Surgery Date

SURGERY DATE-- NOVEMBER 29,2010

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Walking in Memphis (11 months)

I am at the 11 months mark now.  Not much to post, but I will mention the walking plan that I referred to a few posts ago.


Walking around my house is easy, getting from my car to a store and walking around is fine, small little jaunts are no big deal.  However, it is ridiculous how hard it is for me to do "endurance" walking.  By endurance, I mean a nonstop 5 minute walk.  Very stupid how hard that was for me!  Then I increased to 10 minutes, and I am now up to a whopping 15 minute walk.  You would think I was running a marathon.  My legs ache, my back aches, the longer I go, the more embarrassing it gets because I slow down even more than the tortoise pace with which I began.  Then afterwards, I might as well have spent a rigorous hour at physical therapy because my muscles are tight and hurt for hours!  Last week I walked 15 minutes 4 days per week, and I am dreading increasing that to 5 days this week. (Plus this is taking me away from my bike which I love, but I cannot do both on the same day.)  Actually I guess I am in marathon training in preparation for my Disney World trip in 43 days.


Nonetheless, as much as I dislike it, I can tell that I am getting stronger, a tad bit faster, and I can go farther before I start wishing it was all over.  I was told that rehab would be really hard, and that is no lie.

Friday, October 14, 2011

I think I can, I think I can....(10 1/2 months)

www.artie.com


Woohoo!  Today I made it up a hill in my neighborhood on my bicycle. This same hill has turned me around on every other occasion.  Part of the reason I was able to do it is that I did not have to come to a complete stop at the intersection, so I had more momentum to attack.  I rode to Graham which has been a mini goal for me.  By then I was pretty tired and knew I still had the return trip to make.  But being the naturally sluggardly person that I am, I knew that since the old railroad beds that make up the Greenline would be straight and flat, I returned on a short section of the Greenline! (Graham to Waring)  It was exhilarating!!  It reminded me so much of riding bike paths in Germany with my son where we would see in backyards along the path.  (Only in Germany, those backyards were fully exposed and you could watch families cooking out and playing, etc. ) I thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of being out in a forest, yet hearing the sounds of the city.


I am not counting this as meeting my 12 month goal.  Doing a significant portion of the Greenline is my ultimate goal.