Sisters Trip to Eureka Springs Arkansas

With us all turning into grownups and stuff my sisters and I decided we should take a trip together and it basically came down to us only being able to agree on these past 3 days at the end of June here to make it happen this summer.  So Courtney flew in early Friday morning.  Gretchen and I picked her up from MCI then made our way to Warrensburg for Beth.  Since she has the nicer car we let her take over the driving duties for the 3ish hour trip to Eureka Springs, Arkansas.  We stayed at Matterhorn Towers.  Gretchen said it was the most beautiful place she had ever seen but she is 4. 

Eureka Springs is a super cute, super hilly town with quirky streets lots of art and shopping.  Fun place for just hanging out and doing some people watching.  With Gretchen in tow we didn't do a lot of shopping which was fine with me.   I mostly wanted to avoid the shops with lots of breakables.

Gretchen and Courtney enjoying the spread that Joyce put out for breakfast.  A continental complementary breakfast  had a nice assortment of fresh fruit some pastries, cheese and salami.  The only downfall was no half and half only powdered creamer.  I need real cream with my coffee.

After a stop at Mcdonnalds for coffee we headed over to Withrow Springs State Park for some hiking.  We covered the War Eagle Trail and Dogwood Trail for about a 3 mile hike.  Gretchen held up pretty well, only a short stint of on my back style travel towards the end of the hike.  The War Eagle Trial was listed as difficult, not something I would think most people would be comfortable taking a 4 year old on.  I thought she did well on it and the only other hikers we saw had kids Gretchen's age or younger so if you're the outdoorsy type you'd probably be fine with the kids.

The bat cave was closed, good thing cause it looked a little scary.

Top of a cliff.

Pitstop at Sonic for diet cherry lime aids.  I must do for Courtney every time she makes it back to the mid west.

On the way back to town we made a stop at Quigley's Castle,  the billboards along the route made it seem like a must see!  It was not so much castle as a rock house and grotto type garden but interesting nonetheless.

I tried to convince the group that we should get matching tats.  Gretchen was the only one on board with the idea.  Guess I know what we are doing for her 18th birthday.

Ya Let's Stab My Feet With Needles, That Sounds Fun

The needles were not that big and there wasn't blood squirting out.  This is just a picture of what it felt like.

Apparently I'm willing to do just about anything to get rid of the pain in my feet and back to running again.  Last week I decided to give dry needling a try.  I mean if it's supposed to work even better than just the foot rubbing thing why am I not doing it?  Well, it hurts and the thought of it really grosses me out.  He stabs 2 needles into each foot then swishes my muscles around with them, or something like that.  It does seem to be improving things even more than before though.  Overall my feet feel better especially at work where I'm on my feet all day.  I ran 4 days in the past week.  A 2 miler, 3miler, 4.5 miler and 2 miler.   The 4.5 was outside the rest was on the treadmill.  All the runs felt great while in them but after the 4.5er I had to go straight to work and it wasn't a good day for my feet.  They did feel better the next day so much so that I ran a 2 miler and felt fine after.  This is kinda the same pattern for the past 3 weeks.  The 2-3milers don't bother my feet but the longer distances do.  All of the 2-3 milers have been on the treadmill and the longer ones were outside.  It's easier to limit myself on the treadmill than outside.

Things seem to be improving overall but so so slowly that it is so so frustrating.  A month ago it hurt to even start running and my feet bothered me at work everyday so this is better. 11.5 miles of running in a week is better than 0 but it's so far from where I want to be.  I have another appointment today to have needles stabbed into my feet and I'm mostly dreading it.  Ugh. 

Running Again

Gretchen and I drew a picture of how happy we are running.  Everything is flowers and butterflies.

I think I know why you're having foot pain Kristen, your running form looks terrible.

I went 7 weeks of basically no running, when I did run after I'd be "nope shouldn't have done that."  Four weeks in  I saw a doctor.  She gave me  prescription strength ibuprofen and said ya don't run.  Clearly not acceptable.  So on week 7 I went and saw a chiropractor that another runner recommended.  Then like magic my feet started feeling better.  Like f***ing magic!  My first visit was a week ago.  Over the next few days my foot pain while not gone was greatly reduced while on my feet all day waiting tables and I ran 3 days spacing them out.  The pain and tightness I felt after running was way more tolerable.  My 2nd visit was 2 days ago.  Then yesterday I ran 5 miles then after zero pain in my right foot, ZERO.  Still felt it in my left foot but not horrible.  

I put off seeing a chiropractor since my insurance doesn't cover it and despite several people telling me to see one I didn't think it would help.  I saw Dr. Cotter at Active Health Solutions: Chiropractic and Rehab.  I picked him because he was recommended by another runner and a bit cheaper than another guy that was recommended to me.  He dropped the fee for the initial consultation for being a Tail Nerd so that was cool.  Now paying per visit which is totally worth it since it seems to be working.    He basically just rubs this piece of hard plastic into my foot so hard I want to cry then a few adjustment things at my ankle joints, hips and lower back. Magic!

  

No Running but Crafty

Making use of running journal with zero running included.

