It’s 2021! My First Post of the New Year

Welcome to 2021!

Uh, yea, I did write 2021 on the back of a credit card bill! I hope you and your loved ones had a happy, safe, and healthy holiday season. My holidays were very quiet and nice. It was a small group – just me, my folks, and my sister and her boyfriend, who drove in after self-isolating. We had a surprise white Christmas, although I guess I was only surprised because I didn’t check the weather report.

My siblings and I all draw one name for gifting purposes, and my brother-in-law Justin got me a beautiful (and delicious) gift basket full of fresh fruit, and my parents gave me some fantastic kitchen items. A lot of the gifts that I ordered online didn’t arrive in time – in fact, I’m still waiting on a bunch, but that’s ok. Shipping delays were the motto of the season, and I’ll give them out when they arrive.

I suppose the biggest update to talk about here is with my health, since I haven’t blogged since my post about getting shingles. And guess what, folks? I’m still dealing with the aftermath of that. I can still feel nerves in my scalp and forehead throb and tingle, and I’ve now had the same, constant headache for over seven weeks. It’s better than it was a month ago, in a general sense. I’m trending upward and am pretty much fully functional as a human being. It does flare up for a day or two about once a week, and that still stinks. I’m still waiting for the day that I don’t wake up in pain.

Then, the day after Christmas, I slipped and fell on a patch of ice and landed directly on my hip. There’s no fractures or anything serious, or even any scrapes, but there’s a lot of pain, and I can feel a ball of inflammation, about the size of a lemon, deep in my thigh.

And THEN, because I’m a dumb-dumb, I decided to keep working out on it for two days, while favoring the other leg, and that’s how I ended up pulling a hamstring in my other leg.

So I’m pretty much a mess right now, although I’m finally doing what my body has been screaming at me to do for a week, which is to give it a rest. I’m taking JJ for shorter-than-usual walks, and doing a lot of stretching, but I’m slowing up on exercise for a few more days.

It’s probably a break I needed, because a couple weeks ago, I began a fitness challenge at my work, where you can earn points for exercising, and I’ve been going hard. My standard workout is 45 minutes, but I can earn more points for this challenge if I work out for an hour, so I’ve done that every day for two weeks straight.

In other news, I’ve received in the mail my finishers medals and swag for the three virtual races I did earlier in the fall.

If you’re looking for a lot of swag, check out the Pride Stride – their swag bag for this year’s virtual race included a quarter zip shirt, medal, bib, fanny pack, arm bands, and a fan. You know, for when you need to create a cool breeze for yourself while watching a bullfight.

I set a goal to sign up for five races in six months, and those were the first three. I have two months to sign up for two more. I have ideas for in-person (and socially distant) races that I’m keeping an eye on, but I’m not going to sign up yet – I’m going to wait and see how we’re faring in this stinky ol’ pandemic.

Oh, what the heck. One more picture of JJ in the snow!

Keep it up, David!

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