From Function to Fitness :: Getting Your Groove Back

So after hooping 45 of the 60 miles in the Komen walk, my knee was seriously busted and everything in my life had been affected by the injury.  It turns out that I had a pinched nerve in my back… which was why in the end it was easier and more comfortable to hoop-walk instead of straight walking. That pinched nerve led to my lower back pain, which led to my right leg pain, which in turn put a lot of pressure into my knee.

Starting the 60-mile walk, my left knee was the bum one and I am pretty sure that I was so worried that I overcompensated so my right side ending up getting affected leaving my left side free and clear of pain.  And when I say everything in my life was affected, I mean, I couldn’t easily drive… and when I say “couldn’t easily drive” I mean, couldn’t even get out of the car once I got in!  I can’t tell you how many places I got “stuck”.  I even got stuck one afternoon halfway out of my car.  It was awful. I was so angry with myself for doing this to my body.  I couldn’t even hold our youngest child much less anything over 5 pounds as it just put too much pressure onto my knee.

Upon many, many visits to my chiropractor and acupuncturist, my body has healed quite a bit.  I took a lot of time off hoping, except for class when I had to hoop.  There were a few classes that I could not physically do and that scared me.  I felt first hand what someone goes through having their physical abilities taken away.  Granted, it was not to the extreme as others, but being stuck halfway out of your car for 45 mins is pretty extreme!

Many people ask me if I would ever do that again.  At first I thought no way.  I was crazy to do it the first place.  But as time passes, as I look back, the pain is nothing in comparison to the overall experience.  It was a beautiful journey and I am so proud that I accomplished it.  I know some may think it was a wacky goal, but I would rather hoop 45 miles than climb a mountain- heck, the 45 mile hoop walk was my mountain!

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AY 1 = 23 MILES OF HOOPING
DAY 2 = 10 MILES OF HOOPING
DAY 3 =
So it has taken me quite long time to sit down and write about the 3rd day of the Susan Komen 3-day walk. Every time I even think about it, I get very emotional because the event was much larger than me and the 3rd day was when everything came together and my physical capabilities were severely tested.

On day three we woke up very early and had to pack up our tent. The night before they showed us a demonstration on how to get the tent packed back neatly into it's little bag. Packing the wet tent in the cold, damp air was not very fun and I am pretty sure that over half of our little tent did not make it back into the bag. But we did the best we could- exhausted and sore from the previous days- not to mention lacking the hired help that we had been promised as my husband was running about 30 minutes late. Even though I was in a lot of pain, there was excitement because we were finally going to walk DC proper. When I had signed up for the walk I had thought the whole event was going to be in DC. I was so wrong. If you are from Nashville, then it went a bit like this... day one was like walking around Antioch and then day two was Brentwood. Day three was like the Ryman and Broadway- and with the excitement of the pending election, it was also kind of like seeing Johnny Cash walking into Tootsies.

Anyway, after we loaded our gear, we took a bus to the starting location, which I believe was somewhere in Georgetown. I was exhausted and tried to nap for the ride. Since the medical line at the camp was about a mile long I had also decided to wait and ice once we arrived at the starting location. I immediately iced and wrapped once we got off the bus and then we were on our way. Yvonne decided early on that she was not going to hoop Day 3. Ironically, she was not in so much pain from hooping the previous days, but from a cough that irritated her back too much to continue hooping.

The path through Georgetown was narrow and uneven. I hooped where I could and had to walk in various areas due to the lack of space. I discovered quite quickly when I was forced to walk the narrow areas that it was more than painful to walk. In fact, I could barely walk. When I hooped it felt better. By the time we were approaching the lunch location my husband was making his opinions about his concern for my knee well known. He was so mad at me for being on it, that he phoned my best friend in hopes that he could talk me off the hoop. It didn't work because I never answered the call knowing full well what chiding would be at the other end and besides I was in a zone on my way to lunch and more importantly, ice.

