Here She Is...

Oooooh shiny, pretty, pretty...

I'm not sure about the white seat though...

You can get all the details about the bike by clicking here if you are so inclined. It's a 2009 Trek 2.3 WSD. I spent more on it than I intended to spend on a bike (not particularly surprising, right?).

I haven't named her yet. In the store DramaGirl suggested Julietta, and then Wanesha. I'm not sold on either and am taking suggestions. I imagine that, like all heffer names, the proper name will reveal itself in due course.

I'm unnerved by the Shimano shifters which are quite different than the shifters that were on my handlebars and overall, I'm scared to death to ride it, but I'm thinking I need to go to Fiesta Island this afternoon to give her a test run.

(Nearly) Wordless Wednesday

It's a sign, don't you think?

• Two weeks ago, I entered a Trek Bicycle "Wow" Instant-Win Scratch off Game and won a free Trek Water Bottle.
  
• This morning at PT, I ran into the local Trek Bicycle store manager (who is training for a century...my PT is also an athletic trainer), who I recognized from my last visit to the bike store. He also recognized me, told me that the "Tour de France" sale had been extended, thus the bike I want is still on sale, and that they only had four water bottles left, so I'd better hurry if I wanted one.
  

So...don't you think these things are signs that I need to go down to the store and get myself a new bike? I mean these things are not just coincidences are they?

This Post is Not About Running, or Injuries, or the Even the Heffers...Although Betty Does Get a Mention...

In 2000, Walter and I bought a new house. Actually we bought an old house. At the time, we lived in a fine little house in the center of town, but the key word here was little. It had two bedrooms upstairs, and I had given birth to a girl AND a boy...and even though at the time, they were very young, we knew (or at least I knew) that at some point it just wasn't gonna work for them to share a room.

This was our house...It may look large, but trust me, it wasn't...but it was cute!

So we decided to move out of the cute little house near Balboa Park, in an adorable part of town called Burlingame and out to the east county of San Diego, into a city called La Mesa.

I looked for houses for months and months...and finally found this...

It was a fine old house (which we liked) on a really big lot (which made us nervous), but it seemed like it had great potential...and we could afford it!

Focus here on the word OLD.

We knew when we bought this house, it needed some work. We initially thought it needed, maybe, some cosmetics, like new carpet and windows...

But we were wrong.

Yes, we replaced windows...and then some walls (due to dry rot).

We re-did the kitchen. This was the old kitchen, with the back of the house torn out....without the back wall, it's nowhere near as dark as it really was.

Basically, we took the interior down to the studs. All things being equal, it would have been easier to buy a lot and build a home from scratch.

I remember bringing Betty over to look at the house when it was down to the studs one night. She looked at me with a combination of "What? Are you insane?" and "WHAT? are you NUTS?"... I'm pretty sure she bought me a beer or two that night.

I've got loads of photos like this...photos of nothing but 2 x 4s and drywall...It took about 9 months from when we bought the house until we were finally able to move in. It was a crazy time.

It'd be different if either Walter or I had any skill or interest in Do it Yourself Home Improvement, but basically both of us are just skilled at writing checks to contractors.

Anyway, at some point we stopped remodeling the interior (because the remodel could have gone on 4-EV-AH and not ever been finished) and we moved in. We knew there were still parts of the house that needed attention, parts that were not finished, but we had moved into the MONEY PIT...so we ignored those, moved in, and raised our children.

Nine Years Later

Over the last couple of years, some of the things we didn't deal with in the initial remodel have become harder to ignore...

This is one of them...

The hardwood floors in the kids bedrooms...

OK...other than the fact that DramaGirl is messy...the floors look fine, right? In fact, they are beautiful, old, red oak, hardwood floors...

Unfortunately, there's also this...

The floor in DramaGirl's bedroom...a combination of termite and probably water damage, is pulling away from the house...ewwwwww right?

