On Saturday morning I woke up, like usual, got out of bed, like usual, and when I got undressed to get dressed, I took off my shirt, like usual. Which means I invert it over my head and use the opportunity to stretch out my shoulder blades by pressing out against the pressure of the inside of the shirt… Heretofore, my favorite morning stretch.
Except…
On Saturday morning I did it, streeeeetchTWANG! Suddenly my back HURT. Like, all capital letters HURT! Right under my left shoulder blade! YEOWTCH! I stood there for a moment, tried to re-stretch to make… Whatever it was, pop back into place and stop hurting. But it didn’t. I called out to Bradley who helped me limp to the bed (do I sound pathetic, or what?!) and he promptly gave me a back rub. A few hours later, once again, after back rubs, Aleve and the hot tub, I was able to move again. We took it easy over the weekend- just a little running and hiking- and I thought I was good to go.
This morning, there I was, AGAIN, pajamas coming off, streeeetch, and BOOM. I did it again without even thinking about it. It was so bad this morning that I was certain I’d have to go home after my work meeting* to soak and lay around. But again, Aleve, shower, back rub and I was able to drive to work.
So… Today I got home and, after careful consideration, I decided to take a few days off of training. I feel like a wimp, but I’ll feel stupid if I push a little injury into being a big one through bullish behavior.
What am I going to do, then? Well, today we walked about four miles at a fast pace. When I run, I hold my upper body tight and build a lot of painful tension all around my bra. I think this injury is totally related. Boo. Hisssssss. So, for now, I am walking. The whole time today I just kept thinking of how much faster this would go if I ran, or how many more calories I would be burning if I were running. Ah well. Moving is what is most important.
I also started thinking about some of my early days of calorie counting and really careful strategic eating. One of my biggies was no night calories. I could drink tea, diet soda, water or anything with zero calories, but nothing ‘real’. Tonight I brought some herbal tea up with me to the bedroom (another strategy- avoid the kitchen after dinner) and hunkered down upstairs to write and plan the week’s outfits (intentional, busy activity to avoid thinking about food). I’m also trying to dial back the calories, but it’s staff appreciation week this week at my school and they provide the most delicious lunches alllll week. Best week all year.
***
I don’t know about the rest of the country, but here in Washington, we’ve adopted a lovely new teacher evaluation system. While fabulous in theory, and in practice it does make for great reflection, it’s added a genuine amount of stress to many teacher’s lives. If not in the putting together and thinking of the thing, then the stress it causes just by being new, thus, unpredictable.
Anyhow, I had my final evaluation for the year and earned marks that exceeded standard! I can finally let out the breath I’ve been holding all year! I can relax and just enjoy my students while we finish out the year. We may or may not have celebrated with fancy beverages at home after.
