Questions and Concerns at Pacific Hospital - Part 3

         In my previous blog regarding this subject, I mentioned that I wish I had the facts (Questions and Concerns at Pacific Hospital - Part 2). Well we received some information on Thursday, August 29th about what was going to happen to the hospital and our jobs. It was finally confirmed that Pacific Hospital of Long Beach was sold to College Health Enterprises who owns College Hospital. They will be in partnership with Molina Healthcare who will be managing the medical units while College Health will be doing the same with the psych units. I believe Pacific Hospital had a similar arrangement with Molina a few years back. As far as our jobs are concerned, all employees will be terminated and the expected layoff date is October 29th. We will be asked to reapply with College Health Enterprises effective September 9th when they take over. As required by law, we were given a notice informing us of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, which we had to sign. A memo from the current owner of Pacific Hospital mentioned that employees rehired by College/Molina will continue benefits and retain any accrued PTO (vacation time). At least the part about the PTO is a relief. In case of a layoff, there is no mention of severance pay.
          With all that information, more questions and concerns arise but basically similar to what I wrote in Part 2. There is no guarantee of being rehired but at least it gives as a couple of months of leeway to find another job. Believe me, I've already started looking but what I've seen so far as being offered in area hospitals are per diem (no benefits) positions. Questions include - will the shifts go back to 8 hours or continue with 12 hours; if rehired and basically starting from scratch, will the pay scale be lower; since Memorial Counseling Associates will no longer be managing the psych unit, will there be a change in doctors; will it be better to gamble and resign so I can cash in my PTO then reapply with the new company, or wait to be laid off? Being laid off, though not good, is better than resigning because at least you can collect unemployment insurance, which is not much, but better than nothing. If rehired by the new company though, at least medical and dental insurance benefits will continue even if there is a decrease in pay. What about our 401k retirement plan? Will it roll over to College Hospital's investment company, or will it be up to us to keep it in the same place or transfer it to our own investment company? In an ideal world, if some of us get laid off, it would have been nice to get some severance pay in addition to the PTO being cashed out. Or if rehired, it would be good if they just pay off the Pacific Hospital PTO and start from zero with whatever vacation benefits that College Health has. I can dream, can't I?

Disclosure: I worked at College Hospital Cerritos twice - once in 1981(when their area code was still 213) which was my first ever psychiatric hospital job, a few months after moving to the United States, and the second time in the mid-90's. I have also experienced a couple of lay offs. The first with Los Altos Hospital and the second with Lakewood Regional Medical Center, both which gave employees several weeks worth of severance pay. And finally, Barry Weiss, who is the owner of College Health Enterprises is the brother of my colonoscopy doctor - Steven Weiss.

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Questions and Concerns at Pacific Hospital - Part 2

          After writing about my questions and concerns a few months ago (Questions and Concerns at Pacific Hospital) following the FBI and IRS raid at my place of work, it has been quiet until recently. The employees have always known that the hospital was looking for a buyer as well as a new management company for the psychiatric units, and it may be possible that the buyer might manage those psych units as well.
          Unverified rumors have been abounding in recent days about Pacific Hospital already being sold and that an announcement will be made in early September. As to who the buyer is, rumor has it (pardon me Adele), it is College Hospital, who owns College Hospital in Cerritos and Costa Mesa. That company has done several tours of Pacific Hospital in recent months so they definitely showed an interest. Some employees have mentioned (again unverified) that when Pacific Hospital hands over the operation to College Hospital, the employees will be asked to sign some papers ending their (our) employment with Pacific and start anew with College, essentially from scratch. The speculation includes forfeiting our accrued vacation time or PTO and a possible decrease in hourly salary, plus elimination of shift differential for the night shift. With a little search on the internet regarding California Labor Law, unused vacation time will have to be paid by the employer upon termination of employment, so it's illegal to forfeit it. Doesn't a change of ownership constitute a termination? Getting paid my vacation time is a great concern for me because I have a lot of hours accrued which I had intended to use for emergencies. This is the section of the Labor Law which covers vacation time: http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/faq_vacation.htm which specifically states:

Q.	What happens to my earned and accrued but unused vacation if I am discharged or quit my job?
	A.	Under California law, unless otherwise stipulated by a collective bargaining agreement, whenever the employment relationship ends, for any reason whatsoever, and the employee has not used all of his or her earned and accrued vacation, the employer must pay the employee at his or her final rate of pay for all of his or her earned and accrued and unused vacation days. Labor Code Section 227.3. Because paid vacation benefits are considered wages, such pay must be included in the employee's final paycheck.

          There are a couple of scenarios that have run through my mind. One is to wait for the announcement and just go with the flow and be rehired by the new company with the possible loss of vacation time (if their lawyers found some kind of loophole). The other is to resign as soon as possible so the accrued vacation time can be cashed out before the new company takes over, then after a few weeks, reapply for the same job for lower pay. Of course being rehired is not a sure thing, so that's another concern. Like I mentioned before, there are not too many jobs available in the psychiatric hospital business nowadays. If I quit and cash out my vacation time, I may be able to get by on it for 2 to 3 months, but also have to sign up for COBRA insurance so I continue to be covered by medical insurance, that is, until Obamacare takes over in 2014 (in case I get unemployed for the long term). For now, it's all up in the air because the employees have been kept in the dark and have been left with rumors and speculation. Meanwhile, time is running out. I wish I had the facts.
A couple of days after I posted this entry, the facts were revealed to the employees: Questions and Concerns at Pacific Hospital - Part 3

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Running Shirts Disposal

          Well I finally did it. After putting it off for several weeks, I found the time to check the accumulated junk in my garage storage cabinets, and sort out what I can live with or without. Most of the things I found I could live without, otherwise I wouldn't have kept them in the garage in the first place.
          These were the things that I found: a pair of speaker stands which I used years ago before my living room got filled up with exercise equipment and I had a 500 watt amplifier; a rarely used pair of inline skates because I had poor balance and did more falling than skating; lots of towels and blankets left behind by a female friend 2 decades ago; bedsheets that I thought I had thrown away; and finally, about 80 to 100 cotton and or polyester race t-shirts from the 80's and early 90's, back when I was participating in races almost every weekend.
          First I found a bag of shirts which I took a picture of on the hood of my car. As I digged deeper into the cabinet, I found two more bags filled with shirts. Years ago, I thought about having those shirts made into a quilt but after checking out companies that did this, I found out it was too expensive. That's the reason why all those shirts ended up in storage. Could I live without the remnants of my running and racing past? I hesitated a bit, but since they have been out of sight and out of mind for years, I decided to finally dispose of them. I'll have deal with disposer's remorse later if and when it comes. The evidence of the countless 5k's, 10k's, 10 milers, half marathons, and marathons, soon would be gone.