We've gotta take out the hardwood and replace the subfloor in both the kid's bedrooms, so in the next several weeks, you will no doubt be reading plenty about our home improvement adventure. We can't afford it, but we really have no choice.

And since we're doing home improvement, I have some decisions to make.

Now let me make this perfectly clear. I have absolutely no talent for this kind of thing AT. ALL.

I mean, I can look at a Pottery Barn catalog and think...well of course you would pair orange and brown sofa cushions with a bronze statue and cherry wood floors...that looks REAL NICE, but I have ABSOLUTELY NO ABILITY to translate what I see into what I ought to be doing in my own home...GAH!

In fact, it gives me a headache to think about it. I just want things to look nice. I don't actually want to have to plan it out!

I think this is why rich people hire decorators.

So, I need help.

Here's my first issue. The Floors.

We've decided on a wood laminate because, frankly, we can afford it. One of the issues with this house has always been that the rooms are HUGE! DramaGirls bedroom is 14' x 12'. Turbo's bedroom is 12' x 12'. We need to redo a hallway that is (and I kid you not) 4' x 25' and we need to redo a portion of the family room (which is the smallest room of all) that is 11' x 12'.

(BTW...we also have a living room/dining room at the front of the house that is, I kid you not, 40' x 25'. It's not involved in the current remodel story.)

In other words, the part we want to refloor is a little more than 800 square feet, and as much as I would love to replace the old hardwood floors with new hardwood, we just can't afford it...so we're going with a laminate...you know something that looks like wood, but doesn't cost as much. You know Pergo...

Walter and I spent about five hours (way past his capacity to look at this stuff) looking at laminate samples today...and I'm more confused than when I even started.

So I'm throwing it out to some of you who are closet-home-decorating-geniuses. What stain/color floor should I get?

It doesn't matter so much in the kids rooms. But I'm also covering the family room, which is adjacent to the kitchen, and which has wood cabinets that look like this.

Yeah...this is the "redone kitchen..." It's a mess right now.

The laminate wood floors aren't going in the kitchen, but they are going in here...

...in the family room that is adjacent to the kitchen... We're also going to put in a counter/bar to go with those lonely barstools...

So, I wonder, can I put in a darker wood laminate? or will that clash with the oak cabinets. I brought home some samples that were roughly the same stain as the cabinets, and it looks like just too much natural oak...and BORING. Can I put in a wood floor that picks up on the darker grain in the wood cabinets?

I mean, what are the rules here?

Don't worry about the furniture...it's all cheap Ikea stuff that will eventually be replaced.

Oh...and here is the long hallway.

Really, our house has no real hallways...just open space, which is nice, but also means that things have to sort of flow into each other because there are no separate rooms.

So...I'm open to whatever help, suggestions, advice, you can send my way!

________________

Hey, congrats to all my blog-friends (Penny, RBR, probably some others who I'm forgetting...so sorry!) who ran the SF marathon & 1/2 marthon today. Can't wait to read all the reports!

And She Runs...

Finally...after a month of pissing and moaning about not running, I did a "real" run this morning with the track club. (Real in that it was outdoors, on the road, not indoors on the 'mill). It was a nice morning for a run, foggy, a bit muggy, but relatively cool.

When I got there, I saw Irene, who gave me a big hug and welcomed me back. Then a few minutes later, Alberta showed up telling me how she'd made it from Pacific Beach to Balboa Park in about 15 minutes.

The club route was 8 miles this morning and included a couple miles on some of the trails and paths in Balboa Park. I had pretty much decided that I would either walk the trails or just figure out a way to skip them.

Here's the track club route...

I typically wouldn't publish a track club maps, but I figure since this is also the same route as next week's Balboa 8 miler, it'd be OK. See all those dashed lines? Those are trails.

My route was somewhat different...

(This is a screen shot of my route from Garmin Connect...Oh I love Garmin Connect now...it is so pretty! If you are truly interested in my run, you can check out all the stats here)

Yeah, I took about five steps onto the 2nd trail. It was a pretty steep downhill path. My foot twisted a little bit and I IMMEDIATELY felt it. So I turned around and decided to stay on paved roads and asphalt.