Above pic taken by passerby as we crossed this gorgeous body of water. Destination: Lunch!

At lunch I rested and refueled and iced and rewrapped. Although we were sitting for maybe all of a half-hour, the rest unknowingly made things much more difficult for me. I hobbled up to the sidewalk and gave my hoop a spin but this time I could not keep it up- at all. I had been feeling so positive up to this point, after all it was DC and only 14 miles that day. My spirit sank as the pain heightened. I couldn't bend my right leg and the tears were starting to come. As emotional as the two days had been, this just heightened it and I was almost sobbing. Walkers passed us and asked if I needed help or the sweep van. And Yvonne kept asking me if she should call my husband who had ridden his bike up ahead of us. I knew if we called David or if we took the van that my hoop walk would be over for good and I just couldn't give up. All I could think about were the women I had seen on the side of the walk holding up signs thanking us for being a part of the event on behalf of their illness. All I could think about were the other walkers, especially the breast cancer survivors who were still walking - and even the one woman who was pushing her friend in a wheel chair- and then of course, Lily who had crossed the last mile with us on Day One with feet covered in blisters... she was even still walking!

This may sound silly, but the only thing I can equate to my experience that exact moment was giving birth to my first child. With Fiona I went natural (not by choice) and I just had to do it, there was no time left and there was just no choice but to do it because she was coming. Well, at that moment on the sidewalk, there was no time left and there was no choice but to do it. I was just going to make it happen. I didn't know how but I started to push through the pain. Walking was impossible, so I threw the hoop and developed a rhythm to keep it up. Thankfully as my muscles warmed up it became a bit easier. The only problem was that once I started going and had developed a pace, I was too afraid to stop or slow down. Not only did I fear my knee locking up again, but if I fell behind the sweep van would pick me up because everyone had to be at the closing point by a certain time. Ok, so the best visual I can give you for these next 12 miles through the streets of DC is that scene in Forrest Gump, where he is in braces, running and Jenny is yelling "Run, Forrest, run!". That was me, but instead of braces, I had patches all over my body and both knees wrapped and a hoop walk that looked quite a bit like Frankenstein.

 

Hooping through DC on a mission to the last mile.
Don't let this picture fool you- at this point my right knee was not bending at all and the left barely worked.

At a certain point, Yvonne fell further behind me because she needed to break at the Pit Stops and I simply couldn't afford to even if I wanted to. I hooped past a lot of people who were all friendly, smiling and taking pictures- the energy around me was wonderful. I hooped past cool buildings and then in front of the White House- wish I had thought to carry my camera with me. Someone took my photo for me in front of the gates, but I haven't seen it yet. When I arrived at the last Pit Stop. With only 2 more miles to go, I opted to ice my knees and wait for Yvonne and David to catch up with me. Once they did, we set off ready to hooped the final stretch. Thankfully Yvonne and I crossed the finish line together and it was so wonderful. A sea of people and walkers greeted us and we cried and hugged and cried some more. At the end of that Day 3, I had successfully hooped 45 of the 60 miles! Ok, that is like a marathon and then a half marathon AND then a 10K!

I had no time to rest even when reaching the end because earlier I had met with an event organizer who agreed to help me distribute the hoops that I had made and brought with me. My original intention was to hand them out at camp, but as exhausted as everyone was by the end of our walks, there was no real opportunity. Yes, I had actually envisioned evening hoopJams! Anyway, it turned out that there were 8 cancer survivors who were going to be a part of the closing ceremony and we had bright pink 8 hoops to give out.

We met with the survivors and I was able to tell them who I was and why I was there. I shared why Hooping for Hope was so important to me and that I felt hula hooping was such a wonderful way for survivors to reconnect with their spirit and body and to increase life span. I gave each of them a travel hoop and showed them how to hoop with them. It was a very sweet meeting as we were all crying by the end of it. I had not expected the survivors reactions and was quite honored that they felt so touched by my gift. Their sweetness towards me and my sharing made every ounce of those miles worth it.

