Low fat and exercise worked really great for me for almost 6 years. My dedication to a low-fat diet and my daily need to run kept me at a consistent weight. The running helped get me through a sad separation with my husband and two years later, a divorce. I also started biking and found that I loved that too. I’d never liked walking much but I loved the running, and the biking was even easier for me. Don’t get me wrong, I was definitely not a “natural”. I was afraid of bikes when I first started riding and I hadn’t ridden a bicycle since I was a kid. The Police department (where I worked) let me take their “Bike Patrol” course and I learned a lot and conquered some of my fears! About a year after taking the course I did the Boston to New York Charity ride (in 3 days), for Aids Research and raised $1500.00 (mostly from my police officer friends) for a great cause! I was in the BEST shape of my life!! I learned a lot of lessons from that difficult ride, but the most important thing I learned was that when you think you just can’t do it anymore, guess what? … YOU CAN!! Don’t give up!!
One day I was called out to help police officers evacuate an apartment building that was being condemned because of dangerous, rusted, and rotted iron stairs. I was working all day at the scene and I had been up and down those steps many times. Just when we thought the building was empty, we found there was someone left on the top floor. We climbed up safely enough but on the way back down, I twisted my right ankle on a bad step and went flying. When I hit the bottom my left leg and hip were wedged against an iron column. My right ankle hurt and started to swell. There was a police officer about three steps behind me who saw the fall and wanted me to go to the E.R. immediately, but we weren’t finished with the job, so I waited. About an hour later, the officer came over and insisted that I go to the hospital and get checked out. I was limping on both feet by that time so I went. The doctor said I had sprained BOTH ankles and my left wrist and hip. The next day I felt like I’d been hit by a car and it was another three days before I could walk around. About three weeks later, I tried to run and although the ankles felt a lot better, my hip hurt like crazy! I laid off of it for another week and then tried again. Short distances were all I could manage. My doctor started me on physical therapy 4 times a week. About 5 months later he told me that if I didn’t stop running for at least a few months, my hip would probably NEVER heal. It hurt so much (especially at night) that I had trouble sleeping. No running for 3 MONTHS!! It was very difficult for me at first, but a couple of months later, my hip felt better! I waited another month and tried running again, and the hip pain came right back. The doctor said I’d have to give it another 2 months! I was frustrated and depressed and I didn’t know what to do with myself. I started eating things I hadn’t eaten in years! The hip didn’t seem to be getting any better although I was still going to physical therapy 3 times a week. Six months after the fall, I had gained 10 pounds, my hip still hurt, and I was depressed. I didn’t FEEL like running anymore. Still, it took another 6 months before my body went back to it’s original slow metabolism. A year and a half after the fall, with no exercise, and back to my old way of eating to relieve stress, I had gained 24 pounds!
Five years later, I had gained another 5 pounds and my hip still hurt. My life was about to change drastically. The city, where I had worked for the Police department for 18 years, had to lay off 65 Social Workers due to huge budget problems, and I was one of them. My daughter was just graduating from high school and had planned a year-long trip to “see the world” and learn the Spanish language. So, I sold my house and went with her. We had many wonderful adventures together. We ended up driving from Connecticut to Nicaragua where I lived for almost 2 years. She lived with me in Nicaragua for a year before traveling on to India and Morocco and living in Mysore, India where she studied Yoga. My daughter would come back to Nicaragua, and become my yoga teacher. Later, we would open a yoga studio in Nicaragua. Stay tuned for my next entry on what an impact Ashtanga Yoga has had on my life.
October 28, 2008 at 4:53 pm
I also take yoga and highly reccomend it.