The Sound of Music

I'm very excited and pleased that I have just been accepted as a music student by renowned flute instructor, Helen Spielman. I met with her this evening for an initial interview, and she has agreed to take me on as a student this fall. I feel that a month of instruction in the basics will provide me a solid foundation for pursuing my interest in playing the flute on my own after that, and I'm delighted and honored that a teacher of Mrs. Spielman's caliber has accepted me. In the same vein that a poor instructor can drain the joy and life out of an artistic endeavor, the right one can inspire the student to heights of achievement and heartfelt enthusiasm beyond anything imaginable. As a result of my interview with Ms. Spielman this evening, I truly feel that she is one of those inspiring and soulful teachers and I very much look forward to our upcoming sessions.

Cowbell

Jessica and I decided more or less on a whim to participate in the Cowbell Challenge bike race this past weekend. Since neither of us was really prepared for an endurance race and I wasn't even sure if my knee and back would tolerate it, we elected to ride in the Duo Female 6 Hour category. Despite the heat, Jessica's stomachache and my out-of-practice-and-definitely-not-prepared-for-endurance-racing condition, team We've Been Whitneyed -
in honor of 2006 Stanley Cup Champions Carolina Hurricanes' own Ray Whitney - managed to bring home the Gold with a combined total of four laps. Yes, we were the only Female Duo, but we went, we rode, we won, we clanged the cowbells!

Happy Feet

I've gotten my custom orthotics and put them into my running, tennis and bike shoes, and all I can say is wow! What a difference they make. I still have some leg and back pain with biking, particularly on longer rides, but it is more manageable with the shoe inserts. Correcting the positioning/pronation of my feet seems to help all the way up through the knee, hip and even into my back. The doctors and therapists have told me that it will take time for my skeletal structure and muscles to adapt to the correction provided by the inserts, since they are readjusting the mechanics of my body. But hopefully the orthotics, in combination with the stretching and strengthening program I'm currently on will provide the mechanical correction necessary for restoration of my joint function and gradually increasing pain relief. At any rate, I can now ride my bike for nearly an hour at a time, play tennis through a full match, even run - albeit slowly - for a couple of miles . I don't do all these things in the same day of course, but the new footbeds do expand my capability for avoiding burnout and boredom, not to mention aiding my exercise capacity, by giving me the opportunity to participate in a variety of activities with increased comfort and stability.

Hello Old Friend

After a nearly 20 year hiatus, the sound of music has begun to call to me again. I rented a flute for a couple of weeks last month, just to see if the spark was still there and discovered that happily, it was! So after a couple of weeks of practice, relearning the keys, notes, and written music as well as some playing "by ear", I'm rekindling an old friendship with this beautiful woodwind and purchased my very own flute. Obviously, I'm still on the basic beginner stuff, but it's amazing how it makes me feel to hear a song that I recognize and realize I am the one making the music! It's been a wonderful refuge in a time of much turmoil and stress in my life - I only wish I had rediscovered it sooner. I would write more, but there is music to play!

Spring Holiday Weekend

To celebrate the long spring holiday weekend, Steve and I decided to head out to the bike trail this morning for a pleasant jaunt through the forest. It was actually nice to get back on the bike even for a short while, and we had a fantastic ride through some beautiful wooded trails.

After our ride, we headed out to the WRAL Azalea Gardens, which were spectacularly in full bloom and incredibly aromatic. It was a wonderful ending to a gorgeous long spring weekend.

Spring into Tennis

As another type of cross-training which allows more mobility and position changes for my spine, the physician and therapist have approved me going ahead and continuing to play tennis, as long as I try to limit the number of matches I play per week and, of course, adhere to a strict pre- and post-match stretching program. Steve and I are both participating in local challenge ladders which has provided us the opportunity to meet a great many delightful players and we are both learning so much from the variety of styles we face each week.

More photos of us playing in our respective matches can be found Here. Be warned though, we both tend to get a little happy with the camera, so there are quite a few photos in the gallery!

Although I still am on restriction with my biking due to the sustained forward flexion and repetitive pedaling motion it requires which intensely aggravates my spine and joint issues, it appears that the constant change of position and multi-directional movements involved in playing tennis has seemed to help with my spinal flexibility somewhat, and being able to still get out in the beautiful spring weather is always a bonus - see you on the court!

Changes

That's my hubby and I couldn't be more proud! Steve has been competing in a local men's tennis ladder and I managed to get some photos of him playing in today's match. Ever the competent athlete, he is demonstrating himself to be a quick learner and quite proficient in tennis as well as biking, windsurfing, running, swimming, and pretty much anything else athletic he tries.

Things aren't looking so bright on my side of the fence, however. A recent trip to the physical therapist regarding intensified knee and back pain whenever I get on a bike revealed that my knee joints have flared again, and now I have bulging disks in my cervical (neck) and lumbar (low back) spine as well. As a result, my therapist and physician have both strongly recommended that I forego any significant bike riding and certainly any bike racing, particularly endurance events, for the time-being and have put me on a strict physical therapy rehab protocol. It seems that the sustained flexed spinal position required for riding a bike significantly intensifies the disk bulges and pain, so my activities have been changed to some other cross-training to include swimming and water exercises along with mechanical stretching protocols. Fortunately, the prognosis is hopeful as long as I adhere strictly to the prescribed regimen so I'm remaining optimistic.