Perfect

Well today was just a great day for about 1,000,007 reasons.  We celebrated my niece's third birthday at my in-laws. I was responsible for providing the entertainment...aka...two horses. :) The kids loved it and the whole party was just wonderful. It made me want children RIGHT NOW.

Ty was off hunting all weekend (or so he calls it), and since we are on opposite shifts I haven't seen him in a month of Mondays. He came home this morning and it was so great to spend the day together. We also started planning our next vacation. This always makes me excited.

The only sad part of my day was having to peel myself away from my cozy little home to come back to work. I did ride my bike to work tonight-- the temperature was just perfect. You know what else was perfect? No leg pain. :)

John 6:27

Square One

Monday 10:30 am: Physical Therapist tells me to start walking and cycling ASAP.
Monday 10:40 am: Walking on trail at Riverbottom. 4.4 miles. 55 minutes. Sidenote: this is my favorite route to train hills. Two runners were training hills that day. Run on.
Monday 11:40 am: Strength session.
Tuesday: Rode bike to gym. Strength training. Rode bike home. 6.60 miles. 38 minutes.
Wednesday 12:05 pm: Spin class.
Wednesday 12:25 pm: Walked out of spin class halfway through in full-on pain. Walked on treadmill for one mile wallowing in self-pity, feeling like I'm back to square one.
_____________________________________________________________________
So maybe I went out a little strong. I should have known spinning was a bad idea. My new plan is to only walk or pool run and do strength training until (if ever) my leg heals.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Shaken

I'm working nights now. Oh yeah I told you that already. I don't even know my own name right now.

I slept through my physical therapy appointment today. I thought I had set my alarm for 2:00, but no dice. The hubs woke me up at 3:45 wondering what the heck I was doing still sleeping. Which I told him was a good question.... dang it....I love physical therapy.

Okay now onto a more serious topic. Since I have been "off running" for quite some time now, I have ample evidence as to the effects not working out has had. Obviously, I have gained a few pounds.
Beyond that:
1. problems sleeping
2. emotional roller-coaster
3. confidence
4. the world is ending

You runners can probably attest to the sleep and emotional stuff. Most of us run for the stress relief and the "high" (and obviously health benefits). The confidence is something I wasn't expecting. I knew from the very beginning of this that there would be a lesson in this trial. My guess was that running has become too important to me and is almost a "false God." While that may be part of it, it also has taught me that I need to find other reasons to be proud of myself than just running.
I have hid behind the shield of running for years, always clinging to it as my differentiating factor.  But...I have noticed I'm mentally slipping in other areas. Self-worth should not be dependant on what I do. Self-worth should be dependant on what's inside. What's inside is God's treasure.

FacePlants

I am beginning this post at 3:18 Friday morning....I am trying to prevent a faceplant into my keyboard as I slosh my way through my second night shift after six months of working days. I am not complaining, just merely commenting on the necessity for toothpicks to hold my eyes open. Anyone?

Not that anything can replace running. I've said that already. Crap. Anyway. Not that anything can replace running, but I have a crush on physical therapy. I love going there. We talk about running for an hour. At any given moment, there are three people working on my leg. Massaging. Asking questions. Icing. Stretching. Asking if I would like my drink on the rocks or blended. You're right. They don't serve drinks there. I know I've already told you all of this about PT. Sorry. Something I haven't told you...one of my therapists says that we might try running in two weeks. Backflips.

Ice. Stretch. Sleep. Overdose on coffee= liferightnow.

I just balanced our checkbook and paid all the bills. Now I want to slam my face into the keyboard on purpose. I joke. Really, I feel so blessed to have both of us working and all our bills paid with a little (sometimes teeny tiny) bit left over. Some people are not so blessed. The Lord has always provided for me. NEVER have I gone without or even close to. Worry about nothing. Pray about everything.

Well, I made it to 3:33.

Anyone ever worked a nightshift?
ME!! I have. :)

What do you do for a living?
I am a police/fire/ems 911 dispatcher

Time Off

The past six days have been nice. I was off work and got some things accomplished.

Over the weekend, I went to visit my granddad as well as partake in the annual Cooper branding.

My granddad is 80 years old. He is the kind of man who is soft spoken and does not speak often. So, when he talks, you listen. It was pretty special this time. It was just the two of us for most of the weekend. We chatted endlessly. This is most likely a product of him spending most of his time alone, but I don't care. I ate it up. I learn so much about my family every time we are together. I could stay with him forever.
While at the ranch, I discovered some cherries in the freezer. I turned them into this:

Cooper Brand

I got to thinking about how much I love to bake, and to me a bag of flour must be like a blank canvas is to an artist. So full of possibility, yet so predictable and full of comfort.

