For many many days after we returned home, Chad kept talking about the bird feeder, and where we would put the bird feeder, and how many birds we might get to visit our new bird feeder. I quickly realized that Chad might be itching to get started on some long overdue yard projects. Memorial Day Weekend seemed like a good stretch of days to get started on such a project, so we made our first stop at Wild Birds Unlimited – sent by our good friend, The Crazy Asian Bird Lady (she gave herself that name, I just call her The Crazy Asian Lady). Wouldn’t you know it, they knew exactly who I was talking about.
I may have mentioned previously that the entry closet was near the kitchen in the original floor plan. There was some re-arranging on my part (I played Sims for the better part of the last 16 years, I am obviously very qualified to make these types of design changes) where the mud room and half bath switched places, and two feet of space was added to the entire width of the main floor to accommodate an entryway closet, adjacent to the entry door. You know, where Entryway Closets are SUPPOSED TO BE.
Almost a year later, and one week before the Salt Lake Half, I was diagnosed with another stress fracture. This time it was in my shin. However, a shin fracture turns out to be something that heals WAY faster than a hip. No crutches, no sitting around on my butt, just a PREFERENCE that I not run on it while it was healing. AND it would ONLY take 3 weeks to heal. Which meant that although the doctor preferred I didn’t run the Salt Lake Half (I listened!) he had absolutely no concerns with me running the Tinker Bell Half.
I rode the stationary bike at the gym for three weeks, bought new shoes the week of the race, and had one (approved!) practice run before heading down to Anaheim. Walking around the expo (instead of on crutches and in a crappy mood) was super fun and I’m not being facetious. Instead of wishing I could crutch into a hole and die, I invisibly slipped from booth to booth looking at things and getting zero sympathy from random strangers who wanted to discuss various running ailments they’d had.
I wanted to display my many many many coffee table books that had inexcusably been living anywhere else in the house because I’ve never owned a coffee table.
2016 wasn’t the best year for us … there were a lot of trial-and-error DIY projects, I broke my hip, and a Cheeto got elected president. But there were some good things that happened. Can’t think of any right now…
We showed up to the starting line and took lots of terrible pictures in the dark, said good luck to Chad (who was going for some kind of world record) and went on our merry way. The race course was pretty similar to last year’s 10k, but it steered clear of Critter Country and Frontierland (no spoilers or behind the scenes on the new Star Wars Land for these runners!). Still we had plenty of time on park property, lots of Hero & Agents of SHIELD photo ops, and volunteers cheering us on.
I was so insanely excited to start using the “special treadmill for injured people”. I got into the most ridiculous looking machine you’ve ever seen, one designed to take the weight of gravity off my lower half, and I ran for 30 seconds and walked for 4 minutes and repeated that for as long as they would let me. I was deliriously happy. And then they told me I wasn’t progressing normally and needed to back off for another three weeks. I cried in the car on the way home from that PT visit because I had been holding on to that being my starting again point. The one shining beacon getting me through missing three races. And it was taken away. I was back to square one.
And it finally sunk in what I had refused to admit to myself: I didn’t know where or when my next run was going to be.
With the kind of break I’m dealing with, surgery is not recommended. I’m just supposed to “stay off of it” for 6 weeks. The greater part of those 6 weeks involves crutches. Then you play the fun game of “find out what you can and can’t do based on how much it hurts.” Basically, if it hurts, I can’t do it.
Running is out of the question for all of the 6 weeks and probably longer.
Sarahpedia 