Month: September 2026

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A Long Hematology Appointment for My Anemia

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

Today was another one of my regular hematology appointments. This particular visit seemed to take longer than usual. Quite a bit longer, apparently, because my headset battery finally surrendered on the way home.

I had been listening to an audiobook for nearly four hours by that point, so I really can’t blame the headset. It had performed its duty admirably. Fortunately, it gave up only about fifteen minutes before I arrived home.

I suppose fifteen minutes without an audiobook is survivable. Barely.

I’ve been visiting hematology regularly since February because of persistent anemia. I have Mediterranean sickle cell along with kidney problems, and when my anemia became more significant, my doctor referred me to hematology for additional treatment and monitoring.

Right now, I go about twice a month. I’m grateful to have treatment available, but the appointments take a lot of time. Between traveling, waiting, treatment, and returning home, a significant portion of the day can disappear.

That explains why audiobooks have become such useful companions. I’m hoping that, as my anemia improves, I eventually won’t need such frequent visits. For now, however, they remain part of my routine.

I also got some encouraging news today that had nothing to do with hematology. My heel feels considerably better.

Yesterday, the pain became bad enough that I had to abandon my run after only three kilometers. Today, I can almost walk down our stairs normally again, which feels like a substantial improvement in a very short period of time.

If that improvement continues overnight, I plan to cautiously test my heel with a run tomorrow morning.

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When Heel Pain Cuts a Morning Run Short

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

I’m a little worried about my heel.

When I first woke up this morning, I immediately noticed that my left heel was unusually tender. Even my half-awake trip to the bathroom was considerably more uncomfortable than it had any right to be.

Since I still had another hour or so before my alarm, I went back to bed hoping that a little extra rest might magically solve the problem. Unfortunately, my heel hadn’t received that memo.

When I got up again, it was still sensitive. I considered skipping my run, but I decided to give it a try. I hoped the discomfort was just stiffness and that once I started moving, everything would loosen up and return to normal. That was optimistic.

I headed onto my usual trail, but instead of improving, the discomfort continued. After about three kilometers of what was becoming less of a run and more of a partially limping negotiation with my left foot, I finally admitted defeat. I turned around and stopped the run. I’m disappointed that I wasn’t able to finish, but I’m more concerned about whether trying to run on it made the problem worse.

Right now, one possibility we’re considering is that my running shoes had simply reached the end of their useful life. Running shoes don’t last forever, and sometimes they start losing cushioning and support before they look particularly worn on the outside.

Whether the shoes are actually responsible, however, I don’t know yet. For now, the plan is simple: give my heel some time to recover and see how it feels over the next few days. If it isn’t back to normal by Friday, I’ll skip Friday’s run.

Running has become such a regular part of my routine that skipping a run on purpose feels strange. But there is little value in completing one workout if doing so turns a minor problem into something that keeps me from running for weeks.

Today provided the other half of that lesson. Sometimes perseverance means continuing. Sometimes discipline means stopping.

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Finally Beat My Running Target Pace After Weeks of Trying

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

I finally beat my running target pace after weeks of trying.

This morning began with a decision. I woke up about an hour earlier than usual and briefly considered taking advantage of the early start. With hotter temperatures expected later in the day, heading out immediately for my run seemed like the responsible choice.

On the other hand, my pillow was there. After careful consideration, the pillow presented the stronger argument. I decided that an extra hour of sleep would probably do me more good and went back to bed.

Fortunately, the weather rewarded my decision. Last night’s storm had left a thick layer of clouds behind, preventing the morning sun from immediately beginning its usual summer campaign against anyone foolish enough to exercise outdoors. By the time I headed out, the temperature was still reasonably comfortable.

And apparently, the extra sleep helped. I finally beat my target pace. It has been several weeks since I last managed to do that, so crossing the finish line ahead of my goal felt particularly satisfying. I’ve had plenty of difficult runs lately; heat, humidity, fatigue, and the occasional thunderstorm have all contributed, so today’s result was a welcome reminder that the progress is still there.

Sometimes improvement doesn’t disappear. It simply waits for better conditions to reveal itself. Today’s run also reinforced something I occasionally need to remember: more effort is not always the answer. When I woke early, I could have sacrificed an hour of sleep in the hope of getting a cooler run. Instead, I chose recovery, waited an hour, and performed better.

I suppose I’ll have to admit that sleeping can occasionally qualify as part of my training program. The morning produced another accomplishment as well. I remembered to call our plumber.

