So much to catch up on

Posted on August 20, 2023 by Raven

I debated on resurrecting this old blog, to start posting the new happenings in my life, or starting fresh with a new one. It’s been years since I posted any content. With the creation of social media, blogging just didn’t seem necessary anymore. Blogging now is the old school way to publish the goings-on and happenings in one’s life, like sending word via carrier pigeons, or US Postal Service.

But here we are, and here I go, so settle in for as fast a recap as possible of the past, and an update of the present.

Yes, I still run. I still LOVE running. I went from road to trail running, and got to see a lot of nature that was missed by pounding the pavement on the city streets. However after rolling my ankle one too many times, due to clipping my foot on evil roots and trail rocks, I took a break from the outside. I dove into the world of Peloton, and bought a bike. The content hooked me in enough to splurge on one of their big ass chunky slat-belted treadmills. I LOVE it!

Normally I am either on that Tread or the Bike every day. I take a day or two off if I feel the need, but these things are my jam, and keep the daily work stress from eating me alive.

I lost my best boy/running buddy Ringo a little over a year ago, and it still kicks me in the chest… HARD. He was my soul pup, and kept me mentally alive more than he will ever know. Cancer is a mother fucker, and I’m seeing this more and more the case in my life.

In 2019 I got married, moved from my home of 20 years to a house WITH A POOL. I mean this is Texas and in the summer it is hell on earth, so you need a pool to endure this ridiculous heat. We host pool parties and have friends over from the old neighborhood. It’s a fun place, but we are still in Texas….. which has questionable values, leadership, and beliefs. I really wish it were better here for everyone, but that’s a frustrating topic I care to not dive into.

I started a career with a company that truly keeps me on my toes. IT is ever evolving, at a hellaciously rapid pace, and at times it’s hard to find the minutes to learn the newest of the newest that was new until this other new thing emerged. It’s crazy.

I’m coming up on my double-nickels birthday in a couple of months. Fucking hell. When did I age? No… not when did I get old, because I don’t believe that I am a version of old. I am an advanced version of “well schooled through life’s experiences”.

Bourbon has become a hobby. Yes BOURBON. My wife and I even made a vacation out of it, by spending over a week on the road through Tennessee and Kentucky , to see every distillery we could. It was a great time. However the number of bottles we have obtained and purchased through the past two years is astonishing and a bit over-the-top. FOMO lives in the whiskey world, and it swallows people up. We are getting comfortable with saying no to buying a new or sought-after bottle. There is also the fact that we have no more room to house any more. Our liquor cabinet casts a hell of a shadow on any bar we pay to drink at. In fact going into a bar now for me, is disappointing. I could drink better at home, but also we do need to get out of the house some times.

We survived Covid. The stay-at-home life, changed a lot of things. It made me less likely to want to go out, and it gave me the opportunity to be here to care for two of my pups who became seriously ill (one made it, and one didn’t), and to become 100% remote with my career. I did eventually catch Covid twice. Both times were a unique experience. My sense of smell and taste have never been the same. I didn’t lose either when sick, but they are a little more muted after recovering. This makes it challenging to pick out the different nuances from various whiskeys. My palette is shit, but I can at least know what tastes good to me and what I will never drink again.

My health has been super great and then fucking awful at times. Besides the Covid bullshit, I have come up against weird autoimmune issues that disappear out of the blue, the removal of reproductive things and subsequent hormonal wars, severe and painful spinal issues in my lumbar which keeps me in physical therapy every week, with a sprinkle of hypothyroidism which ballooned my weight up and made me feel like a slug. I’ve wrangled all that shit in, and have been feeling like a champ this year.

It’s been a wild ride for sure. I cannot believe that it has been a decade since I wrote here!

Hello again!

Sunday Run at White Rock Lake, with my boy Ringo

Image

Sunday Run at White Rock Lake, with my boy Ringo

Sunday Run at White Rock

Ringo is just the perfect little running partner. He loves to go on my long weekend runs, and gets EXTREMELY upset if I have to leave him at home to do a non-dog friendly event.

By the time we got back in the Jeep, he was ready to crash.

One pooped pup

Supraspinatus-fragilistic-expialadocious

Posted on February 16, 2013 by Raven

Even though the sound of it…. ah well forget it; it sucks no matter what.

About two weeks ago I started having pain in my right shoulder. At the time I thought that I slept wrong, so I continued to work out and carry my heavy-ass messenger bag. Little did I know but the combination of a couple of those factors, would lead to where I am now; dealing with a very painful shoulder injury and sidelined from my new love of CrossFit.

