Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Ain't no stopping me....

Watching me type is amusing right now as my right ring finger is splinted and my right middle finger is buddy taped to my index finger.  I wasn't paying attention the other day and tripped over the step going into the garage and dislocated my ring finger.

Badly.

It was one of those, if I don't look at it then it doesn't hurt injuries.  A couple of shots of lidocane and popping it back into the joint later in the ER, sprinkled with a liberal dose of comedy, and I was on my way back home to crash in boredom for a couple of days.  I tried to mitigate that with marching in place during commercials and a lot of food network, but I'm glad to be back at work today.

I saw the hand guy, who splinted me in a new manner and said I have to keep it straight for a month so hopefully the tendon does it's job and reattaches.  It better work because I don't want to have to go through surgery (even if he does fix the Red Sox hand injuries and has an office full of photos from famous golfers, football, lacrosse and hockey players).

The first question I asked: "Can I still spin?"

Hey let's get priorities straight here and one of them is not laying down in a lump of woe is me.  The minor ankle sprain that happened is that: minor.  I'll wear a wrap when I spin, but it's pretty much good at this point after a few days of rest.  Part of what's fueling me is the realization that there are people waking up with no right hand.  I still have mine, it's just a little out of joint (figuratively and literally).  Since I have a month of this nonsense, it is finally time to teach myself to write and eat left handed.  I was originally a leftie until that horrible nun in first grade kept whacking me with a ruler until I wrote right handed.  The PT at the school gave me a copy of the workbook the kids use to learn cursive and I will reteach myself.  My printing's pretty good (but slow and a bit shaky, as one kid noted).

He told me not an issue except for be careful how I grip the handlebars and such.

Tonight I'll try the elliptical.  If it's too much, I'll hop on the lifecycle.  No matter what, I won't let this stop me.  I got a 100 miles to ride and not a lot of time to train, so yeah, getting in a shape that isn't round is no longer an option - splinted fingers or not.

So I'll look silly typing, have shaking writing but it won't stop me.

Wednesday, January 02, 2013

Aging Realization

Last night I went to my spinning class only to find out it was cancelled.  Since I made my husband come with me, I decided on working out next to him on an elliptical.

He lasted 8 minutes, I lasted 35.

While he did leave the elliptical to walk on a treadmill until I was done, I felt a couple of small victories in: (a) not bailing totally and (b) not letting his boredom/discomfort/whatever force me to finish early.

I did sleep with my brace on last night but this morning, when I woke up hoping to tackle a flight or two at Harvard, my heel decided otherwise.  It was an aha! moment for me.  My aging body is making me choose what I do and when I do it as it will no longer do it all.

Right now my priority really is getting ready for this bike ride at the end of the summer.  While I didn't drop a verbal on Harvard today, I still feel like I bailed but I know it's because I can't do it all right now.  Perhaps soon I will be able to again and who knew that this stupid thing would last as long as it has.  But I will and it has.

Why is this bike ride more important than working out with November Project?  Because I am going to start raising money for a worthy cause: Juvenile Diabetes research.  When I miss an NP workout, I am disappointing myself.  If I miss this ride, I would be disappointing a lot more people.

I will go to spinning tonight.  It's an inconvenient time and not a class I would normally go to; however, it is what I need to do in order to build to the biking goal.  My heel will heal and I will be able to tackle Harvard Stadium and the hills before I know it.  Soon it won't be a choice and the two will meld like Mr. Spock with a giant space entity of pure energy.  Until then, I will reluctantly fork over $20 a month and go ride a Red Queen's race: racing faster and faster but remaining in place.

In the words of the great band Chumba Wumba: I get knocked down, but I get up again.  You're never gonna keep me down.