Survived yet another predicted Apocalyptic event!
Hmm... How many does that make now?
I'm getting pretty good at this! (lol!)
Either way, I'm glad that we are all still here! Because if we weren't, life just wouldn't be all that interesting...(yup, I got jokes.)
2012 ended pretty catastrophically for me, and frankly, I'm beyond GLAD to see it go.
My year (in a nutshell) went something like this:
Hold down couch.
Get bright idea to become more active.
Join gym.
Started racing.
More racing.
Still more racing.
Having a BLAST racing.
Lost 50 lbs of me because of racing.
Do big race in October.
Hurt feet.
Do a race 2 weeks later.
Destroy feet.
Do World Run Day in November.
Walk and cry through the entire thing because of destroyed feet.
STOP RACING because I can barely walk.
Mentally crushed.
Waitress on my feet 5 days a week.
Curl up in a ball and cry in pain after every shift because of feet.
Repeat the above 2 for almost 3 months.
Intake more Ibuprofen than food.
Stop all working out.
Sit in pain on self pity pot.
Hold down couch.
Dream of a pain free day.
Watch my (scale) weight drop because of muscle loss.
Eat like crap.
Watch my ass grow.
Get into month awaited Dr. appoint.
X Rays showed 3 heel spurs.
Pray Cortisone injection would be my Knight in shining armor.
Consider blog entry titled: Plantar Fascii-Fuck This!
Stress because 2012 is ending, new race season starting.
Worry about how all of this will effect my upcoming race season...
Happy New Year.
It's amazing how when something bothers you, it consumes you. It's all you can think about. My whole ordeal reminds me of a stop cigarette smoking commercial I once saw; The scene was of a man standing at the end of a long pier, while over looking the ocean. As he was standing there, a shark jumped out of the water, and was chewing on his arm. The scene showed his thousand mile blank stare out into the sea, with him repeating "Cigarette", "Cigarette, "Cigarette" over and over. He was consumed by his thoughts, all while oblivious to the rather large predator gnawing off his limb. The commercial ended with him popping the smoking cessation product into his mouth, which immediately changed his thought process from cigarettes to "SHARK!!" "SHARK!!" "SHARK!!"
My "Shark" is my Plantar Fasciitis, my newly acquired inactivity (outside of work), and a mountain of unhealthy choices -Like CHOCOLATE! :) ....so good, but yet SOOOOO wrong!!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A few days into the new year, somehow by the grace of God my feet started to feel noticeably better. I had noticed that I wasn't walking around on my tip-toes as much as I had been. I even noticed that I wasn't having to pound down Ibuprofen like it was candy to get through a shift at work. My feet weren't perfect, and my days weren't completely pain free, but I started to think that just *maybe* this was the end of this HELL I've been living in
I was feeling good and I wanted to give my feet a test try. But because of my past experience I was terrified!! The last time they had felt good (a month or so ago) I went back to my kickboxing exercise class, only to spend the time doing bounce on my foot cardio and I ended up destroying them all over again.
But I just HAD to try...
With that thought, 3 days ago I uncluttered and dusted off my treadmill And I promised myself that if I felt the littlest bit of tearing or burning that I would stop.
I was able to go a whole 3.1 miles without any pain!!
I was so elated that I could have sat down and cried tears of joy!
Just to be safe, when I was done, I immediately stretched like I've never stretched before, downed some Ibuprofen and iced both feet. It's like I was waiting for the aftermath of inflammation and pain -having to pay for what I had just done. But fortunate for me, it never came!
The following day I wanted to try it again...
Back onto the treadmill I went to pound out another 3.1 miles. I concentrated on foot strike, body posture, and breathing. Miraculously I had the same outcome, no pain in my feet!
I can't say the same for the REST of my body though!!
With almost 3 months of holding down the couch, it has really taken a toll on my body and my abilities. My legs are easily tired, my heart rate sky rockets, and my core is weak. Not to mention my skin bounced around like I was JellO with eyes. One of my greatest hates in life is eating sea slug, something I commonly call "Sand JellO" .. But now, I have a new second hate in life... Skin JellO!!
Ugh., What a sloppy mess my body is!
My body confuses me right now.
Overall, I'm elated with my progress! Since this time last year I have lost a total of 55 lbs. I've shrunk down almost 4 shirt sizes, and have gone down over 4 pants sizes. I've gone from a 42" waist to a 31"-32" waist. My clothes that I could not wear before (because I was too big to fit them), are now too big on me.
So what's my problem you ask??
I feel as if I look the same as I did before I started all of this!! I look in the mirror and I see every imperfection imaginable. I can't figure out where *I* am buried in this "Edgar Suit" (Men In Black- LOVE that movie!) I'm wearing. What is "me", what is fat, and what is excess skin is confusing me. And to top it off, unfortunately I just recently learned that it can take TWO years for your skin to catch up (shrink) with your current weight. And if that's not bad enough, AGE (barf!), and lifestyle choices -What you stick in your food trap (aka: MOUTH) make a difference too....