          Among the other things that I disposed of that day were old computer parts, the inline skates which were kept in a backpack, a cycling/skating helmet, the speaker stands, blankets, and several towels. As for the 3 bags of race t-shirts, instead of putting them inside the dumpster, I set them on the outside, perchance someone might want them.
          One of the things I kept was the Razor type scooter, in case I need it for emergency transportation in the future. I was also able to reuse the old full size sheets for the new coil spring futon mattress I mentioned in a previous blog.
          Minutes after I left the three bags of shirts outside the dumpster, someone had already picked them up when I wasn't looking. The shirts have taken on a second life. I wish I could say that parting with them was such sweet sorrow but with me, the shirts will have no morrow.

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Searching For a New ISP

          My annual contract with Charter Internet is expiring in a couple of weeks so I started shopping around for a new ISP the last two months. One would think that broadband service would get cheaper as time goes on but the reverse is true, I guess because the demand is high since having an internet connection is now a necessity. Renewing with Charter would have cost $44.95 a month and that would have been too much. Verizon no longer offers a dry loop service and requires you to have telephone service bundled with internet service. The bundle would have cost more than $50 so that was also out of the question. I haven't used a regular phone line for more than two years since I've been using Magicjack for domestic and international long distance calls, and a cellphone of course. Dry loop just means you can have internet via the telephone company's wires without phone service. I looked into Clear 4G which required you to buy their modem for $50, then the monthly fee is $34.95, which is not so bad except the download speed is only 1 megabit per second. Finally, after all that search, I found DSLextreme.com which offered dry loop service using Verizon's existing phone lines. Despite some negative reviews about their service, I decided to risk it.
          I ordered it online then waited for DSLextreme to notify me when Verizon had activated the line. Less than a week later, I received the notification. I plugged in my old Verizon modem, powered it up then waited for the the following lights to turn on: power, DSL, ethernet, and internet. Ok, three of them did: power, ethernet, and DSL. Perhaps the signal hasn't reached my home yet so I waited till the next day just to make sure before contacting DSL Extreme. Well at least I know my old modem still works.

          The next day, I emailed the company about the missing internet signal and they gave me a number to call and to ask for Level 2. Just as I was about to call, a technician named Pat called me at home to help set up the modem. I'll spare you the technical details which involved numbers like: 192.168.1.1 and 10.0.0.1 (the IP address of the modem and wireless router). Well, Pat and I worked on attempting to establish an internet connection for two hours without success, and had to stop only because I had to get ready for work in the evening. This was getting too complicated. I expected myself to plug in the modem and the telephone line and get the connection right away like it was when I had Verizon DSL.
          I called tech support again the next day and the first person that answered sounded like someone from a call center in the Philippines. I guess that was Level 1, so I gave my ticket number and asked for Level 2. I was connected to Travis in Woodland Hills, the same place where Pat was. We went through the same process as the previous day but couldn't access the same menus. I mentioned that I did a hard reset of the modem a few hours before and that probably messed it up for whatever information tech support already had on my modem. A hard reset restores the device to factory settings. After a few more tests, Travis found a way (by luck, chance, or skill, I don't know), to finally make the internet light on the modem to work. That could only mean one thing: I finally have internet service from DSL Extreme! And this time it only took about 35 minutes of troubleshooting. Before we hanged up, Travis reminded me not to do another hard reset.
          After making sure that everything was finally in working order, I sent an email to the tech support supervisor to commend and compliment Travis and Pat for their patience and courtesy in helping solve the problem.
          Two days later, the internet connection continues to work without any problems, although the speed is only 1/10th of what I used to have with Charter (3 mbps as opposed to 30 mbps). But as long as I can do whatever I used to do online, I can live with the slower speed. Not that I have much of a choice. Either pay more or live within my means just to stay connected to this thing called the INTERNET.

Full Stride Moments

Recycled Pic From Several Weeks Ago

          This one is more than a week late because I didn't feel like writing anything due to health concerns going on with my family (Larry's Transplant and What Happened Next).
          Well, last week I was with the Long Beach Area Walking Club again at Signal Hill, a couple of weeks after I did the solo time trial (Signal Hill Time Trial Walk). This time I did my usual going ahead then coming back with the pack with no particular plan in mind. I ran short distances when I wanted to and walked to recover. There was more walking than running that day. I didn't even swing my arms vigorously during the recovery phases, and as I'll tell you later, that made a difference. For some reason, there were more Signal Hill police cars patrolling than usual. I also saw new sign in one of the trails saying the path was restricted due to people throwing rocks at the houses below. One of the other walkers also told me that boot camps were now banned so I didn't see any that day. There used to be at least 2 or 3 in the past that I've seen on Saturday mornings. I don't remember if I mentioned this before, but Signal Hill has a couple of radio antennas at it's peak and every time I approach the antennas, my FM radio would lose it's signal and all I get is white noise.
          Running nowadays consists of very short distances using very short steps which keeps the pain in my thighs from the statin myopathy under control. But last week, I saw some young whippersnappers running who looked like members of a high school cross country team, so I couldn't resist running with a full stride though still covering short distances, which felt really good. During those brief attempts at running hard, I was also running happy. All that walking and running back and forth enabled me to cover 8.5 miles in the time it took the rest of the group to cover 6 miles. Oh but those short and sweet full stride moments took their toll on my legs. My legs felt so tired and battered after those 8.5 miles and those full stride moments made for much longer recovery moments. It's been more than a week and I could still feel the soreness in my hips. At least the soreness didn't turn to pain.
          These past few weeks, I've been tracking my pace and I'm mystified by the inconsistencies. Let me bore you with the numbers. Last Saturday while walking and running, the average pace over 8.5 miles was 13:02. On those same hills, I covered 7 miles at 13:34 pace of plain walking during my time trial. Hmm, not much difference, right? A few weeks before that on flat terrain, my walking pace was 13:05 for 6 miles. Then there was that 11:25 pace walk/run on flat terrain for 9 miles with AREC, which was a whole lot better than the 11:32 pace I did during a 4 minute jog with 1 minute recovery walk I did a week and a half ago for 4 miles. So will I be correct to conclude that it is better to do random run/walks instead of timed intervals because I'm able to cover distances faster that way? To add to that, there is not much gain in pace while doing a run/walk up and down hills as compared to walking as fast as possible, although the running part stimulates the brain better. I find that faster arm swings make for faster walking. Well, no use being so anal retentive about it. I'll just walk or run as I feel no matter the pace.

Larry's Transplant And What Happened Afterwards

There is nothing routine about surgery and that is a given. It doesn't matter how skilled the surgeon is and how many he or she has done, you can never predict the outcome. Every patient reacts differently to the procedure. You hope that everything comes out well with minimal or no complications.

