Breakdown

I'm sure y'all remember my ankle issues from last year.  In case you've somehow forgotten, I sprained my ankle horribly during a soccer game, went through two months of intense physical therapy, and finally started feeling better in February or March.

So far this marathon training has been going swimmingly.  Other than some shin splints prior to getting proper shoes, a few nasty blisters, and miscellaneous aches and pains that are to be expected, I've been PERFECT - which has been shocking due to my past with IT-band issues, knee and hip drama, etc.

Well, here's me now:

Okay, that was actually me two days ago.  Now it's way more swollen and taped differently.

On Saturday, I ran the best run of my life: FIFTEEN miles.  I felt so good - like I could run several more miles.  And then...a couple days later...my body fell apart.

I don't know what happened.  I don't remember twisting my ankle, rolling my ankle, doing anything out of the ordinary to my ankle.  But starting on Monday, the medial side has been ridiculously sore.  And it has only gotten worse.

I went for a three-mile run on Monday (probably not smart, but it didn't hurt too badly).  I took Tuesday and Wednesday off and actually went to see a chiropractor instead.  

*Side note: I've always been a little leery of chiropractors, but Dr. Rehmer is awesome.  She focuses on whole health rather than just one aspect and spends most of her time with me on therapies rather than on adjustments (although that's part of it, too).  After seeing just one set of X-rays, she was able to explain why I had been feeling the way I'd been feeling - without me even telling her how I'd been feeling.

Today, I was supposed to do this week's long run since I'll be out of town on Saturday.  My student and I were to run 16 miles.  We started off, and I felt decent for the first three.  Then I started to get sore.  Around mile six, I verbalized that I wasn't sure I'd be able to do the whole 16.  Around mile eight, I became quite sure of it, and a half mile later, I started walking.  We ended up doing eleven miles, but I was dying.

After taking a quick shower, I headed to school to put my disaster of a classroom back together.  As I was hobbling around like an old man, I nearly had a sobbing breakdown.  I realized that for the past five months, I have been kicking butts and taking names with this marathon gig.  I have started to love running, I have started losing weight, I have started becoming healthier, and I have gotten legit excited to run 26.2 miles.  I cannot imagine not running this race.  But there's no way I'll be able to run it if I can't get two more long runs in.  And I won't be able to finish those if I don't train with shorter runs during the week.  Which means I will have spent five months training for nothing.

BREAKDOWN

So...I went to my third chiropractic appointment in as many days.  On the first day, Dr. Rehmer wrapped my ankle in kinesio tape, did the electrode thing they have in PT offices, and sent me on my way.  The second day, she lasered my ankle.  And today, the third day, she re-taped it, lasered it again, and took X-rays.  It's not broken, but as she and my previous doctor said, it'd be a lot better if it were fractured than sprained.

Lovely.

So that's that.

I've decided to be semi-smart for a change: I'm going to completely lay off running until next Saturday at the earliest.  (We have a 10k race on the 27th that I'd really like to run, but we'll see how I'm feeling.)  I'm going to gobble down a lot of Advil, use up a lot of ice, and just chill out.  (The third part of that equation is going to be the most difficult, I think.)

How do you cope with injuries while training for something so huge, so important?  Help!

On a completely different note, let me show you some posters I made for my classroom:

These are two of the Eight Keys of Excellence (Quantum Learning).  I'm going to color the keys yellow and then maybe cut a squiggly outline of the words/key to paste to brightly colored paper.  I haven't quite decided yet.

Is this not the most perfect quote/poster for my classroom, a room focused on the fact that everyone has a voice and a story to tell?  LOVE.

So important.  SO. IMPORTANT.

After reading Alice I Have Been, I'm more than a little obsessed with Alice in Wonderland.  And I love this quote - I think too many of our kids are lacking imagination.  Sad.

My next post will be more cheerful.  Promise.

One Year

Well, it's been one year since I started this bad boy, believe it or not.  There've been some good times (i.e. regular blogging) and some bad times (i.e. not blogging for weeks months at a time), but it's been a great experience, and I'm excited to keep it up.  (And yes, hopefully more regularly.)