Great, I'm sooo... screwed.
lol!
To fix my goofy way of thinking about my body, me and my "Flabby Flying Squirrel Suit" are taking a different approach to this year when it comes to body image. Because of this year's race schedule, I know I'm not going to sit at this weight. But to better help me clearly see the future difference, I had my daughter take pictures of me from the front, the side, and from the rear, wearing nothing but my sports bra and underwear.
GULP!!
I am also going to measure myself. That way I can keep more factual track of my progress- forgoing the common gym scale -which technically tells me NOTHING. I'll compare photo's and notes at the end of this upcoming race season!
Honestly, I don't care if I lived the rest of my life at my present weight, -as long as it was muscle and not flab -I'm GOOD! No matter how you "cut the fat", I want to be FIT and STRONG. I never want to be stick thin. I will never go below 160 lbs. Because of my height, anything below that makes me look gaunt, and starved. Plus I have a love/hate relationship with my "fat" - Because I'm... Oh Crap, here it comes... OLD. (ouch, that hurt!)
I need it in my face as a plumper to look youthful, but NOT on my ass!! I wish my fat cells would get their shit together and go where they are told :)
----------------------------------------------------
Speaking of Racing...
I am super EXCITED, (but yet I'm super SCARED) about this upcoming 2013 race year!!!!!!
I am really excited because I'm already registered for the 3 out of the 4 Triathlons that I will be doing. I'm already committed to 1 Duathlon, and I am planning on doing all of the 5k's that I did this past year. Plus, I really loved last year's Mud run- and would like to do another one or two.
I'm terrified because of my feet...
I'm worried that with my PF history, (high arches make me prone to PF) that one wrong move and it will be game over for me. As an example, two of my Triathlons are back to back weekends in June. That's going to be tough to recover my feet in that short of a time frame. I'm even worried that my feet won't recover enough from my current position to even do my first race of the season.
**GROANS**...
I am just chomping at the bit here!!
ALL I WANT TO DO IS RACE!!
The irony of all of this is how much I had always HATED running... But take it away, and funny how suddenly that's ALL you want to do!
Just watch, if my feet heal/hold up- I will have my best running times EVER this season :)
Hmm... How many does that make now?
I'm getting pretty good at this! (lol!)
Either way, I'm glad that we are all still here! Because if we weren't, life just wouldn't be all that interesting...(yup, I got jokes.)
2012 ended pretty catastrophically for me, and frankly, I'm beyond GLAD to see it go.
My year (in a nutshell) went something like this:
Hold down couch.
Get bright idea to become more active.
Join gym.
Started racing.
More racing.
Still more racing.
Having a BLAST racing.
Lost 50 lbs of me because of racing.
Do big race in October.
Hurt feet.
Do a race 2 weeks later.
Destroy feet.
Do World Run Day in November.
Walk and cry through the entire thing because of destroyed feet.
STOP RACING because I can barely walk.
Mentally crushed.
Waitress on my feet 5 days a week.
Curl up in a ball and cry in pain after every shift because of feet.
Repeat the above 2 for almost 3 months.
Intake more Ibuprofen than food.
Stop all working out.
Sit in pain on self pity pot.
Hold down couch.
Dream of a pain free day.
Watch my (scale) weight drop because of muscle loss.
Eat like crap.
Watch my ass grow.
Get into month awaited Dr. appoint.
X Rays showed 3 heel spurs.
Pray Cortisone injection would be my Knight in shining armor.
Consider blog entry titled: Plantar Fascii-Fuck This!
Stress because 2012 is ending, new race season starting.
Worry about how all of this will effect my upcoming race season...
Happy New Year.
It's amazing how when something bothers you, it consumes you. It's all you can think about. My whole ordeal reminds me of a stop cigarette smoking commercial I once saw; The scene was of a man standing at the end of a long pier, while over looking the ocean. As he was standing there, a shark jumped out of the water, and was chewing on his arm. The scene showed his thousand mile blank stare out into the sea, with him repeating "Cigarette", "Cigarette, "Cigarette" over and over. He was consumed by his thoughts, all while oblivious to the rather large predator gnawing off his limb. The commercial ended with him popping the smoking cessation product into his mouth, which immediately changed his thought process from cigarettes to "SHARK!!" "SHARK!!" "SHARK!!"
