Weekly Rundown- Moving Forward
All right, you guys- this was a hard week. The previous week was so good! Then my calf pain returned and all the good vibes evaporated. I listened to the latest Sally McRae podcast episode where she talked about how sad she was to leave her daughter at college (YES, I KNOW THAT FEELING!) but she said it’s important to remember, when you’re in a hard phase, that there’s always another phase of life coming up. The only way to find out what that is is to keep getting out of bed every morning and moving forward. Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly Rundown. Here’s the gory details… Sunday Leg day at the gym! All the usual moves- squats, deadlifts, and some abs thrown in as well. So far, so good. Monday When I ran on Saturday, I felt a tiny, teeny twinge of pain in my calf, so just to be on the safe side, I took an extra day off and did a pool run, followed by the Caroline Girvan deadbug workout.. Tuesday Here’s where it all fell apart! I started a 3 mile run, but after a mile my calf started to hurt. I made it two miles before I gave up and walked the rest of the way. Looking on the bright side, I did get to run/walk in the daylight- there was no school because of election day. The other bright spot was, I was able to get an appointment for the next day with my sports chiropractor. But I was pretty down overall. Wednesday I did the Sally McRae “Bulletproof Runner” workout before taking my daughter to school (where my sarcastic, angry inner voice was in full swing- “Yeah, I’m bulletproof, all right!”) and then went to my appointment. This is not the same doctor who did the dry needling- but I’ve seen him many times in the past and he’s helped me through plenty of injuries. He did a diagnostic ultrasound to see if there are any tears (there aren’t) and then did an ART treatment to release the tight muscles (ouch.) He recommended ART twice a week for the next two weeks- okay fine, let’s do that! Thursday 3 mile walk, followed by CG deadbugs again. At night, we had another football game! I usually just go to see the band. Our team used to be terrible, but now we have a new coach and we’re actually good! This turned out to be the most thrilling game I’ve ever attended. We were playing the #1 ranked team (we’re ranked #4) and at halftime we were losing 13-0. Our team came back to win, 14-13 with a touchdown scored in the last two minutes of the game. SOOOO fun! Friday Okay, back to the gym for leg day. The usual! Good workout. Saturday Sigh. 3 mile walk. I set a new walking mile PR- 13:28- and a new average PR for the 3 miles. All I have to do is walk twice as fast and I’ll be ready for the Olympics! Hahahahaha. I literally can’t imagine how to go any faster without breaking into a run. Sunday Instead of my favorite Sunday morning activity- a trail run- I’ll be doing my least favorite Sunday activity- going to work. I added an extra day of work because I’m feeling guilty about draining the family’s HSA account to pay for my calf. The ultrasound was expensive, all the treatments are expensive, and guess how much insurance pays for? ZERO. (DO NOT GET ME STARTED.) I’m just going in for a few hours- it will be fine. At some point in the day I’ll probably do some sort of upper body strength, which was glaringly absent from my workouts this week. Forward!!! How was your week? Can we turn the clocks back now??? Top photo by 愚木混株 cdd20 on Unsplash
It’s My Party, and I’ll Cry If I Want To
Uh oh! It’s another “dumpster fire mug” coffee date! What is wrong NOW, you ask? Oh, just the same old thing…my calf. I had FOUR good runs. FOUR! And then, on the fifth run my calf pain came back, sinking me into depression. Then I felt guilty for being depressed. I ran through all the usual reasons why my life is great: I’m not blind! I’m not paralyzed. Everyone in my family is healthy. We’re not living in a war zone… etc, etc, etc. Okay, I’m lucky. Then I made a list of all the reasons running makes me happy. It makes me feel healthy, it makes me feel young. I love being outside, moving forward on my own two feet. Training for races gives me a sense of purpose. The races themselves are adventures for me- I get to travel, explore a new trail, and experience a brand new challenge every time. Let’s see, is there anything else in my life that checks all these boxes? Nope. The thing is… we get one life. I’ve figured out what makes me happy. When I can’t run, I’m not able to live my life the way I want to, and that makes me sad. So, yes- it’s okay for me to be sad! I’m pretty sure no one reading this was criticizing me- it was all in my own mind. Okay, so we’ve condoned depression. What I don’t condone is complaining about something but not doing anything to fix it, so yesterday I started a new treatment program with my sports chiropractor. I didn’t go to him at first because I really wanted to try dry needling and he doesn’t do that. But now I’m back with him, and we’ll see what happens. SOMETHING has to work, eventually. In addition to my not-running malaise, I’ve been feeling the effects of time and my kids growing up. SHU recently posted about her challenges of dealing with a new school schedule this year, and I remember that so well. I only have two kids, but because they’re six years apart, my parenting years have been drawn out! My kids also never went to the same school, so the challenges of figuring out the schedule of getting them both to and from school, and then dealing with one of them changing schools and uprooting the existing schedule, were a huge focus of my life for a long time. Now… we’re in the home stretch. My son is in college and my daughter is a sophomore in high school. There’s no more switching schools- this is it. That thought made me sad. I’m not ready for an empty nest! Hopefully by the time it happens- three years from now- I will be ready. But let’s end on a happier note. Yesterday I needed a mood boost, and I knew just where to go. I LOVE when fall things appear in the stores! I went to Bath and Body works and smelled all the candles. I love all the names- Brewed Coffee, Flannel, Sweater Weather… the most intriguing one was “Pink Lavender and Espresso” (that one actually smelled terrible, though.) My favorite was Pumpkin Clove, but I didn’t buy it. They only had it in the three-wick size, and I wasn’t ready to commit to that many hours of pumpkin clove. Fall is coming! You can tell me it’s too early, but I won’t listen. This wasn’t much of a coffee date- more like a one-sided whine-fest- but what would you tell me over coffee? Do you like fall-scented candles?