Highlights from the run

• I managed 5.5 miles and averaged about a 12 minute mile pace (which includes a really slow mile when I was on the first trail and walked a bit...and also includes me looking for an unlocked restroom).
• Note to self...public restrooms in Balboa Park are not unlocked until 8am. We started at 6:30am.
• I might have run faster had I not had locate an unlocked restroom.
• Minimal tenderness in the foot while running...mostly toward the end of the run.
• Only noticed the knee when I was running downhill. (Not a good thing really since the first 5 miles of the AFC included some pretty steep descents, but manageable today).
• At 5.5 miles, I stopped running, but I felt like I could have run more.
• So happy that I haven't lost too much in the way of cardio-fitness. I guess all that biking and the little bit of swimming I did paid off!
• Chatting with Alberta about her wolf-man arms. Apparently several weeks in a cast stimulates hair growth, so she now has one hairy arm. (Nair babee, Nair!).
• Edith overslept and missed the run.
• Seeing what must have been some Comic-con goers on their way to/from the festivities, in costume.
• Wondering why that dude was hanging around outside the woman's restroom? Creeped me out!
• I might have run slower if not for that dude.
• I was runnnnnninnnngggg

About that bike ride...

Several of you wondered why I didn't do the trek around Tahoe with Betty and Mik. It's not a particularly interesting story, but I just couldn't swing the trip to Tahoe this summer, with teaching summer school, kids, their vacations, and oh yeah, I left Walter (who is a saint) with the kids for a week already this summer.

Yes, I am bummed that I wasn't there. I hate it when I'm not at the party, no matter what the party is, or where.

Yes, I will go with them next time.

So.... I've got 21 days until AFC...

Hope you're all having a fabulous Saturday!

Foto Friday - The Tour

No...not the one in France pffffft... I'm talkin' 'bout the one that took place yesterday at Lake Tahoe. the one in which fellow heffers, Mik and Betty, rode around the lake. 72 miles. 6 hours 11 minutes riding time. 7 hours 45 minutes total...

Awesome!

Mik and Betty at the end of the ride by the Fanny Bridge. The sign says Tour de Tahoe 2009*. Arrivee!! Look Momma even laminated the sign!**

But of course...post ride Guinness...also provided by Momma who met them with beers at the end. It was the first thing Mik told me about when I talked to her after the ride... priorities, of course, priorities!)

I'm so proud of them both...and can't wait for their return to SoCal so that I can hear all the stories as the various text message updates I received throughout the morning, although entertaining, don't do the ride justice. Of that, I'm sure.

Thanks to Marlene at Mission to a(nother) marathon, for hosting NikeMom's Foto Friday. What a great name for a blog!

Ride on girls! I love ya!

___________________

*Yes, I know there is also an organized event called the Tour de Tahoe in September. We were lookin' at doing that one...we'll see what Betty and Mik say about that now that they've ridden the lake.

**Thanks to Momma for taking and sending the pix.

Heat Training & What'shisname?

This summer hasn't really turned out like I thought it would. In June, I had visions of me running, biking, surfing, nearly every day. You know lots of fun, active, outdoor stuff.

Then I got hurt.

So now, three mornings a week, I go to physical therapy, which I'll admit, is a workout of sorts and while I do like it there, but it's not really what I envisioned I'd be doing with my summer mornings.

((sigh))

That being said, the PT is working on the PF. I can actually walk barefoot or in flipflops without limping or screeching in pain. (Now I ask ya...if I can't wear flipflops in the summer, WTF am I supposed to wear for shoes? I had NO FLIPPIN' IDEA that PF would cause me such footwear issues...GAH!)

And yesterday, I RAN*...yep 35 minutes on the 'mill...I decided to run on the 'mill instead of with the track club because it was hot, and muggy, and the track club was doing a pretty difficult trail/hill run and I just wanted to do an easy run...and the 'mill is in my air-conditioned home, so I thought it would be cooler.