I went to my go-to sports medicine facility and had my doc check it out. He ran x-rays, and did a mobility exam. After the exam he concluded that I had rotator tendonitis. I was given a cortisone injection – that needle was scary looking, and then sent to physical therapy and given a list of exercises. If after a few weeks, if there was no improvement, the next step would be to get a dye contrast MRI.

A few days later I felt zero pain. I was able to move my arm around without any issues. I still had a few days of restricted use, so I focused on lower body workouts. One of those days I even ran my first race of 2013; the Dash for the Beads. It’s a fun costume run that is held in our area of Oak Cliff, and draws in a great crowd. Ringo and I dressed up and ran this hilly route, and we even won the costume contest. Yes that is a wig.

Friends running too!

As we ran, I blew a police whistle and yelled, “Stop that thief!!”

Cops and robbers on the loose!

The shoulder pain stayed away until Tuesday night. I had to stop by the store, and took my big messenger with me. I switched to carrying it on my left shoulder, to give the right one a break while healing. Halfway through my shopping trip, with the strap continuously slipping off of my shoulder, I switched to my right one. It took only 15 minutes for the damage to be done.

Damn.

That night my shoulder started to ache. The next morning the feeling with still there a little, but I went ahead and did my CrossFit workout. I was clear to workout as of Monday, so by waiting until Wednesday I figured it would be ok, even with the slight achiness. I stuck with lighter weights when it came to anything with the shoulder. I stayed away from shoulder stuff for the most part, and if I did any it was with a lighter weight. I did do some 20 pound DB Snatches, which was probably risky, but I really focused on not using my arm as the force of the lift. The shrugging of the weight was just enough to give my shoulder a fit, it seems.

Damn.

The next day I felt pretty crappy. The achiness kept getting worse. My doc was concerned enough to go ahead to and push to get an MRI, and put me on Naproxen – a prescription anti-inflammatory. Until further notice I am not doing CrossFit, and will focus on running and lower body workouts. I saw my chiropractor to get a second opinion, and he agreed that I needed the MRI. The diagnosis was confirmed – Supraspinatus Tendonitis and a case of Shoulder Impingement.

New Journey!

Posted on February 2, 2013 by Raven

Looking back at the road I have traveled the past two or so years, it became evident that the next step in my wellness journey would be to start getting certified as a personal trainer. Seems pretty much a natural transition!

So here we go! I’m studying to get my NASM CPT cert! So far chapter one is done. Studying is not my forte, and I really wish that I had a stash of Ritalin. Since I don’t, I’m going to have to rely on hammering the information over and over, into my skull until it sticks. I will do this!

Squirrel!

Tap Tap …. Is This Thing Still On???

Posted on November 4, 2012 by Raven

So here we are… yep. I slacked off SO badly on my blogging. I have sat here each day and tried to figure out a way to start back again, but to do so without a recap of things, would be a LOT of writing……

I took time off of running long distances, to change gears and to try another type of workout. My job offered us all a chance to take CrossFit classes back in April. I had not really done this type of workout before, but at the time I figured that the cross-training would be a good way for me to get stronger. Even though I lost all of that weight, and ran a Marathon, I found myself with a skinny body, without much muscle and strength. Sure I could run for days, but ask me to do a pushup and I would barely be able to get myself off of the floor. I was tired of being a skinny/fat runner!

Skinny/fat?

I did two things last year in my training for the White Rock Marathon; I focused all of my attention on running and piling on the miles, and I changed my diet to a very strict Vegan diet. For a while my eating seemed to work okay for me, but I soon became fatigued and worn down. At first I thought that it was the rigorous training that was the cause, but when I stopped my long distance training, I still felt like I was dragging myself to get through the day. I also notice that I was losing mental focus. I would go into a fog more easily, have a harder time concentrating, and would forget things more frequently. It was downright scary! I watched as my lean body started to become soft and squishy. My waistline was having to be crammed into my jeans. It was gross!

Now I cannot blame those results on being vegan, just as much as I cannot blame the endurance training. It could have been a combination of both. After visiting my doctor and having blood tests run, she advised me to get off of the Vegan diet, and start getting animal protein back into my system. I was just not able to absorb the protein, thus I was getting more fatigued as time went by. It was also discovered that my hemoglobin levels were low, as well as my vitamin D levels. In fact my vitamin D levels were EXTREMELY low. After all of the testing and the consultation, I was convinced that I needed to suck it up and start eating meat again.

For my own situation, was a good decision. My energy returned, as well as my mental clarity. I have also had much greater success in putting on muscle. Is this the solution for everyone? No. My situation could be unique; some may flourish with a vegan diet. I just know how my own body was effected, and I chose to listen to my body, and do what was best for it. That is the best lesson for any eating or workout plan….listen to what your body is telling you!