We said good bye to the survivors and a bit later the last walker crossed. We were then directed into the closing ceremony area. All of the walkers (3,000+) went into the area together and formed a big circle. Once we were in and surrounded by all of our friends and family, the crew came into the inner circle. And then once the crew was in the survivors came into that inner circle. And then to the inner most circle on a platform, in walked in the eight survivor I had met earlier and much to my surprise, they all had their hoops around them. I am sure nobody else in the group really understood why they had hoops on them, but I did. It was such an amazing symbol of why I was there and where I want to go. It was one of those moments where I knew, 120%, that I was in the right place!

I do have a few more photos of me in action hooping the walk like the ones above, but they are not pretty and they are by no means of significance in comparison to this one:

 

Posted by hooprama at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

DAY 1 = 23 MILES OF HOOPING
DAY 2 =
DAY 3 =

With one rough night of sleep under our belts Yvonne and I woke early and began the day.  We walked down the paved path and had so much fun talking with everyone around us.  Everybody seemed fresh and there was a lot of excitement in the air for Day 2!  A very sweet group of girls, in their 20’s, passed by us and were very excited about our hooping.   The took lots of photos and chatted with us for a bit.  After we exited the park I settled into my hooping/walk groove and it felt great.  I was so glad to feel that my sore knee was okay (actually excited is more like it). I had my game face on! I was ready!  And then I was, well, how do you say... not-so-ready? Yes, we had taken a detour off the sidewalk and into some cross-country, very rocky, very uneven terrain.  Did I mention very rocky, very uneven???

Of course there was no hooping on this stretch because it was just too narrow. And did I mention rocky and seriously unstable.  Maybe some would say I over-exaggerating- but I will say that by the time this little one mile stretch of sensless cross country terrain was over I was in some serious pain and could not imagine going any further.  There was my husband David was sitting on top of this little bridge that crossed over our path smiling and waving.  I could tell he was ready for the day and very excited.  I however, was not excited and definitely not ready for the day. My right knee was completely shot from all of the twisting on top of the rocks on that path.  It was absolutely awful.  I was so bummed when he told me that the medical tent was UP the hill. UP the hill??? Are you kidding me?  I hobbled to the tent and waited… and waited… limped over for some food and then came back and waited some more.  One hour later (yes, one hour), the line had only shortened by about half- (yes, only half!), everyone seemed to be having serious knee/ankle/foot issues from that path!  Well, once I found out that there was another mile plus of the rough terrain before it went back to a paved surface I decided to forgo the additional waiting and go ahead and catch a ride up to Pit Stop 2. I knew I needed to have my knee iced and wrapped if I wanted any hope or chance of hooping the rest of the Day 2 route.

As we drove off, I felt quite sad that I was “giving up” and couldn’t do the full path as I had intended to hoop the entire 60 miles.  However, as we drove past the sea of never-ending walkers (thousands)- which by the way was absolutely amazing to see in action- I realized that the seat in the car felt absolutely wonderful and that it was really “ok” to take my much needed ride to medical.  Admittedly I felt guilty… and to this day I still guilty!

Anyway, by the time we arrived to Pit Stop 2 it was already flooded with walkers (some of those walkers are fast!) and another line at medical.  There was no way I could stand to wait, so I asked David to drive ahead to #3.  There was actually a split second when we arrived that I thought about having him keep on driving to lunch… yes, that is how luxurious that ride felt! And Yvonne was not fighting that urge... oh it was so hard to get out at Pit Stop 3... but I did.  I got out of the car and was seen immediately.  I had my bum knee iced for 20 minutes and then wrapped. Oh why hadn’t I done that earlier I thought!  Yes, I discovered the key to knees… ice and wrapping!