Until the AC went off, and neither DramaGirl or Turbo noticed because they were really heavily involved in some super-important Wii Lego Starwars Video Game, and when I got off the 'mill, I thought, "darn, it's a little warm in the house," and so I checked the thermostat and the house was about 85 effing degrees--indoors...

At least there would have been a breeze at Balboa Park with the track club!

So we'll call that run my heat training effort (which I need to to do for AFC anyway). So, other than the heat, and the fact that I was on the dreadmill, it was a wonderful run. Hardly noticed the PF at all.

Then I stopped running...

And my knee started doing this strange clicking sound, like with every step, and I'm thinkin' OH SHIT...WHAT NOW?!!?

(((super-sigh)))

So, the (sorta) good news is that at PT this morning, Brett, (My PT's name is Brett, not Bryan as I previously thought...how awful is it that I don't ever know people's names...I suck as a teacher, you should see me... I'm always calling students things like "sweetie" or "Jethro" because I just SUCK at learning people's names...it's not a good thing).

Anyway, the sorta good news is that Brett did NOT tell me to stop running. He did tell me to take it easy on the home strength training and that we'd limit that to three days a week (all those lunges and squats seem to be taking their toll on my knees...a part my body BTW that I've NEVER had trouble with before the EVIL PF) and that I should stretch my quads and hammies LOTS.

So, when I teach tonight, we'll take a 10 minute stretch break, and I really will be stretching!

I'll try running again tomorrow...after all, Jethro Brett said it was OK.
_____________________
*In other workout news this week. I rode 22.5 miles on Sunday...all by my lonesome and this morning, I swam with the pool/torture devise about 25 minutes of mind-numbing boringness before I stopped.

Desperate

Ahhhhh...home. I love being home.

Oakland was? Well, aside from meeting JoLynn (the highlight of the week, BY A LANDSLIDE), it was Oakland...which is really the armpit of the Bay Area (no offense, but it is... There are some FABULOUS places in the bay area...Marin, SF, Napa, Garin, but Oakland? Not-so-much).

Not sure what that thing is, but doesn't it look like the pool is giving me the finger? Likewise, I'm sure...

For example, the Inn* was near the Oakland Police Headquarters (BTW...a landmark NOT mentioned as a highlight on the Inn website). I would walk right by it on my way to the conference site (about a mile walk). Yesterday morning, apparently, there was a strange suitcase left outside it, so the bomb squad came and blew it (the suitcase, not the Police Headquarters) up.

Some of the conference attendees discovered this as they were walking to the conference and let's just say that my new friends from Mississippi and Michigan were quite surprised by this.

Me? Not so much...

I was, however, somewhat surprised by the shop that was offering a special on "Gold Teeth." $25.00 off!** Yes, you too can get a nice new gold grill at a discount...I think it's a sure sign that the economy is suffering in the East Bay...discounts on Gold Teeth, not something you see everyday.

You know...I was bummed that I didn't take a photo of the place...but it's been reviewed on YELP, so I guess I didn't need to...

I did run about 2.5 miles on Thursday night...sorta around the block and then I discovered a path that ran alongside the bay. It was a pretty nice (if not somewhat deserted) path. Doesn't anyone in Oakland run/walk/ride? Odd...in San Diego, a path like that would be PACKED at 6pm. I tried to abide by my PT's edict to run 1 mile/walk .5/run .5, but I didn't have my Garmin with me, and let's just say that I preferred running through Oakland, so I probably did something more like run 1.5/walk .2/run .8.

Flew home yesterday afternoon. So. Happy. To. Be. Home.

This morning I had some, slight intention of joining the SDTC run, and I thought I'd do some running/walking with the group (or at least run for a little bit, then help man some aid stations), but I was SO EFFING TIRED, I slept in.

