Okay, time for a frikken update. Y'all must have given up on me by now, but let me tell you - puppies are a LOT of work! (no one told me this!)
This toothy little bundle (11 weeks, 22-23 pounds-ish) is the most boisterous creature I have ever encountered. Pair that with a authoritative Siamese cat and it's a complete gong show 24/7. The silver lining is that the scrapes and cuts on my hands are healing, the trips to the backyard at 2 AM are now sliding towards 3-4 AM, and this yellow ball of fun is so adorable, she'd make Cher's heart melt. [insert glossy-eyed, blissed out puppy love gaze here]
In other news…wait for it….wait for it…I have health care coverage! I still have to do a dance and jump through a few hoops to see what kind of coverage they'll provide for Avonex, but anything is better than paying nearly 2 grand a month for 4 tiny syringes. So, much yayness on that front. I'm excited and relieved. I can't talk about it with any seriousness because I become a relieved, weeping mess, so let's avoid that, shall we?
In other other news, I've registered to walk another half marathon. The Bluenose again. I swore I wouldn't walk this route again, but by now I've forgotten how deceptively hilly it is (shh, don't remind me) and how there were zero volunteers in the Point Pleasant Park last year to offer any sort of encouragement up Cardiac Hill. There were unenthusiastic boy scouts who complained to me about being bored and grunted and pointed in the direction of the race route at each major turn. A huge contrast to the lovely volunteer who screamed at me (in a good way), "YOU EAT HILLS LIKE THIS FOR BREAKFAST!" on a small incline around the 18km mark. Love those people. If you can make me grin when I'm sweating and hungry, you are a god among men.
I'm excited to do the race this time around. Nance's sis and cousin are walking it too, so it'll be an adventure! I'm working up my long walks with no issues. Nance walked 13.5 with me this past Monday (sorry, Nance, thought it was just under 13, but I had miscalculated) and I'm not having any hints of IT band or hip flexor twinges with that distance, so I'll up it again this Sunday even though there's plenty of time to build distance since the race isn't until May 22nd. It's nice to feel like I'm at a point in my life where I have a good base fitness level. Comforting. Exercise makes me healthy in a number of ways: basic health-wise (yay for making lungs and heart work!), but moreso it reminds me that I'm doing what I can to stave off MS as much as possible. I eat well, I sweat well, I take the prescribed disease-modifying drugs, I laugh hard and often… It works for me.
Life is good.
