Blizzard-like conditions here yesterday dictated I run by the numbers: Degrees: 25
Feels like: 10
Winds: 60 mph
Shirts: 2
Jackets: 2
Sock pairs: 2
Glove pairs: 2
Treadmills: 0
Still froze my ass off.
I expect today to be even worse as I have a Tempo run planned. I like to run these type of workouts at Carrier Park, which sits right next to the French Broad River. Most of the year, this is an ideal run spot, and I'm surprised it's not jammed packed with more runners. Especially barefoot runners.
The path around the main park measures just over a mile and it's relatively flat. Bark covered trail gives way to bike path, and connectors to other adjacent parks. Great for recovery runs, and tempo work. Also, it's about the only flat ground in Asheville. However, you run at your own risk: snow, ice, flooding. They have it all. You can literally star in your own private disaster movie. Minus Dennis Quaid.
Anyway. Moving right along on to the "small rodents' part of my post...(There's just no easy segueway to this, is there?)
We have the sweetest little guinea pig. Just look at her. Awwwww... Well, a few days ago she suddenly stopped using her back legs, and began pulling herself around using her front legs. Then they stopped working, too. It is so sad. I finally consulted Google and found a site that described the exact phenomenon that had happened to our little guinea pig.
"There is a kind of paralysis that can occur in guinea pigs which is a great puzzle and no one has ever been able to give me the answer to the question why. It happens very quickly, over night as a rule. You will wake up to find the animal down at the back, pulling itself along by it's front legs. In all other respects it is alert, lively and as keen to get stuck into it's breakfast as ever."
This is it! This is what happened. She still seems happy and healthy, she just can't use her legs.
The article goes on to say:
"The cure, and it invariably works, for the over night paralysis are heavy doses of calcium, in the shape of Osteocare. Usually within twenty four to forty eight hours of beginning this treatment the animal begins to recover mobility."
So, we're giving her calcium, and she appears to be in the midst of a full recovery. ...
And that's the story of how I came to be able to cure guinea pig paralysis.
The End.