Feeling lazy, I decided to swim. Last week I bought a swim belt...the kind that you attach to something, then you can swim without turning laps...more boring than a treadmill I have to say.

Mine's got a blue belt...so it's prettier...but that doesn't make it any less BORRRRRING!

I managed a 25 minute swim before I quit...more from absolute boredom than anything else. That and I'm annoyed that I'm only getting sound from one side of my H20 Audio Headphones (GAH!).

Then, I stretched, did my squats, lunges, crab-crawl w/band across the house a few times... Since my foot was feeling pretty good, I decided to take a short run on the 'mill before my next PT appointment on Monday. I ran 2 miles, walked two minutes, then ran about . half mile. Then, because I'm being a a very good girl, I stopped.

So, that's my day...not much else going on...loads of laundry to do. Walter took the kids camping this weekend (don't cry for me, I'm not much of a camper. I don't even do shabby "Inn" rooms very well, can you imagine me with all those bugs, and dirt, and all...GAH!), so I'm desperately seeking entertainment for the evening, but I think most of the herd is out of town or otherwise engaged, so it may be just me and another load of papers I need to grade before Monday.

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!

Oh...and I got rid of the comment-luv, comment thingy I was trying out...It was way more trouble than it was worth...
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* Oh yes...I'm linking to this place. If any of you ever HAVE to go to Oakland, do yourself a favor and don't stay there. My FB page is full of comments about whoever was staying in the room above me and WTF they were doing up there...GAH!

** I am completely bummed that I didn't stop to take a picture, but again, I didn't stop for much when I was walking...

Oakland

I really don't like business trips, and THIS is a business trip, which means that I get to spend the whole day, from 9am until 4pm in a meeting room. In this case, I am in lovely downtown Oakland, CA, and while I've been in worse places in the world...I've also been in better.

Equally sad, there is nobody at this conference who seems to be willing to giggle like a 12 year old at unintended double entendres like I do...For example, when the presenter, in talking about the sole male conference attendee in the room, mentioned that he likes to be "stimulated," I completely had to stifle a giggle... I looked around to make eye contact with ANYONE else in the room who has a freekin' sense of humor..don't think anyone else even noticed...GAH!

I'm staying at a relatively dumpy little motel near Jack London Square (you know Jack, the one who wrote Call of the Wild, which you read in probably the 8th grade, and which is about a dog that becomes a wolf, or something like that...or the short story "To Build a Fire" which is about some guy who is in the Yukon and who freezes to death because he can't build a fire... The "Inn" looked OK on the website, but hell, I often look OK in the pictures I post on this blog, so I should know how selective website photos can be.

So...here are some highlights from the week thus far. Don't expect to read much having to do with running or working out, because there isn't much to report.

Oakland - Day 1 - Monday

• Had to get up waaaaaaay too early to catch a plane to get up here. I usually only wake up at 4:30 am if I'm running a race...
• Who knew that Monday at 6 am is one of the freekin' busiest times at the airport...I almost didn't make it through the security checkpoint in time as the line was a freekin' mile long!
• As one of the last people to board the flight, I had to sit next to two men who both insisted on using BOTH arm rests...which left me with nada. Assholes.
• Conference is one long-ass boring day.
• A colleague (I'll call her M) and I decided to walk back to hotel from conference site at the end of the day. Now a taxi had dropped me off at the Inn before the conference, then drove me over to the conference site, so I didn't really know how to get back, but she had a map that said it should have been about a mile.
• So....you know how I'm a little bit of a control freak (thus, I'm always driving, and making all these race plans) For once, I didn't plan, I followed M who had a map. In fact, I followed her the wrong FREEKIN' WAY, FOR 2 FREEKIN' MILES, THROUGH FREEKIN' OAKLAND...GAH! (Yes, this is why I always drive...this one time, I follow, and look at what happens).
• I finally notice that the street numbers are going up, and they should be going down as the Oakland hills are getting nearer...and I know that we should be getting closer to the FREEKIN' BAY!.
• A nice stranger stops to ask us if we're lost (because of course we are now looking at a map, which is a sure-fire way to announce to the world that "we are not local, please rob us." When we tell him where Jack London Square is, he tells us that we should take the bus back to Jack London Square.
• So, we get on a city bus.
• The bus driver tells us that bus drops off at Jack London Square, which is at the end of the street we are on!
• I notice that city bus makes left turn, and I inform M that we need to get off the bus because we don't want to go to Alameda.
• M and I get off the bus, walk to Inn, and decide we need wine.
• Send emails and text messages to JoLynn and RBR. JoLynn and I made plans to meet up on Wednesday (today!). Unfortunately, RBR is out of town...one more time we are ships that pass in the night.
• JoLynn informed me via text that I shouldn't be walking through Oakland.
• M and I drank too much wine. I drunk text-message friends about walking through Oakland.
• Stumble back to Inn and sleep.
• Light in bathroom won't turn off, so I close door.
• No workouts to report...but I did walk almost 2.5 miles through Oakland while carrying a laptop bag. Does that count?

