Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Weekend

I was planning on an easy weekend.  I didn't have to work at the Y; I had easy training; and the goal was to work on our bathroom remodel.  Unfortunately, the weekend didn't go that way.

Friday afternoon was hectic.  Anderson was tired, I was tired, and we were not getting along.  There was a lot of yelling on both sides.  Our dog, Sloopy, is a very nervous dog.  With loud noises, especially yelling, she begins to shake and pants and wheeze.  I noticed she was doing this Friday but didn't think anything of it.  We snuggled her and babied her and went to bed as normal.

Saturday she continued to wheeze, which seemed odd.  In addition, she wasn't really going anywhere.  Usually she is my shadow and follows me everywhere.  She just stood in one place and when she did move she was limping.  Her back legs weren't working right.  She looked like she was drunk.  I was very concerned.  We decided to take her to the emergency veterinarian.

They evaluated her there and the news was not good.  She had a herniated disk in her back which would require surgery and shouldn't be a big deal, EXCEPT, our dog has a heart murmur and she would need to be seen by a cardiologist to determine if her heart was even strong enough to make it through surgery.  Sloopy is only 7 years old and a member of our family so we had to give her a chance so we agreed to go forward with all of this.  We had to leave a $4400 deposit up front. 

The cardiologist evaluated her on Saturday evening and said her heart looked better than they thought so they approved her for surgery.

Sunday morning, the phone rang at 7:55am and it was the vet hospital.  Sloopy had gotten worse overnight.  She now no longer had function of her back legs.  The possibility of recovery had dropped significantly.  She needed surgery right away and even then may never be able to walk again or go to the bathroom by herself.  Again, we agreed to have the surgery done.  They did more test on her and did the surgery.  We did not hear back again for nearly seven hours.

The update we got after the surgery is that she had a very bad herniation and because of the force of the hernia, her spinal cord had been badly bruised.  They told us not to come that day, that she needed to rest and recover.  A tech called us later in the night to let us know she was alert and responding and even told us she had moved her back legs.

This morning, though, the doctor called us to report there was no news.  Sloopy was alert and happy and sitting up, however, she has not yet moved her back legs (unlike what the tech had told us) and she has not responded to any pain stimulus.  The doctor said that's right where she should be, that only time will tell if she gets function of her legs back again.  We get to see her today after work.  Oh, and the financial people are probably gonna tell us we need to spend another $2000.  (Guess, we'll be putting that camper up for sale!)

This has been extremely rough.  Dave and I have cried all weekend.  Our dog is not that old!  We want her to come home with us and be the dog she was before.  But we also have to make tough choices about what happens if she never regains mobility.  And on top of all that is how all of this is explained to our son.  He has been with us through all of this and we've been very delicate in our wording to help him understand what's going on without scaring him.  I wish this didn't happen.  I wish this nightmare would be over.  I want my Sloopy girl to come home.

How to Wash Your Running Clothes

After much trial and error I have finally figured out how to wash my running clothes and get the stink out of them.  Silly, I know, but they get stinky and good running clothes are expensive so you've got to make them last.  I have tried every detergent known to man, including those fancy ones for workout clothes (made me break out), but finally Google gave me the answer.

First I soak the clothes in cold water with some cleaning vinegar.  I usually do this for about 30 minutes unless I forget about setting a timer and forget I'm doing laundry (pretty typical) and then they may be in there for who knows how long.  Then, after draining the washing machine, I wash them in warm water using Arm & Hammer baking soda detergent.  Although the embedded yucky smell may not come fully out it's sooooo much better than it was. 

And because a blog post without pictures is just plain boring I give you this...

My kid is sick for the third time in 7 weeks.  Again!  Daycare is kicking our ass.  We just cannot keep him (or us) healthy.

The magic circle, aka, the circle of death!

I have a new passion.  Pilates.  I have tried yoga in all different variations, but don't love it.  But I am in love with pilates.  Even better, I have discovered pilates on the reformer. 

Sex toy? Exercise equipment? Torture device?

Our YMCA has a boutique location that has small, specialized classes that include pilates on the reformer.  I have been going now for three or four weeks and the class size has been just me or one other person.  I love it.  I love the personal attention.  I know I am doing it correctly and she has been tailoring the workouts to what I need as a runner.  For example, last night.


I have mentioned to my instructor that I don't have a lot of hip strength and I would love to get my inner thighs tiny enough again to wear booty shorts while running.  She listened.  Last night we worked on inner and outer thighs as well as hip strength the whole.damn.class!  It started with the magic circle, aka, the circle of death.

