Volleyball and 29:45 5K

Ken and I started our volleyball season last night.  It was great to be on the court again and I got a trial by fire, certainly.  We had a more experienced group, so Ken suggested we run a 5x1 - that would be 5 hitters and 1setter all the way around.  Any guesses who the setter was?  Yep, the short one.

I ran all over the court getting the 2nd hit almost all the time and setting up the balls to be whacked over by the hitters on the team.  It was really fun - like old times.  We lost the first one by 4 points, but were rallying toward the end.  The second game we won by 8 or so.  Unfortunately, we ran out of time after just a few minutes in the third game, so we had to take the loss since we were down something like 4 to 2.  That's okay, though.  It was our first time playing together and it seems like we'll be a pretty competitive team in this league.   

I didn't wear a glove when playing volleyball and my hand didn't swell noticeably any more after or during playing.  It's swollen all the time now from the lymphedema. 

Today it was cold and rainy while the kids were at swimming, so I ran around the little track at RPAC.  I ran a 5K in 29:45 and only walked a little when I stopped to get a drink of water from the water fountain after my first and second miles.  I was pushing pretty hard the last mile, and especially the last half mile.  I was just trying to hold on to the pace which was on target for the sub 30 minute 5K the whole run.  I was listening to music which helped keep me moving.  Still, the last mile, I had to be intentional about distracting myself from the desire to slow down or walk.  I was very happy with the success of this run which was probably my fastest or at least my second fastest 5K ever.  I followed the run by a mile walk as cool down and a little stretching.

I wore my custom glove when running and afterward I noticed a bit more swelling in my middle finger than before, but it went back down to normal swelling after the walk cool down.

The back of my hand, my wrist, and my middle finger are always swollen now.  I'd rate the swelling overall as a 5 out of 10, sometimes reaching to a 6 when the middle finger gets really tight above the middle knuckle.  The palm of my hand seems to be a little swollen too, but that may come and go and is difficult to see.  Ironically, the pointer finger which started all this mess does not get swollen much anymore.  I guess it has delegated that responsibility, perhaps pointing here and there where there is room for more fluid.