Summer time, fun time

It seemed to take too long for my Colophony allergy from surgery to go away. Someone told me "you had wrist surgery, not foot surgery". Alas, I need the wrist and hand to move for sports bra, for tying the shoes, for pulling on the exercise clothing. I was going for some walks with my slide in shoes, but it isn't the same as being laced up and going OUT!

Beautiful view of the Corn Gold fields of Iowa. 
(drat, you can see the dashboard reflection in the window ;) )
The fields where I live aren't looking like this yet, thanks to a wet spring that delayed planting. 

My Salsa Fargo got out this year! I haven't ridden much (at all) the last years since I had my wrist injury in the car collision. Putting weight on the wrist was painful and difficult.  I am happy to say that while I still have the scar tissue inside that needs to break up, that riding the bike for an hour is something I can do again (happy dance) and I could probably have gone longer, but without actual bike shorts on it wasn't that comfortable!  I know I need to get back to yoga, but hand planting at home has been painful with the scar tissue, so I keep delaying it. 

Then I had to face facts and that I had a double race coming up in August (the end of August) and I needed to get miles in on my feet which meant I needed new shoes. I bumped up to these Saucony in the hopes that I would not need the separate Plantar Fasciitis insert. So far, so good!  The local store also started carrying Injinji toe socks, which is probably not good for feeding my habit of toe socks.  I so far am sticking with the same color for the duration. I finally tossed my first blue ones, and now have dusty rose/lavender ones in my stash, and these new orange and navy blue--I love that color combo!  Maybe I'm not a true exercising person if I don't stick to black socks :P  

Aren't they beautiful?  Purple too!  

They'll go great with my purple race attire for #pancreaticcancer awareness

At a race in June I got a bottle of this BodyArmor. I had been putting off trying it, since sometimes things don't agree with my body.  One hot and exercise sweaty day, I finally pulled it out of the refrigerator one day and had it. The last time I had coconut water was not a good experience for me; although it was plain coconut water.  This Fruit Punch flavor is really good!  I tracked down more at the store, and am happy to that during the back to back race in August, I can have this at the finish line in the car (thankfully I can drive rather than fly)

I worked up the courage to go tackle the Hill Repeat hill, and managed to bungle my audio cord on my Maui Jim sunglasses. The sunglasses fell from my tank top to the ground. I've dropped them (ahem, many) times before with no issue except for the freaking out that I was dropping them.  This time, probably because it was an asphalt road versus other materials, one of the lenses broke top frame to bottom frame. I didn't realize it at first, and a couple miles later when I went to put them on for a sunny area, I realized what had happened. Thankful for Maui Jim's replacement policy, I was able to get new lenses, rather than have to buy a new frame! 

Sometimes the light isn't just right, or the graffiti has been erased and it isn't as colorful, or the ground is just ground underneath the bridge.  This day the light showed the layout of the road a bit further, and the giant washout /whirlpool area that had occurred during the flooding earlier this year. So much water came down river, at different times, that a couple of the trails in my area were eroded to the point that they are closed.  Still, this is better than the Missouri River flood plain in western Iowa, which has left fields unplantable, and roads destroyed.

After a great day out and about with The Mike, we stopped at a different HyVee grocer and found Marie Antoinette's Gluten-Free Baking Co goodies in the freezer section. Since it was my birthday, I picked cherry pie over some of the other delicious looking treats!

So flavorful, and great to have without having to have baked it myself!  :D 

 

Upon the recommendation of a local trail runner who has completed the race(s) I will be doing, I bought some trail shoes for the race. In talking with the running store guy, I decided it was probably a good thing to have. I can have these for the longer first day, and if I feel the traction is too much, I can wear my regular shoes the next day. These saucony have deeper traction that may help on sandy areas. I am so nervous for this race!  I have only done one trail race, and it was a beautiful area in California made among the evergreens of a forest.
Did you notice they're purple as well? I hope I don't grab one of each type of shoe to go out for a run!

To new events, and a beautiful summer that is just half started. 

Treasure each day, regardless of season. Each day has more to offer. 

