Back to the Gym

Honestly speaking, I haven't been to the gym in forever! I started more of a running program a couple of months ago and gave the wallet a break with the personal training (no offense Bergernator but personal training does get pricey). Now that my running program is temporarily on hold due to my little "setback" I've had to scramble to come up with something new to keep me in shape while I'm giving the leg a rest.

Last week proved to be a really rough week for me...all this news about my injury, work was crazy, I was super bummed and really considered switching over to the 5k race instead of the half. Don't worry, I didn't.

I had to work yesterday (Saturday) and was exhausted but I came home and my super sweet husband whisked me off to the movies...which is one of my favorite things to do so it really got my mind off things. On our way home I told him all of my frustrations, fears and doubts about all of this and he was so encouraging. When I told him I was scared I would have to walk the whole thing and they would shut down the course around me, he said, "Who cares? Let them...you'll walk on the sidewalk." When I told him I wouldn't make it under the time limit of four hours he said, "Who cares? You'll finish and that's all that matters." And when I told him I would come in dead last across the finish line he said, "Don't worry. I'll come back and and find you and we'll do it together."

I don't think he saw me cry (it was dark) but I did. Scott has always been there for me, cheering me on no matter how hard it is to believe in myself.
Which brings me back to today and a way more positive outlook on things. The first thing Scott and I decided to do was to get back to the gym and focus on everything I could do. I can cycle, I can do weights, I can row...I need to do all the things right now to keep my stamina up and not lose too much of what I've worked up to. We'll see what the week brings but today I did a 30-minute hard cycle and felt no pain in the hip which was awesome. It actually felt good to sweat!

Please continue to pray for me...you all have been so supportive and your thoughts, kind words and encouragement are what's keeping me going (not to mention a little retail therapy once in a while, too)! Thank you so very much! I love you all!!

The Good Doctor

Yesterday I went and saw the good doctor about my hip. He was awesome and specializes in sports medicine and knew exactly what he was talking about. After an x-ray, some poking, prodding, and stretching, he told me what I knew all along: Laura, you have hip bursitis. Actually, I blurted it out before he could and he was impressed with my self-diagnosis. Dang it, I should have gone to med school.

He proceeded to give me a pamphlet full of stretches that I will need to do to heal the area. In the meantime, I could take an anti-inflammatory and he could also give me a cortisone shot to the hip to mask the pain for the next month or so and then I could go back for another one before the run. I have a pretty high pain threshold (I hear those things hurt) so I said, "Give it to me doc."

The nurse pulled out a 4" needle on a huge syringe filled with white stuff and the good doctor put it right into my hip, and instantly I could feel the exact area that the pain radiated from. It was like having a huge bruise and someone was pressing their finger smack dab into the middle of it. But I didn't care...anything to ease the pain and let me run again.

After that was over he said the words that still I don't know if I should laugh or cry over. When he asked how far up I was on my mileage and I said 4 miles, he looked concerned and shook his head. His exact words were, "Laura, I'm going to be honest and realistic with you. You are not going to be able to run a half-marathon...not this one, not any half-marathon. Some people can distance run, some people can't, and you can't. I don't want you to have any false expectations."

Wow. He said it out loud. I can't do it. I've known all along I would be walking a big portion of the half, but I don't know if hearing him say that should be a relief so that any pressure I've had on myself is taken off, or if I should cry because now I'm really going to come in dead last on race day and might be in some serious pain when it's over.

The good doctor told me that he would do everything in his power to get me across the finish line and he re-vamped some of my training to include more walking and less running in my workouts.

Now I'm left with the realization that this half-marathon will without a doubt be the hardest physical thing I've ever done in my life. I will be in pain. My knees and ankles are going to start to bother me next (says the doc), and if I do finish, it's not going to be a pretty picture. I hope you can all come out on race day...not so much to cheer me on anymore, but to carry me out of there if I can cross that line.

So what do you think? Should I feel relieved or terrified?

I Stink.

