Day 15 (again)
I did not do the Fit Test again as I feel this would not only be counter-productive, but it would be boring and I just didn't want to do it. Ha! So, instead, I did a workout called sleep. It is great. You set your alarm for one hour later than normal and the rest works itself out!!! Amazing results.
Day 16 (again)
I have decided that I am now dubbing my life "Insanity" because that is precisely what it is. I opted for multiple walks today instead. Borrrrrrriiiiiinnnnng. Oh well, I got something in, just not high intensity. I would like to mention that what I am doing right is eating. I'm sticking to my allotted calories per day without the high intensity workouts. At least I'm getting that right.
Day 17 (again)
Pure Cardio today which was to be followed by Cardio Abs. I had to stop after Pure Cardio because Ty woke up. I did get a couple runs up and down the stairs by having to tend to the little boy.
Feeling good about myself and am looking forward to the next workout. Lame? Maybe.
Signing off for now, to all of you near and far and to those of you sending me positive vibes, until next time...
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Vacations, they make you AWESOME. Part 2
Rooming with three other women sounds worse than it really was. My roomies for the weekend were great. I was pleased.
It wasn't until we were trying to deplane when PIC #2 struck me twice and pinched me!!! She really did. I'm not making this up like I stretched the truth about my uncle being in awe of my presence. It was all in good fun...until I get her back! Eh eh eh...
After we returned from our trip, PIC #2 went back to work the next day and as I said, I spent the day with Ty. She sent me a text and said she actually lost weight from Vegas. I just happened to be changing into my swimming suit when I got that and decided to hop on the scale to find out that after Vegas where I drank Starbucks every morning and had a piece of delicious cake along with that coffee, as well as had waffles, coffee and string cheese this morning, I had LOST over two pounds from my weight before Vegas. Like PIC #2 said, "Vegas was very good to us!" Indeed.
Now, Tyson broke the scale shortly thereafter this weigh-in and I wasn't able to weigh myself at my regular time which is prior to eating and drinking anything and right after I get up in the morning. I have since fixed the scale somehow and intend to weigh myself tomorrow morning. Needless to say, I have been pretty stoked with having lost weight especially since my performance has been less than stellar. Of course, I am pretty sure it is loss of muscle, but it sure helps the self-esteem!
When we were in Vegas, we went ziplining on Fremont Street. I just about lost it when I had to sign a waiver similar to the one you have to sign right before they shoot you up with anesthesia in the hospital for surgery. You know, the one that states that serious injury, paralysis, death, etc is a possibility. As I am initialing all of these boxes, I try to whisper to PIC #2 to see if she saw the "death" part. There was a guy in between us, so I waiting until he left and started whispering, okay, kind of a whisper scream, "Allyssa!" Without looking up or batting an eye, she continues to sign and says, "you will be fine." Damn, she knows me all too well. After she said it a few times, she was actually forced to make eye contact with me and tell me again, in a firm, mommy voice, "you WILL BE fine." Good 'nuff for me, apparently.
We did the zipline and it was just fine. The only issue I had was the way we were stopped. Abruptly. There is something on the cable to stop your harness from going any further down the cable and a young man grabs your harness on the butt and close to the crotch to stop the momentous flab (me). I do believe I thanked him for grabbing my ass and crotch. No joke. When I was stopped, I believe this is where I jarred my back. I didn't feel it until the next day and it still aches today. I'm getting old. Sigh.
Hopefully, I will have completed a workout pain-free by the next time I post. Here's to hope!!!!
Signing off for now, to all of you near and far and to those of you thinking about trying my Vegas weight-loss system, until next time...
It wasn't until we were trying to deplane when PIC #2 struck me twice and pinched me!!! She really did. I'm not making this up like I stretched the truth about my uncle being in awe of my presence. It was all in good fun...until I get her back! Eh eh eh...
After we returned from our trip, PIC #2 went back to work the next day and as I said, I spent the day with Ty. She sent me a text and said she actually lost weight from Vegas. I just happened to be changing into my swimming suit when I got that and decided to hop on the scale to find out that after Vegas where I drank Starbucks every morning and had a piece of delicious cake along with that coffee, as well as had waffles, coffee and string cheese this morning, I had LOST over two pounds from my weight before Vegas. Like PIC #2 said, "Vegas was very good to us!" Indeed.
