Can versus Allow - the lessons my immunocompromised body teach me

October 15, 2018 - October 21, 2018

Monday (5) - Not quite as peppy as Friday, an excellent run.  A little bit of rain in the beginning.  Felt good to run around the UCONN Avery Point campus.  Guess I accomplished my goal of 5 mile runs far earlier than I expected.  I'll stick with the 3:30 of running for another week and then up that to 4:00.  Underneath it, all my knees are still my knees and I need to be kind to them.

For Dave and Jax

Tuesday (4.1) - Walk at lunch, the air was cool and crisp and the sun was bright, all that felt super nice.  I didn't feel so conspicuous walking for the first time in a while.   Dave took Jax to the beach, they seem to have resolved their differences.  Jax decided to crawl up on my chair with me so he could have some attention.  He is a goofball and definitely perks up with the cool and dry weather.

Haaaahaaaahaaaa

Wednesday (5.7)  -  The fire is on, Jax was happy to curl up in Gus' bed and enjoy soaking up the heat.  Funny for a dog who hates the heat he LOVES the fire.   Not a flattering picture of him, but I don't think he cares.

Happy for a fire.

Hills with Ro was fun, especially fun to be able to almost talk in complete sentences while power walking UP the hills!

Thursday (3.7) - Not a running day but I didn't have enough layers to only walk.   I ran a bit to warm up it felt good to be outside and in the fresh air and sunshine. My hands froze and it was only mid 40's. I should know better.  They burned when they warmed up, it's only October!!

Boooorreeeeddddddd

Friday (3.1) - Hike with Jax.  I knew I wasn't going to be able to run with schedule conflicts.  While this bummed me out not to get in a second 5-mile run. I'm happy I got in one good one!

Burlingame North

My perspective has changed so much over the years.  I was thinking about that when Jax and I were in the woods.  I'm still uber bummed he isn't the great conversationalist of Giz and Gus, they seemed to enjoy my stream of consciousness jibber jabbering and would come to check in with me from time to time or at least look interested. Jax is visibly annoyed with my stream of consciousness jibber jabbering, and don't pull out the phone to take a picture or OMG talk on it if Dave calls.  So I have to think about these things and not vocalize them.  Oh well...  Guess that is what this is for, except I'm not in the woods having all these brilliant thoughts I'm in the house not having brilliant thoughts and can't remember what I was thinking about in the woods.  Jax is snoring on the couch, of course, he is.

Saturday (7.7 & 2.8) - The day started kind of depressing, a second pot of coffee depressing.  By the time it brewed the sun came out!  Yeah!   I went for a gravel/trail ride in Arcadia.  I really didn't have a plan, I knew some of the roads and knew the GPS was easily accessible so I figured I'd see where my wheels took me.  Trail riding requires thought, you can't just pedal you have to think about what to do next.  It is a great way to get out of my own head, even on the 'easy' gravel stuff.  After a few miles of  'easy' getting on to the single track was less scary.  I need to warm up, I guess.  It was nice to be completely absorbed in the trail and where to steer and what to aim for, versus what to avoid.  I go where I look so looking at trouble, guess what gets me into trouble!  It was fun to do one of the more difficult trails without Dave telling me what to look out for.  I'd get myself in a jam and then get myself out of it.  Really it was nice to be outside, in the fresh air and sunshine and pedal.

Barney on the trail in Arcadia.

Jax and I went to Riverwood, the Boy Scouts were there doing some camp maintenance, I had to direct Jax away from that and on to the trails.  He did perk up when we were heading back towards the camp and he knew there were people there when we left.  He got out for an hour and got some exercise, and some new smells and some exploring.  It really is weird having just one and I'm still not used to how independent he is, I probably never will get used to that.  But when he needs someone to do something for him he for sure lets one of us know.

Very serious.
Spud in the background.

Sunday (6) -  I decided to tackle Green Fall Pond again, this time from the pond and not the Narragansett Trail (the one where we needed to cross a stream).  This worked out well just going around the pond, lots of rocks and roots and fun things for Jax to explore.  We did have to cross a bridge, not something Jax enjoys, they really freak him out.  The oddest things freak him out as well, like the cement cylinder in the trail.  He wasn't so sure about that.  I coaxed him over the bridge and didn't have to carry him, phew. 

The scary bridge.

That was less than 2 miles, so I thought we'd explore Carter Preserve.  I've ridden by it on my bike a number of times and didn't know a thing about it so it would be new to both of us.  I figured like most of the Nature Conservancy preserves it would be small so I didn't really study the trail map or look at distances.   Whoops!  We logged over 4 miles in there.  Easy trails but still after scrambling over rocks for two miles at Green Fall Pond Jax was going to be tired, mission accomplished!

What is that thing in the trail? -- Jax

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All in all not as exciting a week as last week.  I'm still fretting over the scale and my puffy face, but I'll take feeling better over a couple extra lbs.

Funny how two weeks ago I finally came to terms with my health and fitness and the next week WAZOWIEEEE steroids changed everything.  I wonder, if I had known the impact would I have asked for them for the Mount Washington Century?  I feel like I could conquer it now...    Guess this is a good barometer for what I CAN do versus what my body will ALLOW me to do.   I'm feeling a lot less like a failure and a disappointment this week, and I believe that will continue because I have learned some very valuable lessons.  As GH says "Should make you appreciate how tough you've been when not feeling well!" 


Knitting:

It isn't easy to take a picture of cables...  The color is a dark plum.

It is an interesting twist cable pattern.  Really hard to capture.

This is the back and the sides knit as one piece.  On either side above the ribbing are the pocket holes.

Books:

"Pachinko"
by Min Jin Lee

Status:  Finished

Historical fiction about a Korean girl coming of age, getting married and living in Japan, facing the discrimination of not being Japanese.

"The Curiosity"
by Stephan P. Kiernan

Status:  In progress

I downloaded this as an available now.  Little bit "Time Travelers Wife" little bit science fiction.  Told from several points of view about the reanimation of a man frozen in an iceberg.  I'm rather enjoying this one!

"The Witches of New York"
by Ami McKay

Status: In Progress

Interesting, unfortunately, it amplifies my everyday frustrations dealing with misogynists.  Intelligent perceptive women are not witches nor are they evil.  We really haven't moved forward as a society in so many ways.

Sincerly,
Beth, who really can call herself one tough bitch.