Well, it was an interesting week! As a reminder, last week I talked about an extremely painful rib injury. Lots of people shared stories of similar injuries (btw, ribs are apparently very fragile!) and here’s what Debbie said: “Once when I had pneumonia, I coughed so much that I irritated the connective tissue where my ribs attach to my sternum. It felt like a broken rib, but wasn’t.” As soon as I read that, I had a strong feeling that’s what I had. Thank you, Dr. Debbie! Not that it was instantaneously cured, but I had a better idea how to cope with it.
The universe also decided to throw a couple other curveballs my way. Thanks, universe! And, thanks to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly Rundown. Let’s get into it.
Monday
Rib area is still extremely sore. I got out for a 3 mile run. Running doesn’t make it worse, but breathing hurts. Not a super fun run, but I got it done.
My new plan was to avoid stretching the connective tissue between my ribs and sternum, so before I went to work I wrapped an ace bandage around the area to keep everything compressed toward the midline. I definitely think it helped!
Tuesday
Okay, I’m not quite ready for the gym but I have to do SOME strength. I did a lower body strength workout using dumbbells at home. Good workout- but I’m kind of bummed that I can’t find any type of core work that I can do. Sigh.
I wrapped up my rib again for work. It was definitely feeling better! As a matter of fact, later in the day I felt a sneeze coming on and I thought “This is so much better, I think I’m ready to sneeze again.” You’ve probably never analyzed your sneezing mechanism, but prior to the actual sneeze, your body takes a sharp inhalation, which caused a searing pain in my side. NO! NOT READY! NOT READY!!! I frantically smashed my hand into my nose and stifled the sneeze just in time. Not quite there yet. This, by the way, all happened in the grocery store. If anyone was watching me, I’m sure I looked like a lunatic.
Wednesday
My daughter didn’t go to school, so I was able to sleep later. That was nice- but then I went out for what turned out to be one of the worst runs of my life. It was warm and muggy; my legs were sore from my strength work yesterday; and my side ached.
3 extremely hard miles. When I finished, I felt like I had just raced a 5k as hard as I could. What the…? Oh well. It feels like a long time since I’ve actually had a good run.
Thursday
I tried some upper body strength today. There’s a lot I can’t do, but there were things I could. Like, I could do bicep curls, and I did those standing on one leg, which was good for my core. My CORE, which is turning to mush, thanks a lot rib injury! Sheesh.
At night, I suddenly got oddly chilled. Yes, we had a “cold” front come though. I usually love that, but this time I couldn’t seem to warm up. And oh yes… I noticed that my eyeballs hurt. Like, it hurt to look side to side or up and down. And I felt all the energy drain out of my body. This seems… like a bad thing.
I got in bed, piled blankets on top of me and slept with warm socks on. Sometime in the middle of the night I woke up drenched in sweat, but then went back to sleep. Ugh.
Friday
I woke up… not sick! But also not completely well. I felt a little fragile, and opted to postpone my run. It was the day I wait for all summer, our first morning down to 50 degrees- and I couldn’t even appreciate it because I was too cold. It was a cruel irony!
This might be the perfect time to mention that in addition to everything else, our wifi was out FOR THREE DAYS. It was out for our entire neighborhood. This would be an inconvenience at any time, but remember I’m joining San for NaBloPoMo this month! I tried using my phone as a hotspot, but ended up spending lots of time at Starbucks.
After work I decided I felt well enough to try a run. And it actually felt pretty good! I missed our low of 50, but still got to appreciate a beautiful Florida day. It was upper 60s, sunny, and lovely.
I actually felt better after this run than I did before. Sometimes, you just have to go for it and see what happens.
I was VERY glad I felt well enough to go to the high school football game at night! It was our regional semi-final game, and we beat the other team so badly that I truly felt sorry for them. But, I didn’t feel so bad that I couldn’t celebrate our victory!!! Next up- regional finals next Friday.
Saturday
Once again I opted to sleep in and postpone my run till later. The day got so busy that I ended up running in the dark. That’s okay- I’m used to that from all my early morning runs..
This run felt absolutely exhilarating! It was cool outside, and I loved it. I finally felt like I was over my “not well-ness.” And… I can finally say that, while I still feel the rib pain, it’s more of a nuisance than a major problem.
At night I watched Baylor win their fifth game in a row. Apparently we’re still in contention for the Big 12 Championship- how did that happen??? It’s an amazing comeback.
And THEN- my son came home!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was a perfect night.
Sunday
Ah. Sleeping in. Making my son’s favorite breakfast. Happiness!
Honestly, I ended the week feeling turned around by all that happened. We had a cold front; I got “sick” (?); we lost our internet (it’s back now, phew); my son came home; and oh yes- Thanksgiving is coming up? Goals for this week- get back to some regular semblance of strength training, get my running mileage up a bit, and ahem, plan and cook a Thanksgiving dinner. Onward!
How was your week? Have you ever had a 12 hour virus???
