Yawn

Friday night was my sleep study to hopefully shed some light on why I'm tired so much of the time. I knew that I'd be monitored throughout the night, but I went in figuring that the place would be set up in a way that was conducive to good sleep. My imagination had me going to a sound proof room with a tempurpedic bed and this was most certainly not the case. Not only was my bed a sad little murphy bed, but I could hear the televisions in both rooms adjoining mine. The icing on the cake was the one communal bathroom down the hall, which I visited in my pjs. I guess having had two kids at INOVA hospitals, my expectation was a large private room with a large private bathroom all to myself. All week I'd built this up in my mind. Every snore from the dog and each roll over by my husband reminded me that on Friday night I would get away from my family and probably have the best night sleep that I'd had in years. This was not the case. After getting into my pjs, visiting the bathroom, and waiting for almost an hour for a tech that I thought had possibly forgotten me, I was attacked with devices. She practically super glued five sensors into my hair, another eight on my face and neck, and four on my legs. I was given a stomach belt and a chest belt before finally having a breath sensor taped to my cheeks that held a little red loop in place over my nose and mouth. Here's a picture.

For those of you who know me, the fact that I had a cell phone with me at all is somewhat shocking, but I figured out how to use the camera just so that I could share this experience with you all. Once we get the report from the neurologist in a week or so, my thoughts might change, but right now, my advice to anyone considering a sleep study is to STAY AWAY. Stay home, sleep in your own bed, and suck it up with whatever sleep you get. It will no doubt be a thousand times better than it would be during your study. Egads.

Every Step

This morning was my second day in a row of a pretty slow and crappy run, but I feel much better about it this week than I did last week. Yesterday morning I decided that my new mantra will be, "Every step is a good step." Yes I'm slow, and yes, sometimes I walk for a while, but every step is one more step than I was taking last year at this time and is at least moving me in the right direction. The new wake up time has actually become routine, and I look forward to greeting the morning on my own.

More of my friends from work are focusing their lives this year towards getting healthier, and together it is really nice to feel a sort of team-like camaraderie as we share our ups and downs, successes and frustrations. I shared my mantra with a few people today, and a couple of them smiled like it was just what they needed to hear at that moment. Maybe I'll make a t-shirt. : )

Treadmill Take 3 - 5 miles!

I had a great workout tonight courtesy of my sister and brother-in-law's treadmill. After walking for half a mile, I ran for four, and walked another half. The entire thing took me just over 61 minutes. I'm fairly certain that I've never ran continuously for that long before, and it wasn't that bad. Definitely progress is being made.

Run Don't Jog

The past several days have had their share of ups and downs. Last Tuesday I had the best run that I've had in a long, long, long time, and on Wednesday my bike ride was a frustrating mess of changing gears, sore legs, and inconsistent exertion. Thursday morning I decided to take a day off of the early alarm and planned for an evening walk instead. The plan never turned into action, and I went to bed too late. During my run on Friday morning I just couldn't wake up. I did my warm up walk and stretch, dropped off the dog - everything like usual - and then started to go. A couple of times I had to consciously do a body check - "well, my heart isn't bursting so that's good..." "My legs aren't tired, so it can't be that..." "My breathing is actually pretty easy..." "Maybe I could curl up on the street corner and rest my eyes for 20 minutes or so......." It was just b.a.d.

The highlight of the week was by far the Girls on the Run 5K Sunday morning. My husband and daughter dropped several minutes off their time in December, and my kids from school were amazing.

While I didn't run because the team needed a "catcher" to stand at our team corral the entire time, I was very inspired and managed some good exercise that afternoon. I've decided that while I actually do like running, I hate jogging. Unfortunately, the pace that is fun and feels good is short lived and I'm not strong enough to maintain it. The pathetic jog that allows me to keep going for an extended period reminds me of a turtle crossing the road. I find myself thinking, "would I be going faster if I were walking?" "Do the people in those cars think I'm running?" "Do I look like I'm running?" "Am I running?" "what the heck am I doing, because I really don't seem to be getting anywhere?" "That sign hasn't gotten any closer to me, but I'm pretty sure that I've been moving in that direction for a while." Whatever. Running, walking, jogging, it all added up to 55 minutes with an average heart rate of 164, so I put it in my little journal to keep track.

