That went by quick!

It's been a whirlwind couple of months and here we are already in August. Where have I  been? Where haven't I?

Here's a recap:

Surgery!  The lump on my next was a benign thyroid cyst. Sadly it blew up and made it difficult for me to swallow solid food. Lame! They drained it, gross, then it came back a few hours later, and the docs decided it would get the axe. In for surgery and out on bed rest for a week.

Running. Not much with the lump and surgery. I'm finally able to get back to running with all the time off. I'm sadly back just this week and it's a slow slow process. Like I'm up to 1.6 miles. I'm adding .4 (the loop in front of my house) to each day until 2 miles and then will increase a full mile each wee,k to give me time to readjust. I want to get back to 5 miles 3-4 times a week by the end of August.

Derby. I had to skip out on a game due to recovery and I had to work! I missed two full weeks of work. No bueno paychecks. But's coming along. We have our championship bout in three weeks and I have to say I'll be glad for a break. Last year we still had bouts on our off season and this year we will not.

Work. I've been working 4 shifts a week. Which is pretty brutal with having little kids. I work the night shift and get off anywhere between 2am and 5am. And my shifts are opposite my husband. So we have no days off together and see very little of each other otherwise. It kind of sucks. But starting this week I go back to 3 nights a week which means I'll have 2 days off a month with my man!

Kids. They've been serious troopers. Letting me chill while I recover from surgery and letting me sleep in on the mornings after my night shifts. Summer is quickly coming to an end, which I will very much miss. But the school year will have it's own benefits.

Crafts. I finished a few sweaters that were in perma-freeze during my recovery. They turned out awesome and I'm working on a few more already.

Cooking. Has been coming along. Trying to cook real food that the kids will eat is not always easy with my work schedule. I think I'm doing well when I make dessert a couple of times a week. Good benchmark!

That's pretty much been life lately. I'm going to try and start sharing photos more and make the blog a bit more interesting. Thanks for tuning in!

May challenge recap

So the May challenge went really well. I did not actually make the total challenge falling short by two 5 mile runs. And I am very ok with that.

Sadly the last week of the challenge fell during my preparation for tournament, being sick, going to 4 night shifts from 3, and finding a thyroid cyst. So two missed runs are more than ok. And I did a few long runs that more than make up for the missed 10 miles.

Anyways the challenge got me back to my running shape. My plan now is to run every other day and do whatever distance I feel like. If I want a 3 miler, then I'll do a 3 miler. But I hope to keep most runs in the 4-7 distance. Yeah for goals and yeah for accomplishments!

It's not a toomah

Or at least I hope not.

Been fighting the "not getting sick" fight all week, running my miles, working the night shift and going to derby. Finally after a sore throat afternoon I figured it was time to take a break. I had 3 days off before work and I wanted to finally kick whatever this cold/flu thing was.

So three days of lying around (yeah!) come to an end and I prepare to hit the sack early again. But while brushing my teeth I notice a weird lump on my throat. Fast forward 24 hours. I saw the doctor and got a mixed bag of news.

I have allergies! Yeah, the "I'm not getting sick" feeling was just allergies. Take one claritin and call it good. That's a relief, I was getting tire of almost being sick.

Second news is I got a goiter. Well not really. It's likely a cyst on my thyroid. Not uncommon, but as it popped up so quickly I'll need to have it aspirated to make sure it's not thyroid cancer. Which yes is freaky. But in the land of cancer, apparently thyroid cancer is the one you want. Easy treatment and excellent prognosis. My mom had it and she's still kicking around.

Anyways, it's probably not cancer. Not a toomah. (In my best Arnold voice)

Finishing week 3

This week was lame. I got all my runs in, and all the miles. But the long run at the beginning of the week and Sunday's supposed to be long run was plagued with the side ache/ab pain again.

I persevered and made the minimum five miles. I wanted to enjoy my kid free morning running a good 9 or 10. But I gave up after five and my abs wouldn't let up.

I'm starting to think maybe my slow runs are messing with my form. I never seem to have this problem on speed, hills or runs with strollers. Hmmm.

Anyways week three was finished up and onto week four. I'm really really glad this is almost over. I'm tired and want to take more than 2 days off. Also I'm looking forward to running 3-4 times a week instead of 5. Way easier to fit into my schedule.

But I am so very glad I did this challenge. My legs now feel like 5 miles is no big thing. 10 miles is a nice easy challenge and running with a stroller is great. The hard work has paid off and is no longer hard work to do!

The worst and the best

Monday was my long run day. The hubs was at home with the kids, I wasn't totally wiped from work, la la la. Well it ended up the worst 9 miles of my life. I got the most awful side ache. It started at about mile 2, and it was so severe I actually had to stop completely.

I ran and walked trying to work around it. Which wasn't working. Finally I got it to a point where it hurt but I could keep running. And it was hot. I ran too late in the day and the heat (only about 75-80) combined with the side ache made the whole run miserable. I probably walked at least half a mile of the whole thing. So freakin lame.

Side aches really bug me. Each time I get them I think that maybe this it. I'll get a side ache every run and my running career will be over. I know it sounds a little ridiculous, but when they seem to come on for no rhyme or reason it's hard to be rational. Fortunately there were some clues that indicated this would not be the case.

On Sunday I started adding in weights. I didn't do very much, but I did a smidge of weighted ab exercises. And the rest of Monday and most of Tuesday the ache continued to hurt. Side aches don't do that. Side aches are crampy little bitches that make you stop running, not twingy muscle pain that lasts for days. So the verdict is, I strained my ab muscle. Lame, but ok!

I took a day off, which was remarkably frustrating, and tried again today. I was very nervous and almost bagged the whole run. But... It was absolutely awesome! No pain. Yeah! And I was sooo much faster than I have been!

Me and my girl took off in the jogging stroller, which strangely I've come to love more than running solo, and made great time. I felt so strong and so much fast than I have been.

Yeah running!

More goals

Having finished the first two weeks strong I am now adding more items to the goal list.

Lift weights 2 -3 times a week. I'll start with focus on core and upper body strength and only do lower body on my off running days.

I'm really pleased with my running progress and I don't want sore legs to slow me down. I'll slowly build on the lower legs over the next month or two and get back to my old (last year) body!

Ending week 2 on a good note

Today's 5 miles came at the end of the day.

I was planning on waiting to do these on Saturday, but an untimely child accident (scraped chin, no ER necessary) causing me to be late to a meeting, and then a second accident with my other child during the meeting (garden cultivator to the eye, only a shiner with scratches), left me frustrated and annoyed. I definitely needed to run to work out the agitation.

So glad I did.

The sun was going down and it was just a beautiful evening. I did a speed workout, which in average wasn't so fast. But it was a good effort and felt really good to do. Speed will come, I'm not worried about that.

I'm already planning my next long run. I'm thinking of Monday. Two days off of running this weekend should get my legs good and ready to tackle 10 miles.

So nice to be back!