About Bo

Dog lover. Runner. Although very slowly. Keeping up with the stresses of running and life...

Unfinished hobbies

Posted on August 17, 2014 by Bo

There are two things I hid from people when I was a young adult. The fact that I studied Library Science and the other is that I loved doing cross stitch. I always thought people would consider me a huge nerd. I mean, cross stitch isn’t the coolest of hobbies. It’s typically done by old grannies or librarians, right? Or so I thought.

But just the other day, KK and I were chatting about hobbies and that we don’t really have any. In between our daily stressful jobs, any spare time gets eaten up by running and training at the gym. I keep saying I need to make time to read, but then waste it all trawling my Facebook and Twitter timelines. I am ashamed to say that I have so many unfinished cross stitch kits packed away in the cupboard. Unpacking some of them rekindled that feeling of just how much I love cross stitching…

This was my very first kit which took me a day to complete. The bug had bitten.

I really hope to go back and finish all the unfinished ones some day and maybe even have them framed and hung up all over my house with pride because you know what? I love cross stitch!

Pain in the um, er…side.

Posted on August 13, 2014 by Bo

Boy am I miserable. After a check-up at the doc last week, I was instructed to rest and give my torn intercostal muscle time to heal. It’s meant no gym, no spinning and no running (not even at my slow pace which some might consider a stroll in the park).

I’m trying to be patient. I know that running the Old Eds 10km race two weeks ago was most probably not the wisest of moves and potentially made my condition worse. If only I had listened to my body, I might have started to heal much quicker.

To make things worse, everywhere I look, people are running. Scrolling through my Twitter timeline and running mates are gearing up for Soweto marathon. Others are kick-starting their half marathon training schedules into gear. KK is waiting to see whether or not City 2 City will go ahead. Me? Well I’ve been resting. Lying on the bed after work, glugging down glasses of glutamine and rubbing arnica oil on my side.

I’ve never been the most patient person. I confess that I wake up each and every morning hoping this irritating side stitch will go away. But it lingers…

In a way, it’s been a blessing in disguise. The ‘time off’ has allowed me to check in with my goals. I’ve realised what matters to me the most. I now know what I want to achieve with my running. I know what I want! In my head, I’ve decided on my new challenge. My new goal. My new training regime. But physically, not yet ready to launch… Come on body!

Here’s to the strong ones. #womensday

Posted on August 10, 2014 by Bo

It was pure co-incidence that my sister and niece visited me on Women’s Day. But what better excuse than to head out to celebrate a fabulous girlie lunch together!

I’m always reminded of the strength, guts and determination of single moms when I hang out with my sister. They really have it tough and yet she always has a positive attitude and often makes me feel bad for complaining. Happy Women’s Day Gwynn! Dom is growing up to be a beautiful girl! I love you both *this much*!

Miss Diagnosis

Posted on August 8, 2014 by Bo

They warn you about Googling your symptoms, but when an aching pain on the side of my body did not want to go away, I became desperate. Having suffered from Ulcerative Colitis (wiki link if you’re keen to know what this is) since 1998 and lately Enteropathic Arthritis (another wiki link), I feared the worst! All the search results pointed to an enlarged spleen or some form of liver cancer. Eeeek!

So I headed off to my Gastroenterologist who immediately did a battery of tests, trying to figure out what this odd pain was. I know a couple of people on my Twitter timeline and Facebook pages suffering from severe illnesses and as I sat waiting for my test results, I wondered how I was ever going to face another complication from my bowel disease.

A pulled stomach muscle? Huh? When the test results came back, and my Doc did one last check, he concluded that yes, I am having another inflammation attack but it wasn’t anything serious. Somehow I’d managed to pull a muscle on my lower left side just under my ribs and that’s what was causing the pain. How the hell?

Relief…

It’s every runner’s nightmare to be told to rest but that’s pretty much what I’ve been forced to do. The whole week, no gym, no running, not even a walk around the block. Unable to take any anti-inflammatories or pain killers, I’ve pretty much relied on a hot water bottle and panados to ease the pain. It’s still niggling and I’m wondering if I should take another week off? I’ll see…