Finding Gratitude

In these crazy, unsettled times, I'm focusing on finding gratitude for the good things in my life.

I don't know about you, but to me, right now, every week feels like a year. The news cycle is dizzying, and my physician partners and I continue to deal with the fallout from ongoing anti-vaccine sentiment being pumped out of Washington. Work is crazy busy with the ongoing baby boom and the influx of new patients into the clinic. My patients continue to bring me joy--this week I was examining a 4 month old who couldn't stop giggling. She was giggling so loud that my coworkers outside of the exam room could hear her! That was definitely a highlight of my week and a reminder of why I do what I do.

Thankfully, family life has been calm, and I'm looking forward to seeing my sons, daughter-in law and youngest son's girlfriend, parents, sister, and her family on Thursday this week.

I'm happy to be running with my Trail Sisters again, and on Mondays and Thursdays, my workout friends at the gym brighten my day. On Saturday, I had lunch with a friend who always makes me laugh. 

As usual, I found comfort on the trails. Even though the weather was downright depressing, I didn't feel depressed after heading into the woods. My RA symptoms continue to resolve, and I was able to move comfortably on the trails. I have so much gratitude for my local forest preserve--nature is truly good for my soul. 

These are the things that bring me joy and remind me of what is really important: family, friends, nature, and caring for others.

Weekly Rundown: 

Sunday: Trail Sisters run 7 miles

Monday: Yoga with Adriene, Strength Training

Tuesday: Fluid Running

Wednesday: trail run 8.7 miles

Thursday: Yoga with Adriene, Strength Training

Friday: run 6 miles?

Saturday: Yoga with Adriene

After a good night's sleep--my Oura ring was ecstatic over the 9+ hours of sleep I got--on Sunday morning, I went to meet my Trail Sisters for a run! It's been a while since I've run with them, and I missed them! We met at Moraine Hills State Park, which is right outside the town where I grew up. It was a bright sunny bluebird morning with temperatures in the 40s--the perfect combination for a good run with good friends. After spending all day Saturday on the couch with a full-on RA flare, I was pleased that I felt good enough to run. One of the other women was having high heart rate issues, so we took it nice and easy. I didn't mind at all. The miles passed quickly as the conversation flowed. As always, I am so grateful for this group of supportive, like-minded women. 

Still feeling off, I was a little nervous about going to the gym and lifting heavy stuff. During the warm up, I was doing hip bridges when the room started to spin. I sat up until things stopped. My lifting partner was feeling off as well, so we decided not to push our deadlifts any heavier than last week. We built to 185#, did 3 sets of 2, which felt ridiculously heavy, and called it a day. While the rest of the class did some sprint work, I again worked on shoulder presses, staying at 65# for all 6 sets of 3. 

On this raw, drizzly Wednesday morning, I really wanted to stay in bed. Instead, I laced up for my weekly trail run at the preserve. I planned to do about 6 miles. But I had to take a detour for a pit stop, which led me to running into the piney woods to see if any deer were out and about. And yes, the mama and her two fawns were in the woods! I stopped to just watch them as they grazed for foliage. It's almost magical, being that close to them. As I moved away, I spotted a big buck behind a tree. He wasn't happy to see me and ran off. I kept going, looping around, and saw 3 more deer! On my way back, I again saw the buck, this time taking a rest. As I watched him, it occurred to me how lucky I am to have access to these beautiful creatures in their habitat. My heart was full. 

When I run in this preserve, I always have a 'plan', but often make changes on the fly. The thing about knowing these trails so well is that you can go as far or as little as you want and not repeat a step. On this run, I took a detour along the creek just because I wasn't ready to call it a day, finishing up with 8.7 miles. It's amazing how much beauty I was able to find on such a gray day!

On Thursday, I was set to increase my weights for both the bench press and back squats. My partner and I worked on bench presses, building to 77.5#, miscalculating the plates that we put on the bar. Barbell math is hard! So at that point, instead of pushing to 82.5#, I pushed to 85#. And yes, it was hard, but I lifted at that weight, 4 sets of 3 reps! I was very happy about that. For the back squats, I had planned to increase the weight to 130# (last week I did 125#). You wouldn't think 5# would make a big difference, but as SJ said, 'things are getting very heavy now". I did 4 sets of 3, doing my best to get my hips below parallel. Again, it was hard, but I was pretty happy with these as well. 

I woke up early Friday morning for my weekly bike path run. After my first cup of coffee, I realized that I had gone to bed without preparing my lunch. I'm on a tight timeline in the morning, so that was my first ugh. When I was ready to run, my watch beeped when I connected with the satellite, and off I went to the bike path. At my first photo stop, I looked down at my watch and noticed that while it was tracking my time, it showed 0 miles. UGH. Since I run this route every Friday, I knew I would be running about 6 miles-give or take a few feet. But still. If it's not recorded, did I even run?

Overall, I felt pretty good on this run. It was 46F, there was no wind, and overcast with a little fog. In other words, perfect running conditions. When I finished, my watch clocked 58:37 minutes. Not bad! Garmin showed my pace as 32 hours, 24 minutes, which made me lol for real. Maybe Santa will bring me a new Garmin for Christmas.

How was your week? How do you find your center? What are your Thanksgiving plans? What are you thankful for this year? Have you ever had your Garmin not track your miles?

It's also the end of November, and time for my monthly mini book reviews! Next Friday, I'll be sharing my reads for Nonfiction November. Don't miss it!

