Running: FAIL

Uhhhhh-ahhhhh....big, unhappy sigh.  Running has been put on hold.  I was doing great.  I was increasing the total amount of running, the distance, and the length of each running segment.  And then....my knees reminded me that I'm not young and I'm no light-weight right now.  In fact, my knees have been in pain ever since.  I'm popping Ibuprofen like it's skittles.  Not good.  I'm hobbling up and down the stairs.  Even worse.  And I've had to take a week off of exercising.  Really, really, really bad!  You know what though?  I'm not giving up and I think my body needed the break.  Badly needed the break.  And the break gave me time to assess how I'm doing in a number of ways and think deeply about how I want to go forward.  I've come to a few decisions about things...

Exercise:
Okay, I'm moving forward.  I'm going to try to include running in my exercise occassionally, but I'm not going to concentrate so much on just conquering running.  In my attempt to conquer running, I set aside a lot of my other training activities.  Luckily, it only took me two weeks to figure out what an awful move that was.  So, tomorrow, I head back to the strength-training and high-intensity cardio.  I'm going to go back to beefing up my muscles and giving my heart a good, healthy workout.  If I have enough energy left after all that, I might try to run a mile.  But I'm going to try hard to not let myself feel bad if I don't get the run in.  On the other days, I'm going to do a lower-intensity workout on the elliptical.  I'm not leaving the running behind completely, but I'm going to set my determination for it aside for a little bit.  Don't get me wrong though....eventually, in time, I WILL make running "my bitch".  And that's a promise!

Anatomy:
I got a referall from my regular doctor.  I'm lucky enough to have a general practice doctor who is phenomenal!  She listens to me and actually takes me seriously, which seems to be a rare thing from what I can tell.  She's referred me to a doctor who specializes in the female urinary tract, etc.  I took her first available appointment and now, will just have to wait until mid-July to get further in my quest for answers and a solution to the whole "leaking" thing.  I'm moving forward though, and that's a great feeling!

Mental and Physical Health:
This is the tough one and it goes back to that wonderful general practice doctor of mine.  I've been insisting for years that I have an underactive thyroid.  I have a lot of the symptoms.  I'm tired.  All. The. Time!  I have no energy.  No matter how much sleep I get, I'm still tired.  I don't sleep well.  It's like a snowball that just keeps rolling, gathering speed and adding in more problems as it goes.  I keep bugging my doctor about the thyroid thing, just hoping and seeking an answer.  Well, I finally have one.  And, fortunately, it doesn't require any new pills and treatments.  In fact, there's one quick and easy fix for it.  And I'm bringing all of it up here because, chances are, if you're reading my blog, you probably deal with this very same problem!  Adrenal fatigue is the official name of it.  Here's the deal....stress wakes up a portion of your brain that then releases cortisol and other stress hormones.  If you stay in a stressed state for too long, that stress part of the brain never goes back to sleep.  It stays active and keeps on sending out those hormones.  According to my doctor, studies have shown that individuals with chronic illness have a higher rate of developing adrenal fatigue.  It's no wonder, right?  Especially if it's your little child who has the chronic illness.  So, the question becomes, how do we get that part of our brain to turn off?  Well, it's very, very simple.  Meditation.  Twenty minutes of sitting in a comfortable position and concentrating on your breath.  Incredible!  Really, that's all you have to do to regain your energy and lead a more normal life!  Isn't that amazing?  So, for the next few weeks, I'm going to practice meditation and see if it'll help bring me back to normal!

Alright, off to do that meditation before I head to bed for the night.  But before I go.....have you registered yet?

Virtual 5K: Race to Cure Diabetes