Spring!

Spring is here! It's about 50 degrees today, but it might as well be 80. I went running on campus when I got done teaching today. I only had to wear capri tights and a long sleeve technical t-shirt. It was fantastic! I think the rest of the week looks similar.

I got 5 miles in. It wasn't fast but it felt pretty good. The wind picked up at one point but I can't complain. It's the time of year where I pack my running bag in the morning and run from work in the afternoon. I like this routine. I look forward to running from my office, probably because it tends to be better than whatever else I would be doing if I stayed IN my office. It's a nice break. I usually come back after running, check my email, take care of a couple of things, and then head home.

I've been using my new Zune. Bill helped me to make a play list of songs I like, and that's pretty cool. It's bigger than the I-Pod shuffle, but that doesn't bother me. If anything, it will keep me from losing the thing. I know there's a lot that the Zune can do that I haven't figured out yet. I should probably learn more...

A few old and new photos

My easy run is not easy anymore

I just did a short run (3 miles) on the treadmill. I could have really run outside today, but my problem was that I didn't get my butt in gear. By the time I got the motivation to run, it was dark outside. How pathetic is that? Could I have been more lazy? We set the clocks ahead tonight, so that should allow me to run outside a little later in the day. Losing an hour of sleep isn't my favorite thing, but it really is nice to get home from work when it's still light out.

I've been doing my little PT routine with the right knee several times daily. I was even up during the night from 1:30 to 4:30 last night, and I did it again. The knee held up okay during the run, although I have to say I was WINDED. My easy run is no longer my easy run, I guess. Thanks to the kidney stones, I'm out of shape.

I will admit that I did a poor job of staying hydrated today, so maybe that was part of the issue. I also may have messed up yesterday. I ran 5 miles on a fairly empty stomach and then didn't eat for 2-3 (at least) hours after. That's not like me at all, and I know better. I'm wondering if I didn't refuel and suffered a little tonight because of it. Nonetheless, I got in the the run.

I'm hoping to get Murphy out running with me again soon. Maybe even tomorrow? His energy is sometimes bordering on behavioral issues, and I know that more exercise will help. He needs a job, and his job is that he's my running buddy. Of course, this is seasonal work for him. He is very well-behaved and focused when he runs, unlike Gus-Gus who has a conniption when bikers go by or Karl who has the cardiac fitness of a dead man. (I have a special place in my heart for Big Karl but he's not the active dog. You'd think he wouldn't fit into our family but somehow he does.)

Murphy gets in the zone and won't quit for anything. Maybe I see what I want to see, but I really do think he loves to run. I sometimes wish I could find a 1/2 marathon or other race that people could run with their dogs around here. Of course, our time would be limited by MY fitness, not Murphy's. I'm sure he could run 5-6 minute miles if I could keep up. When I had to do a lot of stop and go running/walking due to knee problems before surgery, I could tell how frustrating it was to him. I couldn't blame him. I was cramping his style. Hopefully this summer will be different!

I love Fridays!

I just ran 5 miles around campus. Not incredibly confident about the right knee. (Reminder: Surgery was on the left knee.) I had to stop and stretch quite a bit, and I had taken some Aleve before running. Even so, it was great to run around campus in the "warm" weather. (It is 43 degrees.) Students are scarce on this Friday afternoon, which is a nice change, not that I have anything against college students. It's really overcast but that didn't bother me. Just glad I didn't have to bundle up to be outside.

I'm icing the knee right now and hoping for the best. I didn't really have significant pain but some strange sensations, which make me nervous. Before the kidney stones, I was running lots of miles on the knees without major issues, so I know it can be done, even though I'm getting older and could stand to lose a couple of pounds. I have been wondering if losing some weight would help the knees out. I know it's not really realistic to expect to lose a lot, but....just a thought.

My new (replacement) Garmin is in action. I love the Garmin. It's such a fun toy. Kudos to the Garmin company for their customer service for getting me a refurbished one so quickly. I also have a new Zune that Bill got me for Valentine's Day. He loaded some music onto it already. I learned today that it appears he loaded on HIS music, but I can fix that. The gadget itself seems great. I need to learn to make some playlists on there for myself for running. I'm sure there's a way to do that.

I gotta go get the little boys (Gus-Gus and Murphy) from daycare. On Fridays they go to the K9 Playhouse in Waterloo. Our hope is that they come home tired and a little less annoying, especially Murphy, who has boundless beagle energy. At daycare, Murphy hangs out with his best friend Louie, who happens to be a therapy dog, and who Gus happens to despise. It's pretty funny (or maybe only funny to us, but that's okay, too).