Oakland - Day 2 - Tuesday

• Dumpy motel vending machines were out of bottled water...and I don't drink tap water, so I downed a diet Coke before 9am...don't think I've done THAT since my single days.
• Attended conference with slight hangover.
• Which made it another long-ass conference day.
• Walked back to dumpy motel room after conference. M and I went the correct way this time.
• Changed into workout clothes.
• Never went to workout. Went bed early after playing on FB for most of the night (too tired to write blog though).

Oakland - Day 3 - Wednesday

• Woke up feeling much better.
• Needed to iron pants. Ironing board is missing one leg, so I leaned it against the dresser.
• Did PT strength training and stretching exercises in corner of postage-stamp size room.

This is where I'm doing squats and lunges

• Another long-ass conference day, which ends 15 minutes later than it's supposed to.
• Best part of week so far...I got to have a fabulous dinner with JoLynn! Who is as wonderful and fabulous in person as she is on her blog.
• Did JoLynn ever mention that she enjoys dessert?

Me and JoLynn

• I'm currently stuffed due to fabulous dinner and dessert.
• I will wake up early to workout in postage stamp size fitness room.
• That is, if I ever get to sleep tonight. Someone upstairs seems to be running laps from one end of their room to the other.
• I haven't run since Saturday. Both knee and PF are being kinda tweeky...I think it's all the walking while carrying my computer bag on my shoulder.

OK...If you've read this far, you deserve a medal because this is the most boring post I've ever done.

It's Not Always About Me

It's been one of those weeks, and as you might guess...I've been in a funk about this no-running thing...

I do have to report that Mik and Betty rode almost 70 miles this morning. They took the train from downtown San Diego to San Juan Capistrano and rode back...it's really freekin' far! I'm so proud of them both. I got texts from them along the way. They are gonna rock Tahoe next month! I'm going out with Betty later tonight, so I'm sure I'll get some good stories...the best one I've heard thus far is that they stopped along the way and had a Guinness...

I guess that's sorta like carb loading.

So...the remainder of my week went sorta like this...

I went to a really nice wine and cheese event at my brother-in-law's house for a local organization called Sports for Exceptional Athletes (S4EA). It's an organization that organizes sporting events for the mentally and physically disabled, kinda like Special Olympics...and to be honest, most of the people who run the organization used to organize locally for Special Olympics, but for various reasons which I won't go into here, S4EA run their own events now. If you really want to know more about why, you can go here for the whole story.

At the event, I got to meet Monique Henderson, who is the S4EA's goodwill ambassador, and who has won two gold olympic gold medals, and she had her gold medals with her, AND I got to actually hold one (which is the closest I'll ever come to one of those babies). She was really nice and let me take her picture...and of course all I had was my iPhone camera, so the picture looks like this...

I swear...it's Monique and her gold medal...GAH!!!!

