Family and Friends

This post won't be about running. Instead it's about friendship.

This weekend was our daughter's wedding. It was amazing and she was beautiful. Her new husband was pretty good looking too!

This is not the place to go into the details of the wedding and that is not my intent, but to say that day was hectic is a huge understatement. So much to be done starting at 10:30 in the morning to get the place decorated for the event. I thought that most of the day I would be worried and running around trying to get things done and would simply run out of time.

And there they were, my family and friends. I won't go into detail because it really doesn't do justice. What I will say is that friends who we rarely see now that we've moved showed up early to help set up, fix the bridesmaids and brides hair, and stayed late into the night to help clean up. Family who really have better thing to do were there to take over when it was time for me to play hostess.

Friends from college made their way to this wedding and it seemed like we were at a reunion, dancing, laughing, and catching up. And they too stayed to help us at the end.

When all was said and done what impressed me the most is that they were there for us. We all meet people early in our adult lives, people who at the time share common interests with us. Work, or kids activities, or a neighborhood. Slowly those people become friends years go by and things change. People leave to work elsewhere, kids activities change, we move to different cities and different careers, and yet in this time of celebration they were there for us. All of us together.

We laughed, we cried, we drank, we toasted. Sharing stories from college and then from our young married years. We danced alongside Taryn and her friends who are just now entering their young married years. We all know as we sit and watch what it will be like in their future with their young friends. And we all pray that like us they will all stay together and be able to enjoy the weddings of their children together. Good friends for the rest of our lives.

Rising Early

Does anyone really like getting up at 4:15 am for any reason, let alone working your butt off in some form of exercise?

When my phone alarm goes off a nice song begins to play. I hear it before it gets too far in and immediately throw my feet on the floor. I don't lay there and lament over having to get up, it's just too easy to talk myself into not going at all. So I get up as soon as I hear the song start to play.

At first I am in somewhat of a daze, getting dressed without any real thought. (This is why I lay my clothes out the night before). I stumble to the kitchen to get a little bite to eat, a banana, an apple, maybe an Ezekiel English muffin. Drink some water to get me going. Terry's alarm goes off 15 minutes after mine and he lounges in bed grumbling. I just let him grumble.

Once he is up and moving we get ready and head off for the morning's endeavor. On a 4:15 day that would be Boot Camp. A fitness group with a fearless leader who drinks espresso before she gets to the gym at 4:45. Needless to say moving like that this early is tough but also invigorating. On the off days we run instead and get to sleep until 5:00 am. Yippee!

The best part of these mornings is the time we have together after the hard work. Opening the door to the coffee brewing, the house filled with that yummy aroma, we poor a cup and sit together discussing what we expect from our day, how we felt about our workout, and how much we would love to go back to bed. It's uninterrupted time. Sometimes we sit on the deck in the dark watching the kittens eat, listening to the frogs who are just waking up, and wondering what kind of critters we hear moving in the trees.

These times together are priceless. Yes that term is overused but how else do you describe the feeling of sharing an early morning with someone you have loved for 29 years?

It really doesn't get any better than this.

Slow Going

It's been a weak since I really started "running" again. I'm really only jogging but don't tell anyone.

It's hard coming back from an injury, hard on your ego, as well as the injured limb.

However, what I've discovered once again is the beauty of running so early that you can see all the stars, hear the crickets, and see the sun rise.

Getting up at 4:15 and going to boot camp at 5:00 is great too, in it's own way. During boot camp you are inside pushing yourself to the limit. You have to depend upon the others around you and the music to keep you going through the "harder than I thought this was going to be" workouts.

Running? Well that's a different push. No matter where you are starting from it's an activity that makes you reach deep down inside, pulling every reserve to go where you need to go, alone. And that is true when recovering, starting out, or training for a time goal. It's a much more individual soulful activity.

I am happy to be on the mend, happy to be able to walk/jog/run/cycle/swim/yoga, whatever the days plan calls for. I am happy and thankful to be healthy.

Back on the Road

The time is finally here, time to get back on the road and work my way up to my 5th marathon on July 2011.

I have learned so much during this time off, I've learned that I can enjoy other sports, I've learned that patience is more important than we realize, and I've learned that when I whine it's OK for my husband to tell me to cut it out.

Starting back is a bit scary and yet exciting. For awhile I'll be going at it slowly while still participating in a fitness boot camp, cycling, and swimming. Therefore I am staying fit and this should go along way to getting me strong for number 5.

