Post-birthday week/weekend #2

Well, this past week was a mixture of pain and new things. I woke up on Sat the 15th with a neck pain that extended down to my shoulderblade (left side). It did not go away, and by Wednesday I was in so much pain that I opted to stay home from work, as it was causing a really bad headache by that time. I got in for a massage at Massage Envy, and it hurt, but it did help. The therapist they'd scheduled me with was really good. I had done some online research on the Baylor Scoliosis Center in Plano, and called to schedule an appointment, which won't be until Sept 1st. They will take new xrays and compare them with my previous ones and see what to do next. I tell you, daily pain is NO FUN, and my goal is to get rid of it all, if possible. If that ends up meaning surgery, I guess that's what will have to happen, even though I'd rather not.

So the "new things" part is that I signed up for Running 101 with my friend Lucy at RunOn (at her suggestion; she wanted a running buddy). Everyone knows I am a walker, not a runner, but I thought I'd give it a try, since they were gonna teach me to run. Monday night was a lecture for about an hour, then Tuesday was the "magic mile", where we run/walk a mile for time to see what group we'll be put in. My time was 13:57 (slow!), so I am in the slow group (cutoff was 13 mins). But that's ok, cuz I KNOW I'm slow! Then Thursday we got into our groups and met our coaches. (BTW, Lucy is not in the same group as me, as her time was 11:06, because she is used to jogging.) Our group did 20 mins of 2 mins running, 1 min walking, and I did surprisingly well. I was 4th for most of the 20 mins, until the last segment, when the 3 people in front of me decided to walk the rest, so I came in first and under 20 mins! How can I run while in pain or with my back issues, you ask? The weird thing is that my neck/shoulder pain does not hurt while I'm running. I guess the pain transfers to my legs and feet! I am having shin issues, but I do have old shoes. I was fitted for new running shoes, and Tim found some online for $50 cheaper than RunOn, so they will get here on Monday the 24th, just in time for my next running class!

Saturday mornings at 7am, RunOn has a "social run", so me/Lucy/Tim went for the first time. It was good for Tim, since he's a runner, but for me, it was not so good. Lucy had to stay with me as the rest of the group left us behind. My legs did not want to cooperate that day. We were in a park in Coppell, so we weren't lost, but the Coppell HS CC team was hogging the trail, and they don't know how to share, and they don't have any trail manners either. We finally saw part of the group when we went to the other side of the park, and the coach walked back to the store with us. We saw Tim running with some other guy, so they went another couple of miles before they returned to the store. Afterwards, Tim went home and I went to Einstein's Bagels with Lucy for coffee and bagels. :-)

That night, we'd already had plans to eat my belated birthday dinner at Pappadeaux's with Robert & Lucy, so we picked them up around 7pm and we rode to the restaurant with the top down on my new Volvo. It was the perfect night to ride in a convertible! After dinner, we went back to their house to see their new kitchen, play Rock Band, and Mexican Train. I believe I got to bed at 3:45am.....UGH!!