You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘dr. fagan’ tag.
Obituary names for the day: Willa Dean, Elois, LeVerne, & Nola. Thanks, dad. 
Last night I went to my first-ever meditation at the Shambhala Center here in Birmingham, Alabama. I actually brought Mike with me since he is into stuff like that (my dear friend Chez originally told me about it and met us there). They have meditation every Monday, Tuesday & Thursday from 7-8 for local friends who might be interested. Since we had a 4 newbies there, the leader of the meditations brought us back into another room to teach us how it is done while the regulars went on with their normal routine. So to briefly summarize almost an hour’s worth of instruction, she basically said that you have to separate yourself from your mind. You sit in a tall upright position with your hands on your thighs and you can either close your eyes or softly gaze down about 5-6 feet in front of you. The goal is to have no thoughts and to only focus on your breath. However, she said for even the most practiced meditators that this is almost impossible to do consistently for long periods of time. When you catch yourself thinking about something, internally repeat the words “thoughts” or “thinking” so you know you’ve drifted away from your breath. The whole purpose is to be present in the moment. They even practice a walking meditation where you concentrate on your steps instead of your breath. The typical session consists of 25 minutes of sitting, 10 minutes of walking, then 25 more minutes of sitting. I did find it to be a calming experience while also being very difficult to master. She said that it’s very important to not “grade” yourself and to not have “goals”… which is basically the opposite of how I operate on any given day. I’m going to give it another shot tonight to see if it’s for me. I may even try to start doing 10 minute sessions on my own everyday to see what benefits I receive from it.
Afterwards, Mike and I talked about how strange it was to be living apart. We keep questioning ourselves as to if we moved to quickly, but we know deep down that these are the steps that we had to take. Tomorrow night we have a standing “date” night where we plan to eat together & watch some of our favorite television shows (right now it’s the Top Chef season finale). I am also going to start going home during my lunch breaks to play with our kitties so they don’t forget who I am. It seems like the roller coaster of emotions is subsiding just a little, and now it’s just a matter of adapting to a pretty significant change in our lives. It’s a learning process.
Before I go, I wanted to give a quick knee update! I went to see Dr. Fagan yesteray and I got a great report back. I am right on track, as my type of injury take 6-8 weeks to recover from (and I am at week 7 right now). I have one more appointment with her on April 12 (the week of my Half Ironman on the 17th) to see where it is at that time. It’s gonna be a close call on the run… and honestly, I still won’t know for sure until I’m out there actually doing the race. So for now, I am continuing my goal to complete the swim & bike, and finishing the run will just be the icing on the cake if I’m able to do it. I feel like I’m not carrying the world on my shoulders anymore by lifting some of the expectations. Now, I can just relax and enjoy the race!
Today is my first American Sign Language class, as part of a 9 week course offered through where I work. For those of you who’ve been around, you know that learning ASL was one of my big 2011 goals. I have no reason for wanting to learn it, but the desire is there nonetheless. In high school I took a few lessons where I learned the alphabet and some simple sentences. Ever since then, I’ve wanted to learn more. The class is 2 hours every Monday for 9 weeks. Excited!
I also see Dr. Fagan again today since our appointment was canceled last week due to her being sick. I have good days and not-so-good days with my knee, but the good are definitely outnumbering the bad at the moment. I’m mostly curious to see how much fluid is left in my knee. My PT thinks that there is still some inflammation going on, but it’s going down at a slow and steady pace. As long as I am rockin’ and rollin’ by April 17 (my Half Ironman), I’m OK with it. I’ve already decided that I’m not going for a time goal this time around, I just want to be able to finish. If I can cross that finish line, then I’ve accomplished something very significant.
I’ve got a pretty busy day ahead of me at work, with lots of items to knock off my to-do list. I’m going to need to keep my head down and focus to get through it. Definitely starting my week off on a bang!
I’ve been having some pretty wild and wacky days lately, so I am looking forward to some dust settling soon! I knocked out most of my to-do list at work yesterday which came as a big relief. Nothing feels better than crossing things off of a list and doing a good job. My knee appointment with Dr. Fagan was canceled b/c she was out of the office sick, so I will now be seeing her next Monday. That was good news on two fronts – it gives me another week to heal and it also gave me the extra time at work without distractions (but bad news that she wasn’t feeling well). I am pretty sure all she was going to tell me anyway was that my inflammation was down but I wasn’t quite 100% yet. So maybe by this time next week I will be!
After work I went for a quick but effective water workout since I didn’t have much time before my shift with Grandma West at her new nursing home. I mainly did some intense upper body intervals using water-resistant hand weights. Tonight I plan to get in a longer workout, hopefully closer to the 60 minute mark. I’m still really impressed at how quickly I’ve been able to build upper body strength in such a short amount of time. A lot of that has to do with my pool work, and the other progress has been from my CrossFit sessions with Justin. He has taught me so much about how to lift weights and strength train! I never knew that I would love it the way that I do now.
I stayed with my grandmother overnight which resulted in very little sleep. It was her first night in a new place, so there was a lot to get used to. I’m just grateful that they had WiFi, b/c it was a nursing home after all! 
I basically stalked Facebook for hours and read lots of online articles about Ironman Kona. Tonight, I am going to bed EARLY!
This weekend was such a wonderful time, it was so good to get away for a few days and mentally check-out. There is something magical about Louisville… but maybe I feel that way because I don’t live there. I love the little pocket villages full of eateries and boutiques. It seems like a lot of creative types and athletic people live there. At any given time you can spot a hipster or a runner… or maybe even a hipster runner.
Which brings me to this – why is hipster a negative term… especially to hipsters? I use the word to describe a free spirit, usually in their 20′s or 30′s (sometimes even 40′s) who expresses themselves through their outer appearance. They also seem to possess a high intellect, someone you would want to have a conversation with. Other people view hipsters as pretentious know-it-alls, but that hasn’t been my experience. I think there is nothing wrong in wanting to be different as long as you follow one rule – don’t judge others. I am obviously not a hipster because I regretfully don’t look the part. This is going to sound really strange coming from a person who runs long distances and enjoys endurance sports, but I have never been able to find the energy or interest for that kind of investment in my daily appearance. Honestly, I would rather just throw on a pair of jeans with no make-up and call it a day. I am much more a hippie than hipster. So for that, I say bravo to the snazzy dressing hipsters!!
Good news: my tonsillitis appears to be gone! It did cause me to feel mildly sick over the weekend, but fortunately I never got a fever at any point. This morning I am feeling a little tired but that isn’t unusual for a Monday morning. I am going back to see Dr. Fagan this afternoon, sports medicine extraordinaire, to get a check-up on my knee. I have a feeling that I will get a good report back, or at least I’m hoping so. However, even though it’s two weeks later, I don’t feel like I’m ready to run on it quite yet. I still feel a little pain from time to time, even though it is getting better quickly. We will see what she says! I will report on Twitter as soon as I know something definitive.
