Step Away From the Cake

 So I have been in pain since Saturday. My knee/leg/back has been hurting in some combination since then. It changes, it move, it varies in intensity, but it's there. Yesterday I was getting spasms in my back - that was fun. But it has made me appreciate the fact that I generally live a pain free life. At 62 that is good to say. I do complain about moving and soreness, but this has taught me I have nothing to complain about. It has also made me consider that maybe running isn't the wise thing right now. Maybe I should really focus in on walking and hiking and leave the running until I am in a little better shape. I can live with that. I'm not out of it completely, just for now. So I need to give thanks that I live basically pain free and I need to build up to things and not just jump in.  My hip opening challenge ended and I actually stopped doing them because I thought they might be making my leg/knee/back worse. I'm not sure that's true, but I'm going to the c

 2 weeks ago, Hubby got bit by our dog. There was a fight between the neighbors dog and ours and he stuck his hand in, like he always does, and ended up getting bit. I forced him to go to the ER to have it cleaned and looked at and he was given antibiotics. Thankfully he took the antibiotics very seriously and didn't drink for the entire 10 days that he was taking them. That was nice. He drinks a lot and it has increased over the years. There are many nights when he will get drunk just sitting here at home. And the thing is, he doesn't know when he's drunk but it's clear as day to me. He goes from being nice to being all mean and obnoxious. Everything become f-this, you're a jerk, bullsh*t, things like that. He doesn't listen when he's drunk and I've gotten to the point where I just don't respond when he's that way. Usually I won't even be in the same room with him. Anyway, he finished his antibiotics on Monday and yesterday went out with his

 After 62 years of sleeping, I kind of know my sleep patterns. I sleep in 90 minute cycles and I need at least 5 of them every night. I try to structure my bed time so that my alarm goes off at the end of a sleep cycle. I find that I wake up easier then. When I'm off and the alarm goes off in the middle of a sleep cycle, I can be groggy and sleepy all day. So I really do know my sleep patterns and I know how to get the most out of them. But the dogs don't know them.  This morning I woke up at ~2:45. I thought to myself, this is perfect, I have 90 minutes until my alarm goes off, back to sleep. But Bella was awake. Licking. Shuffling around on the floor. Making all kinds of noise. I was afraid she was going to get up and finally around 3am she did. When she gets up she goes to drink water and then goes outside to potty. This can take 15 minutes. So she got up and headed to the water bowl. After that, I opened the back door and she headed outside. I grabbed my blanket, wrapped up

 Well my knee/leg/back is still sore. It's not exactly pain, it's more like weakness. I don't know what's going on but I do wish it would go away. Yesterday it was good but this morning it feels a little bit worse. I don't mind a little pain and adjusting to doing new things, but this needs to go. My knee feels like it's going to give out when I walk and that is not good. I end up limping a little bit so that I don't keep pressure on that knee, and I end up walking with a straighter knee than normal. I tend to kind of lock the knee and that is not good at all. So it needs to go away. Other than that I'm feeling pretty good. I knew that it would be an adjustment to running, so I'm okay with this. I'll wait until it passes then try again. Eventually the body will realize that I am serious and it will adapt.  Okay, timer is going to go off so I'm out. 

 This gets harder and harder as the week goes on. I don't want to just do trite stuff, I'm grateful for my family and my job, blah, blah, blah. I want it to be meaningful at least to me. So today I'm grateful for pain. Yes, pain. Let me explain. As I posted yesterday, I am starting to run again. I went out yesterday for my first day of couch to 5K. The only reason I'm using that is because it's a super easy way to start. I don't have any desire to get to 5K but if I do all the better. Anyway, I went out for my run and it was as hard as I anticipated it would be. I was barely picking up my feet on the run, but I was technically 'running'. After the running intervals were over, I still had to walk to get back home. As I was walking I got a pain in my left knee area. Initially it felt like the attachment point for my IT band and I figured it was just my IT band acting up. But now this morning it is actually at the back of my knee. Either way, it's not s