Sucking Air and Eating Apples

It has been almost a month since I have done any sort of exercising! Gasp!! I was supposed to not run for 2 weeks after my surgery, but of course I hadn't had time at all the week before my surgery to run, so as of this last Monday, it had been 3 weeks!!! Yesterday we had our first indoor competitive volleyball game of the fall season so I'm glad I didn't run then because by the end of that game I was exhausted!

Well, tonight I needed a little coaxing from by good friend Billie, who told me to run an extra mile for her since she can't. And yes, when I got home after work I laced up my shoes and was off! Well, not really "off". ("I was off" kinda sounds like I was running fast...but that wasn't really the case) I set my nike+ for 2 miles and less than half a mile into my run my lungs felt like they were going to explode! My legs were so heavy I was worried I'd trip myself! But I kept running. By the end I was sucking air and had side stitches! I kept telling myself to "breathe through it" to get rid of the side stitches and to calm my lungs! Lets just say it's never a good idea to take so many weeks off of running! I mean seriously, just last month I was talking about doing a 10K and tonight I couldn't even run a 5K! But I will say that when my nike+ told me that I had reached my goal of 2 miles, I powered through and kept running because I just needed to push myself further. I ended at about 2.7 miles (which is just utterly sad since I was up to 4+ mi just a couples weeks ago) in 25 minutes. But I'm not getting hung up on the times, I just am glad I got off the couch and ran. Sometimes it just feels good! OK, so not so good in the process always, but I feel great now (other than those horribly sore muscles).

Moral of the story: NEVER take 4 weeks away from running! It will mess you up! It's amazing how out of shape a body can get in such a "short" time!

In other news: :)

There are some changes at work due to a merger, so I have a lot on my mind lately. I will keep A job, but not THE job I'm doing currently since my position as all but been eliminated. I am thankful for having a job, but I just wish all of this transition stuff would get over with so I can get back to feeling settled. I know God has a plan through it all. We are thanking him every day that Jonathan lost his job back last fall because it was a blessing in disguise. Since he worked for the same company as me, we would have been competing for the same position and that would not have been good. So yes, God had a plan back then and he still has a plan now. Wouldn't it be nice to know what that plan is while you are going through the trials tho?

Last weekend J and I traveled to Ohio to visit my brother and his family. Out of 3 kids, they had 1 volleyball game and 3 soccer games on Saturday. Luckily we were able to attend 2 of the games! We love to watch the kids games! It was one of my niece's birthdays so my parents were in town and we had a great time!

Sunday after church we went with Billie and Derek to Evan's Orchard! We went to this orchard last year to pick apples and get pumpkins. Well, this weekend was their Apple Festival, so we decided to go pick apples and enjoy some delicious warm apple dumplings. Yummm. Between the two couples we picked 3 pecks of apples and next weekend we (Billie and me...not the hubbies) are going to make homemade applesauce! So excited! Thanks to my mom for lending us her Victorio (the machine that makes the applesauce possible)! I grew up on homemade applesauce and this will be my first time to make it without my mom present...scary! We figured, we would see how it turned out and if we liked it, we'll pick some more apples when we go back for our pumpkins in October! That way we can make extra to freeze for the winter!

So I'm embarrassed to post this picture, but since my post is so long, I feel like I need to have a picture (because picture posts are always better). I just feel the need to say that I have vowed to never wear this shirt ever again. I look shlumpy in it...so there! (Yes Jonathan, that is a technical word.) Sometimes it takes seeing yourself in a picture to see how BAD a shirt really is!

So, that's my last week in a nutshell! Sorry I've been away so long. We've been so busy that I haven't even been able to keep up with reading blots!

I have my post-op appointment tomorrow, but I feel pretty normal, so I'm sure it will be a good appointment!