Yay!!!  I finally ran.  It wasn’t fast, it wasn’t far, and it wasn’t pretty.  But I ran!  Kimbo is getting her groove back.  Woot woot!  I will get to that shortly, but first I would like to apologize for slacking on the blog updates.  Between a busy holiday schedule, physical therapy, and all my regular daily obligations, I haven’t been finding the time.  Nor have I been particularly motivated since I haven’t been working out.  Shall we catch up?

FRIDAY

Friday started with physical therapy in the morning.  My usual therapist was out of the office, so I had a different one today.  I did a lot of different exercises and it was pretty tough, but in a good way.  Hello, wall squats!  It had been 4 weeks since I have done any type of squat so my quads were definitely feeling it.  After an hour of therapy and a full day of work, it was time to start getting ready for my company Christmas party.  Steven and I always have a blast at the party and this year was no exception.  I was a little nervous to dance and thought I’d definitely be paying for it Saturday, but I was having too much fun to skip out on the dancing.  Table 31 in the house!!

SATURDAY

We had to get up early on Saturday morning (7:00) to make sure Gabby was up and ready for swim.  I was not feeling 100% after a night of partying so thankfully I was able to go back to bed for a bit while Steven took her to the pool.  I felt much better the next time I woke up (10ish).  And thankfully, my hip was okay, even after a night of dancing.  It’s still not exactly “right”, but it wasn’t any worse than it was before the party.  After a quick trip to the grocery store, the Bonds Christmas Cookie Extravaganza began. 

Each year, we turn up the Christmas music and we bake.  And bake some more.  And then by the 3^rd of 4^th day, I start using more colorful language and question why in the heck I do this to myself every year.  But I wouldn’t have it any other way.  The girls seemed to help in shifts and we got a lot accomplished, but we had to finish up early so we could get ready for my brothers Christmas party.  My brother goes all out with his inflatables and lights.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of his yard decoration this year.  I did get a picture of my parents in their festive Christmas outfits. 

We had a good time.  I always enjoy playing games with my nieces and nephews.  This year, we played Mad Gab.  It’s such a fun game and a fun time.  Of course, the girls team won 🙂

After leaving the party, Steven decided to purchase the UFC fight and invited my nephews and a few of his friends over to watch.  I was planning to join them in the basement to watch the fight, but I didn’t make it.  I “just laid down for a minute” in my bed and the next thing I knew I was waking up to the sounds of the herd coming up the basement steps after the fight and everyone was saying goodbye.  Oops.

SUNDAY

Cookies and Football!!  I baked a batch of cookies before the game.  Then I took a break to watch my Redskins win (still can’t believe they have a shot at the NFC East title).  Then I went back to rolling out sugar cookies and more baking.  And that’s about it.  I was starting to get tired of baking by the end of the night.

MONDAY

I worked all day Monday and then…you guessed it, I made more cookies.  I rolled out the gingerbread cookies and baked them.  Then I decided to walk on my treadmill.  I figured, what the heck?  I walked more than a mile when I went shopping in Annapolis last week.  What’s the big deal?  Walking never hurt nobody, right?  Well…I don’t know why I am admitting this, but since I tell you (all 3 of my blog readers) about all of my workout adventures, I figure I might as well fess up.  Let me first just put out the disclaimer that our treadmill is a “new to us” treadmill.  We purchased it used a few months back.  I hadn’t really used it because I either ran outside or even ran at the gym a few times.  So, I think this was only my 2^nd time getting on the treadmill.  The 2^nd thing I had going against me is that I decided to start out really slow.  I’m a fast walker and am not used to starting so slow.  So, as I’m starting to get into a grove, I take a step (it must have been a giant one) and my right leg (the bad one) actually lands on the plastic piece in front of the conveyer belt.  Meanwhile, my left leg is on the belt, heading towards the back of the treadmill.  So, I have myself in this deep lunge position, trying to turn off the treadmill.  I hurt my right leg a little and after turning it off, I didn’t know whether I should laugh or cry.  Luckily, the laughter won and I laughed at myself for a good 10 minutes.  Steven had just gone upstairs and was really bummed he missed it (gee, thanks!).  So anyway, I decided to try again, but I was limping pretty bad again.  I decided to get off at .5 mile with my tail tucked between my legs.  I went upstairs and iced my hip.

TUESDAY

Another day of work.  My hip/leg was slightly more sore than usual, but still not terrible.  I thought I had a therapy apt today after work, but it turned out that its Wednesday.  I took Gabby to swim and then watched an episode of The Walking Dead with Makayla.  She is still on Season 3 and we plan to have a marathon pretty soon to catch her up.  I got a break from the cookies tonight.

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday was a good day.  I met up with my running buddy, Crystal for lunch.  After catching up on all of the goings-on in our lives, we started talking about Key West and it got me pretty excited.  I think the holidays have me so distracted that this trip is really sneaking up on me.  I am bummed that I wont be able to run it, but I am still hoping to do a run/walk combo.  After work, I had my therapy apt and this is where it really gets exciting (for me).  She let me run!!!  After my warmup on the bike (with electrical stimulation), I reminded her that my race is coming up and that I was hoping to run a little bit of it.  To my complete surprise, she says “You wanna poke the bear?  You want to run a little bit?”  YESSSSSS!  I was so excited.  I started with a walk and once she was confident that I was okay, she told me to take it to a slow jog and I did.  She let me stay on for 5 minutes.  I’m not gonna lie, it was pretty tough.  I still have that same slight “heavy/achy” feeling, but it’s not “pain” anymore.  It really didn’t feel any different (pain-wise) to run than it does to walk.  With that being said, I could definitely tell from a cardio standpoint that I haven’t done much in the past 4.5 weeks.  5 minutes at a slow speed and I was pretty winded!  Its times like these that make me stop and say “Wow, 13.1 miles is a really long way” and sometimes it doesn’t feel real that I have ever been able to do that.  And I wonder if I will ever be able to do it again.  I only let those thoughts linger for a few moments because the joy of running took over and I was smiling from ear to ear and telling my therapist that I couldn’t wait to tell everyone and to blog about it (too bad I don’t have a photo to share).  After therapy, I went home and enlisted the help of the entire family to finish decorating the cookies.  This is always fun for us.  We like to make our cookies into famous people (Jedi’s, Olympic swimmers, Patrick Starfish this year).  We finally finished kind of late and we were SO HAPPY to be done with cookies.  I packaged some up and off to bed I went.

THURSDAY

I thought I might be a little sore today after the treadmill (and more wall squats) at therapy yesterday, but I’m feeling pretty good.  I have my usual achiness and still a little bit of a limp, but not worse than it has been on any other day.  After work, I took Makayla and her friend, Natalee out to do some Christmas shopping and then somehow, I ended up helping Natalee make cookies for extra credit in her Spanish class.  If I never see another cookie as long as I live, I’ll be A-Okay.  Who am I kidding?  Even after eating a bajallion cookies, I still have room for more.  I just don’t want to bake anymore for a really long time.

There you have it.  Sorry for such a long update, but that’s everything that’s been going on in my little world.  I will try to update more often so I don’t have these super long posts.  I am looking forward to some fun times over the next couple of weeks.  I am also looking forward to graduating physical therapy and (slowly) increasing my runs.