Archive for February 2014

The sound of silence

I had a migraine for 6 days. Day 4 I finally took something which took care of it until late in day 5. I took something for it again day 6 which left me just as useless as I was with the headache, but I slept a lot. I still want to sleep a lot. It is probably mostly the migraine hangover. It just stands to reason that having a migraine for that long is going to produce a longer than one-day hangover. And yes, a migraine hangover is a lot like a drunk hangover except for the lack of headache and dehydration and nausea.

Anyway, I DNRed a race Saturday morning, and I called in sick to church Sunday. I also had an episode in Walmart Saturday afternoon where I first got dizzy and thought I would pass out resulting in Jamie asking me to please not die in the underwear section. Then my digestive system decided it needed to purge. #everybodypoops I made it home to explode though as I did not want to spend that amount of time blowing up Walmart’s bathroom. Thankfully when we made it home, the kids brought in all the groceries while I went to have some quality alone time on the throne. Of course, I had to put all the groceries away when I completed downloading, and I absolutely did not have the energy to do so. Nor did I have the energy to cook. But I did. And then crashed.

One again I have reached that point where I started a post days ago with a plan in mind where to go with it, but I have no idea what that was. So this will just go where it goes and will likely have nothing at all to do with the title.

I’ve taken a semi-break from social media over the past few days. Naturally when I go to take a break people tag me on Facebook. lol. It’s been ok though because one of my cousins posted a photo of her grandma/my aunt last night that triggered such good memories of Aunt Iris and her store. Not just for me as several folks commented about their memories of her sitting out front and waving at people that drove by. I had forgotten all about that. Probably because we rarely just drove by the store because Daddy went by there 2 or 3 times a week and I think did some banking for her since we always stopped by on the way to town for the weekly laundry/banking/grocery trips. As I commented, I can still feel her wood floor on my bare feet. Because that was the only store I was ever allowed in barefoot. And no, I didn’t like wearing shoes when I was a kid. #hillbilly

But anyway, I’ve taken some time to read and go to meetings and think about making phone calls. The phone calls are inevitable. :sigh: I feel better mentally than I have in several days. I went to an Al-Anon meeting last night with a different group than my home group. Since the hubby and I joined a small group at church that meets on one of my Al-Anon meeting nights, I need to replace that meeting even though that’s my favorite one of the week. Sitting in a different group, I got to hear different perspectives than my home group. That was a good thing! Not that I am going to switch home groups.

I went to the dentist yesterday for my 6 month cleaning. They always ask me first thing if I’ve been having any problems. Normally I don’t, but I’ve had an issue going on for a while that I’ve been trying to self treat to no avail. So I told the tech about it, and she did an xray. After the cleaning, the dentist came in and looked at the xray and confirmed what I thought. It’s an abscess. That’s the tooth that I broke on a Skittle when I was active duty (the last time I ate Skittles, btw), and also my second root canal due to an abscess a couple of years after that. I now am taking a round of antibiotics, and have a referral to an endodontist to treat that bad boy. Again. :sigh: Also, it has not hurt at all until she told me that it really was an abscess. It hurts now. WTH? :-/

All that said, I’m tired. And I’m tired of being tired. I’m also getting tired of “Mommy can we go _____” and “Mommy can you get ______” and “Mommy when are we going to _____”. Therefore, I’m going to have to have a little sit down with the kids and explain (again) how many hours I am gone working, and try to explain recovery to them. Also budget and debt. Again.

Making the most of it

I had to run a virtual 5k this weekend because my foot was broken the previous weekend. “Broken” is an exaggeration. It hurt like it was broken, but 1) I didn’t go to the doctor over it and 2) whatever I did to it happened at work while I was sitting at my desk. Saturday was just nasty windy, and so was yesterday morning. But after noon yesterday, the wind died down some, and the sun was out and I made myself go run. I tried every way I could think of to not do it and yet still count it, but I finally just texted Karyn and Molly “Tell me to run,” knowing they would give me that bit of motivation I needed to just go do it.

I hated every single step of that run.

But. I’m working on finding bright spots among the suck. As I approached the halfway point, I noticed a pond. I’ve run past that house countless times, but yesterday was the first time I noticed that pond behind it. I noticed the squirrels, which really isn’t unusual. I noticed the frogs croaking in the ditch on the way back, and noticed how once I got past them, they stopped. And, by the way, I love the sound of a bunch of croaking frogs. I stopped at a neighbor’s house and chatted with him for a minute (pausing the workout – lol), and learned he was a boxer when he was younger.

The actual running (and my time) sucked, but the rest of it didn’t.