I look forward to watching the progression and sharing that time with Terry and friends.

Long Time No Post

Wow, it's been FOREVER since I posted a blog. I've really let this slip since my surgery. Oh well, nothing much going on. Here's a recap:

• Fitness Bootcamp in the mornings M,T,TH


• Cycling once or twice a week 20-25 miles no large steep hills (cause of knee)


• Swimming once or twice a week


• Walking two to three times a week anywhere from 3 - 6 miles

Work has really been busy and I've been out of town, that really messes up my schedule some but that's life and it will get better.

Today I start rebuilding my running. I am not going to lie I am a bit nervous about starting back, and I will start slow, so slow...walk/run, walk/run...sigh...soon it will come back I know, but time goes so slow.

I can't do boot camp at the same time. Too much stress on my knee. I hate that because I feel like I am gaining so much strength in bootcamp. At some point I can add that back in, I just have to be patient.

Patient, Patient, Patient...ok got it...my new mantra!

Recuperating

Yep, that's the word of the day...recuperating. And that is what I am doing. It's not easy but it's what we all must do from time to time when injury gets in the way of our way of life.

Interestingly enough I was telling a friend today that some time off isn't going to hurt her, in fact it might help her be stronger...why can't I tell myself that and really believe it? I know it's true but it doesn't matter, I just can't sit still to recover.

So I am trying, tomorrow I can swim again and I'm thrilled to be able to do something that is a good cardio workout! And in a week I'll be cycling and then in a few weeks running again.

This time next year I won't have to even think about this...at least that's my hope!

Knee Surgery

I have not posted much about my knee surgery because I really didn't want to be a whiner. So today I will catch you up in case you've missed my ongoing saga.

Two and a half years ago I tore my meniscus, got an MRI, went to an orthopedic surgeon, he said I didn't need surgery. OK so days go by.

I keep training and run the San Antonio Marathon in tears because my knee hurts so bad. But time goes on and I continue to run and eventually have to lay off a month in which time I start swimming and doing yoga.

Eventually I go back to running and do well, but off and on I have periods of time where my knee really bothers me and I have to back off.

Fast forward to this last winter, I trained, did well, got a Personal Record in the half marathon, I was so excited! And then BOOM the knee again. Thinking overuse, I followed my coaches advice and backed off, but when I started up again it didn't get better and then I had this catching that would happen even when I was sleeping, or walking around the house, or mowing.

Finally my coach strongly suggested I go to the doctor and get an MRI which I did and sure enough it needed to be cleaned out, and of course I have arthritis which I already knew. The ortho doctor recommended scoping it and so I agreed.

Ten days ago I went in and had the surgery. No big deal at all. I spent two days doing nothing but taking pain pills (although I never had any pain) so the third day I quit taking them. Only used the crutches for one trip from the car to the couch...after that I never touched them except to put them in the closet.

Fourth day I walk a mile, next day 2, then three...so on Thursday a week after the surgery I go to the Y and use the elliptical and the bike each for 30 minutes, thinking I would get a good workout only to find that it hurt if I did it too hard, it's all about rebuilding not doing a full workout...SIGH...so I took it down and just got through it. Yes it drove me crazy.

Friday I took off and Saturday I walked 5 miles at a brisk pace and then came home and cleaned house. By the time I cleaned house my knee was tired and twinging so I iced and rested. Sunday we went out and kayaked, easy day for the legs.

That brings us to today. The nurse comes in and is surprised my knee is not more swollen, takes out my stitches and asks me if it's bothered me at all, when I relay my activities to her she looks surprised and simply says well, that is good! Then the doctor comes in, checks the incisions, checks flexibility, says he is amazed it is not swollen.

Then he shows me the pictures that they took while scoping. WOW, lots of stuff going on in there. They smoothed out the meniscus, sawed on some bone to help the arthritis and took out this little band of tissue that was rubbing on my thigh bone.

He asked me about my activity to this point, if it hurt at any point and once again I relayed the information. He just smiled and laughed when I got to the 5 miles and then cleaning the house day. And then as he started to tell me that he saw no reason for rehab, you can do this and that, I took out a list I had prepared with questions about all the activities I wanted to continue doing.

At that point he laughed and shook his head, all in a very nice and complimentary way. And he answered concisely each question and said "you will pay the next day if you overdo". I get the point!

As we left I apologized for being so pesky with my questions and he answered that it was no problem at all, he enjoys patients like me who want to be active.

I am left wondering what other people do? Use this as an excuse to do nothing?