Doctor's Orders

Not many things elevated my spirits since my return from D.C., but here are a couple:



 


New lotus plants throwing outrageously gorgeous blooms.

 



Tommy is walking more each day -- lameness issue resolving nicely.

 While in D.C., the pain in my foot with plantar fasciitis worsened, but I ignored it.  After my tumble in WV, I could barely walk.  Thus making the following week of go-go-go 16 hour work days almost unbearable.

Quick aside...



A reader advised me to get an Otterbox for my Smartphone.  Has saved its life a few more times since WV.   $20 on Amazon versus $45 in store.

  I had 17 houses and apartments to clean in between student tenants, after my regular 50 hour work week.  The sharp pain in my foot made me so angry that it helped keep me fired up to finish my jobs.  Sunday night at 2 AM, I handed in the last of my keys and invoices.
Dad -- start packing!  We're going to Utah this Fall.  65 hours of extra work will pay for 2 weeks of Jamie-style budget travel, all-inclusive:  fuel (Hyundai gas sipper), food (BYO or grocery store), campsites, admissions to parks and sites.  And no, El Cheapo doesn't usually buy souvenirs.
The motel taken during the D.C. trip was a necessary splurge. The secret service wouldn't allow me to pitch a tent on the White House lawn.

Over a week since returning to Auburn and two medical opinions later, here's the news.
Blood work shows that I'm entering menopause-hood.



Happy Days at 40.





Jamie, now at 41.

 Time to start popping Calcium tablets like Tic Tacs and wallowing in a vat of moisturizer every day to avoid looking like wilted celery at 65!

The right hip does indeed have arthritis setting in, but it's still mild.  The shooting pains down my leg are due to hip piriformis, basically a muscle pinching of the sciatic nerve. 
The good:  not advanced arthritis.
The bad:  physiotherapy exercises.

The left foot has plantar fasciitis (duh, really?), a sprained arch from the pirouette in WV and a fractured metatarsal (bone on top of foot connecting to 2nd toe). 



My new companion for 6 weeks.

 The good: Reprieve from pain and I can bear weight on my leg again.
The bad:  No running for 6 weeks. (I heal quickly, I predict 4!)

Let's just say that I've been lower than a snake's belly in a wagon rut for near two weeks.  To add insult to injury, instead of having a darn good cry and getting over it, I drowned my sorrows in pesto pasta night after night...more junk in the trunk doesn't help the morale.

So, I came up with a new agenda to keep me busy for 6 weeks:  I joined a gym and kicked the caffeine habit entirely.  That includes chocolate.  It's not that I enjoy torturing myself -- I was raised Catholic, self-depravation is instinctive.
Four years ago, I was given a stern ultimatum by my cardiologist.  So, I gave up the alcohol, the 52 weeks per year of 80 hour work with no holidays and I started running.  But, I said that you'd have to wrench my coffee mug out of my cold dead hands. 
We all have a sense of entitlement to second,even third or fourth chances.  But, how do you know if you've used up your last chance?
With diabetes on both sides of my family, I know to avoid anything that trigger a high glycemic response if I don't want to develop Type II.  Unfortunately this includes:  alcohol, sweets (chocolate, phooey), artificial sweeteners, caffeine, to name a few. 
The good:  I love carob.
The bad:  Convenience stores don't stock carob bars beside the KitKats.

After the pity party, I reminded myself of people who face real problems, not temporary issues.
Enter my childhood hero:  Terry Fox.

   

After losing his leg to osteosarcoma, the 22 year old Canadian started to run across Canada to raise awareness and funds for cancer research.  And this was no modern graphite limb.  This prosthetic limb caused cysts and sores and forced him to adopt a a three beat hop to compensate.
June 1980, he arrived to Ottawa.  As a 9 year old, I couldn't have told you why I was so mesmerized by him.  Now I can.  He embodied hope and courage.

He didn't get a second chance.  He had to stop running before crossing into Manitoba because the cancer had spread to his lungs.  143 days, 3340 miles, averaging a marathon (26 miles) per day.  He raised millions for cancer research and his foundation is still going strong to this day.  He fought lung cancer for 9 months before succumbing.



