Life Past 30

I am finally beginning to shed the blues I had during the extremely cold winter we had.  After suffering from cold, stiff fingers, a numb nose, and mean winds, I volunteer to be the first person to bid winter goodbye!  I happily wore a jacket today and left the coat behind.  It felt good.  Now that Spring is here, my spirit is soaring and yearning for a change of scenery.  Lately, I have been dreaming of taking a nice vacation where the weather is warm, the water is blue, and the night breezes are mild.  Rejuvenation is what I crave and any island will do right now.

This summer will be the perfect time to take a break between training for this year’s Marine Corps Marathon and running it.  An island break is my prescription for getting rid of heavy clothes and forgetting dreary skies.  One thing I miss about being in Okinawa is being able to go to the nearest beach, have a few drinks, and watch the sun rise.  Okinawa is where I was able to truly relax and take in the scenery.  I plan on rekindling a bit of that this year!

It has been approximately 5 months since I completed last year’s Marine Corps Marathon.  Since that day, I have been looking forward to running the 2009 MCM, but with better preparation than last year.  I now know what I need to do prevent the extreme soreness I had for the four days following race day.  I realized soon after that day that I should have worn running pants, instead of shorts, a hat, and thin jacket to keep my temperature up.  Upon completing the course, I was quite chilly and I am sure that contributed to the muscle tightness and pain.

This year, however, will be a lot different.   My running plan is more solid and I have found a pair of running shoes that will no doubt help propel me past the last grueling 6.2 miles.  Mental conditioning has never been a problem for me, so finding the motivation necessary to keep me going will be easy.  Once again, I am finding myself excited to embark upon yet another personal challenge.  If all goes well with the marathon, I will also be participating in the American Heart Association Walk in November.

Since running the 2008 Marine Corps Marathon, I have enjoyed eating what I want and even started eating red meat again.  I have found roast beef quite enjoyable, but still won’t eat it too often.  Besides that, I have consumed my favorite food, homemade french fries, countless times.  To be honest, I have not worked out much and have been enjoying life without daily training.  The extremely cold weather was one factor that kept me inside most of the time with the exception of going out with my family and going to work.

However, running has been on my mind every day and I have been creating a training plan that will be better than last year’s plan.  Of course, this year’s goal is to run the 2009 Marine Corps Marathon on October 25 at or under five hours.  I have completed a few small runs to assess my current level and now that the weather is mild enough to not cause extreme “lung burn”, I am ready for more training.  The past three months have been challenging in the fact that I have not been able to run as much as I wanted, but now that I’m completely healed, I will commence working toward my goal.

I am excited, but not nervous like I was last year because I know what to expect.  This year, my weaknesses will be obliterated and I will be 100% ready to take on the challenge of running 26.2 miles again.  Just writing about it is enough motivation!

Normally, I am a happy-go-lucky person who is balanced with serious and comedic qualities.  My mood swings are usually mild and last for short periods of time, however, since Monday, I have been in a less-than-happy mood.  I am not sure if it was due to the end of the Thanksgiving holiday and coming back to work, hearing/watching the depressing news, or something else altogether.  Since Monday, the traffic has gotten under my skin more than usual and the multiple conversations on the bus have really gotten on my nerves.  However, I am happy to report this episode of intermittent irritation has finally come to an end.  I feel wonderful today and all feelings of wanting to be alone in a quiet place are gone.  Well, not completely, I still need my few hours to myself on the weekends.  I know that everyone goes through periods like or similar to this, but for me, it does not happen too often.  Perhaps I just need an extended break from the rat race to regroup or I need to run more since that relieves stress.  I am just glad to be feeling like myself again and am looking forward to the Christmas holiday and New Year’s Eve. 

When I was younger, the prospect of experiencing insomnia seemed far-fetched, but I soon realized that it sneaks up on you until one day, you find yourself staring at the ceiling when you should be sleeping.  During my teens and early twenties, I never had any problems with sleeping, although falling asleep usually took a little longer for me than most people.  However, once I went to sleep, I stayed sleep until the alarm went off.  I began suffering from bouts of insomnia when I was 27.  The first time it happened, I thought nothing of it and attributed it to something I had eaten the evening before.  As the years went on, insomnia crept up on me from nowhere and caused much frustration in daily life and activities.  I tried using a sleep aid once, but when I found myself waking up feeling more tired that I was before I went to bed, I decided that was not the way to go. 

Over time, I have learned to deal with the occasional episode of insomnia, although I am still very much annoyed by them.  Not being able to sleep is one of the worst feelings in the world, but exercise and diet seem to help me battle this issue when it occurs.  Luckily, I do not suffer from insomnia too often, but when it shows up, it puts a damper on my day.  I hope it does not happen again any time soon.

November 27, 2008 will go down in history, at least in my book.  I am not a person who enjoys cooking and only do it because my body and my daughter require daily sustenance.  Cooking has never been an activity that I wanted to do often, but is quite necessary.  Besides my slight disdain for cooking, I am a good cook and my daughter enjoys eating what I prepare.  Admittedly, preparing and cooking homemade french fries from red potatoes is something I enjoy immensely and cooking anything else feels like a chore.  Thanksgiving of 2008 should go down in history because I cooked my very first turkey - ever!  My daughter and I buttered and covered with Turkey Rub the magnificent bird, then he was placed in the oven.  What was to be a somewhat experimental meal turned out to be a hit that received wonderful accolades.  What made it even more special is the fact that I LIKED cooking it.  Now, I cannot say for sure if I am willing to do it again.  I do not want to move too fast and make promises that I may not keep.  Being domestically inclined is one of my weak points, but I do what must be done anyway, you know, cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. 