Once we had refueled and iced, it was definitely time to hoop again.  I figured that if I completed that day’s course from #3 that I would have completed at least 10 full miles of hooping and that wouldn’t be so bad after all.  So, off we went.  I was admittedly quite slow but it was really nice because it gave me the opportunity to speak with more people as they passed. Since I was hoping much less, the day became much more about observation and the other walkers.

We met this one guy after lunch- with this fabulous pink beard who was on his 37th 3-day.  Ok, so let’s break that down for a moment… 37 x 60 = 2,220 miles walked (!!!).  37 x the $2,200 minimum that you have to raise even to walk = $81,400 minimum that he has raised (!!!).  I see why he proudly wore the banner with 60-mile Man on it!  He said that he his first walk was because a friend had asked him to.  Well, after that, he was hooked and hasn’t stopped because he figures “why not if he can!”. I was researching 3-days for next year so I asked him which one he like the most.  He said San Diego because of all of the hills… well, you can say I crossed that one right off my list very quickly!

We passed through “cheering stations” that had so many people that it made me cry each time we went through.  Little kids, big kids, grandmas & grandpas… everyone… these women in sitting in chairs that you knew were survivors holding up signs of thanks.  They were so sweet and so incredibly encouraging!  They commented on having seen us at the send off and were happy to see that we were still hooping.  Man, I was happy we were still hooping!  I was able to warm up and get some speed going in the open flat areas. And we even met up with Lily again, the walker that came in with us at the end of Day 1.

Of course by this point other walkers were starting to get the understanding that we were actually “hula hooping” the 3-day walk since they had seen us come in the night before.  “Did you really hoop 20 miles yesterday?”  “Yes, we really did!”  If we stopped for even a moment they would ask why we weren’t hooping!   

Anyway, after the unfortunate events of the morning I was much smarter and during lunch and every pit stop I sought out the medical tent immediately and re-iced and re-bandaged.  I decided to be proactive and protective of my knee on this day knowing full well it would be my only chance to even be able to attempt any hooping on Day 3.  Because we had shaved off time in the morning with our ride, we were able to arrive back to camp on the “earlier” side.  I was so thankful to see medic AND to not be the last ones in!  My limp was definitely stronger and so was my back pain- but I felt so much better having the time to shower and relax.

During dinner the big announcement was made- the last walker was arriving! It was incredible to see her come in- and what a pleasant surprise that she ended up being one of the gals from the morning that walked with us and took pictures as we exited the park!  She had her own limp and a friend with an arm around her for support.  She had the biggest, sweetest, proudest smile holding the Day 2 flag.  You knew there were so many times she wanted to give up, but didn’t. I was incredibly proud of her!

Well, by 8:30 when I was ready to go to bed my limp turned into a barely can walk. But I was absolutely determined that no matter how much pain I was in that I was going to hoop the whole last day… I had to!  I made a game plan. Lots of salonpas patches placed all over me and I spent a good half hour patching and wrapping my knees.  I then put the ear plugs in and decided that I would spend my sleep willing my knee back to health.  I don't think it took very long to fall asleep, but it was all too short of a night as the next thing we knew the alarm was going off and it was a cold, damp 4:00 am… to be continued

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I just put my two oldest daughters on the plane- one to DC and the other to Boston for the long weekend. As I drove back home I decided to stop and visit my dear friend at her fabulous hot dog stand. I just wanted something to do besides go home and I figured Henrietta could use the fresh air too- not to mention, Alisa's gorgeous smile is so wonderful to see. With Henrietta in tow in her fabulous pink tutu I limped along up to the weenie hut. Standing there talking- and realizing that I was what I like to call "air pumping" or swaying my hips as if I had an imaginary hula hoop on me, I realized that I have not hooped in three days (!!!) The last time I went this long was, well, when I was banned from hooping during the 12th week of pregnancy due to "the scare"- which was what, over 2 years ago? Well, I have my first class tonight and I am so nervous because I cannot physically do any move aside from waist hoop! Yes, yesterday I got stuck for about 20 minutes trying to get out of my own car (!!!) Anyway, once it dawned on me that my oldest daughter Fiona was not going to be around for class tonight, I quickly called a good hooper friend of mine to come be my demonstrator. Thankfully she said yes- but I have no idea how class will unfold. Even 9 mos pregnant I still held AND hooped all of my classes! <sigh>

