Coming Up For Air....

Yeah, I've been a little quiet lately. While I don't like to sugarcoat things to death, sometimes I make the decision to avoid spewing negativity on the old blog. In a way, not dwelling or talking too much about it actually gets me into a mindset to "work the problem" as they say in Apollo 13, and not get bogged down in pity parties. I'll make brief mention, though, because it is important and it's kind of the one major stress in our home now. Everyone in my husband's office has been working on shortened work week for almost a year. While it sucks, it's been amazing how much more resourcefulness it created even when we thought we were already doing a decent job in that department, and we've managed to keep on keepin' on without much trouble.

About a week ago, however, the office got word that hours were going to be shortened again (rather than just laying off someone outright), which buys the company a month without layoffs if they do not see a pickup in business. We know, and they've been told that it's the last thing the bosses want to happen, and that they do not want any potential layoffs to be permanent. Of course, loyalty and sincerity doesn't pay the bills so we're hoping to see more working coming in for them as spring approaches. If it doesn't we're just not sure which positions will be trimmed and can't make any assumptions or guesses on which way they'd decide to go. Hope for the best, and prepare for the worst-that's the mode we're in right now.

As far as other reasons for my relative silence-it's that nutty time of year for me when I'm due for various continuing education and re-certifications, and I've hit a perfect storm this year of several certifications that are good for 2- to 3-year blocks coming up for renewal in 2010. So, I've had to focus on taking courses online, going in to the Red Cross to renew First Aid, CPR, Bloodborne Pathogens and AED, and in another two weeks I get to renew my Medication Administration and Universal Precautions certification. You know...because with four kids I've probably forgotten how to wash my hands since 2007. Ah well. It'll all be finished soon, and then I don't have to be retrained in hand washing for another three years. Oh, the joys of being self-employed-I love it on one hand, but on the other, the training and upkeep of the business falls solely on me, and part of it is this annual month of crazy.

In more shiny happy news-guess what? The leg is feeling great, and all the slippery white and clear stuff is finally melting off. I took two days totally off this week for several reasons-classes, mini-tapering for the trail race in a little over a week, and really put the nail in the coffin to kill the leg pain once and for all. It was feeling decent over the weekend on my long run, but you just never know. I ran a short recovery on Sunday, and my regular o-dark-thirty run on Monday, and all systems were still a go. When I got out this morning after the off days, my leg felt the best it had been in about six weeks. I seriously wanted to dance and skitter around outside on the roads and sidewalks that now looked wide enough to land a jumbo jet without the snow and ice.

That, in a nutshell, is what I believe to be the main cause of all that calf and shin pain. I was running tense on the slippery stuff for so long, but didn't realize I was doing it. When you run with any degree of caution on snow and ice, you do tense up some-and I think I was WAY tense because I know more than a few people who have taken some nasty spills in that weather. Add in the funny-stepping, slips and slides to avoid falls-and my leg cried "ENOUGH!" I could really tell the difference with how comparatively relaxed my legs have been for the past week or so. This is progress in the right direction-and really good news right now to know I can officially get excited about training hard and doing my best in the spring racing season.