Irish gal living the American dream in Austin, Texas y'all!

Monday, April 29, 2013

Stubborn as a Black Donkey

There are a lot of saying and phrases we use at home in the O'Connor household and it wasn't until I started using them in conversation with people outside the inner circle that I realised we were probably a bit weird (in a good way). Here's a little of Toorsaleen lingo decoded:


  • As tired as a tinker (or ten)
  • As thirsty as a badger (we've got the inside scoop.. badgers get EXTREMELY thirsty)
  • Like a ram in November (figure that one out for yerselves ;))
  • As stubborn as a black donkey
Now, the last one might have been reserved especially for me and was used quite often by my mother. The source of this stubbornness (Coffey VS O'Connor)  is still a source of debate, and while I didn't agree at the time.. I think mamma MIGHT have had a point (don't tell her).

I could give many examples and break myself down here.. but in this case, I know that I pretty much ignored the signs that minimalist running wasn't for me. I felt my foot was 'quare' before I even hit the road.. but no, I had to finish what I started. I had to carry on with what i'd written on my fridge to get done that week. This breed of a fool hit the road a week after a painful treadmill run, hence epic foot malfunction.

You see, I read the book Born to Run (great book by the way) which preached that running barefoot was how our ancestors ran and they had a lot less injuries than modern runners. It was therefore the only way I wanted to run. My body doth protest too much.

So while I could go on a while here's my lessons for trying something new: get advice from someone in the know, listen to your pain receptors, don't be as stubborn as a black donkey when your body isn't cooperating...CAPISH?

With that, I tried to run on Sunday of last week and did 7 miles (RED SIMPLE.. I know). So, I got a bit of a telling to by Mr Man and Mr Man's brother. Here's what Adarell (personal trainer) said to me: 
Be careful with your injury. It doesn't sound good. I know about wanting to finish what you started but your injury is sounding pretty serious. Even if you don't run 7:30 miles we will still be proud of you. I always tell my clients when it comes to injury, the first step is rest (to stop doing what causes pain). Of course I get all types of excuses like, "if I stop I will get fat" or "its not that bad" or my favorite "professional athletes or professional actors and actresses work out all the time so if I want to look like them I have to keep going". To that last point I always say if you are getting paid for your fitness or for your looks then by all means proceed. But conventional wisdom is to stop and let the body heal. So please take care of yourself. You are young and fit and have many years of physical fitness exploits ahead of you. There is no need to rush it now. 

Thanks Adarell, I needed that.

And since then I haven't run.

Here's what I have done:
Fri: steroid injection
Sat: Total body conditioning class
Sun: 7 mile run
Tues: elliptical 30 mins & 15 min ab burner (Nike training Club app.. love this app; get it, it's free)
Wed: Gillian Michael's DVD week 3
Thurs: Elliptical 1 hr
Fri: Abs
Sat: bike.. 1 hr of torture! 
Sun: 30 min elliptical & Booty Burner (love this too)

I'm gonna chance a 3 mile run on Wednesday and test out the foot.

In other news, I had a very successful fundraising event last week! I hosted a bake sale on UT campus on Tuesday. It was a lot of work.. I got a great local coffee shop to sponsor coffee; J.P's Java, thanks a mill. I had so many friends that helped with the baking, I am so grateful to all you guys. Jackie, Aileen, Mikaela, Meredith, Sylvie, Nancy, Larissa and Laura all baked up a storm. Laura even arrived at the building right before it got started with pecan chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven (QUICK, wipe that drool off your keyboard!).

Gluten-free almond cookies I made.. yum yum in my tum



My grand total was $345!!! Big success! Another great thing to come out of this was that I now know so many people in my department too :)

On to my next event now.. I'm very excited about this one.. It's gonna be a kickball party/ barbeque on May 25th. Austinites mark your calendars! Fundraising is a lot of work so when it's something fun, I know I will enjoy the organising process and it will be worth the work; kickballers sure know how to party.

kickballers in their usual attire


I'm now up up $2020, wohooo, it's been a good week! I've still got a lot to raise. $3330 is the absolute minimum I need to raise. $4500 is the ideal target.

BIG thank you to those who donated most recently: Tricia Sheehan, Amanda Coffey, Nuala & Dinny Coffey and Alessandra Rossi!

You too can support The Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America here. Our very own Team Challenge runner Michael Ginsberg ended up in hospital this week with an obstruction; he's thankfully home now. The poor guy has had a rough few years with Crohn's, and he's just 29. If you still need convincing as to why we need answers as to the cause and cure, please read this .


Have a great week people! P.S. please share the weird saying in your family, surely we're not the only weirdos? 


2 comments:

  1. Great blog Haze. Don't worry, you can count on me for sponsorship as well.

    ReplyDelete

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