Operation Back to Normal

After the whole kidney stone ordeal, I finally feel like things are getting back to normal. For one, I am running again. Yes, I've lost a lot of fitness after about 2 1/2 weeks off. A little discouraging. Last night I did 4 miles and tonight I did 3.25 with some speedwork. A ten minute mile seems a lot faster than it did 3 weeks ago, but I'll get back to where I was.

A little concerned about the IT bands. I'm actually more concerend about this than the loss of conditioning. I can train and get back that fitness, but not if my knee is hurt again. I've had some fairly significant pain on the outside of my right knee, so I'm trying to take it slow as I rebuild my speed. This means I may or may not do the Drake 1/2 Marathon in April. I'll probably make a decision within the next couple of weeks on that one. I didn't register for it yet, which is odd for me, so I'm at least not out any money if I opt out.

It sucks to lose my conditioning, but I'm just glad to be running again. I had been on a roll with my IT bands doing great before the kidney stones, so I do know it's possible for me to run relatively high mileage (like 25-30 miles a week) without significant problems. I went to see my wonderful no-nonsense chiropractor yesterday and she helped me out some. (Who ever thought I'd have positive things to say about a chiropractor? I should add that she's a runner as well.)

Another bright spot...it's getting warmer and the snow is melting. I am looking forward to some nice spring runs. I may start packing my clothes in the morning and running on campus in the afternoons. I'm also looking forward to next week, when I go see the urologist to find out what the kidney stones were made of. It's a little strange how excited I am about that.

A rough week

I am recovering from being hospitalized and having surgery to remove three kidney stones. Running is on hold, which is disappointing because I had been doing really well, but now I am just focusing on getting healthy. The pain from the stones is worse that anything I've felt before, and I guess that's typical of kidney stones. I've heard there's not much out there that's more painful. (I see lots of people online are debating whether trying to pass a kidney stone or hard labor is more painful.) At one point, just the pain was causing vomiting. That's when we headed back to the hospital.

So, after two trips to the ER (once to Sartori and once to Covenant), they admitted me to the hospital at about 11:30 pm last Monday. The urologist took a look at the CAT scan Tuesday morning, saw the stones, and scheduled me for surgery Tuesday night. He easily pulled one stone out but the other two crumbled, and then were tiny enough to pass in the next couple of days. I think the surgery took less than an hour. I'm sure the urologist has done hundreds of them.

I go back to the doc in a few weeks to see what the composition of my stones was. I'm interested in this--what were the stones made of? This will tell me a lot, hopefully, about how to prevent kidney stones in the future. Apparently, there is an 80% chance I will have kidney stones again, and a 50% chance I will have them in the next 5-10 years. If I can prevent this by changing my diet, I will. Many people get kidney stones due to dehydration, but I really am conscious of fluid intake.

The doctor is concerned because for some reason my ureter is very narrow at some point. He mentioned it could be because of scar tissue, but I don't know why I'd have scar tissue. I may be in for another procedure but will know more when I see the urologist again on March 19. I like the urologist, Dr. Mong of Waterloo, Iowa. He's got a good sense of humor. If they do want to do something to correct that narrowing, I hope it doesn't involve a stent (more later on the stent). I didn't ask the doctor a lot of questions about this narrowing deal because I was too concerned about the immediate pain of the stones, but I am anxious to learn more now. My kidney stones were about 2mm each (there were 3 of them) which is small enough for people to typically pass, but mine would not have passed without surgery due to the narrowing.

One of the worst parts of all of this was the stent that was inserted during surgery to hold my ureter open so stuff (including crumbled kidney stone pieces) could drain. I thought the stent was maybe 2-4 inches long, but when they pulled it out a few days later, it was actually over 2 feet long. It made sense that it was so painful and irritating when I saw the damn thing. I also had a little bit of an infection/fever due to the stent, but the doctor expected it to subside when the stent came out, and it did (although not fast enough for me).

I hope to run again in the next few days but I'm not sure how realistic that is. Today I walked from the parking lot to my office because I worked a couple of hours. I was exhausted. I'm still not walking "upright" and I move pretty slowly. Today is a lot better than yesterday though. I am still relying on pain meds but getting by on just a few Motrin. I'm also on antibioitics and some meds to make sure urination doesn't sting/burn too badly. Without getting too gory, there is still blood in my pee, but much less.

So I am on the road to recovery and just trying to be patient. The pain I have now is just an aching in my left kidney--which is where all of this started. The kidney itself has been a little swollen, and I think that should be resolved pretty soon. I've also slept much better the last couple of nights, which helps a lot. That's been with the assistance of Tylenol PM. I barely slept at all in the hospital. Averaged maybe 2 hours a night.

Here are some pics of different types of kidney stones. I found this interesting. Like a rock collection.

http://www.herringlab.com/photos/