No, really. I literally stink. I just finished my best run yet...2.5 miles straight without stopping to walk AND I came in under the time limit (usually I walk parts of my 3-4 mile workouts so not walking on this one was huge for me!).

This awesome workout meant that I sweated a lot. A whole lot. It was gross. I don't like the smell of anyone's sweat, let alone my own and it made me want to barf.

That is all. You may call me Stinky Girl.

Oh, and 4 MONTHS exactly until the big day!!!

Running in the Rain

This entire training process has been a real learning experience. I've come to the realization today that pretty much every week I'm doing something for the first time...I ran 2 minutes straight for the first time, then 5, then 10, then my first mile. I ran 2 and 3 miles for the first time. And today was a new first...Today I ran for the first time in the rain.

My alarm went off at an early 6:30 am this Saturday morning but I didn't roll out of bed until 20 minutes later. I could hear the rain pounding on the roof and as I lay there listening for thunder and watching for lightening through the window, they never came. Just the rain, hard and steady. Of course I debated going back to sleep but without thunder or lightening I knew I had no excuse to get out there and start my 4-miler.

From then until I headed out the door, it was a blur. I don't think I actually woke up until I closed the front door and stepped into the street and started to jog. Within about 2 minutes, I was drenched but oddly, I liked it. It was cool and refreshing. I had a cap on so I didn't have to worry about my eyes or face. The wind wasn't blowing...it was just a cool, quiet rain. I had the entire neighborhood to myself, as no walkers or joggers would be stupid enough to voluntarily run in the rain when they could be sleeping. There weren't even any cars out so I took the liberty of running in the street to get a feel for what race day would be like (minus the bajillion people).

Miles one and two were great. Mile three I felt a pain come back in my right thigh and hip area that has been bugging me for a while on my long runs. By mile 3.75 I had to call it quits as the nagging pain turned into a burning, scorching, seering pain that made me feel like the joint where my hip and pelvis meet was going to come apart inside my body.

On one hand I was really bummed that I missed my goal by a quarter of a mile but on the other hand I was really excited because if it hadn't have been for the little injury, I felt like I could have gone forever. My breathing felt great and the rest of my body felt like it could have run all 4 miles. Dang that stupid leg pain!!

On another bright side, a lot of rain always brings a really cool rainbow. And, no, there wasn't a pot of gold at our house despite it being at the end of the rainbow...

Wooooo hoooooo!

I don't like to post useless, meaningless posts but today it's necessary...It's Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woo hooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hope you all have a great weekend! I'll be doing a 4-miler so keep me in your thoughts!

-Laura

Check Him Out...

Okay, so I totally thought Twitter would be the most useless tool I could ever use, but it has put the community of Cystic Fibrosis supporters right at my fingertips...I follow their tweets about new and interesting CF-related stories and they follow mine (which I am trying to make more positive and less "Ugh, I'm a fattyboombalatty and I'm never going to be a runner").

During my tweet searching, I ran across the most fascinating person. He is my age. He is training for a half-marathon. He loves his girlfriend and his dog. He has an amazing sense of humor and positive attitude. He is upbeat about any and all of his training progress (which I am also working on). His name is Ronnie and he has CF.

He and his girlfriend have created a website/blog to honestly talk about his life and what it's like on a daily basis...the good, the bad, and everything in between. I find it fascinating (and humorous, as they also post videos of themselves singing karaoke in the car with the dog chillaxing in the back seat).

Check it out...what an inspiration!!! http://runsickboyrun.com/

I Never Thought I'd Say This...

...but you can now find me on Twitter!

http://twitter.com/CFRunner
Check me out...I have followers, and am following, some great and interesting people!

Just finished an awesome 2-mile run...This is my first time to run later in the evening and I really like it (morning is too scary and I'm constantly looking over my shoulder, right after work it's too hot...this is just perfect!).

Still holding steady at the 24 lb. mark. I seem to have been at this plateau forever! Any suggestions?

And on a totally random note, happy Aggie football season! Whoop!