Thanks, Doc! I'm off to the races.

Most of you know that July 21, 2008 through January 26, 2009 I spent the majority of my days in pain. I had all kinds of tests but it took a doctor digging his thumb in my back to find the issue was my intercostal nerve. I had a set of trigger point injections done 1/26/09 and started medication. I have weaned off the generic Zanaflex but have it if I need it but take 100 mg of Lyrica every night. The pain I had for months is finally gone.

In 2007, I completed three 5Ks. My husband's competitive shooting matches kept me from completing any races after September of that year. My plan was to resume 5Ks come Spring 2008. Unfortunately, my Mom had a heart attack and my focus turned to taking care of she and my Dad. Three weeks after spending a week at their house,I was hit with my health issues.

This past Saturday, upon going to bed, I decided that I wanted to do 5Ks again. I got up at 5:45 AM Sunday morning and walked for 30 minutes. Upon returning to the house, I began looking for events. I'm signed up for a 5K on Mother's Day to benefit the Second & Seven literacy organization. I'll admit during the work week 4:45 AM comes very early but once I get out in the fresh air, I come back refreshed. In addition to walking, I am lifting weights every other day (we're talking 3-5 pound weights; no major iron here). I'm also trying to eat more a better balance of carbs and protein.

My husband has competitive shooting matches the second and fourth Saturdays so I had to focus on 5Ks that are on the first or third Saturdays of the month with one exception being Mother's Day which is a Sunday 5K. I'm slated to do 5Ks on June 6, July 4, and August 1. I even set up tasks to remind me to register 2-3 weeks prior to each 5K. Gee, all of this planning and I wonder why I was picked to be a project manager at work?

So I managed to find one open weekend day a month through August. I think my husband is shooting every weekend in September so that month could be "shot" as far as 5Ks go. I'm a cold weather wimp so I need to decide if I want to try and do 5Ks after the weather begins to cool down. My husband has December - February off from IDPA so the schedule would actually be more open!

At the Mother's Day 5K, I plan to have my camera so I can have someone take a picture of me with my number pinned on my shirt. I plan to print off a copy of the picture and mail it to the pain management doctor at the Cleveland Clinic as a "thank you" for restoring my quality of life plus a friendly reminder about continuing my Lyrica prescription.

Children of God

I had the privilege of attending a Morning of Reflection yesterday with ladies from all around Columbus and other suburbs. The guest speaker was Teresa Tomeo. She shared with us her life's trials and how media & peers put pressure on women.

Teresa shared numerous studies and I did not write down a lot of stats because I was more focused on her than taking notes. Women think in order to get ahead we have to look better. Girls as young as 8 years old are starting to wear make up and will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars that isn't entirely necessary. Despite what others might do, we can find comfort knowing that the Lord looks at our hearts.

Do you know what ego is? How about "Easing God Out"? When you have an inflated ego, you are not acting in God's way.

Our media habits can lead to some of the following issues:

Vanity or obsession with appearance.

Acts of selfishness.

Poor self-esteem.

Relationship problems.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to look pretty or beautiful. Where it goes wrong is when it becomes unhealthy with eating disorders as an example for those trying to lose weight. Media tries to make the world believe that the perfect woman has enormous breasts, an itty bitty waist, long legs, no wrinkles, and no gray or white hairs. Sorry but I'm not Barbie!!!

Women are under constant pressure as wives, mothers, and workers. This excess pressure leads us to forget that we are children of God. We should take stock of our lives and make sure we have time to be a child of God. I'm as guilty as anyone in this area. I've been under pressure to manage the NASCAR pool for our family a few times and was terribly criticized because I messed up the spreadsheet. I live in Excel so I know how to use it but I did not understand what my husband was trying to accomplish with the data. Let's just say after listening to Teresa Tomeo yesterday that I think I'm going to go into the spreadsheet, black out my sections after last night's race, and eliminate myself from the pool. It's an unnecessary stressor in my life.

I also have the terrible habit of working at home. I've been working in the evenings, mornings, and weekends a lot more over the past several weeks because I'm behind in my work. I'm happy to say that yesterday, I did not do any work after I got home from the morning of reflection. I thought about logging in but it was too nice of a day. Instead, I took reading materials, a chair, and a glass of wine outside and was a child of God. I read Pope John Paul II's letter to women from 1995. I read my book on Mother Teresa "Total Surrender". In the evening I escaped to the bedroom to spend more time with the Lord reading the daily Bible. I'm washing my face and I hear the TV turn on. My husband comes in to watch the NASCAR race. His Dad calls to make sure he's watching the race & we missed part of a hockey game at the arena a few weeks ago so we could tell his Dad we watched the race. I used to enjoy watching NASCAR until it became required. By the time I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and brushed out my hair our son was in our room, too. I climbed into bed, turned on my bed side light, and tried to focuse on the Bible. The guys eventually went back down to the TV room to watch the race and left me in peace with the Lord.

"WWJW" = "What Would Jesus Watch"? Jesus probably did not mind "Captain Planet" and his team of environmentally super heroes that my son was watching for a good part of the afternoon. I think Jesus might have been as mixed on Spongebob & the crew as I am sometimes. Jesus probably doesn't mind NASCAR with the exception of the commercials. Teresa Tomeo suggested that we put statues or pictures of Jesus and/or the Blessed Mother near our televisions to help influence what we watch on TV. We have six televisons in our house so that's a lot of Jesus and Mary that I need to purchase! Of course, I could eliminate a TV if we pulled the TV from our son's room as she also suggested.

I know I've been all over the place with my writing today. Teresa Tomeo has forced me to think how I can be better a child of God and help my family be better children of God.

Have a Blessed Week.