Tomorrow I will hit 5 weeks of no real running.  My feet definitely feel improved but I can tell the problem is still there.  Went and saw a doctor, she was as helpful as I expected her to be.  Went back into Garry Gribbles Running Store to buy something new to try, and see if there was any employees there who had any good ideas.  After talking with the guy there I bought new inserts and going to try never putting any pressure on my feet without supportive shoes on until my feet heel up.    This means putting my shoes on before I get out of bed and only taking them off if I'm not on my feet.  There has been a few days where I got up at a ridiculously early hour to get to the gym.  On those days I would have my outfit sitting right by my bed so I did put my shoes on before I got up.  I didn't have any morning foot pain on those days so I'm thinking this might work.

I'm sorry but what?

Gretchen got this shirt for doing her mile run in Texas.  Obviously I want her to wear it all the time but she doesn't care to wear anything that is not a dress.  If it's not a dress it must be pink, purple or from the movie frozen otherwise forget it.   I made a few adjustments to the shirt to get her to wear it.    Now it's a dress with a purple skirt and fits Gretchen's wardrobe standards.

Swimming Is Hard and Running Was So Darn Convient

Swimming is hard and also extremely inconvenient.  Since I'm off running for the moment thanks to my stupid feet I've been trying to fill the void in my life and not get fat.  Trying to give swimming a go.  

I know what you're thinking "Kristen looks so cute in a swim cap."  Swim caps are a fantastic way to save yourself a good 30 minutes of combing knots out of your hair.

I made a list.

My Stick figure of what I think I look like swimming.

Did buy this pool, its pretty fun.

A month ago I was trying to switch gyms since I thought it was more expensive than other gyms and I didn't really use their crummy cardio equipment.  A month ago I was running and only using the gym twice a week for weights.  Well, it's been 3 weeks since my last run.  3 weeks ago I didn't need a pool or child care and I thought I could live without a squat rack.  I am now lifting 6 days a week, using the pool and crappy elliptical machines. No other gyms in a reasonable distance offers child care, a squat rack and a pool.  Now that I'm not running leg day is my favorite.  

No running = more time for gym selfies.  I'm smiling on the inside.

Rockin Warrior Dash

Sippin on a little choclate lean protien milk pre race.

This past weekend thanks to Rockin' Refuel I took my team of six to the Kansas City Warrior Dash.  While technically I'm off running at the moment(it's been 2 weeks now) we were all signed up and this had to happen.  The Warrior Dash is only 3 miles and you're basically running on squishy mud so I reasnoned it was ok and wouldn't make my injury any worse.  It didn't but also didn't make it better.   

It was not quite an hour drive out to the race site.  Since we only signed up 2 weeks beforehand we had to go for one of the later start times.  I thought this might be alright since it would be warmer in the afternoon.  It was about 60˚ out but no sun and the 2nd obstacle involved jumping into a swimming across a pond of sorts.  After that you are completly wet and covered in mud the rest of the race.  Once you are wet it is cold, I really dislike being cold.  I feel like these type of races would be more fun if the temps were in the 90˚'s but it wasn't.  I did really like that while there was a ton of people there really wasn't any waiting to go through each obstacle.   

Coming out of sewer runoff pond.  It was a little smelly but part of the fun right.

Scariest thing about this obstacle is worring about being stabbed with a lost safty pin.

Soaked in mud and so cold post race.  After knocking back our Rockin' Refuel to help recover from the race we rinsed off in cold hose water showers, threw on dry clothes, grabbed our free beers and were out.  I think there was a tempature drop during the race, so much colder after but we are warriors after all.

Anyone tried Rockin' Refuel or other protien milk drink?  Thoughts?  

Enjoy Warrior Dashes or other obstacle course races?

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Hating on the Elliptical

Things I Hate

1.  Not Running

2.  Elliptical Machines

Last week a ran a whopping 11 miles total before I decided to admit to myself that I needed to stop running till this pain in my feet goes away.  I last ran 6 days ago and the not running is getting annoying.  So now that the weather is getting nicer I'm spending more time inside the gym instead of outside running.  I've increased my weights routine, more weights, more days.  Said goodbye to carbs and hello to lean protein.  I think I can already see a little more definition in my muscles but I could just be hallucinating from lack of carbs.  I've been putting myself on the elliptical for 30 minutes a day which just seems ridiculous.  The cardio equipment at 24hr Fitness leaves a lot to be desired.  It's old, usually only fixed with band aids and apparently ignored by the cleaning crew.  Nearby gym options are kinda limited and I picked this one based on the weights area.  It's not fancy and can be too crowded but they have a lot of stuff.  I normally only use the treadmills when it's winter and the weather is horrible.  I never use the other cardio equipment until now. 

Part of why I love running is that it makes me feel like a badass.  The elliptical does not make me feel like a badass.  Even if I listen to Eminem the whole 30 minutes I just feel stupid and not worn out.  I know how to make an elliptical workout hard but it's boring and not the same at all.  I need to feel worn out.  Tomorrow I try swimming and then maybe biking again.  

While I have not been running, I have been a little crafty.  I made Gretchen this knit flower dress, she seems to like it.