When my daughter tasted the first bite of turkey and stuffing, her eyes became large, although she did not utter a word.  I asked her for her honest opinion and had to wait until she had finished chewing and swallowing her food.  She looked me in the eyes and said, “Mom, this is the best turkey I’ve ever had.  It’s better than Grandma’s.”   Well, imagine how great that made me feel.  She then went on to suggest that I make Thanksgiving dinner EVERY year as I thought to myself, “What have I done?!”.  Anyway, perhaps I will cook one more turkey for Christmas and call it day.  Good things should never be overdone.  

A lot of people like potatoes.  Some even love potatoes, like myself.  My love affair with potatoes began many years when I was just a wee thing and it has never let up.  If anything, my love of potatoes has only increased throughout the years.  It does not matter how potatoes are prepared, mashed, baked, fried, or scalloped, I truly enjoy eating them.  With that said, I will admit that I have perfected the art of cooking homemade french fries and amongst other dishes.  My potato peeler was my best friend in spud preparation until last night.  I was peeling the spuds after washing them, as usual, and smiling at the prospect of sinking my teeth into delicious french fries cooked with onions.   

Well, when I was in the middle of peeling a very large red spud, I suddenly felt the blade of the peeler slice through the tip of my left index finger.  I immediately dropped the peeler and rushed to the bathroom to see the extent of the damage.  After rinsing my finger I held it up for a closer look.  It’s amazing, but half of the tip and a small portion of the nail were cut.  See how I am sparing the bloody details?  The cut is slightly deep and will take some time to heal completely, but I have not had an injury like this since 1996 when I served on Mess Duty in Okinawa.  That time, I was cutting onions with a large butcher knife and ended up completely taking off the left side of the tip of my ring finger.  The knife went left when it should have gone straight down.  That wound healed very nicely and left minimal scarring.  

Needless to say, my finger is in some pain today, but is bandaged properly.  I am not too sure if I want to use the peeler again any time soon, but I will have to eventually as I cannot stay away from the potatoes too long.  I cannot wait for it to heal so I can type without slowing down, too.  Now, on to planning the route I will run in the morning.

For the past three days, I have been experiencing a nagging pain in the back of my right knee.  That is the knee I had surgery on 10 years ago and for some reason, the pain is exacerbated by sitting for long periods of time.  Another thing I have noticed, besides the pain, is some accompanying swelling.  This is more than likely the cause of the pain behind my knee.  Stretching and massaging the area mitigates the discomfort, but only temporarily.  I am quite sure this is the result of running the marathon, but I do not know why it is affecting me now.  It is almost like it was lying-in-wait until I was ready to start training again.  An ambush.  I am sitting here now and constantly shifting in my chair because movement while sitting helps a little. 

I understand perfectly that marathon running puts a lot of strain on the body and that the healing process can sometimes take longer than expected.  Up until three days ago, everything was feeling great and then this new pain showed itself.  I wish it would go back to where ever it came from.  Its presence is only telling me that I need to run a little and soon!  The only thing I can do between now and Thursday is continue to stretch the area and deal with the discomfort the best way I know how.  Did I mention that my knee issues get under my skin sometimes?   

I was supposed to run this weekend.  The trek I had planned was going to last for 20-30 minutes, just as a test.  This weekend was going to be “the” weekend for me to see where my body is in terms of healing and ability.  Unfortunately, I was not able to get around to it.  Since running the marathon, I have been feeling better with each passing week and now that I am ready for a short run, I have not had the time to do it.  This is where some frustration has been able to creep in.

When I was running on a regular basis, I felt and slept better.  My stress levels were lower than usual, even with the stuff I have going on every day.  Right now, I feel pretty good, but have noticed a slight increase in stress.  No, let me rephrase that.  I have noticed a slight increase in how I have been dealing with stress.  Lately, my patience has not been holding up as well as it did when I was running.  I am becoming easily irritated and do not like it.  Besides listening to my favorite music, running allows me to forget about everything.

It is interesting for me to note the changes I have been experiencing since running the marathon.  After being careful with walking and other daily activities, for the two weeks following the race, I began feeling a little withdrawn.  I am sure it was due to some hormonal changes that were taking place in my body as it fixed itself and adjusted to the strain I put it through on that day.  Now, I am feeling more like myself, but still needing to run.  With that said, I will use the Thanksgiving holiday to try my first run.  The two days off will give me a chance to assess my body and its limits.

In an effort to catch up on blogging, I stayed up way too late last night and into this morning knowing that I had to work today.  I figured since I had some energy left over from the easy day yesterday, I could swing it without any problems.  When I finally rested my head on my pillow, the time was 5:49AM this morning.  Surprisingly, I woke up at 8:38 this morning, although I felt quite groggy and wished to crawl back into bed.  I heard somewhere that the older you get, the less sleep you need.  I am beginning to think that was a lie.  I need all the Zzz’s I can catch and at least 7 hours of sleep a night to feel like myself.

Of course, it was not always this way as I used to have work/party marathons for three days straight when I was in my twenties.  Back then, my friends and I could literally work all day long for 10 hours, go home, shower, and dress for a night out on the town and go straight to work afterwards.  These days, staying up late is restricted only to the weekends and up to Saturdays mostly.  Sundays are needed for me to recuperate from the lack of proper sleep on Friday and Saturday night, but tonight will be different.  Once I have completed this post and another post on my other blog, I am heading straight to the bed to count sheep.