Kurt

So, as I was about half way through my morning jog today I looked to my right and noticed that while there was a truck innocently enough parked in a driveway, there was a man in the truck! Horror of horrors. Depending on the song I'm listening to, my form can look like a basic run, or it can look more like an episode from Glee. At that very moment I was full on with all the single ladies - (thinking Kurt not Beyonce because frankly I like his rendition much better).

Total mortification.

Light as a feather, stiff as a board

This week as been fantastic! The morning music is doing wonders for yanking me out of bed and getting me moving faster. Routine as it stands is to warm up with a ten-minute walk with the dog and then head out again for a jog/run on my own. So far so good there.

Our Girls on the Run program had it's practice 5K yesterday afternoon, and I can honestly say that in my six years at my school that I have never been happier or prouder to be a part of something. The girls were amazing. They danced their warm up, they cheered each other one, they ran, they ran more when others weren't finished to bring them along, they smiled, they clapped, they jumped for joy and threw their arms in the air beaming with happiness from their accomplishment. As they ran, I could hear their positive support for each other, their open reflections on the season and the choices they make every day. Running with one girl for a while, we passed a sign that I had posted that read, "Make Your CHOICE - GOTR." I asked her, "what choice are you going to make?" The response lit me up inside. Her answer, "I choose to be healthier. I choose to think about other people in a kind way. I choose to be respectful of myself and other people too." She knocked it out of the park. Each time I passed the sign I would give the same prompt to girls who were also running by at the time, and every one of them was able to quickly give a positive response. "I choose friends who make me feel good about myself." "I choose to be a good friend to others." "I choose to care about my community." It went on, and on, and on. We had music playing by the water station; parents, teachers, and other students cheering; cameras everywhere; water and jelly beans available every lap; signs, sidewalk chalk messages, and noise makers giving encouragement along the way. Even with all of that, it was the girls that made it happen.

Today I got to be a buddy runner with my daughter in her GOTR practice 5K for her school's program. It was a wonderful experience to share with her, and we were both fortunate that my friend and co-coach chose to come and run with us as well.

My heart and body have been floating through these two days. After dinner tonight I opted for an evening walk with the dog just to warm up enough again to really get a good stretch. I fully anticipate to be achy and stiff tomorrow, but that's alright. It will just be a good reminder throughout the day of how proud I am.

Phase Two

Last week I ordered a super fancy Garmin watch that monitors heart rate and a billion other things. I had a $50 gift card to Best Buy, which definitely helped with the grand total, and I was eagerly awaiting it's arrival. Sad to say, when it finally did come, there was a permanent black spot in the shape of a lemon on the screen. Not a good omen. Today I returned the watch directly to the store, bought instead a Gaiam that I'd read less good things about online but figured that the good one came broken so what the heck. This one feels a little more comfortable, also has a chest strap, and is a prettier color. I also threw in an iPod shuffle to hopefully keep my spirits up and help wake up my mind at 0'dark thirty as I'm working to get used to this new rise and shine time. Currently it is more like open eyes, breath, grumble, and suck it up. To be honest, 99% of my motivation for getting out of bed is simply because I refuse to fail at something in front of my husband (aka Life Partner, LP). He was absolutely right. I am hating the alarm clock. Actually, I don't hear the alarm clock. Instead I feel a quick jab followed by, "Get out." Ah the love.

The dog is still an unresolved issue. I need to get moving - really moving - and I don't know how to sneak away from him. The purpose of the early outing is to be back at the house by the time the little one wakes up and everyone needs to get ready for bed. Leaving without the dog ensures that he whines and barks a pathetic solo until I come home - completely negating my objective.

Highlights of the past week should be recognized - I've had a couple of stronger/longer runs and a great bike ride. My confidence with the whacky pedals is increasing to the point that I'm not even 100% sure that I need to replace them before July.