Now, Tyson broke the scale shortly thereafter this weigh-in and I wasn't able to weigh myself at my regular time which is prior to eating and drinking anything and right after I get up in the morning. I have since fixed the scale somehow and intend to weigh myself tomorrow morning. Needless to say, I have been pretty stoked with having lost weight especially since my performance has been less than stellar. Of course, I am pretty sure it is loss of muscle, but it sure helps the self-esteem!
When we were in Vegas, we went ziplining on Fremont Street. I just about lost it when I had to sign a waiver similar to the one you have to sign right before they shoot you up with anesthesia in the hospital for surgery. You know, the one that states that serious injury, paralysis, death, etc is a possibility. As I am initialing all of these boxes, I try to whisper to PIC #2 to see if she saw the "death" part. There was a guy in between us, so I waiting until he left and started whispering, okay, kind of a whisper scream, "Allyssa!" Without looking up or batting an eye, she continues to sign and says, "you will be fine." Damn, she knows me all too well. After she said it a few times, she was actually forced to make eye contact with me and tell me again, in a firm, mommy voice, "you WILL BE fine." Good 'nuff for me, apparently.
We did the zipline and it was just fine. The only issue I had was the way we were stopped. Abruptly. There is something on the cable to stop your harness from going any further down the cable and a young man grabs your harness on the butt and close to the crotch to stop the momentous flab (me). I do believe I thanked him for grabbing my ass and crotch. No joke. When I was stopped, I believe this is where I jarred my back. I didn't feel it until the next day and it still aches today. I'm getting old. Sigh.
Hopefully, I will have completed a workout pain-free by the next time I post. Here's to hope!!!!
Signing off for now, to all of you near and far and to those of you thinking about trying my Vegas weight-loss system, until next time...
Friday, June 8, 2012
Vacations, they make you AWESOME. Part 1
As prepared to leave for vacation, my first overnight away from Ty, my mind runs away with me. I lost focus of everything. Now, you may think that I was consumed with the stress of leaving my little Sugarbear, but let me tell you, it had NOTHING to do with that and everything to do with plane crashes, dying and zombies. Yes, it is true. And no, I'm not joking.
I was 100% comfortable leaving Ty with Brett. There is no other person on the planet that I trust more than Brett with Ty. Makes for easier leaving. In come the thoughts of dying, crashes and zombies. Sigh. The anxiety I get from plane travel is almost enough to have me heavily medicated. It's funny because once I get to the airport and am on the plane, I'm pretty much fine. Traveling alone is worse. I was with my aunt and PIC #2. It doesn't really get much better than that! This serious and irrational thinking started about 7 years ago and it is only when I fly. Odd? It's me, nothing is really that odd.
Anyway, I had already planned to NOT workout on Friday because I knew we would be on an 8PM flight to Vegas and would be up late. I was glad I got the extra sleep because we stayed up late after we got to Vegas.
It was overwhelming and overstimulating being in Vegas, but I soaked it in. PIC #2 was way overwhelmed. We joined the young pups at the bar in the hotel and had a couple. PIC #2 and I retired a few hours after we got into town. My aunt, on the other hand, partied like it was 1999 and stayed out late!
The whole trip, I was the first one up and in the shower. I would go downstairs where there was a lovely Starbucks and I would have a venti white chocolate peppermint mocha non-fat no whip accompanied by a spectacular piece of coffee cake. Delicious and oh soooooooo healthy. Right.
We did a TON of walking while in Vegas. It really didn't feel like I was walking around much, but we definitely walked for miles. It was great, except for the heat. It was 106 degrees the Saturday we were there. It was hot, but it was way more bearable than the heat and humidity here in July. I will definitely take dry heat over damp heat any day, especially for my hair's sake. Having naturally wavy/curly hair makes for interesting humidity hair in Iowa during the summer. My hair looked great in Vegas. I miss my Vegas hair.
We shopped, ate, did the bachelorette party with the young babes and saw a show. It was great. I was never once worried about Tyson and if he was surviving without me because he was in capable hands. I had no guilt having fun, either.