I'm linking up with Deborah and Kim for the Weekly Rundown. 

 

Pushing Through

While preparing this post, I looked back through this week's recaps on IG. The impromptu winter that started the week brought me down, but as the week went on, the sun warmed things back up. Mentally, the return to normal weather conditions helped keep me focused and positive. 

Unfortunately, my body didn't respond as well as I would have liked. I've been having an increase in RA symptoms for a while now, and this week was worse than usual. If you know me at all, you know that I don't usually let this stop me, pushing through it and trying my best to stick to my routine and get my workouts in. I had good success this week in the gym with strength training, but running was hard for me. Besides the joint pain, my body just didn't want to go. I ran my usual 3 times this week and am grateful that I was able to run, albeit much slower than usual. By mid-Saturday afternoon, I was hurting badly, so I finally broke down and started the steroids. Because of my ongoing uptick in symptoms, I have a follow-up with my rheumatologist in December. 

Fingers crossed that this flare resolves quickly! I've got a Turkey Trot to run with my family on Thanksgiving! 

Mind Over Matter

'Tis the season when the motivation is low. The air is cold, the landscape is ugly- at least in the Midwest- and it's hard to get excited about running outside. I've also been feeling super achy this week. It's been a few months since RA has messed with me, but here we are. I'm just trying to keep moving because movement keeps things loose and makes me feel good. I had to dig deep to push myself out the door and even to leave my toasty warm bed, but I didn't regret any of my workouts.

It was all mind over matter. I've been described as strong willed, stubborn, and driven and those traits served me well this week!

I Should Have Expected it....

Did you see the lunar eclipse this week? I'm not going to blame any of the week's craziness on it but still...

I've been feeling so good, physically at least, that I've been pushing myself hard. Running far, lifting heavy weights--who's old? On the other hand, my stress level has been at 1000%. With the so-called 'tripledemic' of RSV, influenza and Covid hitting my patients hard, I've been not only doing illness management but also providing reassurance to very anxious parents. That is on top of all the mental health issues that are pervasive in pediatrics. Other issues at work, such as the threat of being forced to pick up extra shifts in the ER, are very worrisome. All this has led to sleepless nights and mental exhaustion. 

So it should have been no surprise when I found myself in a full-on RA flare on Wednesday morning. Everything hurt. When it was apparent that nothing was going to make me feel better but a day on the couch, I called off work. Cocoa happily kept me company and we napped together. 

With the downtime, I contemplated my situation. At 60, I'm not quite ready to retire but the idea of looking for and starting a new job just doesn't make sense. Believe me, I do look. But the situation in healthcare is not good right now and I don't think it's going to be better anywhere else. It's frustrating and I feel stuck. As always, I am grateful for running and fitness to give me an outlet to manage my stress.

I was able to catch the lunar eclipse on my way to the pool!

I Cheated on my Body and my Body Fought Back

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.

When will I learn?

After sticking to a mostly plant-based diet for the past couple of months and feeling so much better, I cheated last week. Big time. And I paid for it. I've been avoiding most dairy, which seems to cause inflammation for me, save for a splash of half and half in my coffee and a sprinkle of feta on my salads. I've been feeling so good. So good, in fact, that I got brave.

I made a quiche last week. Sticking to a veggie theme, it was spinach quiche. But it was made with 3 kinds of cheese. I figured I could try it, see how I felt after I ate. It tasted fantastic, my husband loved it, and I felt fine the next day. So much winning! Feeling brave, I got cocky. I had the leftovers for lunch. Twice.

My old nemesis, IBS (aka I'll be stopping) started to return. But it wasn't as bad as in the past and again, feeling brave, on Sunday at dinner, we ordered cheese curds. Tuesday, it was pasta with cream sauce.

Did I overdo it? You think so?

On Monday, I felt a little achy in my elbows. Slapped some CBD cream on it and I was good to go to CrossFit. On Wednesday's run, I also felt achiness in my knees. And my tummy--well, without being too TMI, let's just say I was stopping.

After that, I returned to my dairy-free life but the pain lingered on through the week. The worst was on Saturday. I woke up determined to run but every joint in my body hurt. The pain was making me a little nauseous too. I popped a few ibuprofens and hit the couch, waiting for it to pass.  While the pain simmered down to a dull ache, I still felt yucky. I finally gave in. There would be no run. I also canceled my massage--no need to poke the bear, right?-- and rested all day, hoping for a quick return to feeling good.

The Power of Positive Thinking

I woke up pain-free this morning!

Now as you runners know, "pain-free" is a relative term. But considering that I spent this week recovering from my recent flare of rheumatoid arthritis, I'd say that today I am 99% pain-free. I took a couple days off work to rest, recover, and process the changes in my treatment plan. I saw my rheumatologist on Monday. While I am going to continue on the same regimen I've been on for a while, including the steroids and methotrexate injections, she also started me on Humira.

The time off work gave me a lot of time to recover, but also to think. Once again, I am feeling overwhelmed. One step forward and two steps back. I have a stack of bills and medical statements to go through. I am worried about the cost of this new medication. I have a house that needs attention and a husband working 6 days/week. I have a marathon to train for. Oh, and I have a job that requires me to be healthy. It's all a bit much.

As the week went on, I started to feel much better, both physically and mentally. I made my workouts my priority. Worked on some blogging stuff. I enjoyed the sunshine. Hung out with the dog. Made dinner for my family.

And I focused on the positive.