You may be wondering how I've done with the goals.  Let's recap:

1. Eat good, healthy meals - I have mostly done a good job with this one.  Of course I've slipped up a bit, especially now with birthday celebrations, but I've done a pretty darn good job of cooking regularly and not having snacks around the house.
2. Lose 30 pounds - Um, nope.  I've lost about ten, give or take a couple (depends on the day), in the last several weeks do to this insane marathon training.
3. Work out at least five days a week - Mostly.  I'm running four days a week, and that's plenty for right now.  I need to incorporate more cross-training and strength-training for sure.
4. Only drink once a week - Again, mostly.  Obviously there are some exceptions (again, birthday week), but I have pretty much cut out alcohol from my diet.  It feels great.
5. Drink more water - OMG.  That's like all I drink anymore!
6. Take a multi-vitamin every day - I do this everyday...when I don't run out and then forget to buy them for weeks.  :)
7. Do yoga at least once a week - Um, nope.  This is the one that I really need to start again; I can totally notice the lack of yoga in my life.
8. Ride RAGBRAI - I decided to run a marathon instead.  :)  Also, I chose to work summer school so that I could earn money for a road bike, a RAGBRAI essential.  Maybe next year.
9. Actually follow a budget - I'm getting better...  And my freelance writing gig is sure to help.
10. Read one book a month for ME - I have gone ABOVE AND BEYOND with this goal!  Just check out my "books" tab!
11. Become more spiritual - Sadly, I have completely neglected this goal and, actually, forgot I had set it.  Apparently this is the goal for 28.
12. Blog once a day - An improvement since last year!  :)
13. Be happy - I am so happy with my life, and I continue to get happier and stronger and better every single day.

Here's to my 28th year!

Ochocinco

I have football on the brain tonight: first a freelance blurb that I wrote regarding the NFL lockout, and now everyone's favorite dancing star, Chad Ochocinco:

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You may be wondering why in the world I bring up Ochocinco.  Wonder no more, my friends; wonder no more.

See, Chad and I have something in common: an affinity for a certain number.  While his love transcends all else, so much so that he legally changed his name to reflect it (albeit incorrectly), my appreciation began just 20 minutes ago...

...when I calculated just how many miles I have run in the past five weeks.

You got it, folks: 85 miles.  Five weeks.  An average of 17 miles per week.  Bam.

On a completely separate note, let's talk about my day.  Again, you may be wondering how this is a completely separate note, as I was supposed to increase those miles this morning.  Well, boys and girls...


I didn't go.  I woke up at 5:15 when my alarm went off, but since I could feel the slicing pain of my blister when I was simply lying there, putting no pressure on it, I decided against cramming it into tennis shoes and trekking it across four-and-a-half miles of rugged terrain.  Instead, I hit up Walgreen's today for some blister Band-Aids and special friction-free ointment that ensures zero pain for tomorrow's slog through the jungle of Des Moines.

Today started the final week of summer school (woot!), which I celebrated by heading to my friend's pool for about three hours sans sunscreen.  (Don't worry: I put it on my face.  I don't want wrinkles, duh.)  Let's just say I'm looking a little, uh...

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Just kidding.  Kind of.

Immediately following Adventures in the Sun, I met up with another bestie for pedicures.  (Click on that link to see pictures of her beautiful family.  Love.)  I was super nervous for a couple of reasons.  First, I didn't want them to get rid of my I-worked-hard-for-these-and-need-them-to-run-a-marathon callouses, and second, I didn't want them to hear my bloodcurdling scream if/when they touched my blister.  Thankfully, I had nothing to worry about and instead have pretty toes:

I never get designs put on my toesies, but I was kind of (obviously) feelin' it today.  However, I wish he would've stopped at the cute little white flowers and not gone overboard with the "wispies."  Oh well.  Next time.  And anyway, I'm sure this pedi will last all of two workouts before needing to be redone.

After writing two freelance blurbs, drinking a glass of wine (heart health, you know), and blogging it up, I am ready to hit the sack.  It's been a long day, and it'll be an even earlier morning.

Ciao, bellas.