on running days I am too exhausted to do either and on rest days I am too sore to want to exert myself, knowing that I'll have a brutal run the following day and I want to be as ready/rested as possible.

I know part of my inability to finish the 20 minute run last weekend was because I didn't have enough fore-warning to use my inhaler in time, I felt rushed and didn't take the time to stretch beforehand, and it was MUCH colder than I'd anticipated.  I ran the first ten agonizing minutes, then stopped to stretch for 3 minutes, walk for 1 minute, then run for another 6 before I started feeling dizzy and asthmatic.

Truthfully, I do hope that last week was just an exceptionally hard week (I was getting over a cold, at the time) and that this week I finally feel "good" running again.  If not... I'm not sure that I want to risk injury but stubbornly pushing myself to finish the program (or at least finish it on time... stretching it out and using it as a guideline doesn't sound too awful).  I know that if I choose to run less often and increase my times more slowly that R. will be deeply disappointed.  I love running with her and I am so proud that we've come this far together, but at some point I have to balance the physical toll on my body with letting down one of my dearest friends.

I really, really hope that this week is a better one.

Today is only 8 min./5 min./8 min. with 3 min. rests in between.  After Sunday's disappointing run, this sounds a lot more pleasant... I hope I'm right!

The Looming Gloom

5pm, outside my office.  :(

Tonight is Week Five/Day Two of C25K, which I am actually pretty excited about!  Aside from the weather and the fact that I packed a tank top to run in (and will probably freeze the first mile or so) tonight.  Ugh.

There is supposed to be a silver lining, right?  I'm looking...

In other news, my laptop screen is fried which means no viable internet at home aside from my not-that-smart-phone.  It should still be under warranty; I hope I can find the paperwork tonight (I got it right before I moved... which makes the chance of successfully locating it somewhat grim).

Before you think this really is a gloomy post, I have some good news to share!

My dog Lola Lulu starting writing her blog again!  I know, I know... ...I didn't even know she could spell!  But there you have it.  You can check it out here.

Well.... off I go, to run in the rain and hopefully not get shin splints or slip and fall on my ass in front of rush hour traffic.

Ciao!

I Think I'm Hooked!

I just realized that I haven't written much about my journey from woman-trying-to-awkwardly-run to eventual-actual-runner.

Yesterday I ran Week Five/Day One of C25K which entailed three sets of five minute runs, with three minute rest periods in between.  As usual, the first day of a new week strikes fear into my heart when I check the training schedule.  The ramped up running times and rapidly diminishing rest/walking intermissions always seem like too much too soon.

However... yesterday wasn't nearly as rough as I imagined it would be.  While there are definitely days that I enjoy running more than others (and some days I don't want to do it at all), yesterday felt GREAT.  Absolutely great.  There have been only a couple of times since R. and I started C25K that I have so thoroughly enjoyed a run and enjoyed running in general.  I felt so happy and invigorated afterward.  It made last week's miserably toilsome run through Starr Pass worth it, just to get to this point (and to forge ahead!).  I can hardly believe we are over halfway to running a 5k!

Today is a rest day; my idea of "rest" is a 3 mile brisk bike ride to and from work.  Tomorrow and Saturday will finish up Week Five; Sunday is Zumba (which I am trying for the first time... I was too apprehensive to try it when we began running because I didn't think I had the stamina and has horrible visions of myself running out of class then crying outside the dance studio).  Then back to our usual Mon/Wed/Fri or Sat running schedule.  Only four more weeks!  WOW!  6 weeks til our first 5k and 8 weeks to our second!

Even though I should be resting today... I'm so tempted to take Gatsby out for a jog.  Maybe just a short one?  Before bedtime?  We shall see...

Smooth Sailing!

On Monday I was terrified of beginning Week Four in C25K.  I had skipped a day of training the week before and spent half the weekend recovering from a killer hangover (one of the many reasons I almost never go "out" on a Friday night).

