Pain in the Ass

I probably woke up at or before 5:30am, and one thing’s for certain, my ass was still sore! I was hobbled as I walked down the stairs but OK through exercise. It only hurt when I walked. By the time I finished exercising and headed out with Ykraps, I knew that I was in for some trouble. I couldn’t walk without a painfully obvious limp.

All other aspects of my morning went on as normal. Sitting down presented no problems at all. Again, it was only while up & about. Eventually, after completing the rest of my morning agenda, I was ready to do my run. I stretched carefully and felt confident that I had my buttocks as limber as possible. But as soon as I pushed off I felt it knotting up. I wasn’t 50 feet away before it began squawking at me. I was running but with a horrible limp in my gait. I slowed my pace a little too, but nothing made the excruciating pain go away.

There were moments when the possibility of ending my streak entered my mind. I worried that at any moment I might drop to my knees in so much pain that I could no longer go on. But I kept pressing on. With each and every step came another belt of pain. I tried massaging my ass while I ran but that did little good. Like a blessing from within, about 2.5 miles into my run the pain seemed to rescind. If nothing else, I had a numb sort of feeling come over the entire pained area, yet it was still tight as a drum. All of the sudden the ability to think of something other than my sore ass just happened. Here I was thinking of other things, which meant that the pain was tolerable. For this I was grateful, yet still cautious.

I completed the entire 4.1 miles. I was never more happy to be done. Once back inside I told Mindy, who was up making our eggs, that I was in severe pain. I was soaked with sweat, too. Because I had to adjust my gait, I was using muscles I wouldn’t normally use for a run. I was exhausted. And just like the three mornings prior, I could hardly walk.

The day went on, however. Mindy & Bella soon left, and Jacob and I carried on as usual.
I was showered and ready by 7:50am. I spent the final few minutes pulling all of my work gear together. The day promised to be sunny but the day’s high temperature wouldn’t break the 40’s. There was hope, however. Looking forward, each day the temperature is supposed to climb, and by Thursday we’re expecting to be back into the 70’s.

We met the Shultz’s at the bus stop. There we chatted quite a bit after the kids were boarded and gone. I walked Pat down to the bridge to point out the beaver damage. I left for work soon after.

I arrived at work around 8:30am. It didn’t feel so much like a Monday, probably because of my on-call weekend. I got settled in quickly and worked hard all day long. Around lunch time I asked a friend if he’d mind picking me up at the auto repair shop on Tuesday or Wednesday morning. When I told him my reason, he suggested that he & I replace my brakes at his place. He said the job was really easy and besides, who couldn’t use the money. He agreed to come out and look at my brakes right there in the lot.

After inspecting the best we could without removing the tires, he felt confident that we could do the work in a jiffy. I went back inside and immediately called for part quotes. Turns out, for front brake pads, which is all he thought that we’d need, I could get them for as little as $23. Or, if I so chose, I could get ceramic OEM for $38. That sounded good to me. I committed to picking them up on my way home from work.

My day ended around 5:40pm. As planned, I stopped at Auto Zone to pick-up my front brake pads. That went without a hitch! We made tentative plans to do the work after work on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Mindy and I had made arrangements to have Olivia after work. Mindy picked Olivia up at Ashley’s on her way home from school. In addition, I had agreed to pick-up a pepperoni pizza at Minelli’s for dinner. Bella was insistent on it. Of course, I was happy to hold up my end of the bargain.

Like’s often the case, Olivia was napping when I called Mindy while in route home. But she was up when I got there. Up, but still groggy and very cuddly. She changes so much when we only get to see her every two weeks or so. She was so cute laying her head on Mindy’s shoulder. She wanted nothing to do with me, but I understood. She was still very tired. She never quite warmed to me through the entire evening, although she did play with me some. Without question, she’s a momma’s girl.

After dinner and a little play time, Mindy took Olivia upstairs to get a bath. Bella, meanwhile, was excited to bathe with her. I got some really cute pictures. Ashley returned to retrieve her little princess during tubby time. I happened to be photographing Olivia just as Ashley entered the bathroom. It did my heart good to see Olivia’s eyes light up the instant that she spotted her momma behind me. It was very touching. And she looked so cute in her fresh jammies.

Ashley was kind enough to stick around for about another 30 minutes so we could visit more with her & Olivia. We played in the family room, where Olivia demonstrated her dancing prowess. It was very cute. Soon, Ashley and Olivia had to leave. Must’ve been around 7:45pm. Soon we tucked in our own kids and then went for an extra early bedtime ourselves.