                Thursday mid-morning, which was about 1:30 a.m. in the Philippines, I got a text message from Ninette. I had been waiting for an update about Larry’s kidney transplant but didn't expect it that late, so it must have been urgent. I called her back and Ninette’s sister Tika answered. I don’t exactly recall the chronology of events as related to me by Pica, but she told me that Larry had complained about having difficulty urinating and they found out that a blood clot was blocking the urethra. While the surgeon was taking care of that problem, it was discovered that Larry had some bleeding from an unknown source and had to be rushed back to the operating room. This is where it gets confusing to me. As I understand it, when Larry’s anesthesia wore out in the recovery room, he woke up confused and started tearing out his IV lines and whatever else was attached to him. Because of this, the nephrologist thinks that the donated kidney from Ninette might have been traumatized that it would take longer for the graft to heal. The surgeon later informed Ninette that when they were taking care of the bleeding, they noticed some unidentifiable fluids which was not blood. Could it be leftover bile from Larry’s gall bladder which was also taken out at the same time as the kidney transplant?

                Larry was then sent to the ICU after the bleeding was stopped and was kept sedated. An endotracheal tube has remained in place and at that time he was considered to be in stable/critical condition, which sounds like an oxymoron. I hardly slept that night worrying about his condition. I received another text message Friday morning requesting me to call. This time I was able to talk to Ninette and she said Larry needed more blood transfusions plus dialysis because the electrolytes weren't clearing fast enough even though the new kidney was already producing adequate urine. Otherwise he was more mentally alert. That was a brief relief which enabled me to pass out Friday night and sleep till early Saturday morning. When I turned on my phone, there was a text message from 4 hours earlier. I immediately called back and Ninette said that during Larry’s dialysis, his blood pressure dropped to 80/60 so they had to stop. He was also having tachycardia (rapid pulse) going up to between 160 to 180 beats per minute. To add to that, he had developed a slight fever, which in his immunocompromised state is not good news. Remember he had to take a lot of immunosuppressant medications prior to surgery to lessen the possibility of rejecting then donated kidney. However, his doctor said that using signals, Larry had asked him how the new kidney was doing. The doctor told him that it was working, which apparently brought tears to his eyes.

                Ninette appears to be recovering quite well physically. She had been allowed to sit up in bed the day after the surgery. But of course she is experiencing a lot of emotional duress due to Larry’s condition. To make it worse, she couldn’t visit Larry in ICU because she had developed a cold. I continue admire her for her love and courage despite what is happening. In case you don't already know, she donated one of her kidneys to Larry.

The last six months or so, I was concerned about my brother ever since he said he had end stage renal disease, but only in these past few days that I've worried so much because of the challenges for Larry which keep on popping up. Just like last year with Mama before she died, I dread every phone call, text message or email that comes bearing news of another setback. I have to remain positive for my brother because if he is fighting, the least I can do is keep myself together. It's just a helpless feeling. You want to solve it but you can't. In my mind, I keep on exhorting Larry to keep fighting, hoping that mental telepathy works with prayer. Otherwise, what else can you do except trust the medical staff to do their job in trying to make him well? Larry has already made so many major lifestyle changes so he could qualify for this transplant and it seems unfair that he has to go through these complications. It makes me scared to think what else is coming around the bend. I’m hoping for better news at the next update. Please…
          Newsflash 7/28/13 8:47 A.M. : Robynne, Larry's niece just posted an update on Facebook which I'm copying and pasting here: Hi everybody. Ninong is doing so much better today. The slight fever he had yesterday is now gone, his BP is back to normal, he is responding really well everytime they lower the pressure on his ventilator, although his heart rate is still irregular, it is not zooming up anymore. If he continues to respond well to the doctors lowering the pressure on the ventilator, they will take it out tomorrow morning and he will be out of the ICU in the afternoon and if he stable after that. His new kidney is doing well too. Thank you so much for all the prayers you have been offering for him. My family and I cannot even begin to express how grateful we are. Please do continue to pray for him. Thank you again!
Also, I know that he is feeling better because he already did a silly face out of nowhere when I visited him earlier in the ICU and nodded like there is no tomorrow when I asked him if he is bored .

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Signal Hill Time Trial Walk

When I woke up early last Saturday morning (July 20^th), the question in my mind was: is it going to be a jog/walk with AREC (A Running Experience Club) for a mostly flat 6 to 10 miles, or with the Long Beach Area Walking Club for 6 miles up and down hills (5 major climbs)? With slightly sore thigh muscles from doing a short spinning workout the previous day, I decided it was going to be Signal Hill because I didn’t think I would be able to do a jog/walk workout. Believe me, my muscles get easily sore nowadays due to the cholesterol medication. Besides, since I’ve been using my GPS watch again, I wanted to find out how fast I could cover the course strictly by walking, and compare it to the flat walk with AREC a couple of months back in 13:05 minutes per mile pace over six miles. I’ve tried walking as fast as I can at Signal Hill before, but without the GPS watch, I wasn’t sure exactly what the distance was even though it was advertised as 6 miles. This time, equipped with the Garmin, I was all set to do a time trial. It was going to be one of those non-socializing days so I had to leave the rest of the group behind.

When I hit the first mile which included the steep Hill Street at 14:05, I knew it was going to be a fast walk if I could keep it up all the way. So I kept on pushing which made it feel  just as tough walking as fast as possible uphill as it was running. When I was gasping for breath during the steep climbs, I exhorted myself to push more and go faster. I don’t know if I actually went faster, but at least I put in the effort. And when I crested the hill, I tried my best to follow through and keep the pace up. So on it went on the roller coaster terrain of Signal Hill with me slowing slightly on the dirt trails for fear of slipping, then picking it up again on the pavement.

                

          At the pace I was going, I wondered  if I could catch up with the tail end of the walking group in one of the loops. Was I hoping to lap somebody? It was in the back of my mind but wasn't expecting it, however with 1 mile to go for me, I caught up with 3 people and a dog who had 2 miles to go and passed them. When I was almost at the 6 mile point, instead of turning right towards where the finish was, I turned left merely because I was curious to see where a certain street (Combellack) led to before turning back. Thus I was able to extend my walk another mile. When I hit 7 miles, I clicked off the GPS watch and checked my average pace. It was 13:34 minutes per mile. My goodness, that’s only a difference of 29 seconds per mile compared to my fastest pace on a flat course! How exhilarating to be able to walk that fast on a hilly course. My time for the 7 mile distance was exactly 1 hour and 35 minutes.

Since this was a time trial, does that mean I’m going to do it again in a few weeks to see if my walking fitness level has improved? Frankly, I don’t know if I can walk any faster than that, but I guess we shall see down the line if the spirit moves me again to try it.

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A Perceived Transgression at Work

          SLANDER - 1: the utterance of false charges or misrepresentations which defame and damage another's reputation; 2: a false and defamatory oral statement about a person.

