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And Now, The Resolutions :)

Last year I had two big resolutions and managed to stick to one of them completely and the other…well, kind of haphazardly

Training was my biggest goal. And while I didn’t stick 100% to my plan, I did a lot more training that I would normally have done. The other resolution? Every time I went to a store and took a cart (carriage for those of you in New England!) out to my car, I would return it either to the front of the store, or the cart corral.

For 2015, I think I’ll set my sights a little higher!!

RUNNING– Currently my big goal race for the year is the Paris Marathon in April. I’m hoping to get into the Marine Corps Marathon again though so I’m going to pretend I’m in!
1. Have a goal. Usually I just run what I run (or don’t). Towards the end of last year I started setting monthly goals, with a running group I’m part of. This year I’ll go ahead and post them here and we can all see how I do! (FYI, my January Mileage Goal is 100 miles)
2. Be consistent. Enough said.
3. No negative talk. If you read here, you’re aware that I often use the words “Lazy” and “slacker” to describe my running life. No more! If I’m getting out there I’m not slacking and I’m not lazy!!
4. Not just running. This week I re-started my Bikram practice. My goal for Bikram is at least 4 days a week. Plus I’ll be adding back in some of my home weight workouts.

HEALTH – In 2014 I took better control of my diabetes and saw my A1C start to come back down to ‘normal’ levels. This year I plan to work even harder at it.
1. Meals. I need to focus more on the FORK side of this blog. This means I need to get back to cooking regular meals and stop considering a bowl of cereal to be a good dinner.
2. Blood Sugar. I definitely need to monitor this more closely all day long. One step I’ll take towards that is hopefully getting a Continuous Glucose Monitor and an Insulin Pump – more on this after my next doctor appointment in a couple weeks.
3. Weight – I ended the year at about the same weight I started. Losing only 5% of my current weight will help manage my diabetes a little better so…

EVERYTHING ELSE! –
1. Get out more! There’s a lot to do within a short drive from my house and I need to start doing them!!
2. Spend more time with friends I got to spend time with a few of my friends this year and had an amazing time – so need more of that!!
3. Get Organized!! Yeah, this will be a year long process! But, baby steps….
4. This Blog 🙂 – improve my consistency, maybe have some friends add their thoughts and share posts!
4. Be nice. I’m not always nice. 🙂 This year I’ll definitely do more thinking before speaking. Following through on things I say/promise (I have some years old promises I need to fulfill in the next month!!) This includes promises I make to myself – see about re: running and Bikram…and eating right. Not so much grumpy whining and complaining. Which leads to the most important resolution for me this year

EXPRESS GRATITUDE There is something to be grateful for every day – and sometimes we forget. Whether it’s first thing in the morning or the last thing at night, I will be sure to set my attitude in a positive direction

So, what have you resolved to do this year? Big changes or little changes?

Tags: Gratitude, Health, New Year, resolutions, running

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Categories Uncategorized

And Then, The Wheels Fell Off

13 Apr

So, I was completely into my plank challenge and my wall sit challenge and I had my runs all mapped out so I’d be ready when my training plans kick in in a few weeks.

And then, I woke up Thursday morning with some tightness in my right hip and leg. But after stretching and walking it out, things felt a bit better. Other than a couple of twinges during the day I figured things would be back to my new normal on Friday.

Friday dawned and again, felt a little extra tight but managed to loosen up and carry on pretty normally. When I was walking the dog, I’d stop once or twice to stretch and then move on. Had a great day and evening and was looking forward to getting a lot of yardwork done over the weekend!

So imagine my dismay when I woke up on Saturday and could barely walk. Or sit. Or stand. Took some Aleve and then walked the dog. But when I went out to trim my bushes and shrubs, I had a really tough time holding on to equipment AND standing straight. I had hoped to wait things out and call my doctor on Monday, but by early afternoon after much waffling, I made the decision to go to the ER.

The drive up was kind of painful…the walk into the building was kind of painful. I felt kind of ridiculous going in because of pain with no bones sticking out or bleeding, but fortunately the nurses and the doctor were understanding. Though, just as confused as me since I hadn’t actually DONE anything to end up in this kind of pain!

After determining that the Aleve wasn’t really doing any good, and the foam rolling and the stretching and the Stick also weren’t helping the doctor prescribed some Valium to relax the muscles and some Percocet if the pain got to bad – with the advise to take half to begin with (advise I have followed cause….). Also, since I had driven to the ER, she gave me a shot of “heavy duty Motrin” which she said would hold me til about 8. And it kind of did.

I was really hoping that when I got up this morning I would be back to 100% (or I’d be happy to be at 85% even) but was really upset when I felt just as bad when I attempted to hop out of bed (benefit of having a satin sheet on the bed is that it is easier to slide off the side of the bed!!) And, ps, who ever thought that *I* would be upset that I couldn’t do housework or exercise?!!!??

So, with half a Valium and 2 Aleve in my system, I spent a bit sitting on an ice pack and am actually feeling good enough to at least do the dishes, and maybe some laundry! Yay!! More stretching and rolling is also on the “To Do” list today! And with any luck, I’ll pick up my Plank challenge later tonight, or tomorrow at the latest!

I hope everyone is enjoying some wonderful Spring weather on this beautiful Palm Sunday – kicking off the Holiest week of the year in the Catholic Church.

Tags: ER Visit, Health

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Categories Easter, Health, Holy Week, Palm Sunday

On Pins and Needles!!

