So, I was hit by a car when I was thirteen years old. Smashed my face to smithereens, including my teeth. Consequently, I've had a series of dental bridges since then (hey, at least I didn't have to go through the agony of braces). I had been battling a bad infection in one of my teeth for the past few weeks and my dentist gave me some grim news. The only way to fix it was to pull the tooth. And the tooth was the anchor to the bridge. And by the way, there's other stuff wrong under there. You know where this is going.
To make what is already going to be a long story a little bit shorter, prep work for the new bridge necessitated a bunch 'o processes, including three extractions, some gum surgery, stitches, four implants-- and a partridge in a pear tree. Spent 5 hours with the dentist chair on Thursday. Seems my body burns through anesthesia rapidly, so I maxed out on the dosage when they still had some work to do. Just let me say God bless Vicodin. And props to Dr. Kim and Dr. Patel for being very skilled and super nice people as well.
Although I had planned to work from home on Friday, I was in no condition to do so, so I spent the day watching CNN and Toddlers and Tiaras, taking my meds and gumming down a little bit of low fat yogurt here and there. Who needs Jenny Craig? Mouth from hell is keeping me away from the Swedish fish and Hershey bars quite sufficiently, thank you very much.
This morning I was scheduled to run Champions 5K at Montrose. The oral surgeon told me not to run til 48 hours after the process, but we had been looking forward to this race for months. Plus, my running has been in the toilet for a long time and I wanted to prove something to myself. I needed to convince myself that I still had the guts to suck it up, to break free of my comfort zone and to not take the easy way out. I fully intended to walk the race, but to participate nonetheless.
John was supposed to go, but he messed up his schedule and had to work (a long story, let's just say he's in the doghouse right now), so Teresa, Mike and Denise picked me up. It was a humid day, raining, but not super hot. I started out at a slow trot and felt pretty good. So I kept going. I promised myself I'd walk if I felt any extreme pain or had any bleeding. But I didn't. So I kept going. Did the first mile in just under 10 minutes, then was able to keep a steady 11 minute mile pace for the last few miles. Came in at 33:58. Nowhere near speedy, but on this day, at that moment, I gave it everything I had. I'm more proud of this race than I am of the few sub-30 minute efforts I've had. I did what I set out to do and it felt awesome. Congratulatory kisses (albeit gentle ones to not hurt me) from my Reindears was icing on the cake.
Afterwards, there were scrambled eggs, sausage and beer for the race participants so we relaxed and enjoyed the morning. Teresa took first in her age group and Denise took second-- as always, they're supreme athletes. Mike ran using John's bib and, although he doesn't race much (the guy was wearing two t-shirts and cargo shorts!) he also had a successful outing. We had a lot to be happy about. Good times, good friends, good feelings.
Came home, took a shower and by then my mouth was starting to protest a bit. Laid down for about 15 minutes, grabbed some lunch with John, then hopped on the El to meet Candace and Cheri for Retro on Roscoe festival. The trains were late and I was starting to feel sick and irritable, but by the time we got there, the Vicodin was kicking in (I didn't take any this morning because I didn't want to run with it in my system). I hadn't seen Cheri in about five years so it was great to catch up. She's a free spirit and I enjoy her company so much. And Candace-- she is a joy. We perused the shopping opportunities and caught a little bit of a Beatles cover band called Modern English, then the highlight of the festival for me was introducing my friends to 7th Heaven (including the routine guitar pick dropped in my beer from Richie). Couldn't have been more perfect.
It's only 9:00 but I think I'm headed to bed. Can't smile very well because the inside of my mouth is a war zone, but I'm smiling on the inside.
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