Growing up and growing out.

 “Silver strands tend to be coarse and unruly and they have a habit of sprouting straight up. I’m cultivating a new kind of plant, more wisteria than philodendron”
Elisabeth Egan for the New York Times recently wrote an essay on growing out her gray hair. This is something I’ve considered on and off. I’ve always caved. 

During COVID I was excited to find a streak of white at one of my temples. “I’ll be a silver fox!” I thought excitedly. I googled articles on caring for silver hair. I fantasized about having snow-white hair, the same color as my mother-in-law’s, and how cool that would look. My hair grows fast, so I waited with breathless anticipation. And waited. And waited. 

It turns out that I’ve inherited my mother’s graying pattern. When she died, much too young at age 61, her temples were slightly gray. The rest of her hair was a cool brown. My grandmother’s hair, as well, never quite turned white. When she died at age 86 it was a dark gray, with some darker streaks still visible. So, no silver fox for me. Just hair that is inexplicably dark, given my Northern European roots, with streaks of gray. Sprinkles, really. Sparkles. I sparkle

 

What I accomplished this week: Not much. I should have done more. That’s a fact, not a self-shaming. I was mysteriously tired this week. I just started on a new dose of semaglutide, which might account for that. 

Current weight: 87 kg. (Down from 90kg) I’m sitting here trying to convince myself to get off the chair and go workout. 

. 

…

I will not go softly

SO I’ve noticed in the past year or so how weak I’ve gotten, especially my upper body. I will not go softly into that good night. 

Plans: 

Cardio - 5k training program on the treadmill 2x week, and rowing or elliptical on the other days. 

Strength - Apple fitness strength workouts.

Flexibility/Balance - Apple fitness yoga workouts and some of the strength workouts utilize balance as well.

I also joined IFIT. We bought a bunch of Nordictrack machines, and IFIT works with them, changing resistance or speed as you follow along with the trainer, who might be in a studio, or out on a famous trail in the Mt. Hood national park, or along the Iberian coast. 

The new house we bought in Washington, on the Olympic peninsula, has a finished and enclosed garage. This is where the machines live. It’s also where I work. 

Left to right: treadmill, elliptical, rower.

 in front of the machines is a TV bolted to the wall, and room on the floor for workouts, including yoga. 

Next weekend, I’ll post my workouts for the week. 

..

Reboot. Or not.

Howdy.

I’m nearly 20 years older than I was when I started this blog. I started it because I was trying to learn as  much as I could about fitness, and weight loss, and figured that I could save someone some mouse clicks in searching for information. 

Along the way it became my brain toilet. I wrote essays about not being a cheerleader mom, about my first marathon, my first 50k, my first Ironman triathlon.

Then in 2016, one day, I was out on a walk. I was walking 4 miles a day and running 2-3 miles every morning in addition. And on this day, this day in October of 2016, I started coughing. 

For the next 7 years I tried to find a way to stop coughing. The doctors in New Mexico weren’t much help. They threw medications at me without running tests.  

Maybe you have GERD. 

You have lots of allergies. (Yup, I was eating allerest when I was 6)

You have asthma. (It’s true, since I was a child)

One nurse practitioner at a place called the “National Sinus Institute” put me on a broad spectrum antibiotic, “just in case” I had chronic sinus infection. She didn’t run any tests, I want to clarify that. And soon after, I was exposure to, and developed, c. diff.  A physician at Presbyterian Urgent Care in Albuquerque misdiagnosed me, and I wound up hospitalized for colitis in April of 2018.

After that I just kind of gave up. The cough was deep, and wracking. I would cough so hard my O2 would drop and I’d get dizzy. It triggered bronchial spasms. To be clear, a pulmonologist had already told me that my asthma was stable - that wasn’t the cause.

By 2023 I was depressed and rarely left the house. The pandemic had made people like me, people with a chronic cough, pariahs. I also had wicked stress incontinence. In April of 2023 my Sweet Baboo, my partner and husband of 23 years, announced we were moving to Hawaii. Why? Because they apparently have the best medical care in the US. (I was surprised too!)

We lived in Hawaii for a year. During that time I saw 8 different specialists. I had a ton of tests, imaging, barium swallow tests.

The verdict?

I have terrible allergies and shitty, crowded sinuses that make way too much mucous. 

I also have sleep apnea.

I had a “radio neuro ablation” of a nerve, suspected to be overactive in creating mucous, along with a “turbinate reduction”. It helped a little. I no longer have a stuffy nose.

I still have a cough.

In 2024 we moved from Hawaii to the Pacific Northwest, where I now live. It is believed that allergy shots will help a bit. We’ll see. 

In any case, I’m tired of putting off fitness because of this stupid cough. So, I’ve started trying to work my way back. Next year I turn 60; maybe by now, I’ve outlasted some of my competition. We’ll see.