An Intruder, a Bicycle Pump, and My Head

6:00am: Maybe I need to start taking a nap during the day? I was so tired this morning. To make matters worse the fan blew directly into my left nostril last night and it was completely plugged when I got up. I'm also pretty sure that someone broke into the house last night and stuck a bicycle tire pump directly into my ear and started getting crazy with it. I've been told that I'm full of hot air before, but this time I actually felt it. When I rolled out of bed I was battling my huge overweight head for balance and at one point grabbed onto a chair so I wouldn't float into the ceiling. I was hoping the walk would clear some things up.

So there I am starting the walk and let me just tell you, tired and sore aren't even the start of how I was feeling. My lung and knee had sharp pains (or maybe pangs would be more proper) that continued to shoot through them. My lungs felt like they had forgotten that they had to already start breathing and just kind of cashed it in for the day. And my nose was still plugged up after repeated attempts at a snot rocket. I pressed on. A little pain can't stand in my way. I've been through a ton of physical pain in my past and if I have to endure a little bit of pain in the present to avoid a ton of pain in the future, I'm on it (That should be on a bumper sticker, although the slogan is so long it would probably wrap around the car). The beginning of the walk was not easy, problem is, it just got harder.

The uphills were an absolute killer today. There were points that I really wanted to stop and rest my lungs and knee, but I figured that it was probably best to push through. I will say though, despite all of the pain and discomfort in the walk today, it seemed to go faster. I'm not quite sure why that is. I was also able to bring up a bunch of junk and my lungs finally started to open up at the end. Funny thing is, I probably could have gone another mile. By the end of the walk, my nose and head were clear, my lung and knee pain were gone, and I was getting big deep breaths in. It's amazing what can come out of a little bit of adversity in the morning dog walk.

Total Distance: 2.7 miles

5:30pm: There was quite a surprise as I headed to the gym today! My new nebulizer compressor arrived and I'm so excited. I'll make sure to give you updates on how the machine's performance is. Just in case you haven't read in a previous post, I ordered the Mobilaire 50 psi model from Invacare. It should deliver the treatments at a much higher volume and speed. Keep your fingers crossed that it's all that it's cracked up to be. Anyway, after that pleasant surprise, it was off to the gym.

We decided not to run today so we could give our legs and feet a rest. Instead we walked to the gym and planned to take a longer way back to the house. At the gym we lifted arms again which went really well. I felt stronger today than I have on any other day and it just may be that good rest that I was able to take. Without running or going to the gym during the day, I was able to lay around the house and get some stuff done. I don't want to make that a common occurrence, but I realize that I need rest once in a while too. I improved on all my lifts and in fact on some improved the weight by 33%. I hope to continue to be able to add weight every week until I get to a build that I'm happy with. I really need to shift the weight from my stomach to the rest of my body.

There was only one slight hitch that actually started at some point during the day today, I just don't know when. I have a pretty sharp pain in my stomach. It's actually to the right of my belly button about 4 inches and 2 inches down. Normally, I wouldn't worry about. The only problem is that I have had problems with hernias in the past. Years ago I got part of my intestine taken out due to a blockage and then had two subsequent hernia repairs as a result of the first surgery. The second hernia repair surgery had them put in a mesh plate to go over my stomach to try to prevent any more hernias. I really hope that plate is doing it's job. If you have a second to pray just send a quick one up to God that this is nothing more than gas. I'm only concerned because of my history and that it hurts when I cough and no other time. I'm hoping that I just worked my abs way too hard and strained something. Which makes sense also because getting rid of this one-pack is tough.

Anyway, we took the long way home and enjoyed the still crisp night air. If you haven't been able to walk around in Arizona while the sun is setting you're really missing out. The colors that reflect off of the dust in the sky is amazing. And when that sun is completely tucked away the temperature is perfect for a stroll around the block. I really suggest you give it a shot. In fact, I dare you.

Total Distance: 2.2 miles

Total Distance Walk for Day: 4.9 miles