But you know what?  WE DID IT.  The running parts doubled in time, the walking in-between parts decreased, and not only did we do it but we did two laps of our downtown course (two weeks ago we were doing one lap in 20 minutes) in 25-30 minutes if you count a few minutes of walking to cool down afterward.

Yesterday I biked a total of 10.5-11 miles, back and forth to work, the doctor's office (more about that later...), and the grocery store.  Not only was I not exhausted, but when I got home from the store at the end of the day... I felt tempted to go bike a couple more miles!  Crazy!! 

This week has marked a significant turning point in how I view and I how I feel about exercise.  Other than yoga, hiking, and dancing... I can't say that I've EVER enjoyed physical exercise.  I used to joke that the only time I'd run was if I was being chased.

I think those days are over.  I can definitely see how people can become addicted to running or biking!

Tonight I have another doctor's appointment (more later... yadda yadda...) and will be running Day Two of Week Four with Gatsby.  Friday night I'll be having another German shorthaired pointer boy stay over and he'll be meeting his potential foster family on Saturday morning.  Later that day R. and I will conclude Week Four; on Sunday we'll be doing the Scavenger Dash which is part race, part scavenger hunt, and part adventure with clues and puzzles to solve along the way.  Fun, right?  Exercise AND mystery solving.  What could be more up my alley than this?

Daily Gratitude - 23 October, 2012

I haven't done a posting of five things I am grateful for right now in quite a while... so it's about time to put it down in writing instead of musing to myself throughout the day.  I find it beneficial to take a moment to stop, reflect, and recognize time simple things we have to be thankful for each and every day.

#1 - I am learning to control my newly diagnosed asthma and still continue my fitness journey alongside my dearest darling friend R.  :)

#2 - I am back to cooking more of my meals from scratch (which is such a stress-reducer for me!) and am not eating emotionally/compulsively.  Getting weighed at the doctor's office last Friday was a real eye-opener; it makes me even more determined to take control of my eating and exercising habits.

#3 - Since Lemons passing, my home has had a new sense of calm that I did not expect.  My friends who have visited in the past few days have all remarked upon it.  I had not realized how much stress his being sick had put on Lola Lulu and Gatsby.  I know it was hard on me, but seeing them visibly happier and more relaxed is proving to be a much-needed succor while I am still grieving the loss of Lemons from our lives.

#4 - My favourite mid-morning snack (I tend to eat a light breakfast around 6:30am and my lunch hour doesn't begin until 11:30am) is Yoplait fat free Greek yogurt, honey vanilla flavour.  It's only 100 calories, 0g fat, 8g protein, only 12g sugar, and 80mg sodium!  The coconut (which contains actual flakes of coconut!) is delicious as well, but I ate it so frequently that I'm a little burned out on it for time being.  I believe it is also available in blueberry and strawberry.

#5 - Every day I am more and more thankful that I have such an amazing, compassionate, and thoroughly enriching group of friends, who have over the approximately two years I have lived in Tucson become my family.  I love you all!

Catching Up

So many things have happened during the past week or so, that I haven't had the time or the energy to put my experiences into writing.  Some things I am not completely ready to talk about, yet.

Last Wednesday, October 17th, I lost my beloved 10 year old English pointer Jack Lemon (fondly referred to as simply "Lemons").  I chose to adopt him last June knowing that he had terminal hemangiosarcoma and there was no way of knowing how much or how little time he had left.

 Two weeks ago I began the Couch to 5K training program with my friend R.  The first time I ran, I had an extremely difficult time breathing afterward.  For several hours.  I chalked it up to being woefully out of shape.  I had two other severe reactions post-run, where I could not take a full breath without wheezing for hours and usually woke up coughing still the next morning.  I made a doctor's appointment to be checked out for asthma on the 31st, but last Friday after three days of shortness of breath and feeling like my chest was being internally crushed (and bruised) I missed work to go to an urgent care center. 

