Denouement

Marion's Onion Days gala-- I kept waking up each hour, terrified I would miss the chocolate pancakes.  

I am not posting this as a race report since I did not race it, or do anything like racing it.  It was my first participation in a race, though, since my hard AS flare up and diagnosis period.  It was a joyful day, and I was grateful to share it with some of my biggest supporters. 

Warmed up about a mile of walking, then walked the first 3 miles of the race, chatting with a couple from Payson who were pushing their 18 year old disabled son.  Our group of four were being "escorted" from behind by a police officer, only my second time being escorted by police :)  I warned them right before the three mile mark that I would be starting my run, and I did, and hit a rhythm after 1/2 mile or so, picked off some people I felt kind of sorry for passing, since they had been running 10-11 min miles, then I pass them at 8:00 pace.  I averaged 7:53 per mile, and got a 7:48, a new post-AS pr.  I tried to keep it an easy pace, but in all honesty it was a marathonish pace of tempo (breathing hard, but able to converse well still).  No pain until the very end, pain level of 1 for mile 3 until the last 1/4 mile and then right after race, pain rose to a 2.  I cheered on all runners I passed except for the very last one, and I am afraid I wasn't a very good sport about the man I passed in the last 25 yards, since he was a guy I decided to pass him but not the woman ahead of him, and there were red hot pink chicks cheering me on, and the discussion forum of men being motivated by the desire to not be chicked ran through my head, so I am afraid it worked in reverse in this case.  After some good conversation with running buddies, walked about a mile of cool down between getting my shirt and walking to Marions.

Wonderful breakfast party afterward, my husband Paul was there working the griddle like a pro (only he tried to sneak out some pancakes that were chocolate-chip-less, some of which I witnessed Marion chucking over the fence in disdain).  Good conversation with many of my friends.  You guys are the best!

Sleep in--then elliptical for 20 minutes, easier program that went up to level 5, occasional pain to 1 after elliptical.  Stretching

Later AM:  Walked 4 miles, then ran 2.5 (by course tool), wanted 2 miles and ran 18:15, which I just mapped and the course tool says is 2.5, which works out to 7:20 pace, so that can't be right, but the details don't really matter right now, but walked the rest of the way back (whole walk/run was 7.75, then shopping at Walmart.

I am thrilled my sins of commission over the weekend haven't tipped my scale too much.  Back to work. 

Pain 0-2, gradual increase, SI area 

4.18 miles walking total, 3.1 running total, 8:40ish pace. Walked 2 miles, then met up with Kellie, lots of stretching with Kellie and her Heidi posse, then we ran 2 miles, then I had to head back.   I felt sluggish due to low sleep.  I didn't get to bed until 11pm, hard time falling asleep, a phone call from my sister at midnight saying my mom (who had surgery yesterday) took a turn for the worse, then another call from my sister at 1am, saying that my mom stabilized, then my alarm went off at 5am.  I am pretty sure I slept a bit somewhere in there, but I have had better nights of sleep.

Will jump on elliptical soon. 

PM: hardest endurance elliptical workout, 30 min 

Pain 0 this morning - yeah!

Walked 4 miles, stretching after 1.7, then ran 2.06, then walked to finish up.  Saw MacK twice but I think she only recognized me the first time because the second time she threw me a bland good morning like an old bone to a mangy dog.

Went to rheumatologist yesterday, and he didn't give me a strong recommendation on what to do next, I have permission to start Embrel at will, but since my pain has been nil/low over the last week, perhaps my body was just getting used to the impact, and I'll be ok for a while on just Diclofenac.  He gave me a prescription to start a different NSAID if I continue to have issues/it gets worse too.  So I think I'll stay where I am, and if I continue to have SI pain and it gets slightly worse I'll go to the other NSAID, and if it gets consistently hurty I'll move to the Embrel.  The rheum. has a colleague in SLC who is an AS expert, and he said he was going to confer wih him since I am an unusual case.  Most AS patients are just hoping to be able to work and do daily functions, well my intentions are still to train for OTQ, so my definition of full functionality is more demanding.  I also had blood drawn to see how my body's handling my training so far (he's looking at inflammation markers in the blood).  When I get my blood work back I'll see if he remembered to call the SLC doc and I'll remind him to do so.  The real crux of the matter is what is the tipping point for going to Embrel, and how fast to ramp up training.

 Zero pain throughout! 

All indoor workout: 

Walked 2, stretching, walked another .25

Ran 2 miles, starting at 6.8 mph and bumping it up .1 every 1/4 mile for two miles.  Ended up at 7.5, felt good!  I usually seem to be more achy on the treadmill because it is so dang boring there's nothing to do besides ponder the injury possibilities. Despite this tendency, all was well today.

Walked another .25.

30 min elliptical workout. 

Zero pain again, I could get used to this :D 

Slept in, ahhh!  But first of all, last night we went on a date and went to Arby's and spent $6.22 on dinner, 5 for $5 and then Paul got a soda.  Sweet!

Anyway, met Marion at 7am, after I walked one mile.  Then we did a 4.22 loop with me walking and her mostly running, then we stopped at her place, we witnessed her kids having lollipops for breakfast, I changed shoes, had about 8 oz of old gatorade (which I brought) and Marion had a peach, stretching, then back out for that loop again, and I started running at the Payson Onion Days 5k start, so I could see splits: 8:48, 8:29, 8:31, 25:48 total, ave pace 8:36.  A great way to start the day, despite Marion giving me the business about how I should delay going on Embrel (which I will, unless I get cronic running pain above a reasonable threshold) and about weighing myself before my workouts so that I don't delay fueling.  I gave her the business about her Mi Ranchito habit, so it's all good :)  Love ya Marion! 

For those of y'all who can't get enough of the pig wrestling, Marion told me there was a story and video on the daily herald website.  Well I found it and here it is http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/south/payson/article_d8240146-dc39-5e97-bbf1-36ea21941be7.html