I needed this short, but long weekend away. It had been over 3 years since I had been away and I still "took" Ty with me via the womb. Hardly counts. I was free as a bird from all mommy and wifely duties for three whole days. It was refreshing. Aside from feeling like I got hit by a bus due to jet lag, staying up late and up early and all the movement, I was feeling refreshed mentally. I forget how important it is to get out and recharge until it has been way too long. I got back to a little boy that was giddy I was finally home. A big boy with greater appreciation and two furry babies that missed the crap outta me. It was a nice homecoming.
I took an extra day off to hang out with Ty. I felt that since I missed out on two whole days of Tyson's life that I would have normally spent with him, that it would be good for me to spend a day with him one on one. It was a great day. He and I went to visit Brett at work, went to the grocery store and to the pool. He was so good. Way better than when I had left. He must have needed to recharge himself as well.
I've made a deal with myself to do something AT LEAST once a month by myself that I want to do. I'm not talking grocery shopping or picking up some toilet paper. I'm talking pedicures, shopping, good food (that I don't have to cook), hanging out with a friend or two or even ice skating. Okay, not so much the ice skating part, but the other stuff sounds good!
Signing off for now, to all of you near and far and to those of you that are planning a trip to Vegas, until next time...
I was 100% comfortable leaving Ty with Brett. There is no other person on the planet that I trust more than Brett with Ty. Makes for easier leaving. In come the thoughts of dying, crashes and zombies. Sigh. The anxiety I get from plane travel is almost enough to have me heavily medicated. It's funny because once I get to the airport and am on the plane, I'm pretty much fine. Traveling alone is worse. I was with my aunt and PIC #2. It doesn't really get much better than that! This serious and irrational thinking started about 7 years ago and it is only when I fly. Odd? It's me, nothing is really that odd.
Anyway, I had already planned to NOT workout on Friday because I knew we would be on an 8PM flight to Vegas and would be up late. I was glad I got the extra sleep because we stayed up late after we got to Vegas.
It was overwhelming and overstimulating being in Vegas, but I soaked it in. PIC #2 was way overwhelmed. We joined the young pups at the bar in the hotel and had a couple. PIC #2 and I retired a few hours after we got into town. My aunt, on the other hand, partied like it was 1999 and stayed out late!
The whole trip, I was the first one up and in the shower. I would go downstairs where there was a lovely Starbucks and I would have a venti white chocolate peppermint mocha non-fat no whip accompanied by a spectacular piece of coffee cake. Delicious and oh soooooooo healthy. Right.
We did a TON of walking while in Vegas. It really didn't feel like I was walking around much, but we definitely walked for miles. It was great, except for the heat. It was 106 degrees the Saturday we were there. It was hot, but it was way more bearable than the heat and humidity here in July. I will definitely take dry heat over damp heat any day, especially for my hair's sake. Having naturally wavy/curly hair makes for interesting humidity hair in Iowa during the summer. My hair looked great in Vegas. I miss my Vegas hair.
We shopped, ate, did the bachelorette party with the young babes and saw a show. It was great. I was never once worried about Tyson and if he was surviving without me because he was in capable hands. I had no guilt having fun, either.
I needed this short, but long weekend away. It had been over 3 years since I had been away and I still "took" Ty with me via the womb. Hardly counts. I was free as a bird from all mommy and wifely duties for three whole days. It was refreshing. Aside from feeling like I got hit by a bus due to jet lag, staying up late and up early and all the movement, I was feeling refreshed mentally. I forget how important it is to get out and recharge until it has been way too long. I got back to a little boy that was giddy I was finally home. A big boy with greater appreciation and two furry babies that missed the crap outta me. It was a nice homecoming.
I took an extra day off to hang out with Ty. I felt that since I missed out on two whole days of Tyson's life that I would have normally spent with him, that it would be good for me to spend a day with him one on one. It was a great day. He and I went to visit Brett at work, went to the grocery store and to the pool. He was so good. Way better than when I had left. He must have needed to recharge himself as well.
I've made a deal with myself to do something AT LEAST once a month by myself that I want to do. I'm not talking grocery shopping or picking up some toilet paper. I'm talking pedicures, shopping, good food (that I don't have to cook), hanging out with a friend or two or even ice skating. Okay, not so much the ice skating part, but the other stuff sounds good!
