Very Lazy

Why won't I get out and there walk? It's cold. I have a stationary cycle - why don't I get on there and pedal? I'm lazy.

How I survived a vegan sleep over

When my friend told me she was going vegan, I wondered, why? After spending eighteen hours with her, how has been answered. Arriving at her home around 7pm, she had dinner in the making: black-eyed pea croquettes, corn muffins and collard greens. Everything freshly prepared and everything was delicious. Who knew something called black-eyed pea croquettes would be something you reached for more of? Breakfast included a fresh pomegranate and everything bagels with cream cheese and hummus. Oh, I almost forgot, the late night snack of Oreo cookies, they are completely vegan, much to my delight.

Power breakfast equipped us for an exercise walk around the neighborhood with Lucy, my friend’s black lab. Cold outside, we bundled up in sweatshirts with hoodies with our running shoes. Of course, I had my orthotic inserts in, I don’t seem to leave home without them these days. While walking and talking, we reflected on the Dr. Oz video we had watched online during breakfast: How to find the best shoe for you.

My friend and I both have plantar fasciitis (PF), though I’ve been the only one to diagnose her condition as of yet. Dr. Oz’s video specifically mentioned those with lower arches – us – being prone to PF, and he demonstrated the Vibram Five Finger Shoes. I’ve only seen these shoes in person once, on a hippie chick facilitating a hula hooping event at the park (that’s probably another blog post altogether). In the brief online video, Dr. Oz demonstrates how our ancestors ran, not heel-to-toe, but more like a seventy-year old man shuffling down the road. So, a few minutes into our walk around the neighborhood, we started running. Running like our ancestors did, maybe.

Anyway, there were, shuffling down the street, springing up off our arches. Discussing how our ancestors could run for miles across the prairies and marshes, run for 26.2 miles without stopping. It was great, we were actually doing it – running! Our entire walk lasted at least thirty minutes and it felt great. When we got back to her home, we each iced our foot for about twenty minutes and took an 800mg of ibuprofen. I consider the walk, with those few minutes of running, a success.

I’m thinking about trying it again tomorrow, that shuffle run. Thinking about how insecure I am to run through my own neighborhood and shuffle along. Thinking about how a day veganism was quite tasty. Thinking about how great it felt to do something different today.

Starting the new year off on the right foot

I’m doing what I can to start the new year off right. I spent last evening participating in a tremendous celebration: I went to church. We started the evening around 8pm with some food, fellowship and games. Around 10pm, we moved into the chapel. The chapel was not at all what I expected, it was a large open room with several easy chairs and a sofa. We sang praises, heard scripture, and prayed in the new year. I can’t imagine any other place in the world I would have rather spent my new year’s eve. It was wonderful.

Today has been a nice, quiet day. A friend posted that she was going to yoga this afternoon. Yoga class may not be for me, but it did encourage me to get up out of my big, comfy chair. I synced my iTouch, put on my sneaker with arch supports, donned a sweatshirt and hoodie, and hit the pavement. I tuned into the The Gomers’ podcast. I am only a few blocks away from my town’s historic downtown area. The air was cool and crisp, fifty-nine degrees. My entire walk lasted about thirty-eight minutes. I took it pretty easy, since I am working my way back into fitness walking. I believe the distance is about 2.25 miles.

Now, I’m settled back into my comfy chair with my foot on an icepack. And I’ve popped another vitamin I – ibuprofen – and I imagine the lining of my stomach is being burned away. My foot doesn’t hurt, but I don’t want to wait until it hurts to take anything. I read about inflammation in the body. Taking the daily maximum dose of ibuprofen has been shown to inhibit the production of prostaglandin-E, which is the chemical your body makes that results in inflammation. So, for the time being, I’ll dose with it.

Resolute, but not a resolution

So, I walked Monday with good results (relatively pain-free) and haven't done much since then. Other than work. Today is New Year's Eve. I want to commit to daily exercise. I want to commit to menu planning and making wise food choices. I refuse to call any of this my "new year's resolution" because it's just way to easy to abandon those annual resolutions.

I am resolute, but I'm not making any resolutions.

I get off work early to day to begin celebrating the holiday. I believe I'll start my long, holiday weekend with a fitness walk.

The morning after the first walk

This morning, I did not have the pain that I did a month or so ago. Before the Cortisone shot, if I had done any fitness walking I would have been limping around the next morning. I'm very careful not to go barefoot, even when I get out of bed in the morning. I'll slip my loafers on (that have my orthotics inserted). I'm "aware" of my foot and arch, maybe it's just a little achey, but nothing like what I was experiencing two months ago.

I went ahead and took 800mg of ibuprofen this morning, as a preventative measure, with breakfast. I hate to think about taking it 3 or 4 times a day, every day.

Also, I know I need to be more "on it" about doing the stretching exercises that I read about and that the doctor instructed me to do. Why is it that five minutes of heel stretching every morning before I get out of bed is just not do-able? What's the matter with me? Chronic laziness? Denia? Tell me.

It's a good day. Planning another fitness walk this evening after work.

Yippee!!!

Oh, you are kidding

Oh, you are kidding! - I have not posted here in over six months. That's ridiculous. Oh, wait, it's all coming to me and starting to make sense now. Back problems in the summer and then in August I diagnosed myself with plantar fasciitis (chiropractor and podiatrist have each confirmed my self-diagnosis).

After weeks of having the chiropractor perform cold-laser treatments and massage my foot, I finally went to the podiatrist late November. He gave me a cortisone injection and orthothic inserts for my shoes, and has instructed me to never go barefooted. It's been over a month since the cortisone shot and he said I could try some easy walking.

When I got home from work this evening, I changed my shoes and grabbed my iPod, and headed out the door for my first "fitness walk." And I did not wait for New Year's resolutions to kick in for this first walk, though I was tempted to put it off for another few days. It turns out that I did not need my iPod, as my sister called and and she kept me entertained for the duration of my walk. I did not have my ear-piece for my phone, so I actually had to hold the phone up to my head to have our conversation. Can you imagine, the inconvenience of having to hold the phone to my head while out on a fitness walk (using the sarcastic font here, please).

I walked 24 minutes, came home, microwaved some left-overs and ate them while icing my foot. I'll have a better idea in the morning as to how well I tolerated the walk.

Pain in the A$$

Sheesh - a little pain the butt and I've all but abandoned my blog. I went to the chiropractor's and they did some great stuff for me. I'm abbreviating the details here so that I can get to the main point:

I walked last night. With the neighbor for probably 50 minutes or so. I could feel my right glute max burning when we finished last night. I iced, took a shower, iced some more. I woke up at 3am feeling not so great, I took some vitamin I with a cup of milk and went back to bed.

When I finally got out of bed, my left leg was hurting like my right one was last time. Not nearly as bad. I got the yoga mat out and stretched. I'm okay.

Couch to 5K program only asks that you get moving 3 days a week - every-other-day. I'm going to give it my best shot this week while Brendan is away. In the meantime, I'm waiting on my yoga DVD that I can do on my off days.

Gotta get ready for work...