Profile

So I really needed to go to sick call. But I don't do that. I made an appointment at the clinic instead because I would rather miss work than PT. At my appointment... I was put on profile. *gasp* I have not been on a physical limitations profile since I had surgery in 2012. 

Worst of all, I'm on a no running profile. More worst of all, the half marathon is in 1 month. 

I am having very bad bilateral foot pain. I believe its been a long time coming, but running so much over the past couple months aggravated it. But you know what started the aggravation?

A freaking dog toy. 

Gertie with the weapon.

Here you can see the pointy end she gnawed into the bone.

A haphazardly lain dog toy that I didn't see on the floor. One of Gertie's favorites. I jumped up off the couch in a hurry to break up a brutal french bulldog dog fight and stepped on this stupid toy. Its a hard bone that Gertie had widdled into a shank. And really hurt my right foot. Like, I was on the floor writhing in pain Peter Griffin style. That acute injury caused me to compensate, now the other foot hurts too... blah blah blah.

Both my feet hurt so bad. So I had no choice but to go to the doctor.

I convinced my PA that I really only needed 2 weeks of rest. She understood that the half marathon is important to me but also cautioned me not to seriously injure myself in the process. She gave me a 2 week no running profile, prescribed Motrin and sent me to get my feet x-rayed. After the half marathon at the end of April I am to come back so she can set me up for a bone scan.

I've made it nearly 10 years in the Army without a major injury. I've recently gloated about that. Now this happens. 

Thanks, Gertie. 

Earned It

Look what finally came in the mail today:

I completed my Associates in Health Sciences degree in February. But I had to wait until today to actually hold the degree in my hands. 

I accomplished something that most 20 year old kids have! I may have completed this degree a little later in life than I should have, but at least I did it. And I'm not stopping here. I am already enrolled in another degree program. 

I am working towards a Bachelors in Public Health now. Being active duty doesn't leave me a whole lot of extra time to work on college courses but I'm going to plug away at it and maybe before I'm 40 I will earn the next degree (I hope so!).

In the mean time, it's cool to see this posted on my ERB (Enlisted Record Brief) instead of my high school graduation information! 

Too Long Run

I decided it was time for another long run in preparation for the half marathon in April. So I picked a random spot in the back 40 of Ft Campbell to run. On my way to my chosen spot, I noticed a lot of Soldiers out training. One of the 101st Brigades is in the middle of a big field problem and it is running through the weekend. I didn't think it would be a problem, but as I was running along Jordan Springs Road, LMTVs kept speeding past me. In an effort to not die, I made the command decision to find a side road and change my route.

The first side road I came to was called Hellcat Road. I'm familiar with Hellcat Road because it was a land nav boundary road for one of my many EFMB attempts. I had forgotten how hilly it was, though. And it's a dirt and gravel road. Basically, Hellcat started to kick my ass. Hellcat turned into Oriental Road. And then into Destiny Trail. I almost met my destiny on that trail because the hills only got steeper. Destiny kicked my ass. By that point I was at 6 miles at lost in the woods. 

Eventually I saw a stop sign glimmer on the horizon. Civilization at last! Or, at least, a road sign so I could try to get my bearings on where I was. Palmyra Road? I'm familiar with it but nothing looked familiar. So I kept running. Running. Running. I was tired from the all the hills I had just trudged up. After a while I came to another intersection. It was Jordan Springs Road! Now I had a better idea of my location. But I ran into the problem of the LMTVs speeding past me again. Opting out of certain death, I ducked down another side road. This one was unnamed. I should have known better. 

I ran along this dirt and gravel road until I crested a hill and saw a rather large creek in my path. I had no choice but to take my socks and shoes off and wade across to the other side. The water was super cold. As I was putting my socks and shoes back on on the other side, I was thinking about how ridiculous this all was and finally checked my Run Keeper app to see my distance. 8.5 miles. And I had no idea how far from my car I was. I started to scour the GPS map on the app: searching for my start point in relation to my current location. Eventually I was able to trace my path back to my car. Although I couldn't tell exactly how far away I was, at least I had a known route to take to get back. 

I didn't have it in me to run anymore. 8.5 miles of hills was enough for me. So I started walking. Walking. Walking. I walked past a few really old cemeteries. That was pretty neat. I kept walking down this side road (that turned out to be named Ghost Corps Trail) and a stupid LMTV still barreled past me. What crappy luck! No place is safe when 101st is in the field!

Long story short, I ran 8.5 miles of hills today, walked an additional 3 miles of hills and almost got ran over multiple times by LMTVs. Great Saturday on Fort Campbell.