Blogging Goals & Updates

I actually have been wanting to do this for a while, share my blogging goals and some totals with you.  Truthfully I didn't get the idea from myself, I saw Courtney over at Eat Pray Run DC doing it.  I don't like to copy other bloggers, but I really liked her idea of sharing.  She actually said she is okay with me kind of copying to share the numbers too.  I just wanted to put that out there:)

August was actually my worst monthly blogging stats (page views) in two years. Which was not surprising since I have cut down on posts and actually had my fewest posts month in a long time too.

Income earned: $203.52 for social media ad campaigns.  I didn't do any blog campaigns this month, I took summer off for these since I couldn't spend the time.

Twitter: I finally broke the 6,000 Twitter follower mark, I thought that was a cool milestone as I wasn't even working on growing in last month.

Instagram: Has turned into my hardest area to grow in, and what I am finding is the most important right now for advertisers.  About mid month I started working on it, and I finally hit 1,300.

GOALS FOR SEPTEMBER

Instagram: I am trying really hard to get this to grow and I am working on a few projects to help in this.  My goal is to hit 1,600 followers by month end.

Twitter: since it's growing at a slow but steady pace on its own I am going to put a little effort into it, and see if I can't hit 6,500 by month end.

I would like to have an ad campaign goal of $150.  I haven't been working on any blog campaigns, so I don't want to set goals for those because obviously they take time to organize.

I hope to make this a first Monday of the month routine and share my goals vs. my actual each month going forward.  Especially if my followers who are also bloggers find this kind of stuff interesting.

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WORK INJURY - 2 years 8 months and fingers crossed not much more, but knowing me it might be!  If you are interested in reading about how this all started years ago, you can HERE. I don't want to keep going into the details and bore those of you who have been hearing about it for so long.

I am going to give a quick synopsis of what has recently been going on, and why I am more than a little bummed lately.

* About 2 weeks ago, something happened and it led to the point where I couldn't even walk. (No idea what brought on the onset of this flare up.  But lets just say the pain was close to or maybe worse than it was when the original injury was at its worst.  It brought me to tears, the pain was so intense.

* I could walk in a 3 inch heel, a little.  But I couldn't even put my foot flat on the ground without feeling like my Achilles was tearing apart.  If I took a step my foot/leg would give out from the pai and I would almost fall, because it was so much pain.

* A week ago Tuesday I visited a new Doctor, only a new one because the one I usually go to had a two month waiting list, and I wanted help now asap.  (I did my research and found a good one, who is also a runner.)

* We did an X-ray and Ultra Sound, which I assumed wouldn't show anything.  All they showed was a perfectly healthy tendon, at least as far as no serious damage.
Despite the fact that my ankle at the time was swollen double in size, you just gotta love life and how it works sometimes:)

* He ordered me to go get an MRI, he also thinks both my calves are really super tight right now, like crazy tight (I agree).  After going over my past medical history, he agree's there are really only 2 options.
One is surgery to cut the tendon to give it a little help to stretch out.  The other is a pretty invasive PT set of sessions that will eventually over time stretch out my tendon and calf.  But there is high risk to both of those.  (The PT could actually rupture the tendon completely if anything goes wrong.)

* He also prescribed me a highly effective steroid, and some anti inflammatory creams that absorb right through the skin. (Which let's just say worked so well, I noticed results only after the first 24 hours.)

* I was put back in the boot for nights, and most of the day for at least 2 weeks.

* The rest of last week went pretty good.  I followed Dr. orders, and followed a few of my own gut instincts.  To skip the heal/not healed part.
Let's just say, as of today things are fairly good, similar to what I hoped.  The swelling has gone down considerably, there is very little left.
The pain, has subsided for the most part.
My tendon is still quite tight, but it actually has a little give in it, I can walk carefully and slowly in 1-2 inch heel lift shoes.
Although I don't dare walk too much, I can at least get around now.  I am beyond terrified of hurting it more right now, so I am being even more cautious than normal.

I went ahead and cancelled the MRI and my Dr. Appt for today.  I think it would be a waste of money.  I am going to let things continue to heal, and then I will begin the original PT program I have already been through.
Once I can walk again, and the tendon is strengthened, which if my guess will be correct I should know in about 3-4 weeks how that all goes. I will meet with the specialist again in a few weeks, unless things take a turn for the worse.
At that time, I am going to proceed with the risky but non surgical option first, which is a very invasive PT program.
Then we shall see what happens.

I have no idea what the rest of the year has for me.  Cardio is mostly out right now at least for the near future, as walking/swimming/bike hurt things too much to do.  So I am really going to have to be diligent and careful with eating, so I don't gain even more weight than I already have.

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Truthfully, the hardest part of all of this is one thing.  Previously to all this, training had been going good.  I even had that 23 mile step day and I actually had started believing my body was ready for marathon training.  I even got so excited I even went online and picked out two races, to consider, one I was leaning toward for late November of this year, the other was early December.  I actually got my heart actually believing one was going to happen, boy it hurt to know it's now completely out of the question.
It was one thing 2 years ago to have to cancel the 19 marathons I had planned when I got the original work injury.  But for some reason, this hurt even worse because I have gone so long, and had come so far only to go right back to what feels like square one.  Sometimes my life can be extremely frustrating, to say the least!
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I wish I had some fun stuff to report, but lets face it when you can't walk much, you can't really do much.

I tried SWIMMING a week ago Monday, but my foot is so bad that just the pressure of the water as I kicked was so intense on the foot I couldn't stand more than a few seconds of it, so I stopped.

PURPLE HAIR
I got really bored not being able to get out and do anything.  So ya I colored my hair tips purple, LOL
Then of course, who could stop there, and I colored a front section as well.
It was all supposed to be temporary and wash out after a few days to a week, but so far it doesn't seem to be haha..  That's okay, I have always wanted purple/brown hair layers and ya now I have them.  I am going to enjoy it while it lasts, I mean it' only hair right:)
Don't laugh, I really like the purple, even at it's most dramatic, apparently purple is one of those colors in my skin pallet that go fairly well together, LOL LOL LOL


I have had a few woe is me moments this week.  But by mid week, I realized everything comes down to attitude so I can't let this set back get me either.  So all things considered, I know I will get past all of this eventually.
I may continue to get frustrated, I am only human.  But I am re evaluating my goals, and although I am not giving up on them.  I am pushing a few to the back burner and I am going to make new ones.
I'm also refocusing a few things in my life, planning a few things out and creating lists to get through some well needed projects that need taken care of.
Hopefully, this will help keep my mind positive and focused on other things instead of dwelling on the what sometimes feels like the never ending work injury.

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