          Apparently I'm being blamed or accused of something I didn't do. It all started at the beginning of the shift when one of my co-workers was ignoring me when I told her where to find the chart dividers. At first I thought she was upset over how I was motioning to her and directing her to where the chart dividers were, but a few minutes later when I asked her something, she told me not to talk to her. So I didn't, because I did not want to further inflame whatever perceived transgression I did. Normally when this co-worker comes in to work, she immediately says hi to me, but on this particular evening, she came in with an angry mood.
We still had to do our jobs so we went through the motions of what we needed to do but without talking to each other, while I remained clueless as to why she was angry at me. When another co-worker asked her about her upcoming schedule change, she said she doesn't want it anymore and wanted to keep her old schedule. This, after working with her for weeks on the change so she could have every other weekend off like everybody else.
          I don't talk much at work anyway, so when she told me not to talk to her, it wasn't much of a stretch for me. However, having someone being angry at me for no apparent reason was bothersome. I learned from someone else that our supervisor was going to show up to talk to my upset co-worker but no one knew the reason why. I heard much later into the shift that someone anonymously emailed the human resources department some pictures of my co-worker sleeping in the hallway and using her tablet computer, and she was called in to explain what she was doing. With such evidence, she almost got fired. How this connects to me, I don't know, because I wasn't the one who sent the anonymous email. But since I'm the one who knows a bit about computers in our group, my co-worker mistakenly assumed that I may have been the one who did it. Thus her silent treatment began without her telling me why she was upset at me.
          First of all, I have never reported anybody to human resources or even our immediate supervisor, because I believe that whatever I report about any of my co-workers will also affect me and not just the person being reported. It's one of those "he who is without sin, cast the first stone" situations. Therefore the whole shift of workers suffer if that happens. One way or another it's hard to avoid drifting off to sleep in the hallway for a lot of night shift workers, and just about everybody uses their computers, tablets, or the hospital's computers to surf the web.
          Perhaps the person who sent those pictures to human resources had some kind of altercation with my co-worker who until now got along very well with me. As far as being blamed for sending the pictures and who actually sent them, well, that's the mystery. Heck, they can check my computer, cellphone, camera, or even IP address and they will not find any evidence of me doing such a thing. And if they wanted to delve deeper into this, digital photos nowadays contain lots of information, from megapixels to date and time they were taken, and even what kind of camera they were shot from (EXIF data). Forgive me for going into CSI mode (or more likely - geek mode), but if I can have access to those digital photos, based on all that available information, I can prove that I was not the one who took nor sent them to human resources.Thus, my conscience is clear because I remain totally innocent.
          Miss S., if I didn't like working with you, why would I put you in the same schedule as I have? Unfortunately, you have accused the wrong person. I should be very angry that you think I would do something like this. Instead, I'm terribly disappointed.

In The Company of AREC Runners

This appears like I'm doing some sort of duck walk with my butt sticking out, however it just shows how difficult it is to do the heel to toe walking technique. Looks funny, doesn't it? Photo courtesy of Dave K.

          Last week AREC running club members received an email saying that new t-shirts were available for those who haven't received this year's beach towel for being a member. I picked up my towel a couple of months ago but it had remained unused and sitting in my closet. I sent a message to Kevin B. who was distributing the new shirts to find out if I could exchange my beach towel for a shirt and he said yes. Thus the reason for me showing up at the AREC training run last Saturday morning. Having done a jog/walk last Thursday, I thought I'd just do a very brisk walk with the club for the shorter distance of 6 miles just like I did 2 months prior when I was able to cover the distance at a 13:05 pace (my fastest walking pace ever).

          So there I was last Saturday morning with the club, a walker amidst all the runners of which about 115 showed up despite the 4th of July holiday weekend. Man, this club is really going strong! Before the pre-run talk even started, I began my walk so as not left too far behind when all the runners finished later. Like I said, I was only planning to walk but started inserting some short jogs in between walking intervals. This soon transformed itself to slightly longer jogs with shorter walk intervals. In the meantime, I kept looking behind me to check if the runners were catching up. I stopped at Stephanie's water station and drank some Gatorade and thanked her for being there, then continued my walk/jog (now a jog/walk). About a quarter of a mile later, I felt a tap on the back and the two leading AREC runners (Brian C. and Dylan B.) had caught up to my early start. They must have started later than usual because I was almost at 4 miles at that point. Pretty soon more runners were passing me (Johan D., Mike S., Kate R., etc.) and even though I couldn't run continuously, it felt good to be among the company of runners. I even saw Jennifer S. whom I ran with about 3 times last year. Oh, I forgot. Stephanie's water stop was supposed to be the turnaround point for the 6 mile distance but I continued on and jog/walked up 6th street hill before turning around. The longer distance for the day was 10 miles but I didn't want to go that far, so when I reached the corner of Bayshore and 2nd Streets, I turned left instead of continuing to Ocean Boulevard. Since I wasn't following the exact 6 or 10 mile route, I had to make adjustments so I could hit at least 9 miles by the end. One thing I noticed at about 3 miles and around Naples Plaza was how the numbers or the Sole Runners training group had diminished dramatically, while the AREC group has grown.

          When I reached 7 miles, I could feel my legs tiring which I attribute to the lingering effects of statin myopathy. Although my thighs and hips don't hurt as much, they still get tired more than usual. But at least they don't feel injured. It seem that the doctor reducing my Atorvastatin dose to 10 mg. three times a week has helped. At this point the duration of my jogs equaled the duration of my walks because my jogging stride started to deteriorate, and I did this until I reached the finish line.

          When I finally clicked off my GPS watch which I haven't worn in months until last Thursday, I didn't know what my pace was. I was thinking maybe around 12:30 because when I did a jog/walk on Thursday where I felt I jogged more than I walked (actually I jogged the first 2 miles and jog/walked the rest up to 4.69 miles), I ended up with 11:44 pace. So when I checked my average pace last Saturday for the 9 miles I finished, I was ecstatic to find out that I did an 11:25 pace, deteriorating stride and all! I would have never expected that and I can only attribute that pace to being in the company of the runners in my club. To tell you the truth, never mind the pace, after I finish these things, I still don't know how I'm able to cover these distances nowadays especially when they are over 6 miles. For that, I remain thankful.

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Signal Hill Walk/Jog – June 29, 2013

I had plenty of time to kill before going to my Uncle’s 75^th birthday party so I joined the Long Beach Walking Club for their Signal Hill 900 calorie burn walk on Saturday. It doesn’t even come close to that calorie burn of course. Last time I used my GPS watch, it estimated my calorie burn to be only in the 400 range, while another walker’s Runkeeper app, estimated expenditure to be about 600, but then she was taller and heavier.