Anyway, it was a nice event....actually it was pre-event event (since my bro-in-law is on the board of directors for the organization, I got to go...especially since it was at his house). The actual fundraising event, called "A Taste for Sports" is in a couple of weeks. If you're local and would like to go, you can still get tickets here...it's a good cause. Also, Monique will be there...and from what I hear, so will Steve Scott. At last year's event, Coach Paul (from SDTC) was there. 

Friday morning, I went back to PT again and the PT told me that (are you ready for this)...I CAN START RUNNING AGAIN. (cue celebratory music...)

He said I could run 2 miles, rather I should run one mile, then walk a 1/2 mile, then run the last 1/2 mile. He told me that if my foot started to hurt, I should stop running and just walk.

He also told me to wait until Wednesday.

So of course, I ran today. I'm doing my post-run frozen-water-bottle-ice-massage as I type.

And...I went three miles...Actually, I walked a 1/2 mile (uphill 6-8% incline on the mill), stretched, did my strength exercises...lots of lunges and squats), got back on the mill, walked a 1/2 mile, ran a mile, walked a 1/2 mile, ran a 1/2 mile.

So...I didn't run any more than he said I should...I just walked more. That's OK, right?

OK...it was probably more than I was supposed to do...but I won't lie.

It felt GREAT!

I almost cried when I was running because a) it didn't hurt and b) I was running!

So, now I'm gonna wait until Wednesday, and I'll try it again. 

I'll be in fabulous Oakland all week at a conference. I'm dearly hoping that there'll be wireless Internet access in the meeting room, but I'm not holding my breath. I do know that there will be wireless access in the hotel room, so I'll be catching up with everyone then...and of course, there's always Twitter.

Hope everyone's having a wonderful weekend, and woot woot woot to everyone who is racing. I know Teacherwoman is doing her first outdoor tri...you go girl!

Another Random Bullet Point Post

I think at least 36 hours went by at the beginning of this week without a single update from me on either this blog, or FB, or twitter...I must be busy, so busy that I started this entry yesterday morning (Tuesday) and now it's Wednesday...so I'll just add on a bullet or two before I get to work on planning for my class tonight. ((sigh))

So...here's the week in bullet points...

• Had a nice 4th. Went to at a couple of barbecues - ate my body weight in crappy, not good for me, fatty, yummy foods. (I'll just say that the artichoke-jallepeno dip from Costco should be illegal!)
• Text messages to Clarence, Betty, and Mik began at about 7pm...morning ride needed to compensate for aforementioned overindulgence STAT!
• Rode about 18 miles on Sunday at 6:30 am! (Did I mention this was on July 5...and did I mention the overindulgence included wine?)
• I'm gonna call Sunday's 18 miler the three cities tour - La Mesa, El Cajon, San Diego with one trip around Lake BP - 17.9 miles - 1:28 - Ave 12 mph

It's a new game...find the boy part!

• Mik is getting a new rack.
• Had to teach Monday night so I didn't get to meet Elsie's new RB, but I did get text messages while I was teaching from Betty which said that the RB seems to be a nice guy and that she (Betty) was on her best behavior.
• Went to the PT Monday and Wednesday mornings. This PT is a freekin' WORK-OUT. The kind where I must ask for a towel or I drip and spray sweat all over the place.
• PT said to hold off on the running for awhile longer...I cannot begin to articulate the depth of my disappointment. I need to continue working on strengthening my hip and loosening my calf muscles so that my foot moves how it should when I'm running. Apparently, the completely inflexible calf muscle doesn't allow my foot to flex properly, which is what is creating the PF issue.
• Did the 18 mile Three Cities tour again yesterday with Clarence and Betty. At about mile 7.5, the Garmin stopped tracking mileage. It just stopped. I was at Lake BP when I finally noticed that the Garmin was asking me if I'd gone inside (Answer = no), so I suspect it somehow lost the satelite link. Has this ever happened to anyone else? I could understand if I were in a secluded area, but this was pretty much out in the open, in the middle of town, no trees...and on Sunday I did the same route with no problem.
• I haven't run in 18 days (not that I'm counting). The AFC 1/2 is 39 days away (again...not that I'm counting!). I'm getting worried. AFC has that nasty HILL on 6th Avenue which I have done absolutely no training for (I mean, how could I without running and all?).

