October 20, 2015

Surgery and sub-9:00

Yesterday ended up being rather eventful in the morning, and completely unexpected. On Sunday night, when we had our bonfire, Joey was outside playing with the kids. He had fetched a stick, and was chewing on it when Eli said he dropped it suddenly and "blood was gushing from his mouth". I went over to him to see what was wrong, and when I opened his mouth, I saw just a little bit of blood (Eli tends to exaggerate), but I couldn't tell where it was coming from. I figured he probably cut his tongue or his gums on the stick, but he looked okay as far as I could tell.

Later that evening, I noticed Joey was acting odd. He was being kind of antisocial with people, which is very unlike him (he loves people!) and he was just wandering around nibbling at grass. He seemed really submissive, too--when I would reach out to pet him, he just laid down on the ground and didn't seem very excited. Someone suggested maybe he was just acting strange because of all the people that were around.

Yesterday morning, he had no interest in eating his breakfast. Then, I noticed that his entire chest was wet from drool. I decided to look inside his mouth again, to see if maybe there was a piece of the stick stuck in there or something. That was when I noticed the problem--he had completely broken his top canine tooth in half! I could see the raw part inside his tooth, and it looked very painful. I called the vet, and they said to bring him in right away. After the vet checked him out, he said it would have to be extracted. 

So, Joey had to have surgery yesterday to extract what was left of his tooth. Poor dog! When we picked him up from the vet, he seemed much happier. He was a little loopy from the anesthesia, but by evening, he was back to his old self. And today, you would never know that he just had surgery yesterday! I'm really surprised that his tooth broke from a stick (Eli said it was a really hard stick, but still). He chews on antlers pretty often, and he's never had a problem. Anyway, he's doing great now, so I'm happy about that.

Today, I went for a run after getting the kids off to school. On Friday, I ran three miles, and finished the third mile in 8:51... which was very exciting! I hadn't run a sub-9:00 mile since probably November of last year when I did the Turkey Trot. 

Today, I decided that I was going to aim for three miles in 9:30 or better. Lately, I've been doing between 9:15 and 9:45, but I hadn't gotten three under 9:30 yet, so it sounded like a good goal. It was SO NICE outside today! All weekend, it felt like winter (it even snowed at the starting line of the race on Sunday), and I was layering my warmest running clothes for that. 

Trying to stay warm after the race Sunday
Today, however, I ran in capris and a tank, and was very comfortable. My first mile felt pretty easy, and I finished it in 9:22. Since I was feeling good, I changed my goal a little--I decided to try and run a sub-9:00 mile in the middle, and then finish with another sub-9:30 mile. That second mile felt a lot harder, but I finished it in 8:41! When I looked at my Garmin after that second mile, I saw that my average pace was 9:02, so I thought, "I wonder if I can make my average pace be sub-9:00?" 

It was really tough, and that last mile felt like FOREVER, but I did it. I finished the last mile in 8:41, and my average pace ended up being 8:56!


It feels so good to be making progress again--with the weight loss AND the running. I've missed that feeling of hitting my goals. I tried to get a picture with Joey after my run (he always comes outside with me to sit on the porch for a few minutes) and this is the best I could do:


He's not really a licker, but when he puts his nose right up to my lips, I'm always afraid he's going to lick me. So my face ends up looking like that in most of our selfies ;)

Tonight is our last cross country practice. We have a meet tomorrow, and we're going to do a little banquet to celebrate with the kids next week, but other than that, cross country is over until next fall. I'm not sure that I'll be coaching again, because Eli won't be at the elementary school anymore. I'd like to volunteer to coach the 5/6 grades, so maybe I'll end up doing that! It's been such a great experience, and I never knew how much I'd enjoy coaching little kids to run ;)

9 comments:

  1. Your paces are so motivating to me. I think it's great that you coached the cross country team. Enjoy the last meet tomorrow.

    Glad that Joey is back to himself, too!

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  2. Congrats on the sub 9:00:00! I'm currently trying to reach a goal of a sub 2:00:00 half marathon next April. My first half in 2012 was 2:00:somethingsomething and I've always wanted to get under 2 - but have never done it :( I've had to take a break from running over the last year, but I'm getting back into it now and averaging 10 (slightly more) min/mile. I think I just need to go outside and just push the envelope a bit to start getting faster like you did today.

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  3. Congratulations on your pace! Do you have any posts on how you improved your pace/speed work!? I am pretty new to running and seem to be stuck, I've tried some speed work but idk! Maybe it's due to how uncomfortable it is to go faster.

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    Replies
    1. I'd love these tips, too. I have the hardest time pushing myself to go faster and skip out on speed work because it's so painful!

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    2. It IS uncomfortable to go faster, but that is the best way to get faster! ;) I got pretty speedy (for me, anyway) a couple of years ago, and it was solely because I was running a little out of my comfort zone for each run I did. I set a goal for each run, pushing myself to get a little faster each time, and it worked! That's pretty much what I've been doing lately, too. I hope to get back to where I was in early 2013 :)

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  4. Congrats on the sub-9! That's fantastic!

    Glad that Joey's better too. Teeth are weird like that -- there could have been a micro-crack or some other issue or he just hit the stick the wrong way. My tank of a dog is a licker, so you probably wouldn't want to do selfies with her.

    -Martine

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  5. Oh I can only imagine how his tooth must have ached all night.....I truly think ANY teeth issues are the worse!!! Glad he is better.

    Nice job on the runs (ha! that sounds weird....you know what I mean ;-)

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  6. my rescue broke the same tooth and had surgery and bounced right back as well. i wonder if b/c they lived their lives in who knows what bad circumstances that they didn't get proper nutrients and therefore have weaker teeth.

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  7. That's an hilarious picture of you and Joey. I have to say it looks like you're the one that had mouth surgery. What a great doggy you've got!!! Congrats on the weight loss and the sub-9 mile! Great accomplishments!

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