Signing off for now, to all of you near and far and to those of you that are planning a trip to Vegas, until next time...
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Insanity Days 15, 16 & 17
Day 15
Fit Test #2. Okay, so having an extra day off really screwed me up. I didn't do the Fit Test on Monday like I should have because I thought Monday was Sunday. Idiot.
I am happy to report that I improved in all tests, but one! Power jumps are just not my thing. I just cannot jump!!!!!! Goal? Maybe.
Day 16
Alright, alright, so with the excitement of my upcoming vacation, I slacked off a lot. Call me what you will, but the excitement was enough to make me just about puke. Therefore, I did not workout.
Day 17
What? Workout? What am I doing? I don't even know anymore. Again, I did not workout.
Soooooooo, as you can tell, I did a less than stellar job keeping up with myself. It is now the Thursday after my Vegas vacation and I have yet to workout. Excuses? Wanna hear 'em???? Okay, no excuse other than I feel like I have been hit by a bus and tweaked my back. I'm not even sure if these are "good" excuses because I just can't even see straight right now! My intent is to get up tomorrow and workout. I will do a Friday workout and start week 3 again, less the Fit Test, on Monday like I should have last week. Sigh. What can I do? Thank all that is holy that I am not in a competition right now. I would be losing miserably. Or would I? Stay tuned for the update on that one. I will post my Insanity research as it comes along like "normal." Whatever that means.
Signing off for now, to all of you near and far and to those of you wanting to slap the crap out of me right now, until next time...
Fit Test #2. Okay, so having an extra day off really screwed me up. I didn't do the Fit Test on Monday like I should have because I thought Monday was Sunday. Idiot.
I am happy to report that I improved in all tests, but one! Power jumps are just not my thing. I just cannot jump!!!!!! Goal? Maybe.
Day 16
Alright, alright, so with the excitement of my upcoming vacation, I slacked off a lot. Call me what you will, but the excitement was enough to make me just about puke. Therefore, I did not workout.
Day 17
What? Workout? What am I doing? I don't even know anymore. Again, I did not workout.
Soooooooo, as you can tell, I did a less than stellar job keeping up with myself. It is now the Thursday after my Vegas vacation and I have yet to workout. Excuses? Wanna hear 'em???? Okay, no excuse other than I feel like I have been hit by a bus and tweaked my back. I'm not even sure if these are "good" excuses because I just can't even see straight right now! My intent is to get up tomorrow and workout. I will do a Friday workout and start week 3 again, less the Fit Test, on Monday like I should have last week. Sigh. What can I do? Thank all that is holy that I am not in a competition right now. I would be losing miserably. Or would I? Stay tuned for the update on that one. I will post my Insanity research as it comes along like "normal." Whatever that means.
Signing off for now, to all of you near and far and to those of you wanting to slap the crap out of me right now, until next time...
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
While We Are Talking Cheerleading
Okay, when I had finally made the cheer squad, I decided it would be good to take a recreational gymnastics class to increase flexibility and strengthen my core and get some good conditioning before I actually started with the squad the next season.
You know how I'm a terrible dancer and in my adult life, a terrible gymnast? Well, I can't say that I was much better at gymnastics as a child, either. I wasn't good at all. I just really liked it a lot as a kid. So, there we are one evening, working on SIMPLE things on the trapezoid and the springboard. You know, straddle over the trapezoid, side sweep of the legs over the trapezoid and the tuck through on, you guessed it, the trapezoid. It wasn't even a real horse. Sigh.
Anyhoo, they kept piling on the trapezoid pieces. At this point, it was about 5 feet tall. I told the coach that it was too tall for me to go over it. She said to just do it. So, I did. I ran as fast as I could, hit that springboard as hard as I could, got up there, placed my hands on the trapezoid and went to put my feet through my arms and... uh-oh, it WAS too tall! The tops of my feet and my ankles caught the side of the trap and I fell forward, sliding down on my belly onto the mats below, but my calfs were touching my head. I was pretty much folded in half and couldn't breathe. (Right about now, my sister is laughing at this and she wasn't even there, but the imagery is enough to make her laugh until she cries) The coaches all run up to me and tell me not to move. Uhhhh, I'm not going to just lie there and leave my legs up there, not able to breathe, so I rolled at least where I could get my legs down and get on my back. An ambulance was called, got a ride to the hospital only to find that I had cracked a couple of ribs and bruised a lot of ribs and was very lucky I didn't break my back. Sigh. Yeah, that all really happened.