I was diagnosed with exercise induced asthma that was further complicated by my allergies.  Basically when I ran, my lungs opened up more fully, taking in more pollen and causing a severe histamine reaction on top of the asthmatic inflammation and bronchial spasms.  I'm on three more medications now (for a grand total of four, more about that later...).  So far, so good on this regimen.  I finished Day Three of Week Two after a six day lay off.  Between losing Lemons and the doctor's two days mandatory rest from physical exertion, I felt pretty rusty last night, but I did it anyway which felt great.

Today I biked the three miles to work and will bike home stopping about halfway to go to the bank.  I used my inhaler before and after the morning's ride, but I feel okay and only have coughed a little bit.  I made a point of giving myself ample time to get to work so I wouldn't have to rush.  It took a little longer than usual, but to me it's not a race.  As long as I get to work on time and physically feel good, that's what is most important.

Last Saturday was the first big event for my non-profit dog rescue, Arizona Bird Dog Rescue.  You can read more about it here.  There are quite a few more photos on our Facebook page, which you can find by clicking the big chocolate coloured dog logo on the right-hand sidebar of this blog.

Next Saturday is another big dog-related event here in Tucson: the special test screening of the unreleased documentary "Guilty 'Til Proven Innocent" which we will be attending to show our support of the film and both my own & my rescue's opposition to breed specific legislation (aka, BSL).  You can read more about the invitation only event and my stance on BSL on my rescue blog here.

C25K - Day Two/Week Two!

Whew!  Done!  I had to use Google Maps to calculate the distance I ran/walked in 21 minutes... 1.5 miles!  Which equals a 14 minute mile.  I'm not sure how far R. and I ran on our first day training, but I'm pretty sure I couldn't have traveled a mile in 14 minutes on my own to feet at that point.

The best part is that Gatsby is a GREAT running partner!  Well, aside from wanting to stop to lift his leg every minute or two.  Gotta love boy dogs.  Granted, Gats power-walked while I jogged, but he was still very easy for me to walk and jog with tonight.  What a relief after the bad run I had with Lola on Sunday!

Overall I am proud of myself for going out and completing today's regimen.  Better late than never, right?  I still miss running with R., though.  Gatsby was really fun to work out with and I will definitely continue jogging with him, but he's not much of a conversationalist and his own encouragement is a sideways grin over his shoulder every so often.

Again, I am experiencing my chest feeling constricted and I keep coughing.  If I try to take a deep breath, I only wheeze and then can't stop coughing spasmodically... I think I really do need to make a doctor's appointment.  Pretty sure this is another possible asthma attack.

Running Melodrama

Completing Day Three and Week One felt like a justified reason for celebration... the hardest part of the journey was over, right?  That's what I thought last Friday after running with R. downtown and enjoying amazing drinks & food at Elliott's afterward.

Saturday wasn't truly an "off day" since I clocked 3 miles walking (with Gatsby, to the Farmer's market and then home) and 3 more miles biking (downtown to meet R. & D. at Tucson Meet Yourself).

Sunday was hot (almost 90 F), sunny, and I really was not feeling it but R. bullied/charmed/convinced me to get my butt out of the house.  I suggested bringing Lola Lulu with us since I had run with her in the past and that seemed to really help her fearful reactivity in public. The run started off with my shins aching and I felt pretty rusty.  Lola was also not on her best walking behavior and I was getting tired a lot more quickly by trying to keep her focused and not underfoot.  It wasn't the best workout we've had but I was finally starting to find my groove when a guy standing behind a car startled Lola, who bolted and ran across my path tripping me.  I went down hard and landed on my right knee (which I had scraped open the night before after laying my bike down by taking the turn into my driveway too sharply).  Ouch.  Big time.  We only had 30 more seconds of jogging to do, so after walking a block or so (and having rolled my capris up over my knees so they didn't rub on my wounds)... we finished our run, damnit!  In fact, we ran an extra 30 seconds just to do it.  Then we walked back to my house so I could clean and dress my knees.

We agreed to take Monday off so my knee could heal a little, but R. did Day Two/Week Two by herself.  Today I was horrifically hung over after an unplanned extended cocktail hour (with excellent live jazz) at Elliott's, so I chose not to run after work (even though the constant threat of vomiting had been replaced by a splitting headache).  So again, R. did it without me and furthermore accused me of giving up.  Which isn't remotely true.  The real slap in the face was the bragging on Facebook that she'd completed Week Two (even though she didn't follow the C25K program and did it in all in three days with no rests).

