Not totally broken

I did a thing! I sneaky ran a 5k 5 days post-op. In a year where my body's felt generally worthless, today it showed me it's not totally broken. In fact, after having actually respected doctor's orders and not run for the past two months, I did better than I'd expected. (You're not supposed to run while taking fertility stim meds nor during the first two weeks post-egg-retrieval-surgery, which means no running at all while back-to-back cycling like I do.)

Initially, I'd signed up for this race as a way to reclaim my body post fertility treatments. So much for that. But the registration fee was non-refundable, so I figured I'd find a way to be a finisher. I'd been prepping for today with a whole lot of morning power walking with Lily, much to her chagrin. Five days ago, on the morning of my latest egg retrieval, I heard a nurse tell the patient on the other side of the curtain to abstain from all but "light" exercise including "walking or a gentle jog." The seed of an idea took root, and I obviously had to test how gently I could possibly jog today without feeling any sorts of scary pain. It turns out, respectably so. I didn't give it 100%, but I ran in a focused style to ensure minimal gut jostling and I came out the other side with no ovarian torsion and a solid finish time. It was so nice to get to be proud of my body for once in 2024.

Not too bad for five days post-op.