Patriotic Eating
In honor of the DNC, I made another batch of Kamala Kookies!! And… Yep, several people guessed it- WALZ WAFFLES! The state muffin of Minnesota is the blueberry muffin, so I added blueberries. But I’m going to say that between now and November, any waffles can be Walz Waffles! As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure Tim Walz would not endorse these waffles. I used this recipe for vegan almond flour waffles. All things considered, they were pretty good, although not everyone would agree with me. The website has several other healthy waffle recipes, including “one ingredient flax waffles.” I’m intrigued- but also pretty sure those would taste horrible. I’m going to have to try them at some point though. In other eating news, I got some great suggestions on last week’s eating post. Everyone was sympathetic to my plight! I asked for advice on easy dinner bowls; several people suggested Trader Joe’s items, and Alice suggested veggie sushi bowls. LOTS of great ideas. Of course, Sunday rolled around and I didn’t want to spend hours in the kitchen. I did roast broccoli, squash and cauliflower, marinated tofu, and made Nora’s Buffalo Mac n Cheese for my daughter and husband. Definitely not a health food, but they love it. They had that for dinner on Sunday and Monday (while I had baked sweet potatoes with roasted veggies and chickpeas) and then tonight we had bowls! My husband and I had quinoa, and my daughter had white rice. We all had roasted vegetables and tofu with a peanut sauce. Everyone was happy! Tomorrow I’m going to Trader Joe’s to get more sauce options, and for dinner we’ll have something similar to tonight’s dinner, but with a different sauce (I’m also marinating some tempeh.). Thursday night neither my husband or daughter are eating dinner at home- that always helps- and Friday will be takeout again. Phew. I think I can do this! Does your state have an official muffin? – Ours doesn’t- Florida is so boring. Top photo by Luke Michael on Unsplash
Reading
I usually do a “Reading and Eating” post on Wednesdays. The problem is, I just finished Ken Follett’s Fall of Giants, and I can’t stop talking about it. The book follows multiple storylines, taking the characters from 1911-1918 during the Great War in Europe. Simultaneously, I listened to ten episodes of a history podcast about the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the lead up to World War I. I’m obsessed with the question: if Gavrilo Princip had not murdered Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo- let’s imagine that he shot at him and missed- could World War I have been avoided? I think it’s possible! There might have been a smaller war in Europe, perhaps between Austria and Serbia, or possibly no war at all. And without Germany’s humiliation after World War I, there would have been no Nazi party and Hitler coming to power, and no World War II. It’s mind boggling to think of the catastrophe of those wars being avoided. On the other hand, if you change those events maybe something worse could have happened. Offhand it’s hard to think what could be worse than the atrocities committed during World War II, but you never know. Anyway- all this is to say, I highly recommend Fall of Giants. From listening to the history podcasts, I can attest to the fact that Follett kept very close to the facts, so reading these books is like a very, very fun history lesson. The story lines are all compelling, and while those of course are fiction, you feel like it all could have happened. After all, there were real people living through that time in Europe and the United States, and they suffered losses and triumphs just like the characters in this book. You can see how I can’t stop talking about it! And the best news is, Fall of Giants is the first book in a trilogy! I’ve already moved on to the “Rise of the Nazis” series in my history podcast, to get me ready for the next book, Winter of the World. While I’m waiting for that book to arrive, I’m tidying up some loose ends. First, I’m finishing our Cool Blogger’s Book Club book: I feel like I did this book a disservice, because I tried to read it while I was reading Fall of Giants. I kept reluctantly tearing myself away from the Ken Follett to read our book club chapters, and as a result I didn’t enjoy I Capture the Castle as much as I could have. I’m happy that I can just focus on the book for the final few chapters. (Side note: It was Engie who recommended Fall of Giants, and she also runs our book club. So even though it made no sense, I kept blaming her for my reading conundrum. Yes, Engie, this is all your fault for making me read two excellent books simultaneously!) Then, a library hold came in: I said I wasn’t going to read any more Japanese mysteries for a while, forgetting that I had already placed a hold on this one. Okay, I’ll read it! It should be quick, and then I’ll be ready to dive into book #2 of my trilogy. Coming up tomorrow- Eating! More Kamala Kookies and… a food dedicated to Tim Walz. It starts with a “W”- can you guess what it is? What are you reading now?