My second year of cheerleading, during a stunt and a school pep assembly, the flyer lost balance and fell. She fell on my face. It was her hip bone on my nose, to be exact. I blacked out for a couple seconds and had to leave the gym floor. Went to the doctor to find that my nose, while not a clean break, was indeed cracked and I could expect my eyes to blacken in the days to come. Yay.
As I was telling the story to one of my friends at school, while walking down the hall, I happened to mention that the gal that fell on my nose and broke it, actually got pissed and said, "YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO CATCH ME!" Yeah, pretty sure I did, WITH MY FACE. She didn't ask if I was okay, which I also mentioned and I said to my friend, "crap, I better look around to make sure she isn't behind me or something." I looked, I didn't see her behind me. The girl that I caught with my face approached me at practice that day and said she was behind me, but I didn't see her. She felt awful and I felt like an asshole. As any good cheerleader does, I hugged it out with her. Seriously. Yeah, this really happened.
The point of THESE stories? NO PAIN, NO GAIN! Now, go get 'em, tiger!!!!!!!!
Signing off for now, to all of you near and far and to those of you still in disbelief that I was ever a cheerleader, until next time. . .
You know how I'm a terrible dancer and in my adult life, a terrible gymnast? Well, I can't say that I was much better at gymnastics as a child, either. I wasn't good at all. I just really liked it a lot as a kid. So, there we are one evening, working on SIMPLE things on the trapezoid and the springboard. You know, straddle over the trapezoid, side sweep of the legs over the trapezoid and the tuck through on, you guessed it, the trapezoid. It wasn't even a real horse. Sigh.
Anyhoo, they kept piling on the trapezoid pieces. At this point, it was about 5 feet tall. I told the coach that it was too tall for me to go over it. She said to just do it. So, I did. I ran as fast as I could, hit that springboard as hard as I could, got up there, placed my hands on the trapezoid and went to put my feet through my arms and... uh-oh, it WAS too tall! The tops of my feet and my ankles caught the side of the trap and I fell forward, sliding down on my belly onto the mats below, but my calfs were touching my head. I was pretty much folded in half and couldn't breathe. (Right about now, my sister is laughing at this and she wasn't even there, but the imagery is enough to make her laugh until she cries) The coaches all run up to me and tell me not to move. Uhhhh, I'm not going to just lie there and leave my legs up there, not able to breathe, so I rolled at least where I could get my legs down and get on my back. An ambulance was called, got a ride to the hospital only to find that I had cracked a couple of ribs and bruised a lot of ribs and was very lucky I didn't break my back. Sigh. Yeah, that all really happened.
My second year of cheerleading, during a stunt and a school pep assembly, the flyer lost balance and fell. She fell on my face. It was her hip bone on my nose, to be exact. I blacked out for a couple seconds and had to leave the gym floor. Went to the doctor to find that my nose, while not a clean break, was indeed cracked and I could expect my eyes to blacken in the days to come. Yay.
As I was telling the story to one of my friends at school, while walking down the hall, I happened to mention that the gal that fell on my nose and broke it, actually got pissed and said, "YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO CATCH ME!" Yeah, pretty sure I did, WITH MY FACE. She didn't ask if I was okay, which I also mentioned and I said to my friend, "crap, I better look around to make sure she isn't behind me or something." I looked, I didn't see her behind me. The girl that I caught with my face approached me at practice that day and said she was behind me, but I didn't see her. She felt awful and I felt like an asshole. As any good cheerleader does, I hugged it out with her. Seriously. Yeah, this really happened.
The point of THESE stories? NO PAIN, NO GAIN! Now, go get 'em, tiger!!!!!!!!
Signing off for now, to all of you near and far and to those of you still in disbelief that I was ever a cheerleader, until next time. . .