I woke up with a weight of 115.8 pounds so there was no need for me to workout too hard especially with the heat wave that day. I thought I might just walk with the group easily throughout the 6 mile course. That didn’t go as planned because as soon as we hit the first hill just 100 meters from the start, I felt the need to huff and puff so I could get high. A young kid of about 15 ahead of me was bounding up Hill Street while I shuffled along keeping as steady a pace as possible that would bring me over the top. It worked! I’ll leave the bounding to the young whipper snapper. As I mentioned before, I had time to kill since the party wasn’t until 1 p.m. so I backtracked to the group and walked uphill with them. Oh, I forgot to mention that the group was larger than usual – there were at least 10 of us. That was the most people I’ve walked with at Signal Hill ever since I joined them 3 years ago. There was this one lady who asked me if I was Filipino, then she mentioned that her kids are half Filipino. She also asked me why I was walking so fast and I told her that I was pre-burning my calories in anticipation of the overeating of Filipino food later at the party. She asked me if I was planning on eating a whole lechon (roast pork). Due to my cholesterol problems, I couldn’t do that anymore (not that I can eat a whole pig).

So back to the walk. I did what I usually do with the group which is walk ahead of them, then do short jogs on the uphills, then walk back to the group, which increased my distance more than the measured 6 miles, my workout time, and of course the calorie burn. Because it was a hot day, it was the first time ever that I wore a tanktop while working out with this group. On one of the slight downhill portions, I was walking at my fastest pace and almost caught up with a man who was jogging. If he didn’t make a right turn, I would have. At another flat portion, I convinced a couple of the women to jog with me for a couple of minutes and then one of them on an uphill portion. And so it went until the group arrived at the end of 6 miles having covered the distance in about 2 hours. In that same amount of time, I covered about 8 ½ miles walking and jogging with all the back and forth I did.

Remember I said I woke up with a weight of 115.8 pounds? When I rechecked it post workout, I was down to 111.8 pounds. Whoa, that’s a little too much fluid loss. It must have been the hot day that caused that 4 pound loss. I hydrated and replenished my lost fluids over the next couple of hours.

Still, I had about 3 more hours to kill before the party so aside from rehyhdrating, I also lifted some weights while I finished reading the day’s newspaper. After pre-burning the calories and starving myself for so long, it was time to go to the party and commit the sin of gluttony. Oops, I meant so I can replenish my glycogen and protein stores.The fare: palabok, sisig, empanada, lumpia shanghai, crabs in coconut milk, chicken salad, beefsteak, baked Alaska, kulma, pizza, leche flan, cheesecake, and ube birthday cake. I confess to almighty God that I committed gluttony. I hope the 2 hour walk/jog beforehand was enough for my penance.

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GREAT BALLS OF FIRE and other Random Thoughts

Well, more like Small Balls On Fire, but more on that later.
          Some prayers are repetitive. The Litany for example, and of course, the rosary. During confession, the priest gives you penance in which you usually have to recite so many Our Fathers, Hail Marys, and/or Act of Contritions to atone for your sins. My question is: is repeating the same prayer several times when you are more or less just murmuring the words, more effective than one fervent one where you put your whole heart into it? It seems like repetition is some sort of sacrifice that “makes you put in your time” so to speak.

          During my half marathon birthday walk, I contemplated my fear of offering one of my kidneys to my brother. I had been thinking about it for awhile and it has become more important now because he may have some donor compatibility issues (his blog about kidney disease). I wish I could be courageous and just do it because it's the right thing to do. Even if I was brave enough to do it, how do you coordinate the healthcare system of the U.S. with that in the Philippines as far as organ donations go? I emailed the National Kidney and Transplant Institute customer service in the Philippines but they haven’t responded.

          I used to do errand runs to squeeze in a workout where I ran to the bank, video store, grocery store, and/or pharmacy, but ever since my ankle tendon and myopathy problems, I have resorted to errand walks. One of last weeks’ workouts went like this: very brisk walk to the bank to withdraw money from the ATM, then proceed to the 99 Cent store to buy a couple of bottles of lemon pepper seasoning, then it was off to  Rite Aid Pharmacy (well I’ll be darned because I forgot what I bought there, old age, you know), and the last stop before home was Von's Grocery to buy some oatmeal raisin walnut cookies. Then I headed back home. How did I manage to carry all the things I bought. No I didn’t bring a reusable bag with me but brought a backpack instead. Total time = 55 minutes.

          And then there was The Pepper Incident. I’m addicted to hot stuff and nary a meal which doesn’t include hot sauce (Sriracha or Tapatio), raw jalapeno peppers microwaved for a minute or so, or pickled jalapeno peppers. Well, this one time, I sliced open a raw jalapeno pepper and took out the seeds with my fingers. Then I scratched or rubbed my forehead, after which I went to the bathroom to pee. All that without washing my hands first. Guess what happened? My forehead was burning, my eyes were burning, and worst of all, my cojones were burning. Despite repeated washings of the areas, they remained aflame for several hours. No, I didn’t have any milk which I hear relieves the burning better. The experience gave new meaning to the Jerry Lee Lewis song - Great Balls of Fire. Lesson learned. I now wash my hands right after handling peppers. Goodness Gracious, I hope you weren't expecting any pictures!

          I understand that sometimes workers have to listen to music or watch videos to relieve boredom during the night shift. What I don’t understand is why they have to use earphones in both ears so as not be able to hear patients knocking on the door or commotions on the unit. Just common sense -it is a safety issue.

          Flies, flies, and more flies, and not the dumbbell workout kind either. I began to have a gathering of flies inside my screen windows last week and they didn’t fly anywhere inside but rather just stuck themselves to the screen. My first thought was that – did anything die indoors? I didn’t smell anything rotten. Then I checked my pulse just to make sure. Turns out, one or two managed to sneak through tiny holes on the screen and invited their friends to the party. Only they couldn’t find the way back out. A little bug spray did the trick along with patching the holes. It seems to have worked. Now to deal with occasional spiders, ants, and cockroaches… Jeez, what’s next? Locusts and pestilence?

                And lastly the consequence of last year's traffic ticket. Remember my blog about being No Longer A Traffic Ticket Virgin? Well, that moving violation didn’t only cost me a $400+ fine but also a $200 increase in car insurance rate for at least the next three years! As if I didn’t have too many expenses already…

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A New Sofa Bed or Click-Clack Sofa?

Old Futon Frame

          About five years ago I bought a cheap futon from Walmart. I used to have a regular couch but in case I get some houseguests, I thought it would be practical to have a futon instead. After just a couple of months, the cushioning flattened out and it became a little bit uncomfortable to sit on. Earlier this year, before my brother got diagnosed with end stage renal disease, he and his wife Ninette talked about the possibility of visiting me. So I started looking into replacing the futon with a sofa bed or one of those click-clack sofas which are basically the same as futons except the cushioning is already part of the frame.