My "Shark" is my Plantar Fasciitis, my newly acquired inactivity (outside of work), and a mountain of unhealthy choices -Like CHOCOLATE! :) ....so good, but yet SOOOOO wrong!!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
A few days into the new year, somehow by the grace of God my feet started to feel noticeably better. I had noticed that I wasn't walking around on my tip-toes as much as I had been. I even noticed that I wasn't having to pound down Ibuprofen like it was candy to get through a shift at work. My feet weren't perfect, and my days weren't completely pain free, but I started to think that just *maybe* this was the end of this HELL I've been living in
I was feeling good and I wanted to give my feet a test try. But because of my past experience I was terrified!! The last time they had felt good (a month or so ago) I went back to my kickboxing exercise class, only to spend the time doing bounce on my foot cardio and I ended up destroying them all over again.
But I just HAD to try...
With that thought, 3 days ago I uncluttered and dusted off my treadmill And I promised myself that if I felt the littlest bit of tearing or burning that I would stop.
I was able to go a whole 3.1 miles without any pain!!
I was so elated that I could have sat down and cried tears of joy!
Just to be safe, when I was done, I immediately stretched like I've never stretched before, downed some Ibuprofen and iced both feet. It's like I was waiting for the aftermath of inflammation and pain -having to pay for what I had just done. But fortunate for me, it never came!
The following day I wanted to try it again...
Back onto the treadmill I went to pound out another 3.1 miles. I concentrated on foot strike, body posture, and breathing. Miraculously I had the same outcome, no pain in my feet!
I can't say the same for the REST of my body though!!
With almost 3 months of holding down the couch, it has really taken a toll on my body and my abilities. My legs are easily tired, my heart rate sky rockets, and my core is weak. Not to mention my skin bounced around like I was JellO with eyes. One of my greatest hates in life is eating sea slug, something I commonly call "Sand JellO" .. But now, I have a new second hate in life... Skin JellO!!
Ugh., What a sloppy mess my body is!
My body confuses me right now.
Overall, I'm elated with my progress! Since this time last year I have lost a total of 55 lbs. I've shrunk down almost 4 shirt sizes, and have gone down over 4 pants sizes. I've gone from a 42" waist to a 31"-32" waist. My clothes that I could not wear before (because I was too big to fit them), are now too big on me.
So what's my problem you ask??
I feel as if I look the same as I did before I started all of this!! I look in the mirror and I see every imperfection imaginable. I can't figure out where *I* am buried in this "Edgar Suit" (Men In Black- LOVE that movie!) I'm wearing. What is "me", what is fat, and what is excess skin is confusing me. And to top it off, unfortunately I just recently learned that it can take TWO years for your skin to catch up (shrink) with your current weight. And if that's not bad enough, AGE (barf!), and lifestyle choices -What you stick in your food trap (aka: MOUTH) make a difference too....
Great, I'm sooo... screwed.
lol!
To fix my goofy way of thinking about my body, me and my "Flabby Flying Squirrel Suit" are taking a different approach to this year when it comes to body image. Because of this year's race schedule, I know I'm not going to sit at this weight. But to better help me clearly see the future difference, I had my daughter take pictures of me from the front, the side, and from the rear, wearing nothing but my sports bra and underwear.
GULP!!
I am also going to measure myself. That way I can keep more factual track of my progress- forgoing the common gym scale -which technically tells me NOTHING. I'll compare photo's and notes at the end of this upcoming race season!
Honestly, I don't care if I lived the rest of my life at my present weight, -as long as it was muscle and not flab -I'm GOOD! No matter how you "cut the fat", I want to be FIT and STRONG. I never want to be stick thin. I will never go below 160 lbs. Because of my height, anything below that makes me look gaunt, and starved. Plus I have a love/hate relationship with my "fat" - Because I'm... Oh Crap, here it comes... OLD. (ouch, that hurt!)
I need it in my face as a plumper to look youthful, but NOT on my ass!! I wish my fat cells would get their shit together and go where they are told :)
----------------------------------------------------
Speaking of Racing...
I am super EXCITED, (but yet I'm super SCARED) about this upcoming 2013 race year!!!!!!
I am really excited because I'm already registered for the 3 out of the 4 Triathlons that I will be doing. I'm already committed to 1 Duathlon, and I am planning on doing all of the 5k's that I did this past year. Plus, I really loved last year's Mud run- and would like to do another one or two.
I'm terrified because of my feet...
I'm worried that with my PF history, (high arches make me prone to PF) that one wrong move and it will be game over for me. As an example, two of my Triathlons are back to back weekends in June. That's going to be tough to recover my feet in that short of a time frame. I'm even worried that my feet won't recover enough from my current position to even do my first race of the season.
**GROANS**...
I am just chomping at the bit here!!
ALL I WANT TO DO IS RACE!!
The irony of all of this is how much I had always HATED running... But take it away, and funny how suddenly that's ALL you want to do!
Just watch, if my feet heal/hold up- I will have my best running times EVER this season :)
