PF is holding me down

Yup, it seems like the universe is out to get me. No sooner do I get back on the band wagon and start getting some mileage on the feet, the feet revolt and plantar fasciitis starts to cause problems for both Ed and I. So for now, it's water exercise only and I think rather than Nashville at the end of April, we're looking at the fall somewhere. I am getting frustrated even though I know this is a long term goal. The good news is that I am really enjoying the water fitness and Aqua Zumba classes. I didn't like Zumba on land but in the water it's a lot of fun. And any exercise is better than no exercise. Hope everyone out there in Bloggy land is having a great week.

The Clean Bottle Runner

I can't wait to get one - they start taking orders on Friday! We bought 4 bottles before Christmas and I love how easy they are to clean but they are too loose in my Nathan handheld. The Clean Bottle Runner Video of Clean Bottle's new running product, the Runner.
© 2012 YouTube, LLC 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066

From AHHHHHHHH to Ugh

The good news is we went to the greenway again today and I was appropriately dressed for the crisp cool day. The not good, very annoying news is that I was really out of sorts and called it a day after 2 miles instead of the 6 I had on my plan. Not sure what was wrong but everything ached, each step felt like torture and all those thoughts that the hardest part was getting out the door weren't helping. So, I packed it in and dragged my sorry self to the truck, annoyed and dissappointed in myself. What I would give to have some of the energy and enthusiasm I had this summer before the Dr. told me to stop. And then when I got home I was starving, even though we had a very nice breakfast after sleeping in. Next week I am going to try something different, not sure what yet? Maybe get out earlier in the am and eat breakfast afterwards. I also should have checked my sugar before the run, maybe it was high and that aaas impacting my energy? I don't know but right now I feel like a failure when I guess I should be glad that I got 2 miles in even when I wanted to do nothing. Sigh.

Ahhhhhhhh

I can't get over how good it feels to soak my feet in a bucket of ice water! Ed would freak if he was home to see it. I started my 5 mile walk thinking I was dressed appropriately for the weather. It was about 55* and very cloudy. I thought, if anything, I might run into some rain along the way so a long sleeved top and long pants seemed like a good idea. Since my feet hurt, I knew I wasn't running so didn't expect to get overheated. And I was correct in all of those assumptions until the sun came up and it got 10* warmer. Not only did it get sunny, but I then moved into the section of the walk which was in the sun. Dang it was hot but I got it in. I figure even if I can't run, I can get the miles onto my feet. Afterwards,  a quick stop at Walmart to pick up some things for this week's business trip and home to soak my feet. And now, back to our regularly scheduled AHHHHHHHH.

The weather looked a little intimidating when I left the car, but it was a perfect temp.

Here we go again...

Source: mackenziehoran.com via Karen on Pinterest

And here we go again. Wow, it's been a very long time since I made an entry here and life has changed dramatically. After my last post, I have to say that I was discouraged and depressed and, yes I can admit it now, scared. Scared that there was something seriously wrong with my body that no one could figure out. I had bloodwork, stress tests, Doppler studies and even a stress echocardiogram and everything came back negative except for elevated cortisol levels. So, what causes elevations in cortisol? Tumors are the first likely cause but they would be accompanied by changes in other lab results as well. Hyperthyroidism could be a cause but that's not an issue for me. Pregnancy, nope, can't happen. So, what else causes elevations in cortisol. Yup, you guessed it. STRESS.

I have to admit that until this past summer, when people said they were stressed, my first thought was they just needed to suck it up and that was my first thought regrading myself as well. After all, I had a stable job, great employees, a nice salary, lived with the love of my life and had a cute puppy dog too. So, what did I have to stress about? Well,apparently, I need to feel productive, appreciated and that I am actually making a contribution to be satisfied with my job. Working long hours with no possibility of change, being unable to have an impact for my team, my customers or my personal role was causing me "stress". As I told my doctor, there needs to be another word for what I experienced because it took over my body because this was not just stress, this was like an alien force taking over my body. So much for exercise being good for stress, huh?

So I did something about it. After 13 years with the same company, I gave up that stability and changed jobs. I moved from a company that has well over 10,000 employees to one that has less than 200. I am doing similar work, it's just in a very different environment and I like it, I think. It is very strange to be non-productive after so many years, but I am adapting. It's been very relaxing although I keep being warned that it is going to get crazy soon. That's okay, I don't mind being busy at all, as long as I am accomplishing something. Now the blood pressure is normal, no more palpitations, I am sleeping well at night. All that bad stuff is gone and life is much improved.

On an exercise standpoint, I am out starting to run again and Ed is joining me. We have plans (and have registered) to do the rock and roll country music half marathon in Nashville at the end of April. We're both battling plantar fasciitis but I am excited to just be out and moving with a goal ahead of me. They have a time limit for the half of 4 hours so even walking, i should be able to do that. This past weekend I did 4 miles in 69 minutes. I know that's slow, but the last mile I walked limping back to the car so I'm okay with it. My goal is to be out there and working towards something other than figuring out what is on TV next. so, I'm back and and excited to be active again.

Lazy morning

Updating....

Not much new to report. My dr. has officially told me to stop thinking about the half in February. I am so disappointed I can't even express my feelings well. The funny thing was that as he was telling me this, he kept saying, "I can't believe I am telling you not to try this". I actually think that concerned me more than the tests all coming back with nothing definitive. Had more blood drawn last week and some renal tests, meds changed and see him again tomorrow.

So, how am I feeling? I think I am a bit better but I am also on vacation this week so am getting lots of rest, eating well and have little stress. The big determining factor will be if I still feel good next week when I am back at work. I did go for a nice little walk this morning with Emmy before it got too hot and hope to do the same thing each morning. I am so bored and feeling so lazy, I have to do something to entertain myself!

Hope you're all having a good week and I'll be back when the dr says I can start training again.

Update

Well, thing aren't improving very quickly. The blood pressure remains high and I am waiting for a bunch of lab and ultrasound tests to come back. In the meantime, Ed has come home, we had a wonderful few days together and now he is headed back to Idaho. As of last Friday my marathon running Dr. Told me no exercise except some walking and not to plan on my half marathon in February. We'll see.....i feel like a plane flying into Atlanta on a mid summer afternoon endlessly circling in a holding pattern.

and more

Sitting in the waiting room waiting for a cardiac stress echo is not what I expected to be doing last week. Monday night I had some significant high blood pressure accompanied by chest pain and tightness which sent me to my Dr's office first thing Tuesday morning. Yeah, I know I should have gone to the ER but I didn't for stupid reasons. My EKG was fine but continue to have sudden spikes in BP and pulse with very minimal activity. When you can't even walk 100 ft without getting out of breath, not only is it scary, but running is totally out of the question. So, I sat there waiting for a test to tell me if this was just something quirky with my blood pressure or if this is something even more serious. I guess the good news is if there is something more serious, this exercise thing identified it.


I've taken most of the last week and a half off of work and thought I might use the free time to catch up on stuff but I am really timid about even walking Emmy because I had palpitations and shortness of breath with any exercise. One of the challenges of being a nurse is that you know what could happen and living out in the country I know EMS response time is slow at best.

The good news is the stress echo and all the blood work so far has been negative, the bad news is that my blood pressure remained high enough that the Dr. said no exercise. So, here I sit, gaining weight, losing conditioning and working half days. After a week and a half of this, Ed got home, I am feeling better and my blood pressure is slowly improving. Back to the Dr's this afternoon to find out the results of some other tests and hopefully I can start walking this weekend. Back to square one but I will come back. Even with all of this, I have not given up on my goal to run in February. There is still time to get ready and I have lots of support.