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<p>Thanks for asking, @teriwtt! I have a little pouch that fastens underneath my seat which holds $20, my driver’s license, and a credit card, plus my car keys. Right now I am still pretty tentative about straying from dedicated bike trails, but my favorite one (White Rock Lake) is 30 minutes away by car, so I make sure to carry ID with me.</p>
<p>I once had an aerobics instructor who had a stroke. She was a tiny little thing, and VERY fit and was only in her 30’s when it happened. I heard one of the other instructors mention something about her having high blood pressure and not taking it as seriously as she should. She survived her stroke with very few residuals, but that was 20 years ago, and I’ve wondered occasionally if she stayed healthy.</p>
<p>Best of luck to PG who is running the Hot Chocolate race in Chi-town today!! Have a friend doing the15k there and she always shoots me a photo from each race site so it made me think that PG is there as well! </p>
<p>Thank you, abasket - that is really sweet of you - I bailed, though. My d is in the hospital -she’s totally fine, just had a reaction to medication - but I’ve been exhausted dealing with it all long distance and I just needed the sleep this morning versus having to leave my house at 5:30 am. </p>
<p>Glad to hear your daughter is okay, PG.</p>
<p>Oh no! Absolutely, most importantly, hoping your D has a better day today! The words “hospital” and “child who is away” are awful as a parent. </p>
<p>Pizzagirl, glad that she is ok! Dealing long distance with our children’s illnesses is incredibly emotionally and mentally draining. Take good care of yourself! There will always be another race! </p>
<p>Very glad PizzaD is okay! Sounds like a good day to rest. </p>
<p>Glad she is OK. NOT easy to deal with that- especially long distance.</p>
<p>Pretty good running weekend for me. I bailed on my planned 8 yesterday because I was exhausted and slept late (7:40) and it was a gloomy, windy day. I went to run 4 and did 6. Today I thought I would do another 6, even though I would be tired, and I managed 6.7. It was a much nicer day- clear, blue skies and 37-44 degrees while I ran. I finished with a 28 mile week, which for the demands on my time this week is pretty OK. Today’s run went very well, which surprised me since I did the 6 miles yesterday. </p>
<p>Teri, that’s a scary and sad story. PG, glad your dd is okay. So sorry you’re having to deal with a long distance crisis. That is hard. MoWC, a 28 mile week is definitely pretty okay! </p>
<p>Yesterday I did a bit of run/walk and spent hours meandering through one of the local theme parks with a visiting friend whose daughter was running a half marathon that started at 10 pm. It started to drizzle, so I can’t imagine this night run was overly fun. </p>
<p>Today I completed 6.25 miles on the treadmill. It felt pretty good, although I would not say it’s easy for me. Other than being super cautious not to injure myself, 'm not sure what my running goal will be; it occurs, maybe I’m at the acme of my running career right now 
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<p>Running is weird. I had 3 terrible runs this week. I did 3 miles on Tues & Thurs and 5 on Friday, and struggled through every mile. Today I did 8, and felt really good. </p>
<p>My garmin seems to be working fine after the hard reset, though I was kind of hoping for an excuse to upgrade :)</p>
<p>Lots of gardening activities this weekend… including picking up wet leaves (yuck) and a balancing act on a ladder trying to figure out why a gutter sprouted a *&^$ leak.</p>
<p>I had to run errands on Saturday, so put off our trail run until today, and it surely rained Niagara falls! 
