2 1/2 Weeks with No Running

"No soda, coffee or any caffeine for a week. And only a cup of coffee a day after that."

"Boo."

"No running for two and a half weeks." 

"What? Seriously?"

"No running for two and a half weeks."

"I think I'll die."

That was really the conversation that I had with my doctor. She needed to go over it with me several times. "If you don't run for a few weeks, you will be able to for the rest of the summer. If, you don't take the time, you will not be able to run for the summer." And then I would say something about how she was killing me and how could I possibly take that long off, I would really die. 

I went to the doctor because I felt lightheaded and weak. I could stand for maybe twenty minutes. Usually that standing was slightly hunched over (more blood to the brain perhaps). My head hurt at times, my stomach hurt too and was nauseas. At the worst of it, I thought I would pass out. I almost wanted to pass out, because there would be hope that I would feel better when I woke up. There would be an answer to why I felt so bad and I would be on the mend. 

After I made the doctors appointment, my mom asked me if I was okay to drive there. I had not thought of that. It may not have been the brightest idea that I have had, but with the possibility of feeling better a short drive away, I had to go right then rather than taking the time to find a ride. I concentrated really hard and paid attention more than I ever have while driving. I was focused. 

And then I get there and I get diagnosed in three seconds. I don't know if anyone else is like me, but when there is such a quick answer, I am a mixture of thankful that I have an answer and curious about how they know so fast. "Do all of these symptoms match? How do you know that that is what it is?" Amazement, gratefulness, and questions. 

It turns out that even if you drink a lot of water, if you run far in the summer in the South, you gotta drink a lot more water. Dehydration. Not fun. And it took almost a week to feel better. That surprised me. I thought that I would drink a bunch of water, take a nap, and magically be well again. Sadly, that did not happen. I should have known when she gave me a note to be home from work for a few more days. 

Those days were an odd in between. I was lucid enough to not want to watch movies, but not with it enough to think about anything too hard. I had no energy and no concentration. There were emails (or blog posts) that I wanted to write, but nope, I did not have the brain power. I could not cook or bake much because I could not stand that long. And focus too. So I spent those days reading and taking naps and watching a little of the world cup. 

My first day back to work was funny. The first hour was fine. (except a drag to work early with no coffee.) Then the fatigue and dizzy all hit me at once. I was nearly in tears as I told my boss that I was not sure that I was going to make it. He made a joke about how it sounded like I was saying that I was not going to make it past the day, not that I just may need to go home. At that point, I really was not sure. I sunk into my chair (pretty literally). Then a few hours later, suddenly, I felt alright. And the day ended really well. The next day was pretty normal. And on and on. It was amazing! 

Here is your PSA to drink a lot of water and be good about drinking enough when exercising in heat/humidity.  I only have a few more days til I can run again! 

Making Granola

I like to make granola. It tastes good and is handy to have in the house. My first time making granola was before my wedding. Granola seemed like a good idea to have for a brunch. I was very nervous as I cooked those two batches about a week before the ceremony. I was hoping that it would turn out well and not really knowing what I was doing. I got lucky and people liked it!

Fast forward a while to this spring. I stumbled on a recipe from Lindsay Hamby for raw granola. Yum! I got to get out all of my "hippy stuff" as referred to by my husband. The granola had oats, chia seeds, flax seeds, coconut, coconut oil, honey and peanut butter. (Mine was not raw but it was delicious.)

For the granola I used:

1/3 cup of each: peanut butter, coconut oil, and honey

Mix that together.

Then I mixed 2 cups oats with a combined cup of flax seeds, almond slivers, chia seeds and unsweetened coconut. Then probably some more oats. 

Mix everything and enjoy! I kept half of it in the freezer for the time that it took us to consume the other half. 

I have experimented with several different granola recipes in the last year. It is fun to try out different ones, to see what we like and them to try other ones. Thankfully, I have yet to have found a dud. 

The latest granola is adapted from The Whole Tulip. 

Mix:

2 cups oats

1/4 flax seed meal

I think I added some unsweetened coconut flakes too.

Heat:

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup honey

Stir:

1 tbsp cinnamon, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1/4 tbsp salt to the warm mixture. Then stir everything. 

Bake at 275 for 25-30 minutes spread on a baking sheet with parchment paper. (Make sure it does not burn. Also, check the bottom, I noticed that the bottom side of the granola browned faster.) 

I have no idea how much 1/4 tbsp is of salt, perhaps I should have looked it up. I used shy of a teaspoon thinking that there are three in a tablespoon. (I did just look it up and was correct, 3 teaspoons to a tablespoon.)

Happy Granola-ing!

Keep it real

Running in the heat in North Carolina has taken some getting used to. It is hot and humid. You run and you are sticky pretty instantly. It means that you know you got a good work out, cause there is sweat involved. I read that you should expect to run up to 20 or 30 seconds a mile slower as you adjust to the heat. I am too competitive with myself for that. I have gone on a few runs without my running watch which is a nice change sometimes.

After one particular run, I wanted to post a picture to Facebook of myself. (I don't have the picture anymore or I would have included it.) The funny thing about taking that picture is that I took a few. I wanted to look tired but not dead. Then I posted it to Facebook with the hashtag #keepitreal. It was difficult to post a picture that is not normal me, but it instead, sweaty tired me. That was hard and felt exposed. But then I thought about it for a minute and I looked at the picture and it was staged too. I wanted it to look a bit tired, I had tried to take the picture in that way. So the keep it real picture was really a fake. I took it down. Some people had commented and liked it. I wanted it to be a help and inspiration for people to work hard and not have to look great the whole time, to be real. Hopefully a  few people got that message. I took it down cause I looked tired on purpose. I did not feel completely like that. So a fake in being real. Oh geez!