Jason's 4 for 4; Kelly 10K

Jason had a baseball tourney today and was 4 for 4 at the plate, including a double (and no walks).  That's amazing considering he's been tentative all season after being hit by a pitcher twice in pre-season practices.  His team won one game and lost the second.  But they were psyched to do that well.  And we were so impressed at how much they have improved this season. 

We spent 5 hours at the ball diamonds today and then a couple of hours at a graduation party.  So I didn't get out to walk until evening.  However, it was gorgeous out!  The temperature was 73 and the sun was low enough for the houses and trees to cast shadows for shade.  There was also a breeze that kept me cool. 

So I started out walking thinking that I didn't really want to go fast, but something happened and I ended up doing the walk at what I call "Eunice pace."  A friend of mine at work is a marathon walker and she does 15 minute miles, which until today I thought was impossible.  I could never figure out how to do a mile between 13:30 and 16:00 without mixing running and walking.  I though it was a no-mans-land of pace. 

I walked a little over 10K (6.2 miles) today.  My 10K time was 1:34.27.  I didn't get my 5K time, but cutting the 10K in half gives me about a 47 minute 5K which is faster than I've ever walked, I'm sure.  My miles were 16:17, 15:46, 15:18, 14:46, 14:22, and 14:33.

I learned a lot about walking today.  To walk fast, don't leave your feet on the ground so long.  I know it sounds obvious or silly, but it's totally true.  At least that mental trick worked for me.  Also, to walk fast, don't fiddle with your MP3 player, phone, water bottle, or Lymphedema wrap.  Pumping your arms (both arms) is required for moving at a fast past.  I noticed my Garmin tracked a full minute slower when I wasn't actively pumping my arms.  And, as I've said before, walking or running with a podcast (as I did the first few miles) results in slower times than if listening to music instead. 

And, Jim, big news for you.  I actually DID match my running pace with my walking pace for several strides today.  Going on a steep downhill, I let gravity take me and didn't straighten my legs and I found I could float down the steep hill.  The Garmin clocked me in the 11:30 minute per mile pace for about 10-15 steps.  Ha! You were right! 

On the lymphedema front line, I learned to wrap my hand with the three layer thing this weekend.  I wore it much of yesterday and all of today.  I'm also wearing it at night in bed.  It's less of a pain and intimidating thing when I know how to wrap it.  It is still more limiting of my hand/finger use than the glove and it's more noticeable to others, but the glove can get stretched out and the only way to fix it is to wash it.  If the wrap gets messed up and too loose, I can just take it off and rewrap it.

I still haven't figured out the right way to explain what's going on with my hand to others.  I've had to explain it to lots of people who thought I burned myself or something. I've tried it with saying Lymphedema, but 90% of the people don't know what it is. The longer explanation requires the breast cancer surgery discussion which is more than people want to know.  The short explanation that "two of my fingers are swelling and the doctor is trying to control it with this contraption for awhile" works.  But I often get strange looks with that one.  If you have any ideas, let me know.  I'm sure it will come up a couple of 100 more times.

Day 9 of South Beach Diet
Breakfast: hard boiled egg
Snack: piece of cheese
Lunch: hotdog at the ball field, no bun
Dinner: whatever I could find at the graduation party that looked safe - a few little meatballs, cheese, lots of raw veggies (but no carrots), and a couple of almonds
Dessert: Healthy Choice sugar free fudge bar (Ken LOVED these!)
Drink: water all day

I go back to work tomorrow full time.  I walked every day of my 2 weeks off for surgery.  I'm proud of that!