Tuesday, May 19, 2009

It's Been A While.............

Whoa, it's been a while since I've blogged. The past few weeks have been very trying. A couple of weeks ago my company laid off 10% of its employees. Fortunately, I survived. Unfortunately, my workload has tripled, nay quadrupled and is feeling a bit overwhelming at them moment. In addition, my wife's health continues to show little if any improvement. Consequently, she's still on short-term disability and for those of you who've been on that, you know how much it affects your finances. Basically, it's like collecting unemployment or about 60% of your paycheck. So, we've been under considerable financial strain for the past couple of months and the doctors have been dragging their feet on filing paperwork so she can get her benefits, as well as actually finding out what is wrong with her. Oh, and to top all of that off, I've been battling a nagging foot injury that just won't go away. I went to see a podiatrist today and she taped up my foot and asked that I run with it that way to see if it would relieve any of the pain I experience during my post-run. Well, as I type and have yet to run on it, it actually hurts worse now. Before I went to see her it didn't bother me at all when I walked. Oy vey! Anyway, I'm going to keep it on overnight to see how it feels tomorrow. If it still hurts, I'm taking it off. She was also highly recommending getting orthotics because of my flat feet (can't say I'm too keen on that idea). So, life's been a real peach lately. On the positive side, I'm still staying strong on the Paleo diet and have completed 12 weeks!! Woot! So, that's where I'm at right now in life. I'm trying to stay positive and keep plugging away. I've got the Kettle 100 looming up in 3 weeks and I'm a bit concerned about finishing it now because my training has been suffering due to the excessive amount of time I've had to put towards taking care of my wife and son by doing almost everything. I feel like I'm a single parent of 2 kids!!

Anyway, enough rambling(bitching) about my life. Here's some kick-ass reading about cholesterol that will get you thinking (or mad, in my case - I hate being lied to).

The Great Cholesterol Myth

Also, a big congrats to all of the Superior 50K finishers out there! I've been reading it was a chilly one, but beautiful nonetheless!!! Take care, y'all!

7 comments:

SteveQ said...

I only got 1/3 of the way through the cholesterol article before the level of sh*t got too high for me. Sorry, but I've met Brown and Goldstein and they know a little something and the "studies" quoted (oddly, without references) are about the level of the National Enquirer. Believe who you want.

Are you still running Kettle?

Steve said...

Yup, still running Kettle.

Steve said...

Actually, Steve, there are a number of references throughout the essay. Too bad you didn't read through the whole thing.

The whole cholesterol thing is a complicated mess. It's a shame so much of the cholestorol and heart disease hypothesis is based on Keyes' extemely biased and flawed study.

keith said...

Sounds like trying times...I hope you can endure and overcome!

Matthew Patten said...

Steve,

You are ready for Kettle, you are just letting your mind get in the way. Just look at it as a long training run.

I feel your pain on the job front. I received the short end of the stick on the layoffs and have been in the hunt for a little bit now.

At the end of the day, we all have trail running and ultra stuff in common. That gets me through the bad days.

Today was a good one. :)

Now let's go get ourselves a dinky little teapot

Steve said...

Thanks for the words of encouragement, Keith and Matt. I will persevere. It's just been a rough patch as of late. Fortunately, I believe in a Ying-Yang balance in life. So, good times are sure to follow bad times!

Londell said...

Steve,

I was not aware your wife was battling some major setback. You are strong and I will add you to my prayers. When I have difficult times, the runs helps me keep focus and at peace. May the same work for you.