Q for BQ

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Here We Go

Q’s Quest for BQ

August 11, 2017: My 5th wedding anniversary (yay!) – which my husband I celebrated with an early wake up call to go to my (4th) ACL surgery. He’s the best – seriously.

86 days later: Getting ready for a big follow-up doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning that I’m hoping will result in the OK to get back to running and exercising beyond the PT exercises that I have been doing every day for the last 83 days! Cross your fingers.

Alicia suggested that I blog about my comeback – which I think is a great idea! I decided to call this blog Q for BQ – taking from my childhood nickname of Q, but it’s also my quest to finally get a BQ, which got derailed last summer. I’m looking for a little bit of delayed gratification, which Shalane Flanagan got today in her NYC Marathon win. Such an inspiration for all runners – especially coming back from an injury.

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Countdown: 308 days until September 9, 2018 and the Erie Marathon. Here we go.

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The “First” One-Year Milestone

I’m not quite yet to the year since surgery mark, but today was still a milestone day! One year ago today, my marathon training season ended unexpectedly. Today was much better, and all of my ligaments are still intact post-run! 🙂

It’s been a few months since my last post… Outside of being busy with other things, I think my lack of posting has been subconsciously because I don’t want to think about things too much. If I think too much, I get anxious – and I’d rather just take things one training day at a time. Do the work, and the results will show, right?

I’m feeling strong and more in shape everyday, and I have great support from friends and family (who remind me how far I’ve come when I’m hard on myself). I have the tools. Onward! #BQorBust

(Special thanks to Mike for getting up early to run with me on this big day so I could get a picture!)

6 months!

I totally missed an opportunity for a blog post on Sunday – it was 6 months to the day since my surgery. My trainer reminded me at the gym this morning – and took a video of one accomplishment since then: doing some agility work. Definitely wouldn’t have been able to do that a few months ago! And, the snow is melting, so I should be able to finally (safely) get back out for run-walk.

Onward! https://youtu.be/ZXAg7ZVmb8A

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I’m Free!

Post Dr. appointment this morning, and I’m officially “free!”

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My appointment this morning went so well – super speedy, and I was officially “freed.” Not that they told me to go ahead and run a marathon tomorrow, but I have no restrictions, as long as I have no pain. What a difference 6 months make 😀

So, I’ll leave with this until the next update:

Big Day Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is hopefully my last visit to the doctor to finish up my series of ACL reconstruction visits. I feel like it will go well and they will (as they said last time) “set me free.” Still some work to do to get to where I’m back to normal, but every step is a step in the right direction – and this is a big one!

Will update again tomorrow. Below is a pic running yesterday before today’s snow (which really messes up my walk-run game)!

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Getting There

I’m obviously nowhere back to normal – yet. But, I’m getting there!

Last week on Monday, I did 2 workouts (thanks, Alicia!), and I have done walk-runs 3 days in a row…building up to alternating between 1.5-2 minutes running for every 5 minutes.

And, I feel like I can do most stuff at the gym – not all, but most. Even my trainer mentioned that it seemed like I was really getting back into the swing of things. So, all good news. Have just been a little busy lately, so my posts have been lacking.

Next up: Dr. appointment (hopefully the last follow-up) on February 5. Here’s hoping all goes swimmingly!

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Feeling Alive

I’ve been doing lots of exercise the past few days, and I’m loving it. Walk-runs both Saturday and Sunday (brr), and a Nike Metcon workout at OYM tonight. To my surprise, I was able to do nearly everything in the workout (just no sprinting yet, lest Dr. Labelle kill me). 🙂

Love these highs of feeling like I’m back – I know there’s a long way to go, but I’m making progress!

(The first pic below is the beautiful totally frozen Chicago River Sunday AM; the second picture shows all of my current Nike training shoe options – the most recent the Metcon 4 in the middle from tonight’s workout at OYM – the others are both Free TR 7s.)

Playing the Mental Game

Whoops, it’s been a minute. No big excuse, really. Things have been going well; I’ve gotten up to 45 seconds of running (4:15 walking), with no problems. That was before the snow came – I’m still hesitant to push it with the snow – not worth it.

So the mental game? In the last couple weeks, I have been getting a slight popping in my knee when walking. Not any weird movement – just normal walking – and no pain or anything. Of course, I got all worried and convinced myself something was wrong. Didn’t talk to anyone about it until this past Saturday (because if you ignore it, maybe it will just go away?). Then, I broke down to Mike (God bless him). All the doubts came in; I started really worrying. The good news? After I talked to my doctor’s office yesterday and explained my symptoms, they assured me I had nothing to worry about and it sounded completely normal. Whew!

Mind over matter.

: (Tied for first in our AG in a 2016 10K)

Back on the run

First day back “running” in a few weeks – felt much better than before, and it was great to get back out there! The pic below is from a 30 second spurt of my total of 4 minutes running today 😀

And, after we were done!

A Year Ago Today

Right about this time a year ago, I was having my first knee surgery with Dr. LaBelle – this one was much simpler than the ACL, and on my other knee. I’ll spare you the “after” pictures – this is when I was about to head in.

A year later, and I’m still working on rehabbing the other knee – but I’m making progress. Today was my first time back at Pilates!! Thanks to Alicia for the push – though I don’t remember it being quite so hard a last spring 😉

ElliptiGO: 37:30

This past weekend, I had another opportunity to enjoy the ElliptiGO outside at Busse Woods (most of the time, it’s attached to a trainer at home, making it as boring as a regular elliptical). I had such a great time and felt so good that I actually lost track of time…giving me my longest continuous workout in a very long time – close to 40 min if we’re rounding up. 🙂

ElliptiGO for the win!

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