After our recent bathroom adventures, remembering to make that call deserves at least a small place on the list of victories. The plumber is now scheduled to come on Wednesday, moving us one step closer to finally finishing the project.

So, before the morning was even over, I had already accomplished two things I had been waiting for: I beat my running target. And I scheduled the plumber. Athletic achievement and home maintenance may not traditionally belong in the same category, but I’ll happily accept both. After several frustrating weeks, it feels good to begin this one with a few successes. Hopefully, the rest of the week gets the message.

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A Humid Morning Run and the Small Victory of a Strong Finish

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

This morning’s run began with something I am becoming quite accustomed to this summer.

Rain.

When I first woke up, the weather had other plans for my morning, so I postponed my run and went back to sleep for another hour. Sometimes disciplined training requires determination. Sometimes it requires hitting the snooze button.

Fortunately, when I woke again, the rain had paused. I quickly got ready and headed outside before the weather had an opportunity to reconsider. The rain had at least given me one advantage.

Although the humidity was extremely high, the temperature had dropped, making the conditions somewhat more tolerable. After so many hot and humid mornings in Nashville this summer, I’ll happily accept whatever assistance the weather is willing to provide.

Running has been difficult lately. It seems as though we have had one hot day after another, usually accompanied by enough humidity to make the air feel considerably heavier than it has any right to be. Still, unless the weather becomes unsafe, I keep running.

This morning, however, my body wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about the idea. I felt sluggish from the beginning, and the first half of my run was nearly as slow as yesterday’s. At one point, I was about 90 seconds behind my target pace.

That wasn’t exactly encouraging. But a bad first half doesn’t require a bad second half. Instead of accepting the slower pace, I concentrated on pushing harder. Gradually, I began recovering some of the lost time. By the finish, I had reduced my 90-second deficit to 42 seconds.

Technically, I still failed to reach my target. But I don’t consider the run a failure. I managed to recover more than half of the time I had lost during the first portion of the run. More importantly, I finished much stronger than I started.

Sometimes progress isn’t crossing the finish line ahead of your target. Sometimes it is being 90 seconds behind, refusing to surrender the run, and finishing only 42 seconds behind. The stopwatch may not award partial credit.

Fortunately, I can. Next week brings my shorter runs, and today’s stronger finish gives me some reason for optimism. Perhaps the speed is still there. It just needed a little extra time to wake up this morning. Apparently, it wanted to use the snooze button too.

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Preparing for a Power Outage Before the Power Goes Out

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

Today, my wife had an important work meeting that kept her away from home for most of the day, and she probably won’t be free until fairly late this evening. Meanwhile, I had my own agenda. After finishing the lawn mowing, I turned my attention to a solar panel and backup battery that we recently acquired from my mother.

There was just one small problem. It didn’t come with instructions. Normally, this would hardly qualify as an emergency. We have the internet, after all, and somewhere online there is almost certainly a manual explaining exactly how everything works.

But then I considered the purpose of the equipment. We would most likely need a solar panel and backup battery during a power outage. A power outage is also precisely the sort of situation in which discovering that you don’t know how to operate your emergency power supply becomes somewhat inconvenient. Even better, if the outage also disrupts our internet connection, the online manual would suddenly become considerably less useful.

There is something wonderfully circular about needing electricity and internet access to learn how to use the equipment intended to help you when you don’t have electricity or internet access. So, while everything is working perfectly well, I plan to find the correct manual online and print a copy.

Sometimes preparedness is simply solving tomorrow’s problem while Google is still available. The solar equipment may eventually have another purpose as well. My wife has informed me that she wants to use it to power some sort of outdoor robots she is planning to build. I don’t entirely know what these robots will do.

Knowing her, however, I suspect gardening is involved. For quite some time, she has talked about building something similar to a FarmBot. It is an automated gardening system that can help monitor and care for plants. She even studied Python with that project in mind.

So apparently, while I have been looking at our solar panel and thinking, emergency electricity, my wife has been looking at the same equipment and thinking, robot agriculture.

Both seem perfectly reasonable. For now, my goal is considerably simpler. Find and print the manual. Learn how the equipment works before we actually need it.

The garden robots can come later.

Although, knowing my wife, I probably shouldn’t be surprised if one day I look out the window and discover that the tomatoes have acquired technical support.

