Wednesday, March 31, 2010

California Sun


Last Wednesday's Song:
Early In The Morning - The Gap Band 


PEACE

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Early in the Morning



Saturday's Song:

Spring - Tracey Chapman

PEACE

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Spring

Since I'm out of the run for a month +, I took pictures of the runners and scenery at today's 2 hour marathon pace run, at Hospitality Point.

Just after 7 AM, anxiously waiting to start the clock.


Lone runner, heading into the sunrise.


A beautiful Spring day in San Diego.


Michael and Tara encouraging each other.


Since I couldn't run today, I invited my friend Rich to run in my place. He had a really good run, and did about a half marathon distance in about 1:50!

AKA Alice looking strong, and managed to hand off a couple of bandaids to me (while running) for Michael, who was plagued with blisters.


Other stuff:

This foot injury is annoying. I know, that goes without saying, but last night I had a mini meltdown because, well, it hurt so much. I think I normally handle pain OK, do a lot of breathing techniques and do the R.I.C.E. thing. It's the freekin' little boot that's making me hurt. It makes my entire foot want to go flat, since the inside of the boot is as flat as a board, and I have super high arches. I realize I need to keep the foot stable, but I sort of feel like it's defeating the purpose, since it's causing me pain elsewhere. Orthopedics also gave me a big black "Frankenstein" boot with 8 giant Velcro straps that goes almost up to my knee. They gave that to me for even more stability if needed, but it's sort of overkill. I put in a call to my doctor's office today for some pain meds. I know I was pretty happy not needing pain meds at the start, but after a full day of wearing that short bootie, my entire foot, ankle and parts of my leg really hurt. Thank goodness they OKed an Rx for Darvocet. The hubs is picking that up tonight. *sigh of relief* Today I wore my old Pearl Izumis, which offered plenty of support, and I didn't feel like crying after spending the morning with the track club. I also iced the foot and sat with it up for a long while once we returned home.

Since this injury I've been eating crap. The healthy lifestyle I've been adhering to for the past 10 years has flown out the window. It's not a emotional issue, it's just that crap food is what everyone is bringing home since I don't feel like making meals at the moment. Meh. I've had my share of burgers, high carb, high sugar foods, nothing super healthy. I'll get back on the bandwagon again, in about a week.

AKA Alice reminded me about the Nike 2010 Women's Marathon & Half Marathon sign-ups. I received the e-mail reminder from Nike, but that was about the time I found out about my foot, and my mind wasn't all there. I'm gong to attempt AGAIN to get into the half marathon. I've only gotten in once, in 2007, and have tried every year since then to get back in. Maybe this is the year? I hope so.

Wednesday's Song:
Give Peace a Chance - John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band

PEACE

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Monday, March 15, 2010

Broken

First thing this morning I called my doctor's office, but the first appointment I could get was at 2:30 this afternoon. He took a good look at my bruised foot, and asked all of the usual questions, really listened to what I had to say, then ordered x-rays. I went downstairs to x-ray and waited a good 30 minutes before I was seen. They were rather busy. Once that was done I went back upstairs to see my doctor again, but had to wait another 30 minutes before he could see me. The x-rays showed a fracture in the bone right under the middle toe, a metatarsal fracture, which means I'm out of the game for 6 to 8 weeks. Good times. Meanwhile, I get to wear this lovely boot. My sister says I should bedazzle it with flames. Thank goodness it's removable.


How I got this injury is purely speculative, since I really had no warning signs. It could have been everything I talked about in my last post, and another speculation was the shoes I was running in. Even though the Newtons were comfortable and seemed to be OK, perhaps they weren't the best ones for me, since the point of those shoes is forefoot running, and that's where the injury is. I've already ordered another pair of Pearl Izumi Cruise, since I had no problems with those and they aren't discontinued yet. Perhaps I should scope out another pair of PI's, just in case.

Tomorrow I go to some sort of "Day of Injury" clinic in orthopedics. That should of happened today, but there were no available slots for me.

For some weird reason, I'm not feeling all that down about this injury. I think that after living thorough the femoral neck (leg/hip) fracture everything else isn't that bad. I don't need surgery. I don't need serious drugs, only Tylenol. I just need time to heal, plus I can remain active with swimming and bike riding at the gym, so all is not lost. I might have to rethink the marathon this year and opt for the half. We'll see how I feel in 6 to 8 weeks.

Yesterday's Song:

Super Heros - Rooster Quantrell

PEACE

EDIT 5/6/2010
After I posted this, I realized there was an incident at Costco where a lady ran over my foot with her cart, several days before the foot completely broke, which explains a lot.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Super Heros


Since we last tuned in, our heroine was more powerful than a locomotive and leaping tall buildings in a single bound...

