December 2020 Monthly Running Challenge

@quilteryoyo I'm so, so sorry to hear that.

I'm not sure if this is the right time or place to talk about this - ignore me if it's not appropriate.

In traditional Chinese culture, there's this thing called a "happy funeral" (Xi Sang), that's specially reserved for elderly folks who have enjoyed a long life and have a big family. Since this was really rare in the old days, these events were a great festivity and people would come over from far and wide to be part of the celebration. In many places, the family would set up a feast and pay for a Chinese Opera group to come perform, because they thought that having a life like that was something to celebrate, even though they would be missed.

In certain places, there is also an old custom of giving out ceramic bowls to the guests. These bowls usually ended up being used by children, because it was thought that they would pass on happiness and longevity.

Was planning on running my last 5k race of the year Saturday but it’s going to be rainy and the road we run is slick in the rain, so I don’t like running fast there when it’s wet. Sunday is supposed to be dry but chilly, I think we are doing it then, which will give us an extra rest day. Which I can use because my calf muscle is sore.

Sore calves always make me worry about blood clots but this feels exactly like the first few days of the time I ruptured my baker’s cyst, so unless blot clots feel exactly like ruptured baker’s cysts which would be really bad luck, I am thinking it’s the cyst. I ran with no knee brace behind Kroger and my knee is feeling a little spongy, so possibly the cyst has a slow leak. So far no swelling. When I ruptured it originally it didn’t swell at first, then on day 2 it blew up my whole lower leg. I’m hoping it’s not going to be a repeat of last time which basically took me out of running for six months. But I hope even more that it’s not a blood clot, which could kill me! And I am for sure not going near an ER right now to check. Read an article that TN is the worst per capita place for Covid in the entire world right now. Just going to the grocery and feed store has my husband terrified.

At least if it is the cyst I know what to do to minimize it this time - compression on lower leg, ice the knee, and take lots of aleve.

In addition to my little trot behind Kroger we ran 10k on the Greenline Wednesday. It was cold. I still don’t understand how people in places that get COLD cold manage to run. When I say it’s cold I mean Memphis cold, in the 30s. Running in the cold makes everything feel harder. My first mile felt like a ten minute mile and it was an eleven minute mile. The one upside to running in the cold here is that everyone in Memphis is an even bigger wussie than I am. We usually pass about twenty people on a 10k on the Greenline. We passed ONE other runner on our entire run and he made a big production of bowing and waving his hands in honor of our hardiness as we passed. We also passed a homeless dude on the way back to the car. He gestured at my husband and said, “Son, look at you freezing your *** out here on purpose.” Hoping he had somewhere to get in out of the cold.