I no longer feel like I have a partner on this journey and that really sucks.  

There is a reason the program is designed to run one day then rest a day (even though on "off" days I still bike, walk the dogs, do yoga, etc. but the point is that I do different forms of exercise).  Running everyday for three days straight then not running for 3 or 4 days doesn't work for me.  Firstly, I inherited some less-than-ideal knees from my grandmother and am trying to strengthen them gradually so that I don't have the painful knee problems she has experienced later in life.  I also had shin splints about 3 months ago and am not eager to repeat that any time soon.  Thirdly, I think I may have had two post-run asthma attacks since we started.  Day One I didn't think anything of it... I'm pretty out of shape, so a tight chest and shortness of breath was to be expected.  However, it lasted for several hours and I was raspy & unable to take a full breath for the duration.  I've never had asthma in the past, so I'm not sure what an asthma attack feels like, but the second time it happened after what felt like a fairly easy workout and again lasted for a few hours until I could breathe normally again. So yes, I am a "wuss" who would like to alternate running days with more low-impact, less strenuous exercise until I get a bit more fit (for the sake of my knees and shins) and get in to see a doctor about the painful chest tightening & inability to breath normally post-workout.

The real reason I feel angry is that I feel hurt that R. is doing it without me and completing the work outs faster than I am.  I know it's not a competition, but I still feel left behind in the dust like a loser. She started a day before me to begin with and re-did Day One so that we could start C25K together.

My new sports watch (with stopwatch feature) will arrive on Thursday, but for tonight I have a downloaded stopwatch app on my not-so-smart-phone.

Now that my hangover has mostly worn off, I'm going to try taking Gatsby out with me to complete Day Two of Week Two.  Wish us luck!

Reflecting on Day Two of C25K, the Day After

I had every intention of blogging about my experience with Day Two of C25K, but honestly it was pretty anticlimactic.  It was remarkably painless and dare I say it... easy?  So easy, in fact, that R. and I are going to do Day Three TODAY instead of skipping a day.  Then to celebrate working out for two weeks straight and finishing Week One of C25K, we're celebrating after our downtown run at Elliott's On Congress.

While it may not warrant the title of this post, I did (and still do) find it astonishing how quickly my body is getting used to this level of activity (which I know is modest) and yesterday I actually felt as if I'd found a sort of coordinated rhythm instead of my accustomed "I-am-not-a-runner" awkwardly lurching gait.  Did I posses latent athleticism underneath my chubby exterior??

I'll try to be a little more interesting and introspective later... today my head feels like it's been stuffed with wool and my allergies are going absolutely ballistic despite medication.  I am leaving work early today for a doctor's appointment (more about that, later) and then heading home before meeting R. downtown for Day Three.

Tootle-loo!  (Is that how that is even spelled?  I have no idea.)

Couch To 5K - Day One!

You know the trite but true saying, "today is the first day of the rest of your life?"  I don't think I have ever felt that idiom as viscerally as I do right now.  From my rasping lungs to my only somewhat aching muscles (it's amazing how that extra time walking afterward helped my poor burning shins calm down to a dull warm throb and then to almost nothing).

The best part is the sense of accomplishment I feel for having done it.  Correction: for R. making me finish it instead of wussing out and just walking the last 60 second long jogging period.  I jogged it, I 100% did it, and yes I am proud of myself.

The second best part was during the first 60 second jog when R. said, "I need a sports bra for the booty," and I almost tripped from laughing so hard.  I couldn't get that sentiment out of my head every time we jogged and various parts of my anatomy bounced violently.

Guess what?  We're going to do it again on Wednesday!  Tomorrow I will stick to walking the dogs a couple miles paired with yoga.

That's all I have to report.  I survived and I'm going to do it again.

Over and out!

(I don't know why I said that, post-exercise delirium probably.)