3 Days Left...

Only 3 days left until the race!   Aghhhhhhhhh!   :)

And guess what I have!?  Sciatica!  Yippee!  (Sarcasm)

For those who are not aware of Sciatic pain... you're lucky!

I have struggled with it off and on ever since my 1st pregnancy.  It hurts!
It's a nerve near the top of your buttock that sends shooting pains all the way down your leg and even into your foot!

I have been icing, using the tennis ball, stretching... all to temporarily feel better but it always comes back!  Some days I am so stiff, I can barely move!  I really need to get in to the chiropractor, not sure how I'll do that now with my husband in Texas.

But the race is in 3 days and I'm nervously going into it with low expectations.

Really, my only expectation at this point is to finish the race.
I don't care if I need to stop and walk, or crawl.  I don't care if the only people still standing there at the end are my family members... I just want to cross the finish line.

Recently, we took the kids out to Veteran Acres, where I've been training... we hiked about 2 miles with them and took them to the park and splash pad for a picnic.  They did great, all except my 2 year old who needed a lift on the hills.  My husband was carrying the backpack, so I got to carry little sis.

Here is what I realized from this experience:

She weighs just over 20 pounds.
Since I started this journey, I have lost... just over 20 pounds.

Carrying her on my back while I walked up the hills I felt every joint in my body, most particularly my knees screaming at me!  I have no idea how I was able to run with all the extra weight 20+ pounds ago.
Then I started thinking, I  STILL have 20 to 30 more pounds to lose!!

Should I even be running with this much extra weight?
No wonder I am in so much pain!

So I cringe to say it because I love to run.... but I think once the race is over, if I'm still able to walk, I'm going to cut back on running for a while, give my joints a rest while I power walk like the old lady that I've become and shed some more weight!

Metatarsalitis, pain in both knees and shins, sprained ankle and now Sciatica... are convincing me that I need to take it back a notch and as much as I hate to do it, I need to walk.  :(

Walking when you're a runner feels a lot like being grounded when you're a teenager.  Not fun.

But I'm hoping that one day I can run, once again!

I need to step the juicing up a notch too and I just got two new books that I think will help me do that!
One has a ton of great recipes while the other one has holistic healing type recipes!  Both are awesome!