Back on the Running Bandwagon!

Once again I'm back on the running bandwagon.

I've been running, on and off, since 1998. Before then, I never ran. Not for pleasure, that is. I have a long history of non-athleticism. Never played a sport, team or solo. As a child, I was never encouraged to, and as a teenager and young adult, I never felt a draw to do so. Starting my senior year in high school, I joined a gym (and have been a member of one pretty much ever since) and enjoy going and lifting weights, etc (although that, too, is off and on!) but I don't consider going to the gym a sport. I would NEVER have considered running...in fact, my running was such a joke that as a child my father would have me run ahead of the family so that they could laugh at my form!

In 1998 I started to jog, and signed up to do my first race, a 5K. In the years following that first race, I did countless races...mostly 5Ks, but a smattering of 8Ks, 10Ks, a half-marathon, and in 2003 I ran and completed my first full marathon (the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon). It took me forever....I am not really a "runner", you see, I'm more of a jogger/walker....but I did it and was really proud.
After the marathon, I got pregnant with D, and stopped running. And save for a few runs here and there, I haven't done much since.

This year I decided to change that. I have a lot of reasons for doing so: I have a long history of heart disease on BOTH sides of my family, I was recently diagnosed with osteopenia (bone density loss), and while I am at my ideal weight and clothing size, I am almost 40 and know that weight can creep on if I don't watch it. So running (ok, jogging/walking!) is the answer to all of these issues: it helps keep me heart healthy, gives me the weight-bearing exercise I need to jostle my bone cells, and it has the aerobic activity to keep my weight great.

I do best with a goal in mind, so in the fall I signed up for a local half-marathon. I even got my step-mother to sign up with me! However, soon after starting to train, I broke a toe, and was in a walking boot for 2 months. A few weeks after I got the go-ahead to train again, I sprained the ankle in the other foot. I needed to drop out of the race, as there was no way I'd have time to train safely for it. I was bummed, and especially sad as I saw the finishers at the race (I went to meet my step-mother at the finish line).

We are signed up to do another half-marathon, this time in August (my step-mother is coming out again to do it, too!). I have almost 7 months to train. I know I can do this, if I keep myself from being injured again. I bought new shoes today (the ones I had before, while new, were apparently not the appropriate ones for my high arched and pronating left foot!) and am ready to train.

Running gives me a lot. First of all, I feel so virtuous doing it (I'm heart healthy! I'm bone healthy!). Second, I love the adrenaline rush that kicks in after a few miles; it feels goooood! Third, I love how I feel AFTER the run (even if it's not the best run ever, I always feel good and proud of myself). And lastly, I love the alone time, the time to think, listen to music, observe the environment around me.

Here's hoping that I remain injury-free (fingers and toes are crossed!) and I look forward to reporting on some great runs and training.

A laundry post

One of the best feelings in the world is having all the laundry done. Washed, folded, put away. It feels good not only to have nothing piled up, but have 100% of my clothing choices available. I hate wanting to wear a certain shirt, or favorite pair of jeans, only to find that they are still in the dirty laundry pile.

I can easily do a load of laundry a day. I just did laundry yesterday (2 loads) and, literally 12 hours later, have enough to do another load if I wanted to (that's what happens with four people...you get each person's clothes from the day before, plus pajamas, and there is enough for a load!) And if I am short on clothes to wash, there are always towels, bathmats, sheets....the list goes on.

I really don't mind doing laundry. Sometimes it gets old; don't get me wrong. But when I get sick of it, I think of how lucky my family is to have so many clothes! There are so many people in the world who have 1-2 outfits (if that!) and would love to have full closets like we have. We are blessed.

I also think about the old days when I lived in an apartment by myself...there was one washer and dryer in the building, to service 6 units. So, I would either have to snag the laundry room first (and God help me if I didn't get my wet clothes out of the washing machine before another neighbor would come and take them out for me!) or take several load to the laundromat and hang out there for several hours. Either way was a pain, and both ways cost many quarters.

No, I love being able to do laundry...at home, for free (ie no quarters!)...I can leave my clothes in the washer or dryer for a time if I can't get to them immediately.

Simple pleasures. And when I think of my pile of growing laundry as a chore, I remind myself of all of these things, and it DOES become somewhat of a pleasure again.

Now, I'm off to start a load of laundry....

My daughter's medical issues

I don't want this blog to be entirely about my miraculous daughter (although believe me, she gives me enough material to do so!) However, I would be remiss if I didn't list her medical issues. I don't know who might be reading this, and for those of you who don't know me personally, you might want to know what we, and our daughter, A, have been dealing with for the last 3 1/2 years.

Keep in mind that I had a healthy pregnancy; nothing showed up on the ultrasound I had; and that I had a planned c-section at 38 weeks. I went in expecting a healthy baby girl, and was in for the shock of my life. She was born in June, 2006. She was in the NICU for almost 12 weeks, then home finally for 7 weeks, then back in the hospital for another 4 weeks while she got her tracheostomy. Amazingly, we have been out of the hospital (in-patient wise) ever since, except for a one day stay when we got her lip repaired.

A's list of medical issues:

1) bilateral cleft lip (repaired February 2007)

2) patent ductus arterious (heart defect) (repaired July 2006)

3) vascular ring (vessel wrapped around her esophagus and trachea) (repaired July 2006)

4) bilateral frontal lobe infarcts (she had a prenatal stroke; amazingly, there seems to be no visible effects from it!!!)

5) bilateral coloboma (gaps in her eyes, on her optic nerve; severely limits vision in her left eye and seems mild vision limits in her right eye)

6) bilateral hearing loss (profoundly deaf in her left ear, mild-to- moderately deaf in her right ear) (aided to normal hearing in her right ear with hearing aids)

7) cochleas in both ears missing a spiral

8) missing all semi-circular canals in both ears (you are supposed to have 3 in each, a total of 6; this affects balance)

9) just a thread of an auditory nerve in her left ear

10) right aortic arch (yes, her aorta arches to the right, not the left!)

11) paralyzed vocal chord

12) tracheomalacia (seems to have resolved)

13) very narrow airway

14) paraesophageal hernia

15) feeding issues at birth leading to placement of a g-tube (feeding tube) in August 2006 (removed July 2010)

16) breathing issues, including a stridor, since birth leading to the placement of a tracheostomy (breathing tube) in November 2006 (tracheostomy removed July 2010)

17) cleft in her upper right gum

18) extra upper tooth (!)

19) low muscle tone

20) acid reflux, leading to a fundoplication (surgery done July 2006 and re-done November 2006)