Run and Tell That: Memorial Day Weekend (Oh Hey! I'm back!)

Weekend Update: This past weekend was Memorial Day Weekend and I was definitely in need of a break from work and in SERIOUS need of some beach and sunshine. On Saturday during the day, my friends and I went to the First Flush Music Festival at the Charleston Tea Plantation. The Avett Bros (my favorite) were the headliners and they were great. I saw a ton of friends from work and the gym, which was a great surpise, drank some delicious margaritas and sweet tea vodka and enjoyed the afternoon with about 2000 other people. There weren't any chairs or anything out at the plantation so most people brought beach chairs and blankets and claimed a good spot as soon as they could. The weather was perfect (blistering hot) and I’m hoping the festival gets bigger and better every year. Four out of the seven people in my group all lost their sunglasses out at the festival that day. This fact is the true sign that it was a good day in my book.

Running Update: I'm back to running several times a week but still nowhere close to where I'd like to be. I ended up taking 21 days off from running after seeing the doctor. EEEK- the most depressing and frustrating weeks in my life. I apologize now to anyone that had to suffer through my bad 'tude at that time. After those 3 weeks, I started back really slowly. During each run I was dreading the moment that the awful pain would run through my foot again, so it was easy to stay slow. My first day back was the last day in April, one mile. Then I gradually increased to 1.5, 2, 2.6, etc. I am currently able to do about 3.5 miles with only a little discomfort. I was, however, surprised at how much cardio I had lost in those 3 weeks. It took at least that amount of time to get my endurance back. Once i started back, I was interested to see how other runners progressed after they came back from an injury. I researched other running blogs and forums for runners experiencing the same pain. And I quickly found what I was looking for. It was unbelievable, I felt like every post I read was right out of my own experience. Most people said it took 3-5 weeks to recover and progress back was slow. I read that KT tape and heat (vs. ice) were key in expediting and promoting recovery. So I tried these and I do think they helped. The heat packs were definitely more therapeutic than the ice packs. The heat is supposed to stimulate tendon to heal by supporting and promoting the blood flow to that area. This is the exact opposite effect that ice has, which is to deter blood flow and reduce swelling to the injured area. Thinking this way, makes using heat seem like common sense, right? But I'm no doctor. So I don't know. I say do whatever feels best and seems to help you. Like I said, I’m not back to 100% and I was bummed that I wasn't healing as quickly as I'd hoped. I wasn't reaching my goals like I wanted so I went back to the doc over Memorial Day weekend. I thought maybe I'd get an MRI just for the hell of it. I wanted to get to the bottom of this. After the doctor got caught up on my previous visit and the fact that I was now experiencing tendon pain in both feet, he told me it was normal. NORMAL? I guess that's good. I was worried it was something bigger than tendonitis but now I just have to deal with it. UGH. I have to "let pain be my guide". Well that's annoying. He is going to refer me to a podiatrist who will probably recommend custom orthodics. Soooo... behind all that is money, money, money. But to be honest, I'd pay anything to be able to get my running career back. So bring on the podiatrist and old lady granny shoes!

On to the next life update: My brother and I got a puppy. I know, I know. How did I not start with this info? Sorry. Anyway, her name is Brinkley and she is a darting, yellow pinball of fur, teeth and claws. But we love her. My aunt lives in Augusta and found her wandering their country road, lost and collarless. She is a golden retriever mix and we couldn’t resist after seeing one picture. We struggled for several days on a name but then settled on Brinkley (name inspiration here). We are hoping she gets to be a big goldie like the goldens we had growing up but the vet said she thinks she will be small. She was 11 pounds when we got her! ELEVEN POUNDS! So cute. The vet also told us a cool fact that I didn't know: when Brinks is 16 weeks old, whatever she weighs and however big she is, she can (and will) potentially be double that size when full grown. That's so interesting to me! It's like knowing the future...