New Year and New Beginnings

Well the nine days off were nice.  I enjoyed a great holiday with family and the days off allowed me to really get some time for myself.

Christmas day was wonderful.  It was truly family time as my sister flew in from Florida on Christmas day.  We had not had a chance to be together since my final diagnosis.  It was a day of love and eating.  I received many wonderful gifts and the two items that I had asked for (which is surprising because Paul and I had decided not to exchange gifts).  My parents must have been paying attention and they got me a Suunto Heart Rate Monitor and a slow cooker.  

The hope is that the heart rate monitor will keep me in a good zone for training and keep me from getting too crazy during my workouts.  My doctor said to be careful with my heart rate getting too high (which I am still feeling out what the "too high zone" is).  If my heart rate is too high I will experience something called Uhtoffs Symptom in which my MS symptoms could become exaggerated due to high body temp.  Ironically, I am already experiencing this when I run.  Once my heart rate goes into Zone 2, the eye in which I lost sight gets worse (similar to where it was when I first lost sight).  So it was pretty funny during my four runs this week, I would lose vision and then stumble around because I could not see the difference between the trail and the snowbanks (snow is especially difficult when vision is lost).

The key to the last week off was the amount of working out that I did.  Compared to three months ago it was not much, but in a time of nothing I managed 4 runs and 1 hike this week (thanks Em).  I got my butt into working out mode again and I have a lot planned this week, hopefully my body will be ready for the Fools 25K in early April, but I am just glad to be doing something almost everyday.


I am off for my first swim in at least 3 months, yay for getting back to the grind.