Catch Up!

It's been quite a while since my last post! So much has happened. First, I went on that high blood pressure medicine. It wasn't quite working right. I don't know if it was the medicine, or over training, but I tweaked my neck a bit. It lasted for a week, so I went in to the doctors. She put me on some muscle relaxers - even though I told her I was running a lot (training for a couple of half marathons) and lifting weights. She said it wouldn't matter. It did. Long story short and a lot of physical therapy, I'm finally getting back to running. (Oh, yes, I did do both of the half marathons. One with my older daughter and one with my younger daughter). I've since switched doctor and am off of ALL those medicines (high blood pressure pills as well). I still have a bit of a twinge below my knee, so I'm being careful. But I'm up to 10 miles a week without any pills or braces. Once I don't have that last bit of trouble with my knee, I will start slowly adding back up again until I'm up to 6-7 miles on the weekend. That's the length I really enjoy. And, on another good note, we now have a puppy! Once he gets a bit older he should be able to do at least the short runs with me. I'm really looking forward to that! Oh, and my oldest daughter got married in November, and she's due with her first baby this November. A lot of changes, but it seems to be headed in the right direction.

We also made it back to the Stone Anniversary Celebration again this year with my youngest and her boyfriend. We had a great time! And I'm back fired up again for brewing. My husband and I worked out what we think will be a good IPA recipe and the ingredients will be ordered this payday.

Bay to Breakers 2010

We had a great time at Bay to Breakers! Almost made it up that hill, but still ran the rest really well. And Dee was really pushing me hard at the end!!

Bay to Breakers

It's been a bit since I posted, but I thought I'd mention that I'm head to the Bay to Breakers race this weekend! I'm going with my older daughter (and her fiance, although he's not running!) and I think we even have a costume planned out! I'll post more after the race.

I placed!

This weekend I ran the Women Running Wild 5k race in Palm Springs with my friend Bev and her daughter. We all came in within seconds of each other (with Tracy coming in first), but I got lucky and the people in my age bracket were a bit slower. So that meant that I actually won by placing second for my age! Not too bad. Actually, I was pretty excited. The race was a hometown race to raise money for breast cancer, so there were no chips or anything for timing. And of course, being the anal type of person that I am, I had my timer on and checked and was 10 second behind in crossing the starting line. But that's okay, because the time they have for my race (25:48) is still my pr!

Here is a picture of me with my tile award!
Here is one of Bev, Tracy and me.
And one of Jim and me waiting for the awards to be given out!

Running

Well, I did 5.1 at a pretty good pace and felt fairly good - for almost 24 hours. Then I got such a bad cramp in my upper leg/hip joint that I couldn't run the next night. I took of Thursday and Friday and was rather worried about my run this morning. But, I made 8.5 miles and didn't have a cramp until mile 8, in my calf this time. Now tonight that I am getting ready to go out and celebrate my birthday, I have a slight cramp in both legs. I won't wear too high of heels. And I had both an orange and a banana for the potassium today already. So I guess I just need the garlic cheese fries tonight for some more potassium! Hey, I'm justifying it since I lost another pound. It could be a continuation from being on the high blood pressure diet - or it could be the low dose water pills. Probably the later, but it's my birthday celebration so I'll use that excuse!

Bummer

I just got back from the doctor's office. Two months of going every two weeks to check my blood pressure. After altering my diet just a little (I added more vegetables and cut back on my red meat) and trying to add some relaxation techniques (I already do enough exercise) to try and get my blood pressure down I finally had to give in today and start going on some medicine :-( It's the lowest dose and I start tomorrow - to be checked again in two weeks (plus on my own at home). The semi-positive news is that the doctor said if I wasn't doing all of this stuff I would probably have really high blood pressure and be on a lot more medicine. And the good news, well, the doctor said that normally she would tell patients with my level of blood pressure to try and lose some weight first, but she said I don't have any weight to lose :-) That's really nice to hear from a doctor's office!

In the meantime, they told me to just pay attention to my body for the next few days while it gets used to the medicine. I already worked it so tomorrow is an off day on running, and we'll see how it goes for Wednesday. If I feel good it will be the full five miles. Otherwise, I want to do at least 3.1!

Long Time

It's been a bit since I've posted. One daughter got a job, and the other got her associates degree :-) That's my happy news. Other than that, I've been running, lifting and reading. Not too much knitting going on. But I will be soon since my Mom asked for some socks for Mother's Day. I like getting enough notice! Also, I've signed up for a couple of runs. A 5k in Palm Springs - Women Running Wild - since I've wanted to run that one for a while just for the shirt! I've also signed up (along with my older daughter) for the Bay to Breakers in May! I just need to find an inexpensive hotel someplace along the BART and we're good to go. Also looking at doing a half-marathon with my husband and younger daughter (they want to walk/run it) in the vineyards in Oregon in September. I sure hope that one comes through!