Health

a poisonous lesson

I have learned the following very important life lesson in the past week: If you see something that looks like this growing on your back fence, do not go out in your jogging bra and shorts, wearing only gardening gloves for protection, and spend 30 minutes ripping it down. Leaves of three, let them be. Here is what my stomach now looks like: And my right arm: And my left arm: I posted a few days ago that I thought a little ant or spider had chewed on me in the night, leaving a series of little bites on my arms. WRONG! Little did I know that the inocuous-looking vine growing on the back fence was poison ivy. It took me several days to make the connection because it didn’t show up until about 48 hours after I’d touched the plant, and also I’ve never had poison ivy before. Hi! Love you, poison ivy! New areas of INSANE itchiness have been gradually spreading across my body, probably because I’d gotten the urushiol oil on my clothing, and did laundry a few days later — picking up the poisonous clothes once again and spreading it to new areas. I have learned that Benadryl doesn’t do jack shit for the itching, but it sure will put me to sleep, so maybe it kind of accomplishes the same goal in a different way. Topical hydrocortisone also does not do jack shit. Calamine lotion does seem to work a little but turns me a sickly pink color, like I’ve been bathing in Pepto Bismol. It’s so hard not to scratch. I’m pretty much in a state of low-grade itchiness all the time that I just try to ignore by thinking of other things. Once I start it’s basically impossible to stop. Warm showers make […]

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the diva cup

This is probably more than any of you wanted to know, but I decided to try out something called the Diva Cup. It’s basically an alternative to tampons. You can stop reading here if you don’t want to know more! Still with me? Good. I got myself a Diva Cup last weekend, and I will spare you most of the squishy details other than to say it works really well, after an initial period (ha!) of getting used to it. You cannot be squeamish about your body if you want to use this device; you will be getting up close and personal with yourself. It took me about a day to get comfortable with positioning it properly. And it feels a little odd initially, but after it heats up to your body temperature you don’t even notice it’s there. It is neither messy nor gross, which were my two initial thoughts when I first heard about it. This is going to save me a ton of money on what manufacturers euphemistically term “feminine hygiene products” each month, not to mention not contributing those products to landfills (the average woman uses over 11,000 tampons in her lifetime). There’s no risk of Toxic Shock Syndrome. I’m not putting bleach and dioxins and god knows what other toxins into my body. And you can wear it up to 12 hours if you like, so I won’t usually have to mess with it at work. Anyway, I really love it so far, for reasons even more numerous than those I listed above. If you want to know more feel free to email me and I’ll answer any questions you might have!

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mileage dropoff

Today marks two weeks from when I visited the doctor and she told me to cut my training in half. In the past two weeks I have only run a total of 25 miles, whereas if I had not fractured my stupid leg (or whatever I have done to it) I would have run 45.5 miles. So although it appears that I have run a little more than half my normal mileage, I have done no weekend long runs in more than a month. I’m supposed to be up to 7.5 by this weekend, and I haven’t even run as much as 5 miles since August 7. My leg doesn’t really feel all that much better so now I have to decide whether to go back to the doctor or not. She’ll surely send me for a horribly expensive MRI. I KNOW my leg is messed up; do I really need an MRI to confirm that? I think that maybe I should just continue my training to the best of my ability, being sure to listen to what my leg is telling me on any given day. Ice, heat, stretching, and being careful. And completing that fucking half marathon in December even if I have to walk halfway.

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stress fracture update

I went to the doctor last Wednesday for my regular yearly checkup, and I also asked her WTF was going on with my left leg. She said that it seemed like my hamstring was definitely strained, and there is a possibility that I have a stress fracture in my shin. Stress fractures usually don’t show up on X-rays, but she sent me to get my insides photographed anyway (hello, deductible, nice to meet you, thanks for being so high). I am supposed to cut my training in half for two weeks to see if that helps, and it looks like that’s not going to be a problem because my leg is really only letting me do so much before it begins to scream at me to stop. That’s one of the things that I’m slowly learning: how to interpret my body’s signals. Where’s the line between pain and discomfort? How do I tell if I really should stop or if I’m just being a big baby and need to push myself? Anyway, I haven’t heard back about the X-ray results yet. I wonder if maybe she sent me to get them because it’s a prerequisite to having an MRI? Which is what she said I may need if it doesn’t get better and nothing shows up on the X-ray. I don’t think I want to pay for an MRI… they aren’t cheap. Thursday I tried to run after work. I was only going to do 2 to 2.5 miles, half of what I’d normally try to run, but I had to stop after only a mile. Shooting pain was running up my leg from toes to thigh. Yesterday morning, I decided to try again (36 hours off… that should be enough time to heal, right?!). I was able to run […]

