My Achilles ... a cautionary tale

That photo over there?
Yep, that was me earlier this fall.

I still have the boot.
Because it's so stylish and functional of course.

Let me tell you a short story about walking, antibiotics, Achilles tendons, and pain. Lots of pain.

Last fall I decided (again) that I need to get off my butt and starting "exercising." It should be noted that I hate to exercise. I find it boring and it really cuts into my "sitting on the couch playing Words with Friends" time.

Anywho.

I bought running shoes. $125 running shoes. I was going to train for a 5K race. And yeah, I thought I was going to RUN THE RACE. Then, as I'm prone to do in the fall, I got bronchitis. Knock me on my needs-to-exercise butt bronchitis. My doctor prescribed the antibiotic Cipro (also know an Ciproflaxin). This is where things went really wrong.

See, what I didn't know then (but oh do I know now) is that the leading side effect of taking Cipro is that you can either (a) develop tendinitis or (b) suffer a tendon rupture. And yes, I'm sure that information was listed somewhere in the possible side effects but I don't read that stuff (really, who does?)

(It should be noted that my foot doctor said a full Achilles rupture is usually what happens when one is taking Cipro and that I was "lucky." I'm not sure I like his definition of luck.)

So, last fall as I'm out walking one day I suffered a partial rupture of my Achilles tendon. I didn't realize it when it happened. I do remember feeling pain one day while walking but it wasn't enough to knock me down. I just kept walking and figured it was just muscle strain. By mid-November last year I was in serious pain. I stopped my "exercising." And then it got cold and I had no desire to freeze while walking.

Then I walked the 5K in February and was in pain. I was in pain pretty much every single day for months and months and months. I kept putting off a visit to the foot doctor, hoping it would just go away.

Look people...a good rule of thumb is this: if you're in pain, go to the damn doctor. I will admit that what I did was stupid. And now I'm paying for it.

I did finally go to the doctor - hence that very sexy walking boot up there - but it was a total waste of my time. One set of X-rays, one walking boot, three weeks of physical therapy and one MRI later I'm still in just as much pain as I was in August. I still have a lump on my Achilles (which according to my foot doctor is scar tissue and will never go away). And I still can't walk for any extended period of time without pain and swelling. I also can't stand for any extended amount of time without serious swelling.

And so here I am.

In pain. Unable to train for that 1/2 marathon I so wanted to do for my 40th birthday. And headed to a orthopaedic surgeon in two weeks. My regular foot doctor basically sent me off with "I can't do anything else for you, but here's a prescription for Celebrex." So, I'm not sure what the surgeon's solution will be. Maybe surgery is my only option - which would put me in a plaster cast for about 6 weeks and gosh that would be so much fun.

And so I leave with you a few nuggets of wisdom: If you think you might have hurt yourself, don't wait to go to the doctor. Just go. And, if your primary care physician wants to put you on Cipro the next time you need an antibiotic, just say no. Your tendons will thank you for it.

What I know is this: I need to find some sort of solution. I'm tired of living with this pain all the time. And there's a 1/2 marathon out there just waiting for me. But I think it's going to have to be for my 41st birthday.

A weekend fit for many princesses

After months of planning, my "girls weekend" finally happened last weekend ... and quite honestly it was more fun than I had even anticipated.

To begin with, we had amazing accommodations! Thanks to a great partnership with Global Resort Homes, Jackie, Kristen, and I hosted a giveaway at the end of last year and in return, Global sponsored our stay at one of their luxury vacation homes (more on that in another post).

While I'm going to be blogging more about the house in another post, let me just say this - it was so much fun rooming with my friends! Kristen, Jackie and I have "coffee talk" every morning via Twitter and it was great to finally be able to have coffee together in person! Tori (Kristen's daughter) and Bekah rounded out our five-person "Princess Party Crew" and for that one weekend we really WERE the "Fab Five."

After a very lengthy flight delay last Thursday (thank you so much Delta), I finally made it to Orlando two hours late and practically RAN through the airport to meet the ladies. We made it back to our house and I managed to get a few hours of sleep. Yes, only a few hours. I was wide awake at 5:30 a.m. ... typical for when I'm near Disney property.

A 'business breakfast' on Friday was followed by a trip to the "Fit for a Princess Expo" at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex - we needed to pick up our race packets and bib numbers.

 That was when it really hit me - this wasn't just some random three mile walk ... I was participating in a REAL RACE. The expo was incredible - Cinderella's carriage was there, as was a glass running shoe:

It was during the expo when I had my first thought of "I think I need to run the Princess 1/2 Marathon next year." Yes, it seems like a crazy thought...but the energy inside that expo was enough to make anyone want to run 13.1 miles. And yes, even now...a week later...I still want to run the 1/2 marathon in 2013.