I did receive my first photos from the 3-day! I am so excited because I could not carry the camera with me and have been waiting anxiously for photos! I began the update on Part 2 and hope to have it up by the weekend, so check back to find out exactly why yesterday I spent 20 minutes trying to get out of my car... stuck... in the rain... yelling to my kids in the house... "I NEED a stick! I NEED a stick!"

Posted by hooprama at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

What an incredible journey- an event of a lifetime!  Headed for the Susan G. Komen For the Cure Washington, DC 60-mile, 3 day event, David (my husband), Yvonne (one of my Hooprama teachers) and I landed in Baltimore on Thursday and then drove to DC.  It was kind of wild driving in a new city and then turning a corner to be right up on the Pentagon!  We met up with a friend of mine for dinner and then went and watched the VP debate in a local pub that was full of camera crews.  Afterwards we went straight to bed because we had to be at Opening Ceremony by 6:30 am.  That’s 5:30 for you in Nashville!

Remarkably, we arrived on time for check in and Opening Ceremony.  It was so cold outside and next to us was this very tempting IKEA.  We were surrounded in a sea of pink… boas, tutus, hats, sparkles- everything was pink.  Yvonne and I were just standing there holding our hoops and getting lots of strange looks.  I overheard “Are they going to carry those things the whole way?”

The host/spokeswoman of the weekend, Jennae, warmed the crowd and then sent us on our way to take the first steps into our first mile. 3,000+ walkers filtered through the families that came to support and see everyone off. Yvonne and I had decided to start at the very back of the pack so that we would not get in the way of anyone else.  And since we were not going to be able to carry our things with us like the other walkers, my husband David, became a part of our personal crew for the weekend.  He rode in his bike (or car) to meet up with us at pit stops to take articles of clothing as we warmed or to give us a change of socks as needed... or to pick up emergency ACE bandages....

Day One was a bit of a blur because everything was so new for us. I spent most of my morning in a daze about it. We passed by these folks who rode motorcycles and yielded the traffic for us.  I thought they were just a part of that particular crosswalk.  I had no idea that they were part of the crazy crew that would keep our paths open the whole 60 miles!  It was really a welcome sight because they would blast music from their bikes and were always dressed in wild outfits with leather pants and pink things and always- ALWAYS- have a smile and be so incredibly sweet and encouraging to us... "there's our Hula Hoopers!" they would say as we hooped by.

There were pit stops for us every 1- 4 miles.  It varied.  I think over the course of the first day of 20+ miles there were 5 pit stops and one lunch break… I don’t really remember.  I do know that each main pit stop had a medical tent but on Day One I had no idea exactly how valuable that medical tent was going to become to me!

Yvonne and I kept up a pretty good pace in the open pockets of walkers and even passed quite a few thankfully not holding us to last in line.  Our goal was not to rush, but to take it easy and keep a good pace.  We worked really hard to stay out of the other walker’s way.  In the very beginning we had even seen a woman pushing her friend in a wheel chair- now that was impressive!

The beginning of Day One was fairly easy for me.  Looking back on this day I realize that I was sooooo incredibly naive.  We had lots of folks asking us “Are you going to hula hoop the whole way?”.  I think miles 1-10 it was a determined reply... “Yes!  We are!” to miles 10 on being more like a questionable reply... “Um, well, that’s our goal...”  Yes, towards the end of the first day it was getting really hard for me, but I kept going.  Every time someone asked about our hooping the walk (which was often) we would hand them one of these cards explaining what we were raising awareness for.

Posted by hooprama at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)