Why I Hate Bruce Jenner

Happy Monday friends, how was your weekend? I am doing good, getting better with the blues of my parents moving away. One day at a time is my motto these days and that seems to help. Thank you so much to those who left such sweet comments on here, on my Facebook fan page and through email and text. You know who you are. :) I love you all.

We had a great weekend with lots of busy activities.

We had a picnic, went garage sale-ing, played some soccer, went to the park, had some ice cream at an old haunt and had our dear old friend Chris and his sweet little family over for a bbq last night. So much fun to see them and to meet their adorable daughter.

Ooh and I got this awesome find at my dear friend Keri's garage sale on Friday:

Lookie at this end of a sucky week brightener!!

I have been looking for a kitchen scale for months.

I have seen them at flea markets and such but none for lower than 30 bucks.

This puppy?

5 dollars!

And the money went to a friend so it makes it even sweeter.

:)

Growing up, I had three Olympic idols :

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- Dorothy Hamill ( I even got her famous haircut when I was in first grade)

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- Nadia Comaneci ( I had my mom buy the album with her song on it and tried to do flips in my bedroom to the music. Hit my head on my canopy bed rail and there went my gymnastics career.)

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and Bruce Jenner. ( He looked really good in a pair of shorts.)


So since March, as many of you know, I have been running.
Well, jogging with the hopes of it some day becoming running.
Its really comical on paper but in real life, notsomuch.

Source: 9gag.com via Kari on Pinterest

Here is the rundown: ( you might want to get a snack...this is gonna be a long one)

The end of March, I decided that I wanted to start running to help me maintain my weight but also try and push myself. My bestie Christine somehow thinks she is the person who put this in my head, but I really don't know why I decided to punish push, push myself to do this.

Walking doesn't really cut it for me, I needed a quicker way to exercise as my time is limited.
I hate the gym.
And I am not motivated enough to do exercise tapes at home.
Tried that and I almost strangled Leslie Sansone through the television.

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Wipe that big smile off your face Leslie.

                                                                             I get it.

You're a better person than I.

Move on.

 So I researched the Couch to 5k method.

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Basically going from a couch potato to a marathon runner in 9 weeks.

Nothing is ever that easy in my past experience.

So I went to my doctor because I had been diagnosed as a teen with exercise induced asthma and also had a knee condition known as Osgood Schlatters disease  since 8th grade so wanted to make sure I could even run in the first place. Because of the two above diagnoses, I was almost terrified to ever run.....even for my life.

The doctor gave me the OK and off I went.
I should first state that I started running with bestie Rebecca and bestie Christine.
This will become important to the story I am trying to tell as you will soon see.

So for week one, I started running for the first time since high school and felt really good about it. Now, you are only running for 1 minute, walking for 1 minute and so on for a total of 20 minutes but still, for someone who never ran....it was quite exciting to be running at all. 

First obstacle- blisters. Baadd a** blisters. I did everything from putting blister wax on them to packing them with bandages so thick you would have thought I had just had heel surgery. Then after about a week and a half, my feet stopped hating my new running shoes and I thought, yesssss first hurdle accomplished! Look at me running like Bruce Jenner!!

Or Betty White.
Yes.
More like Betty White than Bruce Jenner.

Then somewhere between week one and two, my knee started hurting. Really bad. Like my knee cap had fallen off. I even looked for it on the ground one time while I was running, that's how bad it hurt.

 Off to the doctor again.

Diagnosis- bursitis.

Got some anti-inflammatory drugs and was told to ice after I run then do these special knee exercises before I run. Told me that I am "training my knees" right now and that if they don't get better after a few weeks, to stop running altogether.

But I was told, I could still run in the process of finding out if I can run or not.



Okay.....are you keeping up so far?

Took the anti-inflammatory drugs for a week, got the worst migraine of my life and couldn't take my typical Advil/migraine meds mix because of said anti-inflammatory.
Stopped taking anti-inflammatory.

