From Fall to 50k

Actual conversation with my doctor this week... Him : So, your surgery is next Friday... Me : No, it's... wait... 😲 I've been so focused on visualizing the parts that spike my anxiety (the IV, the recovery) that "next" hadn't quite entered my everyday conversations around the surgery yet. But now I'm in "next Friday" mode.  And soon I'll be in "this Friday" mode. And, while I'm nervous and a little scared about the IV and recovery pieces, I'm working through it the best way I know how. With lists and calendar to-do items. I even have an Asana board to keep it all straight!  🤪 All of the list building and executing relaxes me and helps me feel a sense of being prepared for the uncertainty of all that comes after the surgery.       All the f ave food will be in the house.  🍝🥗☕      New shows and movies are queued up for streaming.*  🎬🍿 📺      Too many books are requested at the library.*  📚📚📚  ...

It's only been a week since my surgery was scheduled. And, in many ways, it feels like that was the first domino to fall.   My custom brace My pre-op appointment was on Friday - triggering my fear of  needles going into the pre-op appointment.  Thankfully, my labs came back good and I learned that my blood type is O+.  (Probably I knew this and forgot but that's how it goes. 🤪)  The nursing and lab staff alleviated a lot of my fears and visualizing better what will happen the day of surgery is really helping my anxiety.  So much stress relieved. I'm also getting a spiffy custom fitted brace to use for activity beginning 6-12 weeks post-op.  Looks like I'll be in this bionic piece of equipment for about a year.  I even get to pick the color! (Have a suggestion - tell me in the comments!) Along with the custom brace, an e-stim device to help with recovery is also being delivered!  I honestly have no idea how or when I'll use this yet but I'm...

My friends, the date is SET! Mark your calendars for Friday, April 5! In just under three weeks, my ACL will finally be reconstructed!! I know... I sound really excited.  And, in a way, I am.  I'm glad to finally have the date set and be able to start moving forward. I'm glad that the interminable wait for scheduling is finally over. But now the fear and anxiety are really starting to set in. Yep. I went there.  So ready for this movie. Nerves about what happens before, during, and after the actual surgery. But the two things I'm most nervous about are the IV stick and the post-op recovery.   My terror of needles is well documented.  (Tiny veins being blown every time you get stuck can do that to a person!)  And it sounds like I won't get anything for the anxiety ahead of time.  So, I'm working on what I can do to help myself stay calm and keep my stress at manageable levels.  I've got a selection of oils, meditations, and breathing exercises...

Running has been an on again off again part of my identity since the fall of 2011, when I completed my first half marathon. My employer at the time was offering paid time off to train for and complete the race.  And I seriously wanted all the time off I could get.  It didn't matter to me that I was overweight, that I had never run a mile, or that I had zero idea of what I was doing. I just signed up. I found a training plan online and began to follow it. And, to no one's surprise, I was nursing an injury before the first three weeks had gone by.  I continued to train haphazardly until about a month before the event. Unbeknownst to me, a friend from high school was following my training blog, and we reconnected.  At the time, he was training for a 50k in an attempt to qualify for the Boston Marathon.  He gave me two pieces of advice that changed my life. SLOW DOWN AND BREATHE. Josh gave me permission to run slower.  He helped me to understand that my mind wa...

My year shifted in a heartbeat on Monday, January 22, 2024. Coming down a ladder, I missed the last rung and took a pretty serious tumble. Diagnosis: full thickness rupture of my ACL. Of course, that's the tl:dr of the story. For the full history of what happened, keep reading... I'm the health and wellness coach behind Reality Bites Training and the Healthy, Fit, and Awesome FB community .  I work with women to ditch diet culture, reclaim their power, and live life on their own terms.  And working from home all day long can get very lonely for this extrovert. 🤪 So I took on a part time job at a big box store in October 2023.  Little did I know when I was hired that my job would be incredibly physical - hurrying all over the store and up and down ladders to restock items on the shelves so customers could have a great experience. And the truth was that ladders, especially the tall ones, kind of scared me.  But I was working to overcome that fear and get to the top o...