Dryland exercises for me. </p>
<p>Pizza girl, glad your D is ok. Nothing like long distance hospitalization of a child (regardless of age) to send a parent’ stress level over the top.</p>
<p>Teriwitt, I can well understand your dilemma about choosing facilities and have some mixed thoughts. I think the first thing you need to evaluate is whether you need the formalized structure of “trainer only” workouts and classes that the first facility requires in order for you to promote adherence to a work out routine. Think through what led you to leave the second facility in the past. Do you need the formalized structure and external motivations of the first facility or do you have internal motivations that will help you to keep invested in your routine? In this regard, you are already working with a trainer with whom you seem to have rapport and the second facility also offers classes, so what do you find so appealing about the “closed” system of the first facility? In my view, an important aspect of any choice you make is whether the experience you receive will give you the tools to be self-sustaining in your fitness endeavors. Also, if you are constantly locked into someone else’s notion of what your workouts should be every time, will you have the flexibility to tailor things to your needs and desires on days where you don’t feel like or shouldn’t do what someone else has programmed? Trainers and classes are great for keeping motivated, invested and to assure that you learn technique, but would a constant diet of that be overly rigid for you? No “right” answers but questions I think you need to answer for yourself.</p>
<p>One thing you stated that does concern me, however, is your comment about the supplements sold by the first facility. Unless the facility has a certified nutritionist on staff who will do an individualized assessment of you and make specific recommendations, the facility is exceeding the scope of its legitimate practice by hawking supplements. Selling exercise nutrition products is often times just a money making racket to enhance revenues by selling expensive stuff that you don’t need if you follow good nutritional practices in your food plan. I’m not talking about energy bars and the like but about all the various powders, capsules and “elixirs” that are often promoted as “must haves” for fitness enthusiasts. The potential for conflicts of interest, for promoting products based on profit margins and not good science, for promoting unnecessary expenditures of lots of money, pings my radar about the first facility. The image I get is: you must work out with our trainers to come to our gym and then at the end of our Disney experience we dump you in our supplement store to buy products recommended by our trainers. This may or may not be a fair characterization but that was my visceral reaction, particularly because recommending supplements is outside the scope of a trainer’s ethical practice unless the trainer is also a nutritionist and because selling supplements is a conflict ridden aspect of a gym’s operation.</p>
<p>Annual (or so) check up with my woman’s doc this morning. The good news: weighed 7 pounds less than my last visit March 2013, heart rate 66, good blood pressure, BMI, 22. Bad news - they neglected to tell me after my bone density scan in March 2013 that I have osteoporosis of the spine - surprise! Not bad news I guess, but I thought it was bad that they failed to notify me! Anyway I elected to do the one pill a month regime as opposed to an injection or an IV drip once a year - anyone else have experience with this??? She said, keep up the calcium intake and the exercise - no limitations. I have absolutely no symptoms and haven’t shrunk yet, so that’s all good!</p>
<p>Mammo and colonoscopy next. </p>
<p>@MichaelNKat - Thanks so much for the perspective you put things in. I think after I wrote it, and reread it, seeing it in writing helped me get a better perspective on things. Where I was leaning was, start at the private gym, go there for a few months, then when I’m ready to go off on my own some more, join the larger place. So the answer sort of becomes a best of both. Again, one of the things I like about the private gym, is that it just seems more personal. But it doesn’t have the size and amenities offerings of the larger place. </p>
<p>A couple of clarifications - the Ideal Protein program they carry is about some supplements, but mostly about packaged food/meals, I think. When you walk in the lobby and look over at the shelves, there are a lot of different packaged meals - almost grocery-store like. That’s the visual - but yes, I’m sure once you get the sales pitch, they’re going to pitch some supplements, but in looking at their website, food sales are the predominant product. And yea, the facility has someone dedicated to working with this program, so it’s not the trainers who get involved in that. I can easily say no to that program as it’s just not something I’d ever be interested in, no matter how scientifically proven it is. I believe eating well-balanced meals, made as freshly as possible is really all we need. </p>
<p>I guess with all my health scares since last spring, I’m just afraid to take off on my own just yet, and feel better if I had a little bit more supervision. A big part of my frustration has been how incredibly tight my whole body still is, despite having some major massage work done (and she has made some incredible progress with massage since I started back with her in mid-August). I have a regular massage therapist who’s known me for almost 15 years. And for most of that time, I saw her every other week. With the surgery, and infection, and inactivity for so long, I became like the tin man. And at my age, it’s just going to take longer to get some of that flexibility back. With my current trainer, we do not really work on flexibility, because when I’m with him, I only want to do strength training. Pilates, I think, would be a good complement to strength training. But, both places offer Pilates! </p>
<p>@abasket - good to hear you’re getting your regular screening exams! But I’m preaching to the choir on this thread!</p>
<p>Did a one hour ride this morning. I heard on the radio on the way out to the trail that there were 25-30 mph gusts. I felt them several times - while going DOWNHILL-and I had to push really hard to get through them! So glad they weren’t coming towards me on my 3.5 mile uphill sections. </p>
<p>Tomorrow the big Arctic blast comes through, expected to hit Texas as well. I’m going to try to get a ride in before we get even worse winds coming in from the north.</p>
<p>Yes, the “artic” hits on Wednesday. Today however, about 60 - my exercise will be remaining yard work that should be done before it gets bitter and a long doggie walk. MAY get in a short run if time and light allows. </p>
<p>I’m actually TERRIBLE at getting regular check ups. Just terrible. 55 and no colonoscopy yet - but waiting for my phone call to schedule the first. </p>
<p>abasket, I wouldn’t be happy about not hearing about the bone density issue - glad it’s nothing serious at this point and you obviously lead a very healthy lifestyle. Now call and schedule your colonoscopy - you already know they’re not good about calling! </p>
<p>6 easy miles this morning. Will do 3 miles on Thursday. It’s supposed to be sunny and cool on Saturday, which is good for me. </p>
<p>Abasket- what monthly pill? I have become very knowledgeable about the osteoporosis meds and they can be VERY problematic. They can cause femur fractures. I’m not one of these anti-med people, but the bone drugs are really bad. I have to take daily injections- not that I’m advocating that for you. I would find “the” doc in your area for osteoporosis treatment and go there ASAP. </p>