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hitting a brick wall

I seem to have hit a brick wall in my marathon training. I got up to 5 miles a couple weeks ago but haven’t been able to top it. I guess part of it is that I went on vacation (although I did run 3 of the 5 days I was out of town, for a total of 8 miles). I am having two separate issues with my left leg, one of which is likely either a bad chronic shin splint, or possibly a stress fracture. The other issue has something to do with my hamstring… I cannot stretch that leg hardly at all (toe touches are nearly impossible), and when I run there is occasional pain that shoots either up from the back of the knee through the thigh, or down to the toes. I don’t know that running is making it any worse, per se, so I’m just trying to stretch it a little bit when I’m warmed up, enough to keep as limber as I can without making it worse. Oh, also, my leg occasionally feels weak as I’m running, like it’s about to buckle. The other thing is, I have had insomnia for a few nights, and I don’t have much of an appetite. My stomach constantly feels like it’s full of butterflies. Don’t know what’s going on there. So, weirdness all around. But like I told a friend, I’m learning to work with the leg pain rather than let it stop me. I was supposed to have run 6 miles last weekend, and didn’t, and still haven’t managed to this week. The most I’ve done is 4.5. I may take it “easy” and just do my 6 mile this weekend rather than 6.5, and basically fall back by a week. Maybe I just need a […]

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chemical spill

I think that I forgot to mention, when I was talking about my Saturday morning with migraine aura, that there was a very strong smell of enamel paint or some other type of chemical solvent near one side of the track. It was so strong that I didn’t want to breathe through my mouth on that half of the track. I wonder if this contributed to the migraine? I probably shouldn’t have stayed, now that I think about it. Live and learn.

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migraine run

I ran my official 5-mile run this morning. It was harder to do than the 5-mile I did last Monday, possibly because it was morning instead of evening (less energy) and I was running by myself, but one of the crazy things about today was that I started getting a reverse migraine aura a little more than halfway through. I began having trouble seeing the screen of my iPod clearly but thought it was just due to glare from the fluorescent lighting overhead and the large number of “floaters” I have in my eyes. A few laps later I realized that it was because the center of my vision was disappearing. The little silver diagonal sparkle lines had started in the middle. I decided to keep going as long as I could, but to stop if I started to experience any pain or if my vision disappeared past the point where it was safe to run. I developed a plan for what to do if the pain started, involving finding a quiet dark room and a wet washcloth, possibly with the help of a gym staff member. The sparkles grew outward from the center of my vision in a donut-shaped oblong, slightly to the left of center with the right side pointing slightly upward, and I began to feel slightly nauseous. Eventually the aura reached the edge of my peripheral vision, and it disappeared completely by about 4.75 miles. I finished the run and cooldown walk, stretched, and felt well enough to drive home. My head has felt kind of funny all day, though; not pain exactly, but a strange feeling of pressure or like the pain is there right below the surface and if I thought about it, it would burst on through. So I’m trying to ignore it. […]

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and miles to go before i sleep

I know y’all totally don’t care, but I still have to post my marathon training progress. Yesterday I drove over to the gym* to do my 4.5 mile long run (the long runs occur on the weekends, and we’re upping them by 1/2 mile every weekend until the race). I didn’t realize that the gym opened at 11 on Sundays, and it was only 10 a.m. I didn’t want to wait around for an hour and I really didn’t have anything to do in the meantime, so … (yes, you guessed it)… I went running outside instead. In this motherfucking SNAKES ON A PLANE heat. Not having eaten breakfast. From my office to the start of the Katy Trail (not named after me, thanks for asking, but it is well marked and flat and wide (somewhat like me)) is 1.5 miles of partial shade, and from there I hopped on the trail and went an additional 3/4 mile before turning around and starting back. Up to that point I’d been feeling pretty good, but shortly after the turnaround I had to stop and walk for a little while. Then about 2/3 of the way back I had to stop and sit down in the shade for a bit, then I walked most of the rest of the way. I think that getting cold chills on a 90 degree day is a sign that you’ve overheated yourself. “I am gonna be SNAKES ON A PLANE if I don’t just walk from here,” I thought, and actually took my own advice. You’d think I would have learned my lesson after the last couple of times I decided I could handle running outdoors in Texas in the hottest part of summer. But noooooooo. Give me a few weeks to recover, and some part […]

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mile(age)stone

MILESTONE!! I ran 4.2 miles tonight. That is the farthest I’ve ever run without stopping. 44 minutes, so that translates to… let’s see… about a 10:30 mile. I’m very pleased with that; my goal is not necessarily to run quickly or to decrease my time per mile, but to increase my endurance, even if I’m doing 15 minute miles or whatever. If I can complete the half marathon in under 3 hours, I’ll be very happy. I sprinted the last lap and a half to catch up with Brittney, and after slowing to a walk it felt like I was starting to have an asthma attack. It subsided after a few minutes of wheezing. Which reminds me, I should make a doctor’s appointment so she can reassure me that my body will be able to stand up to this crazy training schedule. I was supposed to do 4 miles on Saturday (my long run day) but only did 1.5, on the treadmill. Sunday I did an additional 1 mile on the treadmill, then went outside and ran another 1.5. I don’t think that really counts, even though it adds up to 4. I felt really awful about myself all weekend as a result. On the treadmill I have been running a 12 minute mile. I don’t know how I will ultimately feel about the treadmill. Right now we have a love-hate relationship. (I hate that I don’t love it.) The most I’ve been able to run on it is 1.5 miles. It feels much more difficult than when I run on regular non-moving ground. I seem to get hotter and sweatier, and I’m really unhappy and my muscles hurt and I tire out quickly and I’m always looking at the mileage gauge. Maybe it’s that I know I can step […]

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