Circle of Death!

This magic circle is used in all kinds of torturous ways.  Usually we put it between our ankles or our knees and squeeze it while we're doing all kinds of core exercises.  Last night we used this almost the entire class.  We also put our legs through it and used it to strengthen the outer thigh by pushing out with it while doing some other exercise.  Oh, and she wasn't done there.  We also stood on the reformer and the carriage and slid one leg out sideways with the springs on to strengthen the inner and outer thigh and hips.  It was so hard and yet so awesome.  I came out of the class with jello legs but feeling strong and ready to tackle the world.


Booty shorts!!!

2017 Plans

Yeah, yeah.  It's the 10th of January and I'm just now blogging about my 2017 plans.  I've got some goals, some big goals, but I'm going to keep those private for now.  I'll let you know if I achieve them.

So, here are my plans athletically.

• A couple of half marathons.  I was thinking one next month, but I'm frozen to the bone.  Winter running is stupid.  I'll keep thinking.
• Early spring marathon.  I would really like to qualify for Boston again.  In 2018 it falls on my 40th birthday and I thought it would be a fun way to celebrate such a big milestone (who the hell would say that running a marathon for their birthday is fun?!?!)  I have yet to sign up for the marathon, but I'm planning on the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach on March 19th.  I haven't done a race yet in Virginia so this also checks that off.
• Aquathlons, aquathlons, aquathlons!  Surprisingly there are three or four aquathlons in Ohio that are eligible towards USAT ranking points.  I'm going to do as many as I can to help my ranking and to give me experience towards....Aquathlon Nationals.  I've got some BIG BIG goals for this race.  Nationals will be October 1st in Austin.
• Also some fun stuff like run 2000 miles (that'll never happen but I'll at least try for it), swim 200K yards, do pilates once a week, stop skipping strength workouts, continue to eat healthy foods, etc.

Let's talk about personal stuff.  I love the new year.  I love new goals and resolutions and all that jazz.  Here are some thoughts I have personally.

• Read more than 12 books.  I know this is the same goal every year, but my Kindle is awesome and I read much faster with it.  Now if I could just get the ebooks faster from the library.
• Take more pictures.  I swear this is a goal I set every year for myself.  I was making a Shutterfly calendar this week and struggled to find enough pictures from last year to put it together.  Unfortunately, the memory is full on my phone right now and my laptop is on it's last breath and I really can't afford a new one so I'm not sure how I'm going to accomplish this.
• Be more present.  Honestly, I am still really struggling with having put my kid in daycare to go back to work.  It's been 6 weeks now and he still cried and throws a fit every time we go (although he does the same at the end of the day because he doesn't want to leave).  When we come home I want to pay attention to him.  I don't want to be on the treadmill leaving him to play by himself.  I don't want to be on my phone reading Facebook.  I want it to be family time.  Truly, this has been hard.  Aren't we all addicted to our phones and Facebook and Instagram (and for me, the TV)?  As the weather gets warmer and the days get longer I think family time is going to become even more special.

I thought 2016 was a great year.  2017 is going to be even better.  I'm back to work.  I've got money again.  I can make improvements to the house.  I can camp with the family now.  The kiddo is a fantastic age - he's so fun.  I'm really looking forward to what lies ahead.

What are your thoughts on 2017?

Eff this Sh!t!

When I was first starting out I loved winter running.  I still love running in the snow but I used to be able to handle the cold temperatures like a champ.  As I've gotten older, I don't really want to be in the cold.  I hate the cold.  Why DO I live in Ohio?

But, of course, I chose a March marathon to try to qualify for Boston so winter training it is.  This weekend it was like 7 degrees and I had a two hour long run on the schedule.  I was wearing...

Compression sleeves
Wool socks
Tights
Long sleeve base layer
Another long sleeve shirt on top of that
Jacket on top of that
Buff
Winter hat
Mittens

And I was carrying about 90 gallons of water on my back.  At first I was hot - sweating within a few minutes.  I quickly took my mittens down to gloves, took the Buff off my face, and unzipped my jacket a little.  But, my legs were cold and my heart rate was jacked.  I was shuffling along and it was sucking with every step.  When I finally reached the light were I could turn around or keep going, I said fuck it and headed home.  I had the biggest bitch fest when I got there that included me screaming, "I don't even want to do the fucking marathon!  I have nothing to prove!"

I wound up with 4.3 miles and I am sore like I ran a half marathon.  I'm probably going to try the run again today after work, but even though the weather is looking better, I think I'm going to take it inside to the treadmill.

Bite me, mother nature.