Feeling GREAT, (re)building fitness

No matter what you plan for surgeries, sometimes there are things that throw a wrench into the works.
Carpal tunnel surgery for the right hand was at the end of March. I was expecting six weeks of low activity with the right hand.
I prepped food, diced and froze onions for easy meal prep, and more.

What I didn't take into consideration was:
1:     Having a horrid reaction to something topical post surgery. Six days post surgery and the reaction kept building, and we went to the ER when swelling at my left eye lid occurred.   ER Phy. Asst took one look and said essentially 'oh yes, you need Prednisone'. 

I happened to have an appt with a dermatologist at the University Hospitals the next day and the ER doc said to definitely keep that.  The experienced dermatologist took a look at it and said "pine resin allergy"  "Colophony"!  I am excited I have a name for it. The bad part is , in can be in pretty much anything: makeup, surgical prep wash, adhesive bandages (hence steri strip issues). He recommended Domeboro for soaking on the blister rash (mix, submerge washcloth, put washcloth on forearm) and then cover with a prednisone ointment as well.

Three weeks post surgery, the reaction is still visible but not scary to view

I thought the hard part of the surgery recovery was going to be the waiting to do stuff, but it was the trying not to scratch off my arm! 

2.    Not having enough food prepped. Seriously, not sure what I was thinking, but I look back and wonder how a week's worth of food was suppose to help for a month!  We do not even have that much freezer space! 

3.   Working out. Somehow I was thinking that since my wrist was going to be tied up/bound, that I would still be able to go do stuff.
Um, that didn't work out. Not being able to use the wrist meant tying shoes was a no-go, putting on a sports bra was a no-go, and washing my hair was a no-go. So even if I had gotten up with The Mike, and he had dressed me in female sports attire, I wouldn't have been able to get the thing off, and I wouldn't have been able to clean up by myself either.

4. The length of time it took for the forearm to completely heal. (sigh, that was three weeks of rash/soak/ointment/binding).

What I had taken into consideration:  Making weekly appointments for hair wash/style. The Mike may have been able to wash my hair, but I wasn't going to ask him to blow dry and straighten it for me! 

After a few weeks of going stir crazy, going to the grocery store and getting gluten free/soy free frozen meals (SO thankful they exist in 2019!), making a date night to the custard/ice cream store, I felt like I could do stuff, but my wound and doctor said no.

I found the UDIs Mug Cakes at a store about an hour from me. I thought they were a nice treat, but not something I'd have every day. Each individual package has directions on them too, so I think they'd be great for travel/hotels! 

 My first day back working out was a walk down to the river. 

Did I mention there was flooding in March?
It left yuck in so many places.  It isn't as bad as those in Western Iowa  or Nebraska have had though! 
There there is this tree that makes me laugh. The park is off the bottom and is only held together in this section due to the dastardly Virginia Creeper! 

The Mike volunteered at a bike race in April, and registration was at a winery!  It was a gorgeous day and I had to capture the gorgeous Spring day in the sky/clouds, and the pattern of the grape vine fencing. 

Who can have a bad day when the sky looks like this?
(and when it is not a drought!)

Yes, we brought home some wine too!  

Giant victories for me post surgery:  

1. I was able to finally use this again. The hand pain (post car collision) that kept me from using it for three years is gone post carpal tunnel surgery!  

I am working my way up. First three minutes was a hard and now I'm at six minutes.
It may not be Olympic level, but I'm getting back fitness. 

2. I am able to knock off /drop the weights that the jerks leave on the leg press machine. I haven't been able to do this for three years and is the main reason I stopped going to the gym :(  Regardless of the signs posted to have courtesy and remove weights from machines, this guy never did. He still doesn't.

I figure if the guy doesn't care enough to stack the weights where they belong, then apparently it shouldn't matter if they drop two feet onto the mat? Those big weights are 100# plates. I might have been able to lift 100# before my injury, but not now :(  

3. Leg press, and then toe extensions with the weight.

Along with some exercises still for the Plantar Fasciitis which rears its head every so often, and ab work, that's what I'm doing for the gym.  I've been trying for the weights 3 x a week, and then five miles 2x a week. After today's five, I think I'm ready to take it to three days a week for mileage!  

I still cannot place my hand flat on the floor, as for some yoga poses.  I'm working on it!