Monday, June 4, 2012
Vicious Cycles and Another Chapter in the History with PIC #2
Almost anything is a cycle. The whole working out thing is also cyclic. You know, you are going along, doing really well, making it happen, then something happens, you lose focus, gain weight, get lazy, then you decide to do something about it and the cycle starts all over again. It is unfortunate that being human gets in the way and this is how it happens. I think the ones that this doesn't happen to are the lucky ones. I'm not so lucky. At all.
You may be surprised to know that I was a cheerleader in high school. Yup. I was. As I mentioned before, my family was not a physically motivated one by nature. I was still pretty stinking chubby as a freshman in high school, but I worked so very hard to make the sophomore cheer squad. My jean hiking dad was not happy that I would be prancing (literally a way to move as a cheerleader, by the way) in a short skirt. I look at pictures of the first time I wore that uniform and it really isn't too pretty. Chubby legs, but getting there.
Anyhoo, I continued cheerleading for my sophomore, junior and part of my senior year. I loved it. Cheerleading was my passion. It was really what I lived to do. I really loved it. I actually felt it was something that I was decent at doing for the time that I did it.
It was in the early fall, my sister was having her cheerleading pictures taken at a local park, I had my jean hiking dad's car for the week while he was on vacation, it was after school and PIC #2 and I were going to spend the afternoon until we had to pick my sister up at another local park and hangout for our friends. We stopped at home and I briefly thought about taking the family dog with us, but decided against it. PIC #2 and I were on our way, stopped waiting to turn into the park and we were hit from behind by a woman going extremely fast. The impact pushed us into oncoming traffic and we hit the side of an oncoming vehicle with the front of our car. Gasoline was pouring out everywhere, we get out, dazed and slightly confused. We were met shortly thereafter by some of our friends who had heard the accident.
None of my friends wanted me to look at the car, which everyone knew that my dad had purchased brand new in the 1970's. The car was accordioned up the front and the back. The back seat was touching the back of the front seats. The only part that wasn't smashed was the compartment that PIC #2 and I were sitting in. Neither one of us was seriously injured. She and I felt it the next morning and had whiplash, but that's all we knew at the time. We later found out that the woman driving the car was on her way to take her mother to dialysis when her mother started "gurgling." She started to tend to her mother, foot on the accelerator and accelerated straight into us, turning at the very last millisecond to try and avoid the crash.
I started cheerleading and had a bit of pain in my left knee. I worked through it, icing it, kept going to practice and just pushed on. One of the first games we cheered, my knee swelled up to the size of a softball. It was hot to the touch and just plain weird. I had to sit out a bulk of that game in the stands and tried to ice it. It was difficult to walk and felt like there was bone grinding against bone when I would walk.
Went to the doctor and had an MRI. The doctor found that the cartilage behind my kneecap was rigid, jagged and indeed grinding against the bone. Upon closer examination, it seemed that the months of working through the pain and soreness did me no good. My leg had retrained itself to adjust and alleviate the pain by using different muscles. A "normal" motion of you kneecap when you bend and straighten your leg is an "s" and mine was an "L." Great. The doctor's solution: arthroscopic surgery to remove and smooth the kneecap and to snip the muscle that was pulling my kneecap in the "L" direction to strengthen and retrain my muscles. Yay. Not really. During the accident, the placement of my left leg (which I do NOT do to this day) was outstretched and almost straight, which was how I used to drive. Upon the impact, the doctor concluded that I basically jammed the knee. Great.
The surgery was awful. It was painful and the recovery was terrible. I have problems every now and again with storms and if my shoes aren't cushiony enough on hard surfaces for prolonged amounts of time. Anyhoo, I had to drop cheerleading and it was devastating to me. I hated having to do that. Fortunate for me, during this time, my metabolism still actually worked and I didn't have to worry too much about keeping the weight off. I wasn't able to resume full activity for quite a while, but by then, cheerleading was over and I had graduated and started college. Working out didn't have the same meaning as it did when I had cheerleading goals and reasons to be working out, other than the sheer pleasure to workout. I struggled with that for a long time.
Point of this story? It IS important to have goals. They can be YOUR goals and they can be trivial (me wanting to be able to get out of my car and flip my hair with confidence). They can be important. They can be meaningful. Or they can be that "something" you need to keep pushing on. Whatever your reason may be, make it your own. Find your niche. Find what it was that you thought you had lost.
