But both my legs are working!!?!

Very soon we will be celebrating the fourth of July. Last year we celebrated the same way we normally do, by going down to my aunt and uncle's for a BBQ. I also added in a new twist like I did with many of the other holidays last year by doing a 5K in Fort Collins on the morning of the 4th. This year though, we have different plans, probably going to the beach to beat the heat. But for me, there will be no 5K on Friday. For while I have two perfectly good legs, I can't run. Two good legs but can't run? That doesn't make sense right? Chalk it up to an experience here in California that went awry almost 4 weeks ago.

Almost a month ago Doug and I made our way down to Huntington Beach like we tend to on the weekends. It was a cloudy day, so at first, I thought maybe it wasn't worth going to the beach. But it was a Sunday, and the day that Doug was leaving for a trip to Sacramento, so we decided to hit the beach for a bit of the morning to do body boarding.

Keep in mind this kid was raised and lived in Colorado her whole life before here. While I have visited California, Hawaii, Mexico, and plenty other places that are near water, I have never really been comfortable with water sports. I have never been on a jet ski, have never been too far out in the ocean. IN fact, open water swimming in the ocean scares the pants off of me. 

But, moving to California, I decided I needed to give a California past time a try. Doug used to body board (boogie board) as a kid, and when the weather got nice enough to hit the beach, convinced me he needed a board. While I wasn't sure if I would like it, be scared of it, etc, I decided to get one too. And after our first experience at Huntington, was hooked. (That is what I get for a having a really good day in the water on my FIRST experience).

So that day, almost a month ago, was just another day of body boarding. The weather seemed a bit off, and so did the waves (they were choppy, and not that big), I figured I could at least try and ride in a few, and be happy that we got a beach trip in before we headed back to Colorado the following weekend.  That is when I made a critical, newbie error. I grabbed a wave way to close to shore, and got slammed. The wave crashed down on me, throwing me off my tiny little board of Styrofoam (or whatever they are actually made out of), and threw me to the sand. For those who aren't familiar with Huntington Beach, it is extremely shallow for a while as you head out from the beach into the ocean. This definitely worked against me that day, slamming me down on the sand and jacking up my shoulder. 

The official term, shoulder subluxation. It has meant dealing with the jokes and ridicule (well deserved I know) of people at work when I showed up in a sling. It has meant driving down to Orange County for training two weeks before we left for Colorado (a good hour drive) with one arm at the wheel on busy interstates. And it has officially meant no running, or eliptical, or gym in general for me in a month :(

Up until last year, this wouldn't have mattered. I was a self proclaimed sloth for a good 4 or 5 years where gym time was sporadic, where I didn't care what I ate or how much I ate of it, and where the idea of going to the gym at the early crack of dawn was lower in my mind that staying in my nice warm bed (also, this was when we still lived in Colorado, which meant there were mornings where getting up and driving thru snow to get the gym didn't sound as enticing as laying under a nice warm comforter did!

So as it stands, I am forced into my sloth like position, kinda. I COULD go to the gym, hop on a bike for an hour, and pedal mysef into oblivion. But will that give me the same satisfaction of burning calories on a run around the Rose bowl, or 40 minutes on the eliptical? No. 

I started my first set of PT this week to begin strengthening my right shoulder again. Up until this point I will be honest, I didn't feel like I was really that sore, or hurt. Yes it bothered me, but because it is the equivalent of a partial dislocation in my shoulder it is SO hard to tell what I actually really hurt. It isn't like a cut you can see blood run out of, or an elbow that might turn purple and blue because it is bruised. But the few stretching exercises they made me do (and felt demeaning in some way as they had me lifting one pound weights. Before my injury I was routinely doing butterfly bicep curls with 15 lbs on each arm), reminded me I have a LONG way to go before I am fully re-habbed.

So this 4th of July, I am resisting my selfish and probably stupid desire to run a race, good legs and all, until I know I am "allowed" to run again. Let's hope this stupid shoulder starts working normal soon!