of blood last night - but it didn't seem to help. FINALLY they took my blood. I don't trust their new system for anything... Last time my iron readings were 12.0 from one finger and 10.9! from the other. You need to have 12.5 to give blood. I almost didn't go last night because I had hardly eaten all day - I did double up my morning orange juice, but didn't drink anything other than one cup of coffee (which I am not supposed to do), I had a really frazzley day and so just wasn't in the mood. But I went anyway figuring my iron would be too low. It wasn't! Well - they still had to prick both of my fingers - 12.2 was the first one and then the next one was 12.8! So I gave my pint of blood. They let you drink now while you are giving the blood. It never made sense to me that they wouldn't let you replace your fluids while it was happening. It USED to be that they wouldn't let me drink my water after they started taking my history. Oddly - today both of my finger pricks are hurting, and I have a big skid mark of burst blood vessels where the pressure cuff was last night. I wonder why that is. Anyway -so I am not sure why my iron was OK yesterday. I have eaten a total of four sandwiches in the past week (well, three and a half - I burned a grilled cheese sandwich to charcoal last Wednesday but ate the insides of it...). So maybe the regular bread made a difference. I have also been taking the whole foods multi vitamins instead of the regular kind. Maybe THAT made the difference. I don't know... Anyway, it felt good to donate again. I don't have to worry about it again until November 3rd.
I want to start running. Or more precisely I want to be able to run. I keep seeing people around running and I am envious. Their bodies seem to move so freely. And then I get an image of me in my head running and I scare myself. First of all - I wouldn't be running - it would definitely be more like trudging... Then I think how strenuous WALKING is for me and I cringe even more. My body gets in my way. I would love to be able to trust that all the pieces would move the way they are supposed to - but I smack myself regularly when I walk, and trip over my feet, and my thighs rub together. So I need to start out slowly - and find some place where no one would see me or be injured by my cumbersome form landing in unpredictable places. I think I will start trying to run again on my treadmill. I need to unearth my treadmill. I am SO looking forward to having my exercise room. I can't wait for Laura to finish moving her stuff out... YAY!
2 comments:
Hi Amy,
I have found a good way to get started is two 20-minute walks each day, aiming for after a main meal.
Not only did it allow me to build up to running (which I just don't like to do anymore but actually thought about tonight) but it gave me a chance to release some stress at work (after lunch) and then in the evening. If forced me into a routine, which I need to re-establish. Cooler weather is headed our way so it will be nice to walk at night after work.
20 minutes isn't too tough to squeeze in somewhere during the day.
Walking became addictive to me and let me leave any tension outside on the sidewalk. Then I started running. I eventually ran the Army 10-miler in DC. I was slow but I finished without stopping. I'm past that and don't feel any urges to run triathlons or prove I'm not almost dead at 40.
But I've found walking makes a nice stepping stone to a lot of things. Soon you'll be dying to hike the Appalachian Trail. :-)
The treadmill is a good place to start, and don't even try running at first. There are "couch to 5K" training guides online that aim to get someone from barely walking to being able to run a 5K over a period of time, and they all start out with just walking, then adding in a minute of running here and there until eventually you're able to run the whole thing. I started out just barely trudging on the treadmill and worked my way up to running over months and months, so I know it can be done!
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