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I made my Own Cookies

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

Today, a minor household emergency occurred. I ran out of cookies. So, I made my own cookies.

During the summer, I deliberately keep a small supply of calorie-dense snacks around because I have difficulty maintaining my weight when my physical activity increases. Between running, exercise, and mowing our steep lawn, I can burn through more energy than I manage to replace. Cookies have therefore acquired an unusually respectable position in my nutritional strategy.

I don’t eat large quantities at once. Normally, I have one small cookie here and there to add a few extra calories without dramatically increasing the amount of food I need to eat. At least, that is the theory.

With my weekly cookie supply officially depleted, I decided that instead of buying another package, I would try making my own. I found a recipe online for brown butter cookies and modified the batch with both white and semi-sweet chocolate chips, along with walnuts.

They turned out extremely well. Possibly too well. My original plan of eating one small cookie at a time immediately encountered an operational failure when I ate three in rapid succession.

Apparently, quality control required multiple samples. My wife tried one as well and said it was very good. This is a more significant endorsement than it might sound. She enjoys good food, but she isn’t particularly enthusiastic about sweets. So when she compliments a cookie, I take the review seriously.

Now we face the real challenge. Can we make this batch last an entire week? Considering how quickly the first few disappeared, the outlook is uncertain.

Fortunately, we have enough ingredients to make another couple of batches, and the recipe is definitely good enough to keep. The next time the cookie supply reaches dangerously low levels, I know exactly what to do.

Of course, homemade cookies have introduced a slight flaw into my carefully controlled weight-maintenance strategy. Store-bought cookies are easy to ration. Fresh brown butter cookies sitting in the kitchen are considerably more persuasive. If this batch doesn’t survive the week, I suppose I’ll simply have to make another.

For health reasons, naturally.

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Skipping a Rainy 10K and Finding Progress Somewhere Else

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

I find progress somewhere else after skipping a rainy 10K run. This morning was warmer than yesterday, considerably wetter, and apparently determined to make my usual Saturday 10K as unappealing as possible. The humidity was already high when I woke up, but I got dressed and prepared for my run anyway.

Then I reached the front porch. It was raining. Not a pleasant little drizzle, either. It was raining hard enough that I stood there contemplating the prospect of spending nearly two hours running through heat, humidity, and steady rain.

Usually, I can tolerate one or two of those. Today, the weather had apparently purchased the complete package. I decided I simply didn’t want to do it. Some days, perseverance means heading out despite imperfect conditions. Other days, you look at the weather, reconsider your life choices, and walk back inside.

Today belonged to the second category. Once I made the decision, I simply continued my morning as though I had completed the run.

Next came vacuuming, followed by a shower and then breakfast. Admittedly, showering without first becoming completely drenched in sweat was a rather pleasant novelty. Some encouraging news was also waiting for me on the scale. After spending much of the summer struggling to maintain my weight, I have finally gained enough to reach the exact middle of my target range.

Not barely inside it. Not hovering nervously along the lower boundary. Right in the middle. Considering how much my weight has fluctuated with running, lawn mowing, and other summer activities, I am quite happy to see it there. The day’s progress wasn’t limited to my weight, either.

We finished caulking around the bathroom sink vanity, which means that part of our seemingly endless bathroom project is finally ready for the plumber.

I’ll call on Monday and hopefully arrange for someone to come early next week. So far, our plumbing company has usually managed to send someone within a day, so this stage of the project may move quickly.

I have learned not to say that too confidently. Home renovation projects can be optimistic. So, no 10K today. Still, my chores are done, my weight is exactly where I want it, and another part of the bathroom project is ready to move forward. Sometimes sticking to the plan is important. Other times, success is knowing when the plan deserves a rain check.

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When the Brakes Fail: An Unexpected Interstate Adventure

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

Today was supposed to be relatively straightforward, but it turned into an unexpected interstate adventure.

I had my hematology appointment, and my wife had taken one of her rare days off from work. Normally, I would take an Uber to the appointment, but since she was available, she offered to drive me instead. It was a nice change.

Unfortunately, her car apparently had plans for the afternoon, too. We had barely entered the interstate on our way home when the brakes suddenly began making a horrible grinding noise. That was accompanied by the unmistakable smell of something burning near the tires.

Neither sound nor smell inspires tremendous confidence while traveling at interstate speeds. We immediately pulled over and stopped beneath an overpass. Once safely off the road, we took out our phones and began looking for a tow truck. That should have been simple, except our location introduced an unexpected complication.