Signing off for now, to all of you near and far and to those of you that are in disbelief that I was ever a cheerleader, until next time...
You may be surprised to know that I was a cheerleader in high school. Yup. I was. As I mentioned before, my family was not a physically motivated one by nature. I was still pretty stinking chubby as a freshman in high school, but I worked so very hard to make the sophomore cheer squad. My jean hiking dad was not happy that I would be prancing (literally a way to move as a cheerleader, by the way) in a short skirt. I look at pictures of the first time I wore that uniform and it really isn't too pretty. Chubby legs, but getting there.
Anyhoo, I continued cheerleading for my sophomore, junior and part of my senior year. I loved it. Cheerleading was my passion. It was really what I lived to do. I really loved it. I actually felt it was something that I was decent at doing for the time that I did it.
It was in the early fall, my sister was having her cheerleading pictures taken at a local park, I had my jean hiking dad's car for the week while he was on vacation, it was after school and PIC #2 and I were going to spend the afternoon until we had to pick my sister up at another local park and hangout for our friends. We stopped at home and I briefly thought about taking the family dog with us, but decided against it. PIC #2 and I were on our way, stopped waiting to turn into the park and we were hit from behind by a woman going extremely fast. The impact pushed us into oncoming traffic and we hit the side of an oncoming vehicle with the front of our car. Gasoline was pouring out everywhere, we get out, dazed and slightly confused. We were met shortly thereafter by some of our friends who had heard the accident.
None of my friends wanted me to look at the car, which everyone knew that my dad had purchased brand new in the 1970's. The car was accordioned up the front and the back. The back seat was touching the back of the front seats. The only part that wasn't smashed was the compartment that PIC #2 and I were sitting in. Neither one of us was seriously injured. She and I felt it the next morning and had whiplash, but that's all we knew at the time. We later found out that the woman driving the car was on her way to take her mother to dialysis when her mother started "gurgling." She started to tend to her mother, foot on the accelerator and accelerated straight into us, turning at the very last millisecond to try and avoid the crash.
I started cheerleading and had a bit of pain in my left knee. I worked through it, icing it, kept going to practice and just pushed on. One of the first games we cheered, my knee swelled up to the size of a softball. It was hot to the touch and just plain weird. I had to sit out a bulk of that game in the stands and tried to ice it. It was difficult to walk and felt like there was bone grinding against bone when I would walk.
Went to the doctor and had an MRI. The doctor found that the cartilage behind my kneecap was rigid, jagged and indeed grinding against the bone. Upon closer examination, it seemed that the months of working through the pain and soreness did me no good. My leg had retrained itself to adjust and alleviate the pain by using different muscles. A "normal" motion of you kneecap when you bend and straighten your leg is an "s" and mine was an "L." Great. The doctor's solution: arthroscopic surgery to remove and smooth the kneecap and to snip the muscle that was pulling my kneecap in the "L" direction to strengthen and retrain my muscles. Yay. Not really. During the accident, the placement of my left leg (which I do NOT do to this day) was outstretched and almost straight, which was how I used to drive. Upon the impact, the doctor concluded that I basically jammed the knee. Great.
The surgery was awful. It was painful and the recovery was terrible. I have problems every now and again with storms and if my shoes aren't cushiony enough on hard surfaces for prolonged amounts of time. Anyhoo, I had to drop cheerleading and it was devastating to me. I hated having to do that. Fortunate for me, during this time, my metabolism still actually worked and I didn't have to worry too much about keeping the weight off. I wasn't able to resume full activity for quite a while, but by then, cheerleading was over and I had graduated and started college. Working out didn't have the same meaning as it did when I had cheerleading goals and reasons to be working out, other than the sheer pleasure to workout. I struggled with that for a long time.
Point of this story? It IS important to have goals. They can be YOUR goals and they can be trivial (me wanting to be able to get out of my car and flip my hair with confidence). They can be important. They can be meaningful. Or they can be that "something" you need to keep pushing on. Whatever your reason may be, make it your own. Find your niche. Find what it was that you thought you had lost.
Signing off for now, to all of you near and far and to those of you that are in disbelief that I was ever a cheerleader, until next time...
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