Weekly Update #3

I'm still hanging in there.  This week the kids started school on Thursday, so I am making the transition to working out in the mornings rather than in the evenings after they go to bed.  I like the mornings better, but I will be happy when we no longer have 80+ degrees and 92% humidity at 6:30AM.  I think the fall weather will feel good in another couple of months, as long as I can keep my allergies in check.  I feel good this week.  I think the day of rest was good for my body.  

• Saturday-hiked Cook's Trail ~4 miles
  
• Sunday-Couch-to-5K, Week 1, Day 3--it was painful, but I did it
  
• Monday-Couch-to-5K, Week 2, Day 1 (5 min warm up, 6 intervals of 90s running/120s walking, 5 min cool down)
• Tuesday-sit ups & push ups
  
• Wednesday-Couch-to-5K, Week 2, Day 2 (same as Day 1)
• Thursday-REST
  
• Friday-Couch-to-5K, Week 2, Day 3; arms workout on machines; 2.5 miles on bike

On Thursday, I joined St. Mary's Wellness Center.  It is a gym opened to anyone, but the focus is on fitness and health rather than who can wear the tightest spandex and flirt the most.  There are a lot of older members and it feels like a comfortable place for me to be.  Next Thursday, I will work with a trainer to design a program that works well with the Couch-to-5K.

Mama said there'll be days like this

The first thing that comes to mind after my Couch-to-5K, Week 1, Day 3 workout, is this song by The Shirelles:

Mama said there'll be days like this.
"There'll be days like this," my mama said.
(Mama said, mama said.)
Mama said there'll be days like this.
"There'll be days like this," my mama said.
(Mama said, mama said.)

At first,  I wasn't sure why today was so difficult.  I sat with the idea for a while in the quiet of an empty house.  Then I realized how unexpectedly emotional today was.  The day started with us attending the worship service at church.  Our pastor is leaving and this was the first time I'd attended a service since she announced that she was leaving.    I thought I'd dealt with the emotions already, but that was obviously NOT the case.  As Pastor Pam started preaching, I started crying.  She had moments where she talked through tears in her eyes.  I'm a very emotional person anyway, but I absolutely cannot watch someone else cry and not cry myself.

I've been to many, many churches in my years.  Some were good experiences and some were not.  Some left me feeling scolded as I left the service and others left me uplifted and ready to tackle the week.  Most of Pam's sermons were of the uplifting variety.  Regardless of the topic each week, she gave me something to think about.  Pam is the only preacher I've met to which I truly related.  I've enjoyed hearing others over the years, but none as much as Pam.  When I came to Oconee Presbyterian Church for the first time, I was out of sorts.  I felt out of place at our old church.  It was so large that we never truly made friends.  Of course, I knew people there, but not anyone really well.  Our former church had several pastors and none were as easy to relate to as Pam.  I felt a tugging to find another church home.  Really, the tugging wasn't for me.  It was more about my children.  I wanted them to have a church experience as a child, so that they can make informed decisions about their religious future.  I had a good friend who came from our old church and invited us to visit.  It was a hard decision at first, but we decided to give it a try.  Our church is a different type of church and  our beloved Pam is just a different type of pastor.  We have 3 more weeks to listen to her stories, enjoy her presence and savor her words.

Before anyone assumes that this is all sad, it is not.  It is really bittersweet.  I am sad that our congregation will no longer have Pam as our pastor.  However, I am so excited that we get to share Pam with others.  The people at Trinity Presbyterian are so lucky to have her.  She will bless them in ways they haven't even considered, yet.  It is exciting to know that she may bring others closer to Christ as she has done at OPC.  I'm thrilled she is following her calling and I hope she knows that she will always hold a special place in our hearts.

Later in the day, I attended my son's PreK orientation.  In general, I'm excited for him to go to school.  He loves it and thrives in the structure.  I found out that he has an excellent teacher...the same one the girly had for PreK.  It will be a great fit and it will be a good year.  While sitting in the orientation, I started to think about how big he is getting.  He is nearly 5 and has grown so much.  There are no more babies at our house.  It isn't the way I thought it would be.  I thought I would enjoy their infancy and then move on to enjoy them as preschoolers and school-aged kids.  I am excited that some things are easier with older children, but it still doesn't relieve the ache to have another.  Today's orientation clarified that.

So, I tried to do my 3rd C25K workout today, but it was really difficult.  Maybe it was my emotional state.  Maybe it was the 4 mile hike we did yesterday.  I don't know exactly why it was so hard.  Today was the first day since I started this that I thought I was crazy for even having such a goal.  I quickly put that out of my mind.  I will try again tomorrow and see how things go.

We all have bad days, right?

Weekly Update #2

I've had a good exercise week.  I ran for the first time in YEARS.  It feels good to be active and enjoying my time outside.  It will feel even better when we get rid of the 100 degree heat with daily heat advisories.  

• Saturday-swam ~600ft in 30 mins & walked laps in the pool for 20 mins
  
• Sunday-hike at the Botanical Gardens ~ 2.5 miles in the 100 degree heat
  
• Monday-2.28 miles in 47 mins
• Tuesday-Couch-to-5K, Week 1, Day 1 workout (5 min warm up, 8 intervals of 60s running/90s walking, then 5 min cool down)
• Wednesday-walked about 30 minutes (extremely hot & humid)
  
• Thursday-Couch-to-5K, Week 1, Day 2 workout (same as Tuesday)
  
• Friday-Yoga, sit-ups, push-ups

In Honor of Nicolas

I have chosen my first 5K!  I will be running (& walking) the 3rd Annual Butterfly Dreams 5K on September 4, 2010.  To encourage me to train, I'm choosing races that have a special meaning to me.

