In January I decided that I would do a mini triathlon not knowing that I was capable of anything other than swimming, given the level of joint pain I was still dealing with. Strive to Thrive has been my guide for the last 8 months. Getting stronger doesn’t happen on it’s own. Waiting for things to happen is a futile dream that anything will change or improve. While the triathlon has been in the back of my mind, I had been making excuses for not doing more physical activity, not wanting to confuse pain from exercise with pain related to tapering prednisone. This morning the excuses stopped. I decided while grocery shopping, that when I got home, I would head to the pool to start my adventure. The plan was to do as much as I physically could without doing anything causing intolerable pain. I was successful! The swim ended up being my easiest event, the bike ride ended short of the initial goal of 12 miles due to an unfortunate event involving a dog on a long leash, the walk was hard, but faster than my new usual pace (even after biking and swimming)! Throughout my career as a nurse, my patients have inspired me to challenge myself!. From the patient who would go downtown every week for ballroom dancing after receiving weekly chemo, to the 80 year old patient whose biggest complaint about chemo was that she couldn’t participate in Disney marathon weekend which consists of a total of 48.6 miles over four consecutive days. In the first instance, I lost 30 pounds, in the second, I ran a half marathon. Today’s activities are dedicated to my son Mark, who has accepted the challenge to learn to drive at the age of 29. He is conquering his fears of driving and I am confident that he will have his licence within a few months. Therefore, I felt the need to do something to push my limits as well! Thanks for inspiring me today Mark! You never know what you can do until you try! |
AuthorBarb Schlatter Archives
May 2022
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