Friday, January 23, 2015

Recovery and 21.

It's been 8 days since my wisdom teeth were taken out, and I'm doing a lot better! I didn't do any activity (other than shopping and a short walk around my neighborhood) until yesterday, which marked a week post-op. Yesterday I took a short 1.4 mile run around the lake in my neighborhood, and it didn't feel to great on my mouth! Not sure if I'm going to try that again today or just wait another couple of days.

I have also developed a complication with one of my incision sites... it's called "dry socket" and it's even more unpleasant than it sounds. Won't go into too many details there, but even with that wrench in my recovery I'm feeling a lot better (and looking a lot better!) and returning to normal activities. The painful dry socket can take up to a month or so to start feeling better so I'm interested to see how that affects my cooking and exercise choices for the next few weeks... you might see a lot of soup recipes on here!

There's much more exciting things going on though! Tomorrow I'm headed back to school with my sister and Alex. I feel like I'm finally getting into a routine here after weeks of travel, then the flu, and then oral surgery. However, I'm excited and optimistic for this coming semester. 

Speaking of which, I've been thinking a lot about my running goals recently. As I've probably mentioned on here, I had been planning on training hard to run a (hopefully!) very speedy half-marathon this semester. It seemed like a good idea after the marathon. Half-marathons are a lot easier and less stressful to train for (particularly in terms of time commitment). It would also be easier on my body. However, my IT-band injury really complicated that plan. I'm only now starting to get to the point where I can run regularly, and I don't have any sort of base to build on so I should not start a training cycle. When I do run, I'm painfully slow. I've stayed in shape for the most part by doing a lot of rowing and spinning, but being sick for a week and then being out for this past week definitely didn't help. For right now, I have a short term running goal: build my base back up. Hopefully I can get started with that on Sunday or Monday when I'm settled back at school :)


I'm optimistic, because when I came back from Luxembourg, I definitely wasn't in tip-top running shape. I ran about 20-25 miles a week when I was lucky, and there were often chunks of time where I couldn't run at all for a week or two do to traveling logistics. When I did run, I ran VERY slowly. All my runs were easy and I never once did a "workout." However, I came home from Europe, did about 3 weeks of base running, and hit the marathon training hard. I fell into a groove right away. I'm hoping that happens again and I get my mojo back quickly. While I was abroad, it was hard for me to accept at the time, but I think my body really needed those 16 weeks of "easy." I've been constantly in training for something since I was 14, whether it be rowing or running. I try to think that way about this period since the marathon, too. In the 8 weeks between the marathon and winter break, I did a lot of elliptical, but I'm not sure that did much for me. Now I've had about 3.5 months low-intensity workouts and I hope to start this semester with a renewed energy, ready to work hard. 


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Last night, my parents took me out to dinner for my 21st birthday. It's not for another 1.5 weeks but they wanted to do something since I'm about to leave town. We had an amazing cake from Whole Foods for desert... It's called "Chocolate Dream."



For my birthday, my mom bought me my first suit. I found two amazing pieces at Express. I wasn't sure if I should pick pants and a jacket or a skirt and jacket, but I figured I can always add the component I don't have later on. I found trousers and a jacket that fit great. After trying about 47 different stores, I finally found pieces that I felt confident in. I think it's hard for women to find suits that are professional, yet appropriately attractive. I loved that Express had tailored pieces - I won't have to get these altered at all!






This is a very grown up present... Makes me wonder about my age. I'm not sure I feel any more mature or different than I did at 17, though I imagine I must be. In high school, one of my teachers told the class that 21 is the age that women start lying about their age and pretending to be younger. How depressing is that? I think it was hardest for me to turn 20 last year. 20 seemed a lot older than 19. If I have ever had any aging crisis, it was then. Fortunately, it was a bit hard to spend time dwelling on that since I was very busy traveling during that time.


It's also hard to complain when your boyfriend takes you to Paris for your birthday. On the day I turned 20, I got to look down at one of the most amazing cities in the entire world!

I've got a "recipes" post coming soon! Trying to uphold my goal of getting back into my blogging routine :)

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