Let me introduce you to my friend, Nicolas.  Nicolas is an awesome little boy who has Autism.  He is one of the sweetest little boys you will every meet.  Nicolas goes to our church and we've become good friends with his family.  Nicolas has very attentive parents (Bonny & Stephen) who are doing everything in their power to give Nic-Nic all the opportunities in the world.  His big sister, Natalie, is always there to help him out, too.

So, why did I choose this race to be my first?  Butterfly Dreams Farm is a therapeutic riding and hippotherapy farm in our community.  The farm serves children with a variety of special needs, but one of those is autism.  According to their website, hippotherapy aids the children by:

The horses walking gait almost perfectly simulates the movement of a child walking. This provides the perfect opportunity for children with motor deficits to develop muscle strength, normalize tone, and gain endurance. This movement also facilitates improved auditory and verbal processing, communication and interactive skills.

Although, Nicolas doesn't currently have therapy at Butterfly Dreams, I am very thankful to have such a wonderful opportunity right in our own neighborhood.  I want to support these types of local businesses so that they can continue to provide for our friends and neighbors (and possibly our family, as well).

I want to challenge you.  What will do you to make sure that opportunities such as these remain in your community?

Wow! What a Day!

Today was just the kind of day I needed.  Isn't it cool how that happens, sometimes?  I woke up with a headache and a heaviness in my chest.  In the last year or so, I've been very prone to bronchitis and at times have asthma-like symptoms.  I've been checked for asthma and the doctors say I don't have it.  However, I respond to bronchitis like an asthmatic.  (This is all because of my autoimmune issues stemming from celiac disease.)  So, I thought this was going to be a pretty bad day.

I needed to get the kids out of the house, so my husband could work from home.  I took them for new haircuts for the start of school, to lunch at Barberitos and to see Marmaduke at the dollar theater.   Even though I wasn't doing anything strenuous, breathing was rather difficult at times.  I have 2 different inhalers and used both, but I didn't have much relief.  I wasn't in distress, but it was pleasant, either.

So, after our errands and the girl's gymnastics class, I knew I needed to walk, but I really didn't feel like it.  Guess what?  I did it ANYWAY!  I walked 3 laps in my neighborhood (2.28 miles) in 47 minutes.  When I left the house, I planned to walk very slowly and just see how I felt.  My first lap was very slow.  During the other 2 laps, I picked up the pace.  I finished in the same time it took to walk the laps a few days ago (without breathing issues).  The BEST part of today is that I feel better right now after walking than I have all day.  My breathing is still not 100% normal, but it is better.

I had LOTS of reason to not exercise today.  My head hurt all day, I needed my inhalers for normal activities, the temperature has been at 100 for several days now, there has been a heat advisory for the heat index over 105, etc.  However, I didn't let the excuses get to me.  I walked and I feel pretty darn good about it.

Weekly Update #1

I've done some exercise daily, which is a good start for me. The best part of the week is that I feel pretty good. I've been tired each night and feeling some muscles I haven't felt in a while, but overall it is a good feeling.

• Monday-walked steps for 5 minutes twice during the day
• Tuesday-walked around the parking lot while waiting for my girl to finish gymnastics
  
• Wednesday-walked a mile in our neighborhood in 20 minutes
  
• Thursday-hiked for an hour at Heritage Park with friends
  
• Friday-walked 2.28 miles in our neighborhood in 47 minutes
  

I know this doesn't look like half-marathon material, but I'm starting from NOTHING. The more I think about my goal, the more excited I get. No one has said I was crazy, yet, but I have gotten some interesting looks that told me exactly what the people were thinking. That's okay. It adds to my motivation. I have the internal motivation, but when I experience the ebb and flow, I will draw on my external motivation. People who doubt me, don't know me very well.

One of My Obstacles

In a previous post, I mentioned my health problems. Here is the beginning of my health journey.

After much frustration and anger with a previous doctor, I made the decision to change primary care physicians in March 2009. I liked my former doctor well enough. He was a kind man and had a decent bedside manner. His office was easy to work with and I’d been a patient of his for several years. I was nervous about change, but I knew it was what I needed to do. The voice in my head got louder and louder until it was finally louder than the voice telling me it doesn’t like change. I sent out a request for recommendations for a new primary care doctor from my local friends. My ideal doctor would be easy to talk to, have good listening skills, be a good diagnostician, have a good office staff and welcome my input. I’m a reader and a researcher. I like to be informed. I am the patient that will ask the doctor why this or that is the case and what all of the options are before proceeding. It isn’t that I doubt the doctors, but I am an intelligent person who wants to partake in her own health care. My friends had several recommendations, but one name came up over and over again. Luckily, she was covered by my insurance.

I had my first appointment with my new doctor (Dr. L) in late May of 2009. I went in with an open mind; although, I thought I knew what I might hear from her. I told her about my symptoms and she immediately thought a celiac panel was in order. Although, I had recently had digestive symptoms, those were not my primary symptoms. The most frustrating of my symptoms were fatigue, anemia, depression, and an inability to regulate my thyroid levels for any length of time. The fatigue I felt was indescribable. I would have slept for days on end without getting up, if I didn’t have a family. I didn’t have that option. I needed to get up and care for my family. For months, I got by with doing the bare minimum of everything.
After that appointment with Dr. L, I was referred to Dr. G (a local gastroenterologist). I had an upper endoscopy, a colonoscopy and more blood work and we finally confirmed that I had celiac disease. I got the diagnosis on August 4, 2009. That day I ate one last Big Mac and started by journey to live a gluten-free lifestyle. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease. It is NOT an allergy. There is no cure. There is no medicine one can take. The only treatment is to live the rest of your life gluten-free.

I’ve been on my journey for nearly a year and it has had many twists and turns. I’m not free of issues, yet, but I’m working on it. There is much more to the story.