His statue has been moved to face Parliament Hill, but originally it stood on Colonel By Drive.


I passed his statue every day on my way to school in downtown Ottawa. I preferred to bike, skate the Canal or ski the riverside park rather than make the 10 mile trek by city bus.  Due to my high school's status as a magnet school, we had no school bus service.  Ninth graders had to ride the transit system.  Before the bus expressways were built, it could easily take 1-1/2 hours each way.  Being trapped indoors and confined to a seat was sufferable for 7 hours of class, but no more.  Taking the bus was always worse that skating the Canal, no matter if it was pre-dawn and bitterly cold.

Any day outside is better than a day inside.

 
So it is that I find myself nestled in the mountains of North Carolina on a Sunday evening waiting for the monsoon rain to lighten up before driving back to Alabama. No rush, I can wait!  I have this great cleaning gig up here, whereby a weekend stay is bartered for cleaning or whatever else I can find to do.  This trip had been planned for a month, but I almost cancelled on Friday after receiving my boot cast.  Not only could I not run all the trails I had lined up, but driving a stick shift is tricky with the Frankenstein foot...especially on these switchback mountain roads!
I love Maine, Minnesota, the Ozarks in Arkansas, but I'm hopelessly smitten by the forests of Western NC.



Ellicott owns my heart.

 As I was stuck walking the trails, I brought Jinx along.



Yet to be identified cool flower.


Jinx wasn't impressed.



Cole's looking for squirrels, I'm blissfully happy, Jinx wants to report me to the ASPCA.

 A wee bit of rain, maybe heavy at times, was more than he could take.  We were already 2 miles up the trail when I realized he was missing.  In my 20's I'd take all 12 of my dogs hiking -- cardinal rule:  you never left the pack.  Jinx was absent that day of class!
I assumed that he'd high tailed it back to the car.  With a mile to go, I was worried sick and broke into a run.  Running is possible, but very awkward.  When Jinx saw Darth Vader's sister coming down the trail behind him, he ran faster. Turd.  I didn't lose my cool, we retraced our steps and marched back up the trail.
To reinforce the lesson that hiking is fun, I drove directly to Whiteside Mountain and hiked the 2 mile loop up the mountain.



4930 feet up in the clouds.


 Jinx is still unenthused. 



Carried him most of the way.

 Fellow hikers expressed genuine concern seeing my motley troupe scrambling over rocks. Some were probably irked that we were passing them.  I may be booted, but I'm still in training.  Marathon season is coming and I'll be ready.  Cole can't fall behind either.  Word's gotten out about his cross country trail running quest and he's been invited to participate in a 14k trail run in Indiana late September. 



More than a little upset:  snubbing gourmet treat from Woof Gang Bakery and Cashiers exquisite BBQ.

 Jinx was so pleased to be back at the house. 



Sunday morning:  eggs from my hens, decaf and a view from the deck to the riding arena in the distance. 

 Cole and I went to see what horses were being boarded this Summer.



The saddle club may be lacking horses this Summer...





...but they still have their sense of humor!


Sunday's hike was going to be up Cole Mountain, really steep, fun and rugged.  I got to the trailhead to find -- egads--other hikers.





I'd resigned myself to the prospect of enduring more questions and jibes about my boot when I spied this at the back of the parking lot.

Disused logging road

 Didn't know where it lead, but the cobwebs across the trail let me know that we were the only ones on it.  Perfect, we'd been up Yellow Mountain trail to the fire tower before anyway.



Happy boy hard at work.





One of dozens of handfuls.

 I stuffed myself silly on blackberries.



Discovered jumbo fungi.

 It has taken a coordinated effort between Mapquest and Google Earth to figure out where we were and how far we walked. I'd tried sending out some GPS pings from my phone, but could get no service. We walked 2 miles in and 2 miles fro of the total 6 mile length of this closed road.  With the connector trails I saw on Google Earth, you can be sure that Cole and I will be back to run it this Fall.

Life's hardships exist to remind us to be thankful for the gifts we have, if we can only open our eyes.