Click Clack Sofa

          A regular sofa bed was out of the question because of budgetary reasons - none were in my price range. I found a click-clack sofa on sale last month and I wanted so badly to buy one but the store didn’t deliver and I needed a truck to transport it. Unfortunately, by the time my co-worker’s truck became available, the store was out of stock. So it was back to looking for a better deal. Then it occurred to me that I’ve read somewhere before that some futons come with an inner spring mattress and they can be bought separately. I examined my futon frame and it still appeared to be in good shape. Perhaps I can just replace the flattened cushion with an inner spring mattress. It was back to trolling the internet for the best price. It was not too surprising that Walmart had one at my price range and more importantly, the reviews were mostly positive. It was a choice between a 6 inch or an 8 inch mattress and I opted for the thinner one just because the thicker one would have covered most of the futon frame’s arms. I ordered it online which came with free delivery and it arrived 6 days later. The delivery person actually managed to get inside the security gate and left it outside my door while I was asleep. Fortunately, nobody stole it. When I woke up and went outside, I just found this huge rolled package.

          The mattress was inside a bag and when I took it out, it was shrink wrapped with all the air squeezed out. I tore off the plastic wrap and the mattress opened up. I removed the old cushion then had to mightily wrestle the heavier inner spring mattress into the futon frame. Hooo boy! That darn thing was heavier than I thought. However, it folded neatly where it was supposed to in the middle. I sat on it and it felt a little too firm, but since it hadn’t expanded to its fullest shape yet, that was to be expected. There was also a matter of the factory odor which emanated from the mattress, but that faded as time went on.

Futon Innerspring Mattress

          So what to do with the old flattened cushion? I tried putting it on top of the new mattress but that made the couch too high. Then an idea came to me. Perhaps I can repurpose it as a mattress pad on my old bed. Well I tried that for a few days but it felt too lumpy and because of the way it was positioned on the futon, the middle part was raised. In an effort to flatten the middle, I piled a barbell on it and left it for several hours on two separate days. Well, that didn’t help very much or at all. Because of that middle lump, after sleeping, I woke up with back pain because my body is more used to sleeping on a very firm mattress. I ended up throwing it away. Well, so much for recycling.

                On a more positive note, the new inner spring futon mattress seems to be holding up well and the odor is mostly gone. I’ve even taken short naps on it and it was firm enough for my needs. It is still a little too firm for sitting though, but I remedied that by placing an outdoor lounger mattress which I already had, on top of it. I'm pretty happy with the product. It does pay to read reviews :). So folks, if ever anyone comes over for a vacation in my neighborhood and needs a bed for a short while, I am no longer ashamed to offer my futon. Just be careful not to bump into all my exercise equipment in case you wake up in the dark in the middle of the night.

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Shave to Skin, Fade, Do Not Touch = Getting It Right

Before running on National Running Day, before walking a half marathon for my birthday, and even before the Assaultive Behavior Management class, first came THE dreaded HAIRCUT. If by any chance you have followed this blog for awhile, you would already know about my searching high and low for a barber. Too many times or more often than not, barbers have left me dissatisfied with the way they have done their abstract designs on my noggin.

A couple of weeks ago after leaving work and shopping for groceries, I was on my way home when I espied that one of the barbershops  I’ve used in recent months was open and had no customers yet. So I stopped and had a haircut. Using my previous description at another barbershop about how I wanted my hair done, I told the barber that I wanted the sides shaved to the skin halfway up, then a fade and taper the rest of the way. The difference this time was that I told him not to take any off the top because when the last barber did it, my hair remained spiky for several months. And away he went buzzing here and snipping there a la Edward Scissorhands but with an electric razor. And VOILA! When he was done, it appeared that , I finally got lucky and got what I consider to be a proper haircut. Once in a rare while, the barber gets it right. So much so that I asked him to take a picture with me which made it look like Sweeney Todd getting ready to slaughter his next victim.

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Assaultive Behavior Management Training 2013

          8 months ago, I was assaulted by a patient (http://aboutlifeandrunning.blogspot.com/2012/10/an-assault-with-no-visible-triggers.html). Last Saturday, I had to attend a refresher course on how to deal with violent patients. Did I learn anything new?
          Professional Assault Response Training (PART), Proc-ACT, Management of Assaultive Behavior (MAB), and now ABM. Well at least it’s not LBM! What used to be a mandatory 8 hour class  for work every year has been compacted to a 4 hour class every 2 years. Is it for the better? Well, that very debatable. But first things first. A good breakfast to start with on a Saturday morning. I’m not a breakfast eater but knowing that the class would last from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., I thought it was best that I had something in my belly. So I went to the hospital cafeteria and ordered a breakfast burrito consisting of hash browns, scrambled eggs, and sausage, wrapped in a toasted tortilla. It was probably the most cholesterol laden food I’ve had in weeks. Having filled myself with all the fat I can handle, it was time to go to class.

          There were 17 students who signed up, ate some doughnuts the instructor brought in so we could give him positive reviews, and were given handouts about the course. Most of us were there for recertification so we were fairly familiar with the subject matter. So what can you do in fitting an 8 hour class to half the time, which was similar to when I took it 2 years ago? Well, there were a lot of shortcuts to be made. Mostly, the theoretical parts of assaultive behavior was discussed – how to identify and respond to it. Well and good in a perfect world. First of all, this is not a criticism of the class or instructor  because they are limited to what they can do with the time they are given. This is just an observation. There is now lesser information and training and mostly theoretical, and even that felt incomplete due to lack of real life situation examples. Even with the best intention of the class, which is to avoid seclusion and restraints by verbal interventions and alternative techniques like medications, when push comes to shove so to speak, the students will not necessarily know what to do because the physical part of the training has been lacking. Heck, even how to do verbal interventions was just skimmed over. I don't know if it's only to save time, but also to save money, but reducing the class to a barest minimum could be dangerous for someone who has not been exposed to real life situations in a psychiatric unit. Gone is the role playing we used to do in responding to agitated patients. For people who have taken the longer and more detailed classes, it would have been sufficient as a refresher. For the newbies and those who haven’t worked in a psych unit for a while, I don’t think they would be well equipped to handle explosive situations that would arise at work.

          In my opinion, the class would have been more efficient if we stuck to the syllabus or handout and were given realistic scenarios of what could or usually happens in a psych unit. It seems that the aim of the class was just to satisfy a requirement rather than to give adequate training. That being said, I’m glad it was only a 4 hour class. After all, who would like to go to such class on their day off anyway?!