Knee got better with the mix of running, exercises and icing them before and after.

In the midst of this, bestie Christine and I had a falling out of sorts.
And I blame running.
Running and friendship don't ever, ever mix.
It makes you angry, hungry and hormonal.
If you plan to run with a friend, rethink it altogether.
Run with an enemy.
My neighbor Vickie recently asked to run with me and I leveled with her: no, I really like you and so I am going to just say no.

Source: someecards.com via Kari on Pinterest

So I kept on going heading into week 5 sans bestie Christine and with bestie Rebecca when my chest started hurting. First thought? I am having a heart attack/stroke.

Went to the doctor yet again....by the way, I usually go to the doctor probably three times a year and that is only because I have Acid Reflux so I need to be monitored to be safe and for meds. So to set you straight, this is my third doctor visit in five weeks.

I know.


They listened to my heart, my chest, gave me a breathalyzer test of some sort.....

Diagnosis?

My exercise induced asthma is baaaaaaaackkkk.

Gave me an inhaler, told me that I can't run when it is really hot or really cold and that since at this point we were in the middle of spring allergy season, that I should run really early in the morning.

But I could still run.



Really???

So this was a turning point for me.
How many signs was God gonna give me to tell me to stop running??
Even bestie Christine said,"its like the Universe is telling you something".
Yes, yes it was.

So I was still running with Rebecca and was feeling like I was holding her back a little because there were some sessions that I only wanted to power walk and not run.
I was a little spooked by the whole asthma thang.

That's when I took a week off.

And found out that Rebecca had been running with her hubs and was up to 2 miles.
And for some reason, this really hurt my feelings.
Why?? Who knows.....I felt like it was such a huge hurdle for me to even get to 1 mile and I think I was a little jealous that she was having no problem running and I was falling apart limb by limb.
I felt inadequate and frankly, like a loser.
 Do you see the animosity that running with friends creates???
RUN WITH YOUR ENEMIES.

So I held it in when she told me at a dinner at her house.
She was wonderful about it and still wanted to run with me but I felt so embarassed that I couldn't keep up with her.
And literally cried the whole car ride home and spent the entire night awake and crying/ feeling sorry for myself.
Totally had a meltdown.
Now to be fair, there were other things going on in my life....my parents moving was the huge thing but this seemed to put me over the edge.
And in the middle of the night I decided all alone, mid sobs, in the dark that I was quitting.
Stupid, dumb, poopyhead running.
So there!

That morning, I woke up with a terrible pain in my tummy.
Thought that this was indeed my body telling me something and felt like I had made the right decision.


Until I realized, despite my obstacles,  how much I loved running.
I loved how it made me feel.
I loved how it made my body look.
And I loved how much of a release it was for me.
And then I decided I was gonna run again.
Alone.
And start from the beginning all over again.

I went to the doctor yet again when the tummy pain didn't go away after two weeks.
Yeah, IBS.
From stress.

Ugghhh.....


But the nurse (who is also a runner and is one of my biggest fans right now) told me this, " most people would have quit weeks ago but you must love it because you are still doing it after all these little obstacles".

Then she said, "you look great, I can tell you are running".


And THAT my friends, is what motivated me to keep doing it.
Because when your nurse, who also is a marathon runner, tells YOU that YOU look good?
Sign.Me. Up. I will run 'til I fall to the ground.




So, 11 weeks after I started the program to begin with, I started all over again from the very beginning and I started "week 4" this morning.
And it is hard.
And I have to really push myself to get outta bed early to do it.
But I am doing it.
And I plan to run/jog/walk/ gasp my way through a 5k in September.


On a sidenote, I am still friends with the besties above.
But like I said, take my word for it and exercise with your enemies.
It will save you thousands in therapy bills. :)


Oh and I really don't hate on Bruce Jenner.
It was just a better title than, " I Can't Run More Than A Mile Or I Will Pass Out" .

Source: someecards.com via Kari on Pinterest