Weekly Rundown-Feeling Rundown

Oof.  I just want to curl up under the tree like my cat and go to sleep.  WHY is the week of Christmas so exhausting???  Every year I swear I’m going to get things done early, but it’s always a crunch.  There were still workouts, of course!  Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly Rundown.  Let’s dive right into the festivities. Monday We have had the most beautiful weather this month!  I think we’ve slept with windows open more nights in December than we did all of last winter.  It was low 50s for this run- 4 miles in the nice, cool sunshine. Tuesday Strength workout at home- Runner’s Touch, dead bugs, crunches on the stability ball and work on the pull up bar.  Notice how I never say “I did pull ups” because I CAN’T do pull ups- but I do negatives and assisted pull ups with the band.  Pull up negative are always hard for me, but this felt like a good workout.  At the time.  More on that coming up… Wednesday Long run on the trail! It was in the 60s, cloudy and breezy for this run.  Yes, please!  I’ll take this weather on race day!  Everything about this run felt phenomenal except… my left arm.  About halfway through the run I felt discomfort in that shoulder, and it got worse and worse until the last 4 miles, it was all I could think about.  When I hit 24 miles, I was SO RELIEVED to be able to stop- because my arm was killing me.  Everything else felt great. I have no idea why that happened- all I can think of was, I tweaked it doing pull up negatives the day before.  Although if that’s the case, I’m baffled as to why it didn’t hurt while I was doing them, or afterwards, or when I woke up on Wednesday, or why it felt fine until halfway through my run??? For the rest of the day, my arm was killing me.  I was shopping at the mall, and I couldn’t hold anything with that arm!  Did you know that four three-wick candles from Bath and Body Works are HEAVY?  I couldn’t hold the bag with my left arm, so I had to hold that bag, and everything else I bought, with my right arm.  It was really difficult. Of course my thoughts were along this line: “Did I dislocate my shoulder?  Maybe it’s a torn rotator cuff!  How am I going to be able to work tomorrow?  What if I need surgery?  I don’t want to have surgery!”  It was crazy. Thursday Okay.  The arm is still sore… I’m able to pinpoint the pain as being in the deltoid.  I can swing the arm gently back and forth, but I don’t want to risk running.  Usually I do a short run the day after my long run, but I didn’t want to stress the arm.  Instead I went to the gym, walked a mile on the treadmill, and then did 30 minutes on the stair climber.  Sigh. Then I went to work, where I discovered that my arm is still functional.  It’s only certain movements that hurt it (moving it up and to the side) so I’m able to give massages.  Phew.  Maybe I won’t need surgery after all. Friday Off!  It was a weird day to take off, but it just worked for this week.  My daughter didn’t have school, so I was able to sleep in a little. Saturday Okay, I need to run.  And I can!  I can pump my arm back and forth just fine- the only thing that really hurts is if I try to lift it to look at my watch.  That’s okay- I don’t need to look at my watch!  Or, I could wear it on the other hand (that would feel sooo weird.) I went to work and then of course we celebrated Festivus!  We went out for bagels, aired our grievances, and watched “The Strike”- the Seinfelt Festivus episode.  It’s funny that it’s called “The Strike” (one of the stories is that Kramer works at H&H Bagels, goes on strike, and is carrying a sign that says “Festivus Yes!  Bagels No!”) Most people think of Festivus as the main story of that episode. Sunday On tap for today… the gym.  I don’t want to go!  I have so much to do.  We’re having people over later in the day for cookie decorating and dinner.  But I haven’t been to the gym all week, and my strength work has been… pretty lame.  I’ll go first thing, get it over with, and then get ready for Christmas Eve festivities. Christmas Day I want to collapse on the couch with my “book flood” and read all day.  There might be a short run later in the day… we’ll see. Merry Christmas to everyone celebrating!  If you’re not celebrating, I wish you a peaceful and joyful day.