Because we were directly underneath another road, GPS insisted that we were actually on the road above us. Technology is marvelous right up until it confidently announces that you are somewhere you are not.

After some explaining, we finally managed to convince everyone, including the technology, where we actually were. A tow truck was dispatched, leaving us with about forty minutes to wait beneath the overpass. Eventually, the truck arrived and carried my wife’s car to our regular repair shop. We left it there overnight and took an Uber home.

So, ironically, despite my wife taking the day off specifically so I wouldn’t need an Uber for my hematology appointment, we ended up taking one anyway.

Life does enjoy preserving the original plan whenever possible.

Once we finally arrived home, I returned to ordinary life. I showered, started the laundry, and began cooking. After an afternoon involving failing brakes, interstate shoulders, confused GPS coordinates, tow trucks, and an unexpected Uber ride, mundane household chores felt remarkably peaceful.

Then we checked the mail. Waiting patiently in our mailbox was an invitation encouraging us to rejoin AAA. Perfect timing. Absolutely perfect. Apparently, AAA’s marketing department has achieved a level of situational awareness our GPS hasn’t.

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Balancing A Busy Schedule With Family Time

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

Today required a little more attention to the clock than my usual Saturday. Naturally, Saturday morning also meant my regular run, but I expected a busy schedule.

We had arranged to visit my sister’s house to celebrate both my wife’s and my mother’s birthdays, which meant I needed to finish my normal morning routine before it was time to leave.

So, as soon as I woke up, I put on my running clothes and headed outside. Unfortunately, the run itself was difficult.

Once again, my pace was disappointingly slow. I have been working hard to improve my speed, so seeing another slower result wasn’t exactly the encouraging start to the morning I had hoped for.

Fortunately, I wasn’t running against only one clock. I may have lost to my target pace, but I was still comfortably ahead of our departure time. I’ll count that as a different category of victory.

Once I got home, I didn’t have much time to contemplate my running performance. Saturday’s next contestant was waiting for me: the vacuum cleaner.

I finished vacuuming, took a shower, and finally made my way to my desk for breakfast. I still needed to fit in my planking and stretching exercises before we left, so the morning became a carefully choreographed sequence of running, cleaning, eating, exercising, and occasionally checking the clock.

Some Saturday mornings are relaxing. Others apparently require project management. Despite the full schedule, everything worked. We left on time and arrived at my sister’s house exactly as planned. Once there, the stopwatch could finally retire for the day.

We had a wonderful time catching up with everyone and celebrating the birthdays together. My brother-in-law made tacos for the occasion, and after a morning filled with running and exercise, I was more than prepared to participate enthusiastically in that part of the celebration.

My running pace may not have been what I wanted today, but the rest of the day went beautifully. That is worth remembering.

Not every successful day needs to include a personal best. Sometimes success means finishing the run, completing the chores, arriving on time, spending an afternoon with family…

and being rewarded with tacos.

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Birthday Celebrations, Lawn Mowing, and the Mystery of Four Pounds

Brian’s fitness journal after a brain stroke

Yesterday was my wife’s birthday.

She isn’t normally someone who makes a great production out of birthdays, so I was especially pleased that she was genuinely excited about the gift I chose for her. I bought her a collection of glow-in-the-dark acrylic paints. Apparently, I chose well.

She has already started experimenting with them and, judging from the number of ideas she has mentioned, the paints have acquired a rather ambitious project schedule. I suspect various objects around our house may soon begin glowing after the lights go out.

While my wife was happily experimenting with her birthday present, I was occupied with a rather different project.

I was trying to regain four pounds.

Apparently, my body had decided yesterday’s disappearance was merely temporary. I was so busy last week that my body couldn’t maintain the weight.

We also plan to try a new restaurant as a belated celebration of my wife’s birthday. Under ordinary circumstances, a calorie-dense restaurant meal might inspire a little nutritional guilt. At the moment, I am looking at it more as strategic replenishment. After today’s mowing session, those calories already have an assignment. Hopefully, they’ll help prevent another dramatic drop on tomorrow morning’s scale.

In the meantime, my wife has new paints to experiment with, I have regained my missing weight, and we have a birthday dinner to enjoy. All things considered, that sounds like a successful celebration. And if tomorrow’s scale disagrees, perhaps we will simply have to celebrate her birthday again.

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