Yeah. In my dreams.

Saturday morning I was feeling really good during my run with the track club. The air was cool and there was some cloud cover to keep the run from getting hot. I was mentally set to put in about a 2 hour and 15 minute run around one of my favorite places to run, Coronado. I was keeping a really good and EASY, sub 10 minute mile pace and felt like I could go on for miles, AND IT WASN'T RAINING.

Just about as I was to close in on 5 miles, with about one more mile to complete a lap around Coronado, my left foot cramped up something awful, where the toes meet the pad of the foot. My toes just curled inside my shoes. No warning. No pre-cramp twitches. Nothing. I hit the stop button on Lucy and walked in the last mile, which seemed like the longest mile EVER. Several people ran past me and asked if I was OK. Then I had flashbacks of what was the beginning of the compound fracture in my right leg (femur) two years ago. Oh no... not going to go there, not again. Coach Paul ran up behind me and asked me about why I was walking. He thought the cramp may have been caused by running on a cambered road, which is part of the run through Coronado, by the golf course. He advised to walk on the grass, along side the road, and to e-mail him later (which I still need to do.) With about a half mile left to get to home base, AKA Alice ran up and walked and talked with me for a little bit, and lifted my spirits. She soon began running again. The cramp started to un-knot a bit, so I tried a very slow jog for the last 1/4th mile, then I was done.

I went through every pre run routine in my head, including what I did and ate the day before. Nothing was out of line, really, except I was using a different electrolyte drink instead of Gu or Powergel. Even my running shoes (Newtons) were ones that worked well for me, and I've worn them on several prior runs. I even thought about the socks, but they were the same brand of socks I always use. The only other time(s) this has happened was when I was pregnant (which isn't even a remote possibility), and while swimming laps, however, pregnancy and swimming never caused my foot to look like this the next day:

I know, I need a pedicure.

Next on the agenda was the R.I.C.E. thing.

Where is my ice/gel pack thingy? I have one of those long, rectangular gel packs with a fleece cover, complete with an elastic strap and velcro. Must find...

Thank goodness I live with a 6 year old. He lent me his Spiderman gel pack that he uses in his lunch box:



After about 15 minutes with Spiderman, I had to look for MY ice/gel pack thingy. We're out of bags frozen vegetables, which work well.* Of course, my ice/gel pack it's shoved behind two boxes of frozen pizza and a Costco sized box of Eggo waffles, but now I can wrap the foot right:

Tadaaa!

The affliction feels like tendinitis, and if that's the case, I give it two or three weeks to feel better. I had tendinitis in this same foot last year, but at the ankle. I also had bruising.

I opted out of calling the doctor's office over the weekend, since I don't want to get stuck with some random intern. I will call my doc Monday morning. He may not say anything new, but I can at least get** an x-ray, just in case.

Wednesday's Song:
Bottles&Cans - Rehab

PEACE


*My mind was so wrapped around finding MY ice/gel pack thingy that I never thought to use a Ziplock bag with ice. Doh!
**Throw a temper tantrum and demand an x-ray.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Bottles&Cans


Monday's Song:
Fifteen - Taylor Swift, Marilyn Manson, Never Shout Never - Katiefeldmom

PEACE

Monday, March 08, 2010

Fifteen

I haven't been much for blogging lately, and I'm not sure why. Well, that's not completely true. I do know. I'm still getting back in the groove of things now that I'm feeling better. It could also have something to do with not having a lot of computer time, either. It's hard to write anything when there's a 6 year old hovering right behind me wanting to have his turn on line.

I've been back on track with working out and running. I'm able to put forth the effort, but I'm toast afterward. Under normal circumstances a workout or run will energize me. I'll get it back.

While I'm on the subject of running, I ran in the annual Sue Krenn 15K on Saturday. I had a very good run that morning.
  • I wasn't sick
  • I remembered my hydration belt and iPod.
  • It wasn't raining
I did forget my Garmin, but I did have my cell phone, and I never canceled BiM, so I was able to GPS track my run that way.

SPLITS
19' 19



29' 27



39' 36



49' 43



59' 52



610' 00



710' 04



89' 54



910' 17



end10' 03

BiM gave me a 9:49 minute mile pace, which sounds better to me, but I'll take my the 9:57 minute mile pace over the 10:30 minute mile pace I had last year.

I've entered that 15k time into the McMillan Running Calculator, I *should* be able to have a sub 5 hour marathon. I think McMillan is being generous with the time it gave me, but if I put forth the training and effort it could happen this time, even if it is 4:59.


