Plan B

I have worked my way through anger and denial and am (almost) fully ready to deal with my sore ribs. After running four times and experiencing increasing pain with each run, I am forced to admit that I'm hurt. Thus, I give you Plan B.

Plan B has three components:
  • B1--Go get the ribs X-rayed. If they are cracked at their two specifically bothersome pain points, I'll know to lay w-a-a-y off on the exercise so they can heal.
  • B2--Stop my "stinkin' thinkin'"--that is, be thankful that I'm still a very healthy person, someone who can walk tirelessly for miles and also pursue other forms of exercise for a while until I'm healed up enough to run again. This step includes scaling down my plan to run a marathon May 5 and acknowledging that I may end up doing "only" the half marathon or even "only" the 10-K.
  • B3--Have some fun loosely following Dr. Gary Small's Memory Prescription. This I am taking from Dr. Small's book, which lays out a 14-day program designed to "Keep Your Brain and Body Young." I'm getting some great menu ideas and also doing some perplexing memory exercises. And deep breathing, too (Ommmmm). Full disclosure: Dr. Small is on the faculty at UCLA, where my son the doctor has been studying for the last four-and-a-half years.
Wish me luck on Plan B. I'm sure it will beat Plan A, which consisted mainly of rigidity, annoyance, and general intransigence.

I was out walking and biking today in between the gusts of rain and wind, and it was exhilarating. Lovely! It made me see how selfish and boring I've been lately, whining about not being able to run. And me so blessed, alive and well in this miraculous world. The birds are rioting--they know it's spring, as do the peach trees blossoming with abandon in the rain-wet BART parking lot.

And before long--A's baseball! So will Matt Holliday provide the team with a much-needed "big bat"? Will Chavy really return to his old form? All much more fun to think about than a couple of cranky ribs.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Trying to Make Lemonade

Image
What am I meant to learn from the challenges being thrown at me these days? That I am strong. That I am loved. That life goes on and can be good. My favorite nephew congratulated me for making lemonade when I'd been handed lemons--not sure his belief about me is justified, but I deeply appreciate the notion. Plus, I have an actual lemon tree in front of the house, so I've been practicing my tangy-beverage making. My ribs have healed up well. I'd say I'm at about 95%. I'm glad my minor medical matter is clearing up so I can turn my energy to a more major one: Z is scheduled for big-time surgery on March 31. He is calm; I am calm. Aaaaaaack! Oops, I meant of course I'm serene. The procedure he faces, which involves patching up some crucial circulatory parts, is a common one, and the success rate is high. But still. Send good vibes our way, if you'd be so kind. In other matters, I did run 10 miles Saturday. The run itself went well--I went down to the Bay Trai
Read more

By the Numbers

Image
10.62 -- Number of miles run (per MapMyRun) 16 -- Number of Miniwheat biscuits consumed for pre-run breakfast 3 -- Number of red lights waited for 159 -- Number of days since hip injury 5.5 -- Number of backyards along trail being eaten alive by morning glories 2 -- Number of couples arguing as they walked along 1 -- Number of chocolate Clif Shots slurped on run 12 -- Number of dogs being walked 4 -- Number of songs playing in my head at various times 10 -- Number on a scale of 1 to 10 representing my happiness over being healed
Read more

Where's Elizabeth West?

Image
Elizabeth will be back someday, perhaps as the author of a best-selling novel. As part of a New Year's campaign to be more accountable, I've decided to abandon my nom de guerre for the purposes of this blog. Yep, Elaine is me--now you have the Full Monty . To borrow from Stephen Colbert , may this be the beginning of many posts of truthiness. As your reward for reading this post, here is the special gift of an image I captured today from one of my favorite webcams . Note that in the image the time is 9:13 am. I believe I've posted a Chita image previously (maybe a couple of years ago?) but I wanted to do it again. Chita is in Siberia. Chita is always cold and usually dark. Its citizens, who carry on their daily lives as if they are living someplace reasonable, are for me the embodiment of courage, so I love watching them lurch around as the camera updates the scene every eight seconds. As you enjoy our current chilly weather, just realize that if a Chita native came here t
Read more