21 Nov

So today I tried something new…

As I’ve mentioned once or twice (or too much!) I’ve been having some pain that I have self-diagnosed as piriformis syndrome (thank you Dr. Google.edu for the degree!!) but in the last couple of days it has gotten really bad. I feel like I have taken far too many anti-inflammatory drugs and don’t want to take more so decided to look into alternative medicine. Specifically, acupuncture and other naturopathic means.

A quick search with my friend Google and I found a couple of places offering Acupuncture and started calling. And leaving messages and getting “This number is not currently in service” messages. Finally, someone answered the phone and we had a great chat. Given the severity of my pain, she worked to fit me in first thing this morning. I answered a bunch of questions. Why yes, sometimes my legs and feet DO cramp at night! And no, gaining weight is not terribly difficult for me!

Turns out, that like most of the practitioners I found online, this particular woman does more than acupuncture – because “we need to treat the whole body, not just where you feel pain”. Which makes sense to me – but really I just wanted the pain to go away!! A lot of what she was telling me made sense and I’m willing to go with it for a couple of months and see what happens. So that means new supplements, and tracking what I eat and doing as well as I can on absolutely NO sugar and NO carbs (which means, no fruit too…) for 2 weeks. This will be tough seeing how next week is Thanksgiving – aka Carb Fest!!

We finally go to the actual acupuncture part of the visit and I was surprised that I couldn’t feel the needles at all — and after a few minutes, it did seem like the muscles in my leg were relaxing. But, I wasn’t expecting miracles – I’d be very happy with one though!! After the treatment ended, I took my time sitting up and getting ready to go out of the room. I gave my leg a trial and..while it is still pretty painful, it takes longer for the pain to kick in.

I will take my supplements and watch my diet and go to my next appointments (and definitely do some research at the Google Library) and hopefully be back up and running soon. Though it looks like a 10k on Thanksgiving is out of the question, so there goes my new time for Princess Half Marathon!

And then? We work on reducing my need for diabetes meds and hormones.

Tags: Acupuncture, Alternative medicine, Health

Comments 2 Comments
Categories Acupuncture, Diabetes, Glass Slipper Challenge, Health, Princess Half Marathon

What Up Wednesday!!

9 Oct

Okay, I have so much catching up to do here and all I did today was catch up on my DVR!

There was “How I Met Your Mother”, that “Master Chef” with the kids…and maybe something else, but obviously it didn’t stick with me!

Yes! My TV looks exactly like this!!

But What’s Up Today is that I learned that the doctor I’ve been seeing for the last 7 years or so, since I moved to Connecticut, is retiring in November. Since I’m diabetic, my doctor is a pretty significant relationship. He is the only long-term doctor I’ve had since being diagnosed with diabetes – we were a pretty good team! And he’s got the greatest staff ever! They’re like family. Okay, some actually ARE his family!

This means I have to find a new doctor. And he likely won’t be a nice old Irish man will tell me “If you ever feel like you want a glass of wine or a drink, don’t say no” like my current doctor did. He wasn’t encouraging me to drink but was telling me that it wasn’t absolutely forbidden.

I will miss him. Strange I never foresaw this happening. I’d sit and wonder what it would be like when I was 80 coming to see him which, of course, was completely unrealistic since he’s likely got children my age!

Hope you made it through your ‘hump day’ and are racing into the weekend!!

Tags: Health

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Categories Diabetes, Health, Uncategorized

The WHOLE30 — Really, the WHOLE 30!!

31 May

Tomorrow, my plan is to start a Whole30 challenge. And I’ll say right here, tomorrow I will be at a beach party with free flowing beer and hotdogs…so, there is a *slight* chance I won’t actually go Whole30 on June 1! I’m on “vacation” at my dad’s until really late at night on June 5 so my whole 30 will likely not start in earnest until June 6. I have plenty of appropriate food to last me until I can shop the afternoon of June 6 after work! But, even on vacation I am going to do my best to make the better choices…Like, I don’t HAVE to have a bun with a burger – and more lettuce and tomato is good!

You might be asking yourself, “What is the Whole30?” Well, it’s a way to reset all that stuff inside that might be clogged up and need some fixin’! From the Website (http://www.whole9life.com), the Whole30 is “a short-term nutritional reset, designed to help you restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract, calm systemic inflammation and put an end to unhealthy cravings, habits, and relationships with food”.

And, to be perfectly honest, I have an amazingly unhealthy relationship with food so my goal for this challenge is to get a grip on this! From my research, I’m thinking that the biggest thing that I’ll be “giving up” is dairy. I love my milk and I love my yogurt and really? You’re telling me no cheese for a MONTH??!! Okay, and wine. No wine for a month. Of course there’s also no wheat (or any grain really!), no sugar and no “processed” foods. But I’m not supposed to be eating a lot of that anyway – this should help break my carb-binging cycles and hopefully reduce my addiction to sugars.

Luckily, thanks to a fellow Sweat Pink Ambassador, I’ll have tons of support. And, we’ll all be sharing information, stories, and advice along the way! Every Tuesday I’ll have some great links – they’ll make you laugh, they’ll make you cry, they’ll change your world! Well, maybe not that dramatic, but they will enlighten you at least a little.

And, even though today is NOT Tuesday you’re gonna get a little somethin’ extra! Let’s call it a Friday Freebie! Mainly cause I’m a giver and not at all because I’ve put off writing this post for too long 🙂

From Jacki, on doing Round 2 of Whole30 and some tips and advice for success!

http://www.dare2dream-dare2do.com/whole-30-round-2/

http://www.dare2dream-dare2do.com/top-5-wednesday-5-tips-for-whole30-success/

So. let’s do this thing!!

Tags: Eating, Food, Health, Mental Health, Self-Help, Whole30