It has been 14 weeks since my surgery and I am so ready to be normal again. I hope normal is an option. But maybe I am actually shooting for normal plus. Yes, let’s say I’m shooting for normal plus. I had my three month post-op appointment in Houston a week ago and saw neither of my surgeons. Bummer. One was not going to be there and had to cancel his portion of my appointment and the other one got called into emergency surgery. I still had the MRI and the hearing test and both were fine. Nothing has grown back according to the MRI [awesome news] and my hearing is no worse than before the surgery. I can live with that for now.
What I really wanted from that appointment was for my surgeons to brag on how wonderful I was doing and that my life could get back to normal. I wanted them to see what a great job they did. Instead, my ENT surgeon’s resident met with me. Now I could have hung around in Houston for several more hours until Dr. Gidley got out of his emergency surgery but I knew I was ok. I didn’t need my surgeons to tell me that. Besides, a girl does have her priorities. I had a hot date with my husband to go dancing.
I have been really anxious to get back to running so I asked the question to the young resident. Can I start running again? He told me I could definitely start back, just to take it slow. No worries there. Slow and easy is my thing. I have put back on all the weight I had worked so hard to lose two years ago, so I am essentially starting over yet again. I am ok with that too.
The first thing I did when we got home was to reload the “From Coach Potato to 5K” app back onto my iPhone. I remember so well the first time I used it three years ago. Keith and I had participated in the A2A 5K here in Ardmore in 2011 and I literally walked 90% of it. I had never run before and had never trained to run. I had no expectations and we were only participating because Keith’s employer had encouraged all their employees to be a part of the event. So we did. After that we both kind of got the running bug and decided that we would be better prepared for the next year.
This is where my little 5K Runner app came in. Keith got us a home treadmill and everything. We really didn’t have room for it, but we crammed it into the little third bedroom Keith was using for an office. This cute little app starts you off with a 5 minute warm up and ends with a 5 minute cool down. In the middle, you learn how to run. The first time it has you run, you run for an entire minute! Do you know how hard that was for me? That one minute seemed like an eternity and I was breathing like a freight train. I will never be able to do this. My thighs were screaming and I was getting shin splints.
Somehow I got through those three days of one minute runs and then it got jacked up to 1 ½ minute running intervals. Again I would tell myself, I can’t do this! I remember the day I knew I was going to have to run for 2 entire minutes. I told Keith, “I can’t run for two minutes.” He just looked at me and smiled. He’s a machine and was already running his three miles pretty effortlessly. Let’s just say it’s easier for men can we? Little by little I continued to work the program and when I participated in the A2A 5K in 2012, I cut six minutes off of my first years’ time. The next year, I ran the entire thing. I did not set any land speed records, but I ran the entire thing. I had reached my weight loss goal and was feeling pretty good.
Now here’s where life and excuses come into play. Shortly after the 2013 A2A I found out that I have three bulging disks in my neck with bone spurs. My doctor told me to quit running. He said it was the worst thing I could do. I was so bummed. I had worked so hard and it was something I was really learning to enjoy. Of course this is also the period of time when my dad’s health was not great and things with him were consuming me. So for the next couple of years, my exercising was spotty and pretty inconsistent. In July of 2014 I rededicated myself to starting over with my health and in September I found out I had a brain tumor. The violins are playing very loudly here. Can you hear them too?
So once again I am starting over. My intentions are always good, it’s just the follow through. I can think of it like getting over an addiction, one day at a time. Oh and this week I heard on the news that sugar is as addictive as cocaine. Well it really was hard for me to not eat that hot roll and Santa Fe Steak House last night, so I ate it. Let me stop thinking about that hot roll and get back to my point, which is starting over.
So last Saturday I got out the shoes, got my iPhone, plugged in my tunes, turned on my 5K Runner app and I went out into a beautiful 53 degree sun shiny day and headed for the trails by my house. It was awesome. I did my five minute warm up like I was instructed and then my app told me to begin running. Yes, here we go. I started off [very slowly of course] and wasn’t even thinking about it. I had some good tunes on and I was looking at the scenery and I no more got started that my app told me to “slow down and walk”. Had it been a minute already. I’m not even out of breath. What is the deal? This went on for about 20 minutes; walk 2 minutes and run 1 minute. When I was done with the day one workout I was shocked. I hadn’t even gotten out of breath. That one minute seemed like 15 seconds. Maybe I haven’t lost everything I had worked so hard to achieve prior to my surgery. Yippee.
Since last Saturday the weather has been crappy and my training has been taken up into the bonus room where my old friend the treadmill sits proudly. She and I have met several times this week for my one minute bouts of running. This morning however, I began week two on the app and had to run 1 ½ minute intervals and I did it without collapsing. So exciting. Maybe the following week I will be at the 2 minute run interval. I know at some point it will get harder and I can’t wait.
I continue to move from normal to attain normal plus. Next step? Getting my hair color fixed! I long for the smell of hair dye and to kiss this dishwater blonde hair goodbye. I just have to hang on one more week .
Queen of My Kingdom 