How much do I like it here?

my home

I know I have whined about my medical issues before but I'm going to whine some more.My allergies have been bad enough to keep me home from my workouts all week last week. My skin has been so dry that it's painful to blink. The skin all over my body-literary head to toe- is so tight it cracks when I move. Simple things like standing up or walking are so uncomfortable I've been spending most of my time supervising my daycare kids while sitting on the couch. Once daycare is over I go in my room for the rest of the night. The dryness of my skin and allergies also causes my eczema to breakout so I can add itchiness, red, blotchy skin and beading sores to my list of things to whine about. Life has been miserable lately.

downtown

My allergies and skin have been getting worse over the last year, maybe a year and a half, but I get relief when ever we go to the coast. We are beach people and like to get out of the valley as much as we came. We spend a lot of the summer taking day trips to the coast and the bay area. We recently became members of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and plan on visiting frequently over the next year. Because my health is better on the coast and in the bay, Jeremy and I have thought about moving there. We spent Saturday in Oakland and Berkeley looking at some potential workplaces for Jeremy and driving through neighborhoods. My skin, of course, was fine the whole time we were there and we both were free of allergies and sinus pressure.

view from the bike trail

On the drive home we talked about our feelings on moving. The idea is really scary to both of us. I would have to leave my current daycare families behind -that would break my heart-and start my business all over from scratch. We would have to rent until we could save up for a decent down payment on a house and we both hate the idea of uprooting our kids from the family and friends they have here. My parents and sister are here and Jeremy's parents and both of his brothers are here along with our aunts, uncles and cousins. Our life would be very different without the help we get from my in-laws. We take advantage of them living around the corner and our kids are very closer to them.

I remember watching construction
crews build this when I was a kid

Once we were in Fairfield, almost to the Jelly Belly factory, my allergies joined forces with sinus pressure and they attacked in full force. I felt like someone dropped a bowling ball on my head. It actually stopped me in mid word, it was so intense. Jeremy said his sinus pressure had come back too and he also had a headache. I was miserable. We had talked about going to see a movie when we got into town but we ended up going home instead and I when straight to bed. Again.

Despite all the benefits, I think we're going to stay here in Sacramento. Jer and I both agree that any raise he would get wouldn't be enough to relocate. Like everyone, we are pretty strapped financially and it would be impossible to get by on Jer's income alone while I rebuilt my business.   

nope, can't leave these guys

The next day was Sunday (yesterday) and I had my first half marathon of 2012. I knew it wasn't going to be one of my better races. I had missed too many workouts and I still wasn't feeling very well. (Thankfully, my asthma seems to be doing fine. I had seen my doctor earlier in the week and my lung capacity was at 108%, not bad for a life long asthmatic.) I also was running in a pair of bran new shoes. I knew this was going to really hurt my feet but I figured it wouldn't be as bad as wearing my old shoes. I wasn't wrong, my feet were killing me by the half way mark and I could feel how swollen they were with each step. My stride changed due to the pain in my feet and I could feel a tweak in my left knee and I pulled both of my hip flexors. By the end I wasn't even running it was more of a chubby-chick-shuffle.To make it just a little bit more interesting, Aunt Flow came to visit around mile 5... Yeah, I was not prepared for that. It was a very slow and long race but I finished and I earned my medal. I have two weeks to get ready for my next half so hopefully I'll improve my time a little. Now that my shoes are broken in I'm sure it wont be as painful as this one was.

wild lavender by the
Sacramento River

I woke up today bracing myself for the pain I was sure yesterday's torture would cause. However, I'm surprisingly fine today. My feet, calves and quads are the tininess bit sore, most of any discomfort is coming from the back of my knees. I've never experienced soreness there before. It's kind of interesting.

An interesting side note: The guy from Fleet Feet who helped me find my new shoes ended up winning the race in an hour and nine minutes.

Sami's new shoe

In other news, Sami got her cast off. Her foot is 70% healed and she's now in a very stylish surgical sandal for the next four weeks. At that point she'll go in for more x-rays and hopefully get cleared to dance and participate in her martial arts class. She's been miserable and board without her activities.  

How was your weekend?