I was hoping to stay in the 9 range for the entire race, but something about running on concrete, after we exited the Fiesta Island loop (which is asphalt), really throws me off.

316 IRENE M 4487 50 4/7 F San Diego 1:32:40 9:57

I came in 4th in my AG. Yeah, there were only 7 of us in my AG but I wasn't too far behind the 3rd place AG winner, who is also one of my track club buddies, Michelle, who I sometimes run with. I did shave about 5+ minutes off of last year's Sue Krenn 15k, and I felt really good about that. It's not a PR, and I still need to knock about 7+ more minutes off. It feels good to be whittling away at last year's post surgery runs.

If I keep at it, perhaps I can put a BQ back on my list of things to do.

Until then, I'll watch this a few times for inspiration:


Wednesday's Song:
Closer - Ne-Yo, Nine Inch Nails, Kings of Leon - Run DMZ, Be A Good One

PEACE

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Closer


Monday's Song:
Sounds Like Life To Me - Darryl Worley - Fit to be Tied

PEACE

Monday, March 01, 2010

Sounds Like Life To Me

Randomness
Photobucket

Like many of us, I spent the past 16(?) days catching up on the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, cheering for our country participating in sports I know little about. I am familiar with downhill skiing, cross country skiing and ice skating, only because I've had lessons in each of those activities, but I'm far, far, FAR from being a pro and have never competed, but I can confidently say that I can get myself from point a to point b. I know nothing about hockey, but I can get the gist of the game, and I found myself cheering and yelling at the TV a few times. Same thing with snow boarding, speed skating and bob sledding. I'm sure I would have been yelling at the curling event, too, but it wasn't on when I watched. Oh, and what about some of those guys (and women) in their super suits? You really have to have quite the physique to pull off one of those super fitted race suits. Now that the 2010 Winter Olympics are over, I'll have to find something else since American Idol is a yawner this season. At least I still have Project Runway.

I actually got out and ran with the track club on Saturday. We ran at one of my favorite locations, starting at Tidelands Park in Coronado, along the Silver Strand to fit in the time or mileage and back. A lot of people don't care too much for the Silver Strand, but I like it. I can find my groove there and just go with it. It figures that rain was in the forecast for our run. It seems it has rained three out of the four Saturdays in February, and that one non rainy Saturday I was sick. In spite of the rain there was a decent attendance of track club members. My mileage for this 2 hour out and back run was exactly as it was when I did it last year, but it was raining and very windy at some points this time, plus I was just coming back from being sick... I guess I should give myself some slack for that, but I was a little bummed with my time. It was good to be back running with the track club, though. I was able to catch up with my friends who did show up. I'm glad I had the foresight to bring a change of clothes because I was DRENCHED. My clothes and shoes were sopping wet and heavy. It felt good to change into dry clothes and shoes, even if it were just for the ride home.

I'm signed up for the Carlsbad 5000 on April 11 with Rehab United as a team - which should be fun. I missed the boat on the La Jolla Half Marathon, which said "FULL" when I tried to sign up yesterday. Am I bummed? No. Running in the LJHM was sort of an after thought to running the Carlsbad Half Marathon in January, and I was thinking about going for the triple crown (Carlsbad, La Jolla, AFC), but it wasn't a priority, getting healthy was the focus. Now I might have to rethink AFC and if I really want to do that one in the heat of August. There ARE other half marathons to consider.

Check out another running skirt give away at Endurance Isn't Only Physical.

I was in the mood for baking on Sunday, so I made a Red Velvet cake. I've been having issues with Red Velvet Cake I've had at restaurants. They aren't good. Either the cake tastes weird or the frosting is cream cheese frosting, which (in my mind) is all wrong. That's not how grandma used to make it. I scoured the internet for recipes and found this one that comes close to grandma's cake:

THE RECIPE FOR RED VELVET CAKE

The recipe for the frosting follows it. By the way, this frosting recipe contains enough butter to make Paula Deen squeal with delight.

Parenting (or in our case, Grand-parenting) rule #6.8 in the rule book:
"Never leave out any markers, pens, stamps, paint, and/or other media that a 6 year old can run a muck with."
What you're looking at is my dresser stamped with my husband's state license stamp. I guess the kiddo had a good time at it. No, he didn't get in trouble. It was his Papa's fault for leaving the stamp out, but the kiddo was made aware that this wasn't a nice thing to do, even though we thought it was funny.

Wednesday's Song:
Who Will Buy? - Barbara Streisand, London Theater Orchestra & Cast, Aaron Neville, etc...

PEACE

Photo by fleeglebingodroopersnork on Photobucket.com