S T R E E E E E T C H ....

Stretching is sooooooo important but most of us don't want to waste what little time we carve out of our busy lives to do something so easy and boring before we get down to business with cardio and weights or maybe it's just me. I've learned the hard way that it's absolutely essential to make time for stretching.

My screaming lower back muscles are proof that you can't do all the cardio you want without stretching BEFORE and AFTER. I'm weaning myself off the pain killers (vicodin) and muscle relaxers (flexeril) and getting back to the gym at about half strength. Before I hurt my back I was cranking out 60 minutes on the elliptical and feeling strong and happy to work up a good sweat. I'm not happy that I'm only able to get up to 30 minutes on the elliptical before my back/side/hip starts feeling it. I don't want to push myself out of commission again so I'm going to start listening to what my body is trying to tell me.

Do you make it a point to stretch before and after you workout? How long do you stretch? What type of stretches do you think are most important to do before doing cardio? Any tips on how to get it done without falling asleep on the mat from boredom?

Muscle Soreness or Injury?

How do you tell the difference between muscle soreness and a more serious injury? Is it just the intensity of the pain?

I've been suffering with some lower back pain over the past week which I thought was due to my intense 60 minute workouts on the elliptical. I have been stretching before and after but thought maybe I wasn't doing enough or maybe I was just working muscles that haven't been used this much in a long time.

I've never been this consistent with my workouts and initially thought that the pain was just soreness from all the activity but I'm starting to think it may be something more serious. I had a massage over the weekend and was feeling better but then last night I kept waking up every time I tried to roll over. I put some ice on the area and plan on taking a long hot bath soon to see if that helps.

Do you have any advice on how to tell whether you're just sore or whether you need to call the doctor?

Facial Expressions

I never realized how many facial expressions I use when talking until I smashed my face. It hurts a bit every time I raise my eyebrows and I can't seem to stop myself from doing it. Maybe this is a good excuse to look into botox. As much as I would love to get rid of the wrinkles I don't think I'd want to permanently give up my expressions.

Would you or have you had or considered botox?

LOOK OUT! DANGER! SMASH!

Is there a support group out there for klutzes? I could really use one.

It's pretty comical that my mother worries about me when I'm out snowmobiling, ATVing, hiking, bungee jumping or playing other potentially dangerous sports because I generally only get injured doing every day things, you know, like when I broke my foot walking down my driveway or the klutzy move I made yesterday.

B and I were carrying a marble counter top into the camp yesterday morning when I slipped on the ice and snow and smashed my head on the marble. OWWWW! OMG! Pain! Blood! OOOOOUCH!!! It was awful. My sunglasses broke and there was blood everywhere. I have a cut above my eyebrow and my eyelid is swollen and looks like I have dark purple eye shadow on. I guess I'm lucky I didn't make contact with the marble an inch one way (eyeball) or the other (temple) because I expect that could have been much worse.

I gave myself a day off from the gym due to my injury. I've been keeping my eye on ice and feel ok but I didn't think it would be a good idea to go to the gym and get the blood pumping.

I called my primary doctor's office and the eye doctor to ask if they think it's necessary for me to have it checked out. I didn't black out, I'm not having any problems with my vision or any headaches so my doctor didn't think I needed to come in unless it gets worse. I spoke to the eye doctor too and she said I could come in the office if I wanted but she thinks it will be fine.

UGHHH! It seems like these things only happen to me. It's a miracle I can get through the day without injuring myself. It's a good thing I signed up for COBRA coverage so I still have health insurance. A person like me should never be without it.

I don't usually post photos of myself on here but thought you'd like to see my big puffy black/blue swollen eye. Please ignore the fact that I am long overdue to have my brows waxed. It doesn't look like I'll be getting them waxed anytime soon.

If anyone asks me what happened I'm just going to say "oh, this is nothing, you should see the other guy."

Not only did I mess up my face and look like I went a few rounds in the ring with Rocky but I broke my new funky sunglasses ;(

So, do you like my pretty purple eyeshadow?

Isn't it Ironic?

An old man turned ninety-eight
He won the lottery and died the next day
It's a black fly in your Chardonnay
It's a death row pardon two minutes too late
And isn't it ironic... don't you think
....
Well life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
When you think everything's okay and everything's going right
And life has a funny way of helping you out when
You think everything's gone wrong and everything blows up in your face
....
Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
Life has a funny, funny way of helping you out
Helping you out

- ALANIS MORISSETTE


Doesn't it figure that no sooner do I write a post about good things that something bad happens? B, SY and I met GP at the breakfast place early Saturday morning and we were anxious to get out on the trials in the fresh snow. We snowmobiled all morning in prime conditions. Almost two feet of newly fallen snow was groomed flat and the trails were in better shape than I've seen in years.


We rode from the state park in Groton and stopped for lunch in a little store about 75 miles north in Greensboro. After lunch we were cruising down the trails when we noticed B wasn't behind us. GP was the first to turn back and SY and I followed. We found B off trail, sprawled in the snow with the sled beside him. He got sucked into a field just off trail and hit a 5 foot culvert and smashed the other side and got thrown in the air. He thinks he and the sled went head over heels a few times and landed about 20 feet away with his sled landing a few feet from him facing the opposite direction. It took him over 30 minutes to get up with assistance.


Thankfully he always wears a helmet but he wasn't wearing the helmet cam I gave him for his birthday (he hasn't figured out how to use it yet) and B was last in line so we're not positive of the exact details of the crash but we could see the track marks of where he launched, the other side of the ditch he hit, how far he was in the air, where he initially came down and where he eventually landed. GP tried calling 911 but we had no service in the woods. We had to limp back to the store where we had lunch about 2 miles away. I thought the ride back was going to kill him, I could see tears in his eyes riding over every little bump and turn. B's snowmobile was barely drivable so SY drove B's and B rode less than 5 mph in serious pain. We called a friend to pick us up at the store but B had to sit and wait on a bench in excruciating pain for an hour and then another hour drive back to the camp.


I'm so glad the other guys were there because I would have been freaking out if it were just the two of us snowmobiling that day. GP and SY rode the trails back to the truck and drove the truck back to Greensboro with the trailer to pick up our sleds. It was a very long day that started off great and ended horribly.


B is a hurting unit and really messed up his back. He has an appointment with a back specialist but they can't see him 'til Thursday. He went to his old chiropractor just for an evaluation today; he doesn't think anything is broken and said he is lucky there was so much snow to cushion his fall or he probably would have broken his back.


Needless to say, we didn't get to ride the rest of the weekend. SY helped me plow out the camp, shovel the roof off and close down the water before heading back home yesterday. The 3 hour drive home was hard for him but he is more comfortable here at home and I really wanted him to go to the hospital here in the city instead of in the back woods of Vermont.


So the long weekend I was so excited about didn't turn out very good. I'm probably going to have to take a few additional days off of work to take care of him because I don't think he can be alone yet. He can't even get out of bed without assistance.

I really hope he is just bruised and doesn't need surgery. He paid $40 to the chiropractor today; it will be $300 to walk in the door of the back specialist, additional $ for any x-rays and $2,000+ if he needs an MRI. It wouldn't be so bad if he had health insurance but it could be a bumpy road if we have to pay any crazy hospital bills. Let's be sure our next president is someone who is serious about universal health coverage.

I think there is some old Yiddish saying about not admitting you are happy or life is good because you are tempting the fates or something like that. I was having such a blast riding and looking forward to getting lots of miles in over my long weekend. Looks like our snowmobile season is over and not because of lack of snow.

I guess I'll go back to bitching and moaning.