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National Running Day and Birthday Walk - 2013 Edition

          So what does one do on National Running Day when one can’t run? Well in my case, I gave it the old college try. Running was not planned that day, but with so much internet posts about it, an attempt would have to be made. It would have been preferable to do it outdoors of course, but I had to keep it on the treadmill so as to soften the blow on my brittle muscles and joints. Slowest speed possible: check, 1 percent incline: check, legs and ankles ready: question mark. Keeping my strides as light as possible, the treadmill belt moved underneath me while I kept anticipating a jolt of pain which never came. I kept going, and jogging, and slogging until I reached 45 minutes and figured that enough was enough. I had kept my National Running Day obligation for another year, albeit indoors on a treadmill. A purist might say that shouldn’t count, but having been unable to run in any way shape or form for several weeks, I’ll consider that a run. Who knows when I’ll be able to do it again or at all?

          In keeping with a birthday tradition of doing a long run which in recent years have now turned into a long walk, the day after National Running Day, I did a trek around my neighborhood. I didn’t venture too far because in case my joints and muscles failed me, at least I was close to home. Believe me, even when I woke up that morning, I was undecided on whether I should do it or not, or which direction to go (drive to the beach or El Dorado Park, or walk down Del Amo Boulevard going east and see how far an hour and a half will take me?). Instead, I kept it around Bixby Knolls and mostly in the Virginia Country Club area where I did my training for the Los Angeles Marathon a couple of times maybe a decade ago. Meanwhile, I had been thinking if it was it time to give up on this annual exercise. The reason why I had doubts was because the mental toughness I developed while training for marathons is no longer what it used to be. Why would I want to do 3 hours or more of this workout when 30 minutes to an hour on the stationary bike or a treadmill hill walk would suffice? Well, mainly because I wanted to prove to myself that it's still doable in spite of my ankle and thigh/hip problems.

          Armed with my cellphone, keys, wallet (in case I had to pay for a cab), some cough drops to keep my mouth moist, and listening to KIIS-FM on the radio-equipped phone, I stepped out into the June gloom and started walking in an unhurried pace. While I moved, I contemplated on what I was going to do. Shall I keep it to 2 hours, the time I used to do when I was still running, or walk for 3 hours regardless of what distance that took me, or go for the usual 12 miles regardless of how long it took me? Last year it took 3 hours and 11 minutes to cover that distance.

          The first hour felt easy mentally, the second hour almost felt likewise until I reached 1:45 when it felt like time slowed down. On the third hour, I tried not to check my watch too often, and that helped a lot. During the walk, I saw a lot of houses being remodeled (the economy must be getting better), gardeners mowing lawns and trimming bushes, squirrels scampering up trees and crossing overhead electrical wires from one post to another. In Los Cerritos Park, there was a smattering of walkers and other exercisers doing their thing. In the middle of the walk, my phone rebooted for no apparent reason so I had to reset the radio station I was listening to. The first cough drop lasted for an hour and 57  minutes and the second one lasted until I finished the walk. It was mostly a no rush walk of about 16 minutes per mile (I didn’t want to pressure myself with pace) until the last 30 to 40 minutes. As I was getting close to 12 miles, I picked up the pace and thought that I should go for something extra and try for a half marathon instead. Well I did manage to do a GPS based half marathon to celebrate my 56^th birthday when the sun never emerged from the June gloom. The pace was faster than last year's 12 miler because there were no hills. After 3 hours, 17 minutes, and 33 seconds, 13.11 miles at 15:04 pace, and 2 bathroom breaks, I had done what I set out to do even with the initial doubts. Not only did the walk prove that I was still capable, but also that I can finish a half marathon without a training plan. That was the plus side. On the minus side, despite the distance, the workout didn't really hit the pleasure areas of my brain like running would have done. But I already accomplished the pleasure the previous day when I ran on the treadmill on National Running Day. Thus ends this year’s edition of my crazy traditions. Same time next year?

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Statin Myopathy, Cholesterol Level, Diet, AREC, and Running

          

Photo courtesy of David K. - AREC President

          Normally, I'm overly excited about rejoining AREC's Long Beach Marathon training, but due to my most recent muscle problems, this time, I'm just elated at making it there at all.

          Backtracking a little bit to give you some history: I had to start taking Lipitor again three months ago because my cholesterol level went up when I stopped taking the medication due to muscle pains as a side effect. How bad have the pains been? Well, if I do the same type of workout two days in a row, let's say for example- using the recumbent bike, my leg muscles are more likely to hurt. Giving myself a few months break while taking Coenzyme Q-10 supplements relieved the pain and enabled my muscles recover somewhat. Even though I only took half the dose of the Lipitor (20 mg.) and only 3-4 times a week this time around, I began experiencing the muscle pains again after just 3 months, mainly on both thighs. So I requested a cholesterol level test from my doctor before visiting him and later found out that even the lower dose of medication taken roughly every other day decreased my cholesterol level from 220 to 178. More importantly, my LDL also dropped and my LDL/HDL ration remained good. So the good doctor recommended that I further reduce the dose of the Lipitor to 10 mg. three times a week in hopes that my muscle pains would disappear. By the way, I walked from home to the lab and back for my blood draw and that made for a six mile workout :-) We shall see if the doctor's recommendation is effective in a few weeks.

          A couple of days after the doctor's visit, I showed up at AREC marathon training not necessarily to train with them but mainly to pick up the beach towel which is what we get for being a member this year (last year it was a windbreaker). How often do I go to AREC runs? Well I saw a woman with her husband carrying a baby last Saturday. I never even saw that woman pregnant last year! Anyway, the workout for the day was either 4 or 6 miles and I opted for the longer distance, thinking it would take me about an hour and a half to cover it. Of course a few people after seeing me walking asked if I was recovering from an injury and all I can say is that it's just SNAFU (situation normal, all fu.... up). Nevertheless, my pace felt pretty brisk but since I was the only walker who was doing 6 miles, I was in last place. So much so that when I reached the turnaround point where the water station was, I suggested to Tina and Rosie that they could probably start packing up the supplies because I was the last one . About a mile down the road, good old Dave, the club president was still taking pictures and waiting for the last person. Thank you Dave, for being such a caring president :) I wended my way through the streets of Naples (Long Beach) in the last two miles until I reached the finish area at Joe's Crab Shack. When I clicked off my stopwatch, it registered 1:18:32. Hmm, that seemed quite fast for 6 miles but I couldn't calculate pace per mile out of the top of my head. See, I haven't been using my GPS watch lately. I had to wait to get home to plug in the numbers in a pace calculator before finding out that I had walked at an average pace of 13 minutes and 5 seconds per mile for 6 miles! My goodness, I've never walked that fast before, with or without muscle pain! That was pleasantly surprising since if I'm not mistaken, my previous fastest pace was about 13:40 per mile. I haven't exactly done any roadwork lately other than my futile attempts to jog a few weeks ago before my thigh muscles began being affected by the statins again. I guess those treadmill hill walks must be helping. And I should probably also thank AREC and it's members for the motivation they provided. And to think that I even forgot to bring coughdrops which I suck on during workouts to keep my mouth moist. Maybe not carrying 2 to 3 pieces of candy lessened my load which enabled me to walk faster :) Now if I can only learn proper racewalking technique...

