On December 7th I wasn’t feeling like myself. I sneezed twice, coughed once, had 0 appetite and my body ached. Living during a pandemic I thought, uh-oh I got Covid, I need to get a PCR test. My husband and doctor both laughed at me and thought I was crazy for even thinking that! I ignored them and got a PCR taken regardless of what they thought. The wait killed me. I was sleeping and at 2:13 am, I received the message from the Ministry of Health saying that I was positive! I cried and was scared. Little did I know it was like a normal flu but a lot stronger with no taste and smell. I stopped exercising and isolated myself for 12 days in my bedroom away from my kids and husband. I got annoyed and frustrated as I was doing so well with my workouts. But I knew that I couldn’t change anything.
Tag: exercise
Measurement Day!
Measurement day was finally here… I was convinced and was sure my numbers were lower from last month! I was SURE my weight had changed. I woke up and got on the scale. I shut my eyes and was scared to look down! When I finally did I was in SHOCK. I wanted to scream and cry! I got off the scale and got back on to make sure what I saw was true. I did that three times! And all three times I saw the same number! I did NOT go down half a kilo, 1 kilo or 2 kilos! I WAS THE EXACT SAME weight I was when Ondrej last measured me! I was so MAD, annoyed name it… So I thought to myself ok this means my measurements would at least be down! I knew I had gained muscles but figured I’d be down in inches! I remember I had NO appetite for breakfast that day.
Covid-19 FITNESS JOURNEY!
Since Covid hit Kuwait on February 24th, I have increased my workouts and started watching my food carefully. March 1st schools shifted to Virtual learning which meant that I could manage my own schedule and fit my workouts between meetings. During the first week, it was difficult to sit in front of the screen all day in order to attend meetings one after the other as well as making sure both my children were completing their work. It was hard and rough.
Off track… On track….
I turned 37 in October but felt as though I turned 90 years old. I felt that everything went downhill since. Two days after turning 37, I was at the Dr’s checking why I was getting these terrible headaches. She asked me to do an X ray for my neck and it seemed that my disc moved but I hadn’t noticed. I had an MRI done and it showed the exact same thing. I then went to an orthopedic and he advised me to take some strong medications. I then decided to get the cyst on my back checked out which then lead the Dr having to remove it. I did it on the spot with 14 shots of anesthesia and 6 stitches later but I still wasn’t convinced that this was all related to my headaches. I had to stop my workouts as I couldn’t move my arms nor was I allowed to sweat because of the stitches. I then traveled for work and came back very sick. I have never in my life been absent for 5 days from work! I was forced to stay in bed as I got food poisoning and the flu. It was 2 full months of one thing happening after the other. I feel super grateful to have close friends and family who supported and checked in on me during this time.
Meanwhile I was frustrated, depressed and annoyed. Everytime I seemed to get back on track with my workouts something out of nowhere popped up. I worked out throughout the entire summer and nothing happened to me. I started believing that work/stress plus working out didn’t sit well with me. We live in a world where everything is moving so fast beyond our control. We are always rushing trying to finish things and meet deadlines and at the end of the day we are exhausted from being constantly on the go. There is no time for self care nor time to think about ourselves. I promised myself once I am healthy and back on track, that I come first.
I got on a plan for my workout. Instead of doing my workouts at 7pm twice a week, I am now doing these exercise classes at school right after work hours. My workouts at 7pm always left me feeling exhausted. Now I workout at school 3 times a week. I am trying to stick to it as much as I can but there are times where I have to cancel because of work. I am trying to do something for me, myself and I at least once a week.
2020 is the year of self care and self awareness. Applying it is so hard at times in today’s world. There are things I have been putting on hold that I am finally able to do. For one, I need to get into the habit of blogging once a week.
This is a start….
My First 5K Fun Run!
I never thought in a million years I would register and complete a 5km run. My husband’s bank organizes an Environment 5km. So I registered in order to support him. Every year my friends would nag me to register to any runs that was happening, but I never did. It is out of my comfort zone I must say. I don’t like running and never thought I’d ever do it. Once I registered for the event, I sent out an email to my staff at school to register if they were interested. Next thing I knew, most of my P.E. department had already registered. They were already training daily. Was I? NOPE! I kept telling everyone I am going to support my husband and that I didn’t care, nor minded being the last. As the day got closer and closer everyone was talking about it and I still couldn’t believe that I had registered.
A dear friend of mine also registered and we said that we would walk it as princesses and that we would not worry even if we were last.
There were about 10 of us from AIS – it was so good to see people there, some that I didn’t even know had registered. We took pictures, stretched and waited to begin. Right at 8am we started. I began my walk with my friend. We jogged, then walked, and stayed like that till the end. After the first lap I was ready to stop, everyone was passing us on their second round while we were still on our first. We laughed and enjoyed it. When the final round came I kept saying, “Let’s go, 1, 2, 3 run!” We ran for 20 seconds and then she stopped, I continued then walked. I was tired, exhausted and ready to collapse. Mid way on my final round I saw my husband who waited for me so that we could finish together. He said that we were going to
run to the finish line. When we hit the corner, we ran but mid way I stopped because I got cramps in my legs and stomach. He continued and then my friend caught up. As we got closer the cheering and clapping gave me that adrenaline rush and I sprinted the last 30 seconds. I wanted to finish and catch my breath! As I ran through the finish line, seeing everyone felt so good. Next thing I knew, my PE staff came running and hugged me!
I was so happy. It turns out that we weren’t the last and we finished the 5km in 53 minutes. I was shocked because in my mind I thought it would take about 1.5 hours. I was so excited when I saw my name and saw that I wasn’t the last to finish.
Would I do it again? I don’t know. Maybe for next year’s run I will train properly and try to beat 53 minutes and beat 204/211. Who knows?! But I loved the experience and loved that we were all there and the support I got from everyone. I didn’t think I’d complete it and never thought I’d do such a run!
Until my next run!