I got home early Sunday in time to go to church with my girl Brittani. We had a girls day full of lunching, shopping, and of course, the Hunger Games. Being true to my procrastinating self, I had to "cram" for the movie. I read the majority of the first book Saturday night-- I have no idea how late I stayed up. Judging by my dark circled eyes the next morning-- it was pretty late.

Our drier went out over the weekend as well. We tried to find a used one, but my husband can hardly live a day without a drier so we moved quick and ended up with a brand new drier AND washer from Home Depot. Now he can wash and dry to his heart's content.

Monday (after much anticipation), my new (physical therapist prescribed) shoes arrived!!! I also got new insoles to support my arch. I will not dive into the injury debacle, but it's safe to say these babies are going to stay parked in the closet for at least another month. The agony!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brooks PureFlow

Workout wise, I have been trouble finding a groove. I have dabbled in many different things trying to find something to replace running. It just isn't going to happen. I have started doing Jillian workouts at the gym-- these are good and make me feel like I am accomplishing something.

Random: my little tiny lilac bush has buds on it!! Oh the joy! My favorite flower in the whole world-- and I get to have them in my very own yard!!

A new TM and PT Love

The reasons I have not been consistently blogging are, a) this is a running blog and I'm not running. b) writing about not running is depressing.

Some decent things have been happening though. I got a new (to me) treadmill and it magically showed up in my garage. Thanks to the hubbs and BIL for all the grunt work. :) The downside....not being able to try it out.

I went to the doctor on Friday and since things are not healing (AT ALL), he says no walking for exercise. Soooo....that leaves me with pretty much zero to do in the sweat zone. I can lift weights and possibly ride a stationary bike in a very specific way. I'll be trying that today. There is always the pool, but I'm going to be honest and say it bores me to absolute tears.

More good news. I went to physical therapy today. What a breath.of.fresh.air. It was like the Four Seasons of the exercise world. I had three different people attending to me. They cared about everything. They listened to me. We talked about shoes. I discovered do not over-pronante. In fact, I barely pronate at all. What an amazing discovery after TWELVE YEARS of running. I am so excited to go back on Thursday. I am bringing all my running shoes (they didn't realize this will involve a wheely suitcase) and we are going to analyze my gait. I am geeking out on running stuff right now.

In the mean time, I am doing exercises and praying a lot. They also administered some medicine into my skin. It felt super weird like little baby needles stabbing me, but I am hopeful it is working. :)

Meanwhile...this is my last week of working days for the next three months. I am switching over to the "dark side" and working night shift. I actually don't mind it in short doses. Plus, there is a kickboxing/weights class I have been dying to try that my schedule hasn't allowed until now.

Running friends...any shoe recommendations for someone who does not pronante, yet still needs support?

Singing the Blues

This weekend was like a roller coaster ride I could not get off. I was up. I was down. Up. Down...UP...down...

A little insight into me...as an adult, I have battled depression on and off. I have learned to control (and beat!) it with running. As you know, running hasn't been in the picture as of late. I haven't had a good cardio session in weeks and weeks. This weekend, I wanted to crawl in bed, pull the covers up, and stay there for three days.

I didn't though. I had some serious business to take care of. My BFF and Maid of Honor was in town. I went down to Grand Junction early on Friday and walked around downtown. It was soooo nice. They had a few sidewalk artists playing guitar. The weather was beautiful. It made me miss the town. A wee bit.

After my afternoon love affair with downtown, I went to the mall. That was an entirely different ballgame that made me feel lucky to live in Montrose.

Finally, Saturday arrived. Kari, her BF, my mom, and I went for a blustery hike. I'm still picking sand out of my teeth. I was just happy to be out there though. Spring is sooo near....

And yesterday.....well what can I say. I was down in the dumps feeling sorry for myself for no good reason whatsoever. Even church (which always fills my cup) could not pull me out of this funk. I prayed. I went grocery shopping (another known mood elevator). Finally, I resorted to this:

Baby chicks at Murdochs. I didn't get to bring them home, but it was a nice mood booster all the same. That and I cleaned my house. A clean house is hard to beat.

As a final last ditch effort, I begged Ty to take me to Cold Stone after dinner. He finally gave in, but said it was my fault if he gains ten pounds from all the junk food I've been force feeding him lately... ;)

Now that it is Monday, I actually feel better (I think it was the ice cream). I'm going to the gym after work. I am going to SWEAT. The End.