Ask Dr. Meg - comment

Hi Ladies: I was reading the advice column regarding the Mom with the sore neck who thinks it is exercise related. It could be, but I found that it was nursing/feeding my baby that caused the painful neck. I always looked down at them and held them with my arms. A nursing pillow/feeding pillow works better and once I paid attention to my form with feeding/carrying the baby the neck pain disappeared. I've had 4 nine pound babies and they can do a job on your neck/back. I have been pain free with this 4th one and it took me that long to figure it out.

Geek and not afraid to admit it

I have a thing with words--always have. Ask my sister, my brother, my daughter, my husband, heck, just ask anybody who has ever experienced the extreme challenge of listening to me talk. On the plus side, I could talk my way out of steel trunk 200 miles under the sea. The downside is that my obsession with the expression of things--emotions, descriptions, human tendencies--causes me to miss out on quite a bit of the actual moments that, in coming together, comprise life.

Oh, sure, I can explain it all to you later but for now just ignore that glossy, vacant look in my eye.

If you think your obsession with words is as beautiful a thing as I think mine is, you'll want to check out this geek to the 100th power site.

I tried a new exercise!!

First off----Welcome back Carla!!!

Second off--- I have my first trail run this Sunday and I am SCARED!! I've never run a trail before?!?! What was I thinking??? How awful is my time gonna be?? I only pray I am not the last one to finish since IPODs are banned.......(nervous gulp...)

Now, last Saturday I celebrated the upcoming nuptials of my bestest friend ever. Being her "matron" of honor I planned an evening out to include some exercise. I put this lightly because I thought the "pole dancing" private party lessons would be a hoot for us girls before heading out on the town. It was a BLAST!! We all laughed and swung around that pole until we couldn't anymore. It was done very tastefully with nothing off colored. Our instructor was great and made us all feel at ease. Even the skeptical were having fun after a few minutes! It was definitely a workout though. We were all sore for days. I may run, even pushing a stroller with a 3 year old and 21 month old but......1 1/2 hours of limbering and total upper body strength training was challenging! During the class you just have a good time and don't realize how doing the fireman swing multiple times which entails supporting your entire weight with your arms makes your muscles scream for mercy the next day! I also thought I was pretty flexible until now too. The class had a lot of Pilates like moves made "prettier". I am certainly more flexible today than I was Saturday afternoon. If there was a studio closer to home I'd be a daily member. There is nothing like a workout that doesn't feel like a workout when you are participating......but you KNOW it the next day. The studio we went to is DIVAFIT, www.divafitonline.com Check it out!! No----we didn't progress to the upside down pole position on the first visit, but I wouldn't mind getting to that level!
If you ever get a chance to try something out like this....DO IT!! You'll have a blast and work muscles you didn't know you had. If any of the locals want to try it, let me know, I'd tag along for round 2!!

Cheers!
"Fantasia" ( my "pole" name!!)

nothing big, newsworthy.

there wont be a crawl at the bottom of yer television screens about it.

but Im back.

a little bit.

just when I feared Id slothed off into the RUNS IF CHASED BY WILD BEASTS category.

Im back!

you may now return to your own day :)

Humble Pie

Six months ago, I was fast! I was faster, stronger and lighter than I’d ever been as an adult. I was running 7 min/miles (8s with the stroller). I was psyched. THIS pregnancy (my third), I was going to be like Paula! Scaled down to human levels, of course, but there was no stopping me. I was going to run right into the delivery room this time.

Yes, well, then the “morning sickness” started. You know, the kind that actually lasts from the moment I opened my eyes in the morning until I fell asleep at night. That was a really awesome 4 weeks. Then my knee started making this really lovely crunching noise, so I scaled back even more on the miles.

Then, I got to the second trimester. Things were really looking up for about a week. I felt good; I ran; I lifted; I fixed some things around the house, and FULL STOP. When I say that “I hurt my back,” I mean I strained something, badly, where my legs attach to my lower back and could not even stand up for two days. I had to sleep in the basement because I could not get up the stairs. It took a third day of slowly shuffling sideways before I could even put one foot in front of another.

It has been almost two weeks now and things are holding together well. I jogged/walked 5 miles the other day, but it wasn’t pretty. My workouts are much reduced and as much as I aspire to run like Paula, this may be yet another walking pregnancy. C’est la vie!