26 years old and I've never felt better

Today is the day after my 26th birthday. It also happens to be 10 years after terrorists hijacked four planes and changed world events. Although some may be mourning today and the deaths of so many innocents, I want to celebrate life. I'm lucky to be here, and happy with how the last ten years have shaped me.

When I first started this blog, I wanted to document my recovery from my surgery. I did a poor job at that. I quickly became disinterested, coupled with an unstatisying relationship, home and life. I was having some fun, but I was pretty unfulfilled. My physical therapy went very well, but I finished with still some limited flexion in my left knee. Made it hard to do normal activities like crouching, squatting, even walking normally. Towards the end of PT I was doing more independent work and my trainer threw some random crossfit exercises in. I heard about crossfit from some friends at work. I even went to watch some games that a local gym put on. I was so intimidated by the work these women were doing that I only stayed for 10 minutes, dismayed that I would never be able to perform the way they did. I was jealous that their life was clearly better than mine and that they had worming joints whereas I had a quad the was smaller than the other and a knee that wouldn't bend all the way. The rest of last summer was a mixed bag of emotions, with a long distance boyfriend starting a new relationship before ending the one with me, interviewing for a job to save said relationship and realizing I was doing so many things for the wrong reasons, and just a general lack of energy. I had some fun, partying a bit and going on a few dates, but I wasn't really happy. And then I met Jon.

I'll include a longer version of our story later, but we met in Celtic crossing after I went to the fair with some of my friends. I had a bumblebee painted on my face. And this intrigued him enough to talk to me. We've been together ever since. He introduced me to his friend Doug, who owned the same gym that organized the local crossfit games. It is called Faction strength and conditioning, and three days after my 25th birthday I went to one day of their beginner fundamentals program, and became a member soon after. Since then I have learned to push myself past brinks if mental and physical boundaries, learned a ton about my body and nutrition, and I have found a fulfilling life. It includes an incredible man - he is the best thing that has happened to me.

So yesterday I turned 26. Last weekend I competed in those same games I spectated at a year ago. I did 30 days of no grains with Jon. I lost 4% body fat this summer. I still struggle with range of motion in my knee, but it has gotten better. And I moved in with Jon, we got a puppy and have essentially started a small family. So to explain what the next blog will be, Jon and I want to document our successes and struggles in our relationship, careers, education, nutrition, fitness, finance and life. I'll link the new blog to this one, and we will use it together. Hopefully it does as much for anyone else as it could do for us.

One week post op

I can't believe it's already been a week since my surgery. I've had up days and down days... today was an up.

On the down days, it feels like there is a ton of pressure around my knee and the incisions. It feels really heavy, and burns. Those are the times when I'm close to tears. On the good days, I have little pain or burning, and I have a little more energy.

I ran out of percocets today, so that was a little depressing. I saw Dr. Azar instead of Dr. Phillips since he wasn't in. Serian, my PT, saw my first, unwrapped my bandages and replaced my steri strips. He said my incision were healing really nicely, and I didn't have too much bruising for the type of surgery I had. So some good news. I have a follow up appointment with Dr. Phillips in two weeks, and then I start my physical therapy.

I'll have pics of the the incisions up soon... Four total.

The most depressing part about this is the inactivity... I know I'm being shallow, but I can feel myself losing muscle and gaining fat pockets in all the wrong places... like my tummy. I'm going to give it another week of healing and then I'm going to talk to Serian or Wyatt about any strength exercises I can do at home to gain a summer body back. Again, I know its shallow but I like taking pride in working out and feeling good about myself.

I go back to work tomorrow, and my dad leaves. The best part of my surgery was spending time with my dad. I miss my parents, and getting just either my mom or dad would have been great. I love my dad, and I really don't want him to leave... makes me miss Ohio and feel homesick even more. I am so grateful to have wonderful parents in my life