Better to Laugh

I was strolling through Super Target last week and stopped in my tracks. There, on the shelf at the checkout, sat Quaker Quisp cereal! I haven’t had Quisp’s sweet, corn goodness since the 70s. I grabbed a box, even though there is nothing nutritionally positive about it whatsoever (high in sodium and sugar, virtually no vitamins, minerals or fiber). Once I got home, I poured a bowl, added milk, and tasted my childhood. How sweet! The crunch, the taste, the smell, all transported me back to a time long ago. I will not feel guilty about eating those empty calories; it is perfectly acceptable to indulge once in a great while, and I think waiting 30 years fits that bill. What food would you like to eat from your childhood that is missing from the grocery shelves?

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 After the huge disappointment of hurting my foot last week, I am slowly recovering. Baby steps are definitely not just for babies; healing is quite an exercise in patience! It also requires some creativity.

Last week I limped around and did as much as I could around the house, taking a lot of breaks to elevate my foot. Since I am also rehabilitating my shoulder, swimming for exercise was not a choice. Every night I iced my foot, which felt really good, actually. I pretended I was at the spa getting pampered; it was more fun than thinking about my hurt foot. 

As my last post stated, I was not able to run in our church’s 5K on Saturday morning. Sunday morning my foot was still sending out shock waves if I bent it too far. Sunday afternoon we celebrated Father’s Day at my mom and dad’s. Half of the group got into the pool and were having a wonderful time. I couldn’t stand it; I had to get into the water. I used a side stoke move with my arms and right away felt pain in my shoulder. I then tried dog paddling, which worked. Talk about being humbled, reduced from swimming 1200 yards free-style to dog paddling. Sheesh. We started playing water dodgeball; I felt a twinge in my shoulder again as I wrestled my husband in the water for the ball. I figured I had better back off before I really tweaked something. Then, a miracle! I dried off and got dressed. I was walking around and realized: I am walking normally and my foot doesn’t hurt! I guess the water therapy worked. I didn’t go out and run a few miles, but I held out hope that things might be getting better.

Today, a week after my injury, I ran/walked a half mile (one-tenth run, one-tenth walk). I could feel a little burning, but nothing extreme. Then, I went swimming for 15 minutes. I proudly swam with my kickboard, knowing that things are getting better.

I still have a lot of baby steps to go, but today I felt like a toddler. Hopefully, I will soon feel like a teenager (minus the acne and mood swings).

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Our church ran their third annual 5K today, about 25 people participated on this damp morning. I had to sit out due to my injured foot; it was so hard to just watch others do what I love. The real kicker? I could have won the female division at my 5K pace, by about 90 seconds (a lot of time in the arena of racing). I know deep down that I run for reasons other than a prize, and the race was really small, but just once it would have been nice to come in first.  No matter, I just want to heal so that I can hit the ground running once again. Lungs full. Heart pounding. Pores sweating. Ahhhh…there’s nothin’ like it!

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Tuesday morning was glorious! In fact, this has been the best week for running by far, perfect temperatures and no humidity. Unfortunately, I cannot run. As I ran Tuesday morning, enjoying the beautiful weather, my foot suddenly felt like it had exploded at 2.25 miles. No warning. No twinge. I couldn’t run another step. All winter neither snow nor ice could keep me from running. Now, on a beautiful morning, I could not run. Ironic…I hate irony. I laboriously limped the 1.5 miles home. I felt frustrated, angry. My dreamy running day had turned into an injury nightmare.

When my husband called, I told him I possibly had broken my foot. My voice cracked as I uttered, “I might not be able to run the rest of the summer.” Saying it out loud made it seem too real. I almost cried, but I stopped myself; crying won’t fix my foot. So, I hobbled to the orthopedic immediate care and got it x-rayed. They didn’t think there were any fractures. They advised taking a 10 pound boot and calling them in two weeks. I made it out the door wearing the boot and promptly took it off as I waited for my husband to bring the truck around. My husband had that ‘oh brother’ look on his face, that ‘we just spent how much for that stupid boot you are not going to wear’ look. Hopefully I invested in a boot I will never need, kind of like buying car insurance. This is irony in my favor.  

After icing the heck out of it and taking ibuprofen, each day there is a little improvement. I don’t know when I will run again, but I pray it isn’t too long. Running is a part of my soul. It cleanses my lungs, clears my brain, and lifts my spirits. Funny, I could never understand the attraction running held for others until I started running, now I look forward to it and even crave it.

But, I refuse to let my injury dampen my spirits. Others have come back from injury, and I will, too. I will focus on something else as I heal, like enjoying the nuances of this beautiful weather. I can still let feel the breeze on my face, inhale the freshness, and let the sun warm my skin; I will just have to do it at a much slower pace, at least for a while.

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I love protein! And unlike broccoli, onions, etc., it loves me back. Okay, with the exception of beans and peanuts, which are good sources protein; they do not love me back. My family doesn’t appreciate that they do not love me, either. 

I love many forms of protein: Greek yogurt, cheese, milk, almonds, browned hamburger with cottage cheese, fish, chicken (white meat), pork (the other white meat), Kashi’s Go Lean Crunch in my Greek yogurt, etc. Did you know chocolate milk is recommended as a recovery drink after a hard workout? It has a good balance of carbs and protein. Awesome, right?!

So, while carbohydrates get a lot press, and are important in a balanced diet, I just have to give protein the spotlight. It does a body good!

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