After a lovely day and evening at Epcot and the Magic Kingdom last Friday, we were up at 4:30 a.m. Saturday morning! Yes. 4:30 a.m. It's an ungodly hour...even more so when you know you're going to be walking 3.1 miles very soon. Once we made it to the "waiting area" near the start line, it was unlike anything I've ever been part of. There were 5,500 runners and walkers in one place - dancing, laughing, warming up, and getting photos taken. There was a DJ playing music, people were doing the Electric Slide, and the adrenaline was definitely flowing!

The crowd was pumped up and finally....we were ready to go. (And yes, I was wearing a tiara!) We lined up in our corral ... way at the back with the other walkers and then BAM! the starting fireworks went off and it was time to.....walk really slow. Imagine 5,500 people all trying to move at once. You don't move fast at all. It was more of a shuffle for a few minutes. And then, the crowd spread out and we were really doing this thing.

The first mile was probably the hardest just because there was NOTHING to see. We were on a service road behind Epcot and the most exciting scenery was abandoned trams from the Backlot Tour and a discard Jungle Cruise boat (wth?). Yeah, real inspiring, right? Mile two had us entering World Showcase at Epcot and then it felt a bit more magical! As we neared mile 2.5 it was like "Oh. My. God. Are we there yet?"

But then we saw it: the 3 mile marker:

 

And at that point, we knew we were going to make it! Bekah, Tori, and I RAN across the finish line...just so we could say "yeah, we ran a 5K!" It seemed like the right way to finish the race. And man, did it feel good to finish! I finished the race in a little more than one hour ... not too bad for my first walking 5K. And really, for me it wasn't about the time. It was more than that. (To read more about my feelings during the race, read this post).

 

The rest of the weekend was spent touring the parks, eating amazingly delicious meals (Whispering Canyon Cafe, Ohana, Boma), and having more fun than should be legal. We saw "old" friends and made new friends. We cried during "Wishes" (OK, I cried during "Wishes"). This weekend was all about friendships both new and old and it really was the BEST. WEEKEND. EVER. 

At this point, I want to talk about my amazing friends - the women I spent the weekend with. I've known Jackie and Kristen for a couple of years, having met them both via Twitter in the "Disney community" that resides there. I adore them both ... we all love the same thing (Disney) but have connected beyond that too. I just met Tori and Bekah last Thursday, but couldn't imagine the weekend without them. (And, I think perhaps Bekah and I were friends in another lifetime - it really felt as though I had known her for years.)

And as for the ladies of the Princess Party Crew, for four days from Thursday night when I arrived, until Sunday night when I left them in front of Cinderella's castle, the five of us laughed so hard we cried and we cried so hard we ended up laughing. The connections formed over the course of just a few days go beyond the words "awesome," "amazing," or "incredible."

I saw so many friends last weekend that I can't begin to name everyone, but know this: I consider myself a very lucky lady to know such amazing people.... the Princess Party Crew, Maria, Aurora, Megan, Kristin, Tiffany, the rest of the "Sparkly Moms", Amanda, Zanna...I adore you all and am so happy to have you in my life.

And now....I'm looking to 2013 and the Princess 1/2 Marathon. We all said we'd do the BIG race next year. We said we'd start training now. We know it can be done. We are strong enough and fast enough and we can do anything!

Walking. And water.

No.
Not walking ON water.

I'm talking about walking.
And water.
Two things I'm increasing in my daily life.

See, in exactly 48 days I'm walking in my first ever Disney 5K race. Yes, I actually get a medal at the finish line thank you very much. It's a race.

The Disney Royal Family 5K ... during Disney's Princess Half Marathon weekend.

I was "training" for the race in the fall - I bought running shoes and downloaded the C25K (Couch to 5K) app on my iPhone. And then ... well, then I just stopped. I had been walking and getting my pace up there and was close (but not too close) to adding the jogging in to the mix. And then I lost my mojo. Or something like that. I stopped walking. And got all down in the dumps and blah about things.

Well, new year new me.

I'm walking again (with my sister!) and I'm drinking obnoxious amounts of water every day and darn it all I WILL own those 3.1 miles on February 25.

Oh and my goal from all of this?

I'm telling myself that I will run a half marathon before my 40th birthday in 2013. That gives me about 13 months to get in shape, lose weight and run/walk 13.1 miles. There's a 10 mile race I'd like to aim for in September ... but the half marathon is in November. At Disney, of course. (I mean really. What is the point of running a race if you're not at Disney? At least that's how I see it.)

So for now....I'm going to finish the 5K.

And thanks to Mother Nature and this gloriously mild winter, I'm still able to "train" outside ... without freezing to death.

Here's to walking. And water. Two things that will get me to that finish line.