Spring Tune Up

Earlier this week I got clearance from my physical therapist to start running again. That was Thursday, when it hit 71 degrees in Atlanta.
I was out on the road to do a quick two mile run in my neighborhood. I was rusty. Nothing about that run felt good. Not good at all. Why? Because I had signed up for Atlanta Track Club's Spring Tune Up 8K this morning. I thought I was going to have to walk it prior to Thursday.
I was pleasantly surprised by this morning's run. Not my best by any means, but I was able to finish it. And I found a quarter, so the found money pig got fed!
My shoulders and neck are the things that are actually sore tonight, though.
One thing I noticed is I am tending to run with my shoulders tensed up by my ears. I'm guessing this is residual whiplash stuff. I'll ask my physical therapist on Tuesday.
All of this down time from running came at such a crazy time in Atlanta. I mentioned in the earlier post that my car accident happened the day before Snopocalypse on Jan. 28, but there was a second one two weeks later.
I wasn't so lucky with that one. I ended up trapped at the office for three days, staying at a hotel across the street for two nights.
The W Buckhead Atlanta is a very nice hotel, but it's not home. I was wiped out by the time I finally got home on the third day.
However, here is a shot from my office window. Not something you see every day in Atlanta:

Peachtree Road frozen over

And then, because those of us who were at the office were working 12 to 14 hour days, was the view at night:

Frozen at night

 And just as the ice and snow began to melt, my college roommate Karen came to town for a weekend with her family. We met up for dinner the night she got in and then lunch the next day. It was so great to catch up with her.

College fun continues!

But dare I say it? Polar Vortex is supposed to move south again next week. So far it doesn't look like Atlanta will get snow or ice, just a couple of bitter nights.
And the Spring Tune Up 8K today? Let's hope it really was a tune up for spring!

Crash, bang, boom

I'm so overdue for a blog post, but this one is sad to write.
The day after my last blog post, I was in a car accident.
I was on my way to work. Unbeknownst to me, I drive an invisible car. I stopped for traffic. The big SUV behind me didn't. My 2002 Saturn SC2 was totaled.

My little Saturn is totaled

 The woman who hit me never even said she was sorry. She probably was on her phone. I can't imagine why she didn't see me stopped on a straight away road on a sunny morning.
I've been to doctors and to physical therapist,s working on my hurt back and neck. And knee. I banged my right knee on the dashboard.
The car wreck had an unintended benefit.
The Snowpocolypse in Atlanta arrived the very next day. We got about 2 inches of snow that almost immediately turned to ice. People were trapped on the highways for hours. I had co-workers who got stuck for 7 hours or more. I would have been in that mess had it not been for the car wreck, because my doctor ordered me home for two days and I was home safe and sound when the snow and ice happened.
Now, the bad part of that, was I could not go out and shovel my driveway, so I almost didn't make it out of my driveway with the rental car when it was time to go back to work.
And I was in a lot of pain, particularly the first full week after the wreck. Chronic pain is a terrible thing. It starts to play with your mind. You begin to worry you will never feel well again.
That was me that first week. Thankfully, I turned the corner on the bad pain the second week after the wreck.
I didn't have a 5K race until Feb. 9 for the Hearts and Soles 5K. Thankfully, the orthopedist I saw didn't ban me from running (my physical therapist did!), but he did tell me I could walk it.
I tried a little gentle jogging but my back was having none of it. It hurt!

Ellie, Dave and me

Angela and me

It was nice to see my friends Ellie, Dave and Angela at the race. They were all speedy racers and I came in well behind everyone.
When I finished the 5K, I raced home to get cleaned up and get to the car dealership. The Honda dealership had found a manual transmission Civic that I wanted.
And so, Sapphire has come into my life.

Meet, Sapphire, my new sweet ride

There are things about my Saturn that I really miss. That wonderful third door, no car payments, 12 years of knowing exactly how the car handled.
But I will say there are things I really like about my new Honda. New technology, smooth ride, updated features.
I still have a ways to go with healing, but I'm getting there.