Always appreciating Dave's photos :)

          Going back to my battle with cholesterol - taking psyllium and fiber gummies weren't working by themselves. In addition to the lower dose of Lipitor, I also had to do other things like cutting the cheese from my diet, bringing my own turkey sandwiches to work instead of eating the ham and cheese they give out for snacks, substituting fat free sherbet for ice cream, and using imitation crab meat or tofu instead of meat for my barley and vegetables concoction. Other things I've cut out are hamburgers, hotdogs, fried chicken, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches except for an occasional jelly sandwich. One thing I can't let go completely though are the sweets, which is my guilty pleasure, and some of you may have already seen my dessert photos on Facebook.

          So two things to be happy about: being able to walk faster and lowering my cholesterol to healthy levels. To end this post, I decided to just focus on the things that I can do (like walking at a good pace) and be thankful for them rather than lament what I cannot do (like running).

Always try to look good when you see a photographer :)

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SYTYCR - So You Think You Can Run

Apologies to the TV show So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD).
          I have been taking CoEnzyme Q-10 supplements for several months to counteract the myopathy caused by taking Atorvastatin for high cholesterol and thought that my thigh muscles had recovered enough to try running again. After a few weeks of dabbling on this running or plodding workout, I have come to either an assumption or conclusion. It's not a new one because I've been arriving at the same result for at least the past two years. I've already been content with my exercise routine in recent months without running, but for some reason I keep getting drawn back to give it one more try, not in the hopes of returning to previous capabilities, but just as another workout option. It worked for about three weeks, then not surprisingly, my muscle imbalances and statin related myopathy came back to spank my butt. As if it wasn't hard enough trying to run again.
          How did it happen this time? Was the cause due to restarting the Lipitor three months ago and the effect the return of myopathy even with the coenzyme Q-10 supplements? Or was the cause due to restarting running and doing 2 minute pickups too soon with the effect as being too much too soon? More likely, it is the combination of both. My muscles were already achy from just three weeks of running 2 to 3 times a week and the pickups just took it over the top. It didn't take very much - just 3 pickups in the last 10 minutes of a 40 minute run, but that's all it took to trigger the pain on both hips. I have already chopped my stride to lessen the impact but with the pickups I unintentionally extended the stride which I think started the pain. My hips don't lie when they say they're hurting. How do I know if it's really a bad injury? When I descend down stairs, it hurts like the dickens (I really don't know what that means). I have to hold on to the rails to keep my balance and so I don't fall. It's not the kind of pain that can be relieved by analgesics either. Believe me, that's based on experience and research. Would you believe the feeling of utter depression actually overcame me the day after and it lasted for several hours? Being debilitated made me feel that way. Fortunately I got over that funk the next day.
          So it's back to no running (or plodding). Is it safe to assume that I should stop making these comeback attempts? When something that give you most pleasure also gives you the most pain, then is it definitely time to stop forever? The problem with running is that it's like heroin which from what I hear, the detox and cravings are intense. Nevertheless, getting high on running even just for three weeks was worth it. SYTYCR? I cannot, or rather , should not. Until the pain dissipates and/or the cravings start again...
          How I wish someone had developed a training plan for people with myopathy, perhaps something similar to a beginner's guide to running. As far as Do I Think I Can Dance? HA! Let's just say that Elaine on Seinfeld dances much better!

Getting a Little High Then Overdosing

          Darn it! I was editing a draft of this post when the Polaris Office word processor app crashed and took all the edits with it, and just as I was getting in a flow. Unfortunately, it didn't autosave the work so I have to start all over. Believe me, that lost document was much better than this.

          Puff, puff, pass. If only it were that. It's feels more like huff, and puff, and pass out. Running can feel so rough when you haven't been doing it for awhile. Waking up with what are now daily aches and pains doesn't help any. I had one of those days and even considered not running that day, even though I had been looking forward to it in the days preceding.  But hey, I figured I ran three days ago in the afternoon after working 2 night shifts, I should be able to at least try running again after having the night off. So I laced up my running shoes and got out the door just planning on putting one foot in front of the other for what I hoped was at least 30 minutes. After all I had to work off the overdose of red velvet cookies I had the night before. That was my first overdose (darn it Von's, stop putting those things on sale!!!).

          Well, it was one of those runs that the body never got out of warm-up mode. The muscles and joints never loosened, the breathing was labored all the way, and hitting a good stride never happened. You've heard of a working stiff? Well, I looked like a plodding stiff. Remember when running used to be called jogging? Can I claim to have discovered a new aerobic workout named plodding? How can you look good while running very slowly? Right now there is no way and it's just plain running ugly. Since when did a gentle rise in the road not feel so gentle anymore? I used to attack those things. Attacking hills or even the flat road doesn't exist in my running vocabulary anymore due to a certain amount of fear of getting injured. I would have to be constantly in a 'protect mode'. While on this plodding workout, I saw a school bus full of children who were probably thinking "gee mister, you're so slow". Heck, I didn't care. After all, I was out plodding. And a tough plod it was. I should train my brain to think that every run is a good run regardless of how tough it is. If there is one advantage of running at glacial pace, it is that I am reaching distances much shorter than before, so it doesn't take long before I have to turn around and run back home.

          Hard days and easy days? Ha! They are all hard days. If I ran any slower, I'd be as good as stationary. My arm carriage is so high, it's like having a permanent shoulder shrug. Not very efficient or loose at all. Even with all that difficulty, I went out plodding again two days later and lasted for a full hour! What a hard way to get high. But it wasn't that which made me high, although it helped. It was checking my exercise log and seeing that I had done three runs in the past week. Hard to believe that I was capable of doing that anymore.

          Persistence, or lack thereof is probably one of the reasons people give up when they first try a new exercise program. For me, this plodding workout might as well be a new exercise program. Despite the difficulty I am having now, barring injury, I will persist until it starts becoming a habit again rather than a chore. For now, persistence is having managed to do three very slow runs last week.

          Apart from getting a runner's high and overdosing on red velvet cookies, I had a second OD last week which was caused by too much caffeine. I had such a tremendous buzz from overcaffeineation that it took more than 4 hours to come down from it. I needed some help from a little vino to come down and lots of water to decrease the caffeine concentration from the body, and so I could excrete it through urine. So how does one get overcaffeineated? The darn Gevalia coffee tasted so good, I kept sipping it without regard to the consequence. It was one of those times when I brewed it to perfect proportions as far as taste was concerned, but apparently too strong for my body to handle. If I were still able to run long distance, I might have finished a marathon on that buzz.
       
          So there it is - three high inducing runs, I mean, plods, two overdoses, and lots of persistence. You can't get any much higher than that. Anybody wanna join me start a new plodding boom? Then I can rename this blog -Thoughts About Life and Plodding.