I tried to get the dogs in the photo with me, but only Brownie would even remotely cooperate. I also ripped a hole in the butt of my running tights while trying to get the dogs in the shot. :-/ But it really was a beautiful day for a run. The race was the Stop Stroke Shuffle 5k. Enjoyed supporting Dani’s cause, and would not feel the donation wasted if I hadn’t run. Thank you Dani for the reason to get off my butt! 🙂

Facing Fear, 2

I was listening to the radio one morning back in December, and by radio I mean SiriusXM. I reached the point where there is just so many times per day I can listen to Sleigh Ride by the Ronettes, and if I never hear that Christmas song by John & Yoko I would be fine. Anyway, I gave up on the Christmas stations, and went through my usuals, and ended up on 80’s on 8 which I am sure is a complete shock to anyone who knows me. Granted, I did spend a few more seconds on 70s than normal listening to Truckin’ by The Grateful Dead and wondering (again) what is the appeal to the Dead. Just like Pink Floyd. Anyway, Van Halen was playing on the 80s, and more specifically, Van Hagar. And I thought to myself, “You know, as much as I hate to admit it, I like Van Hagar better than classic Van Halen.” Even though I am such a non-fan of Sammy Hagar. I resolved to go public with that, and those stakes got upped even higher in the office that morning over Nelson. Yes, I was a fan, and still listen to them from time to time.

What does that have to do with anything? More than I like to admit. When I wrote about facing fear, I wasn’t entirely sure what I was going to have to face. Well, one of those things is caring too much about what other people think about me to the point that I will try to change things as asinine as what kind of music I like to “fit in” with others. And now roughly 3 months later since I started this post, I have a good idea.

I have to completely change the way I think about almost everything.

While that is kind of frightening, it is also surprisingly liberating. I don’t have to continue to be bound by destructive and paralyzing thinking patterns born out of seeking approval from others. Of course, on the flip side of that, I have to figure out who I am. That’s both scary and exciting.

But necessary.

“Time makes you bolder…”

I have an interesting (or not) history with my mouth. The same mouth that often landed me either in the corner or on the receiving end of a paddle or separated from the rest of the class, doesn’t really like to run so much as it did. Or maybe it just comes and goes. I don’t know. It’s weird. I’m weird. Whatever. 😉 I’ve said this a few times to a few people (and maybe in a post or two before) that I can write what I just can’t say. Generally speaking, I avoid talking when it’s a subject that matters. This makes therapy REALLY hard for me. And my therapist. I did verbally vomit on my therapist during our first session. That was interesting for me because I spewed out a LOT of stuff that at the time I didn’t even think were related. And just like physical vomited, I was completely drained afterward.

It happened the other night again. At Al-Anon. I’ve kind of prided myself (haha) on being open whenever I have to speak, but not rambling on and on. Well, that streak ended. Partway through the verbal vomit, I realized I was just verbally vomiting, but I couldn’t stop it. It just kept right on flowing unchecked. It was almost surreal.

I still want to just sit quietly and absorb. But that’s just not the way recovery works. Sometimes you just have to get over yourself and throw up what doesn’t need to be sitting and stagnating. Sometimes it is for no other reason than to have someone else tell you that what you have ingested is not healthy and that’s why you threw it up. Unrealistic/unmet expectations hurt. Broken promises hurt. When allowed to build up, the hurt can lead to resentment and then bitterness which seem to taste and feel good for a time. Resentment rots. Bitterness rots. And the rot is going to make you vomit at some point.

Sometimes running is just weird

Also, race recaps are hard for me. This is why I generally don’t do them. Ok, I do them, but not like most runners do recaps. Perhaps it is the self-diagnosed ADHD. Squirrel! 😉

Anywho, I misunderstood the dates for the Snowflake Shuffle 8k, and thought is was last weekend. Which wasn’t happening. No running happened last weekend. Actually, no running has happened since the Morrow Mountain 15k. Because injury (mild), sick, and polar vortexes. So I have done absolutely no runs towards the Winter Miles Challenge. And then Thursday I went home sick with some kind of plague that came on suddenly and had me in bed wishing for death. I got better.

So, when I saw that the 8k was through this weekend, I saw a glimmer of hope to actually do it. Oddly (for me) I woke up this morning ready to run. That almost never happens. But I got dressed, and got out there and did it. I told the hubster the route I was going to take stating “I am NOT running down to the Rocky River and back up that hill.” Yet when I got to my turn around point at the top of said hill, I said “What the heck,” and did it anyway. That made the turnaround just past the river bridge, and I decided to stop and take pictures. Because that’s how I roll. I didn’t even pause my watch during the photo shoot.

I didn’t quite run all the way back up that hill. I made it halfway and then walked and wheezed my way to the top. But I ran the rest of the 2 miles back except for after I called the hubster and then couldn’t get my phone back in its holder. And the run felt good. The whole way. Minimal knee pain. No back pain. It was as if I hadn’t just run for the first time in a month. Weird!

With less than a mile to go, I had a little meltdown. Every now and then I’ll have a running meltdown that has nothing to do with running. It always happens in front of someone’s house. It wasn’t bad enough to stop over, but still. It was “public.” But brief.

So race 2 is out of the way for the year.

And I intend to spend the rest of the day reading and drinking chai tea lattes.