Yeah...you're gonna see lots of this again...those three downhill miles from 2 to 5, lots of flat around the airport and downtown, then that nasty uphill at Mile 11.5...brutal.

• I will say, I am going to have kick-ass glutes and quads when this PT stuff is done. I've done more squats and lunges in the last few weeks than I've done in maybe my whole life! I'm hoping that extra strength will come in handy in running both up 6th Avenue...I hope.
• I know this not-running-thing is the right thing to do, but the not-running-thing is sooooooooooo hard. I wanna run, just a mile, even on the 'mill, just to make sure I remember how.

Not much else to report - no running, more biking, no new bike yet. Got lots of blog reading to catch up on, but that'll probably have to wait until tomorrow...gotta prep for class now!

And since today is Wordless Wednesday, and I have way too many words, I'll leave you with this...

What a good uncle...

Foto Friday - My Bush

Some confessions...

• Alice is not my real name (AkaAlice - get it?)
• Alice is a pseudonym that was given to me by my husband, Walter (also not his real name). He started calling me this when we were driving through Texas and Mississippi the summer before we got married, and shall we say that I was NOT a happy camper in all that heat and humidity. Thus, "Alice" (like Ralph Kramden, "to the moon Alice") was born.
• I'm not sure how I came up with Walter. It just seemed to go with Alice.
• Alice is also my heffer name. We all have pseudonyms...This all happened before I started blogging.
• My real name is Cindi (many of you already know this because I befriended you on Facebook and had to explain who I was).
• When you gotta pee, you gotta pee...

So now there's this...

Betty made this sign to identify the "bush" that I had to use as a potty stop a few weeks back before a long bike ride (probably the last flat tire incident ride). It's located next to the freeway and is also a great place to park, so Mik started calling it Cindi's bush...

As in..

• We'll meet at Cindi's bush
• We'll start the ride from Cindi's bush

Nice...

So now it has a sign. If you're in San Diego, you can find it on Santa Fe street, behind the In-and-Out Burger (and for those who are not from SoCal or the West, yes that is the real name of the burger place and it has NOTHING to do with the bush).

Oh yeah...Clarence and I rode 25 miles this morning, including up Torrey Pines! Betty and Mik rode a bit farther 45 miles - up to Carlsbad and back!! We came back and had mimosas, so all is good with the world.

I promise to stop whining about my injuries...and thanks to everyone who has been so kind and supportive and completely wonderful in their comments. Running bloggers are the best (or blogging runners I suppose!)

Happy 4th everyone!
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Some unattributed footnotes (for Glavin)

* There's a great giveaway today on Tall Mom on the Run's Blog. Check it out!!!!

** I'm also linking back to NikeMom's Foto Friday, which is being hosted this week by Michelle at Running Down a Dream (great blog name BTW)!

*** This is probably the last time you'll see me reference my real name on this blog, unless of course something else gets named after me.

Extremities

Just a quick post (yeah...we'll see about that) just to update on some things that I've been twittering (tweeting?) and posting about on Facebook.

One...The Bike

I found a fabulous bike that I want. WANT. WAAAAAAANT. And heck. It only costs $1200 (on sale).

Isn't she purdy? It's a Trek 2.1 Triple WSD. Does anyone have an opinion? You can also check it out here.

So, I've been doing a fair amount of riding this week on my old-trusty-transformed-used-to-be-a-mountain-bike-that-now-has-road-bike-tires bike and my HANDS are freekin' killing me! WTF is that about?

Hands? Feet? Next it'll be my hair follicles and then all my extremities will be injuried. GAH! Seriously bike folks, what is up with the hands?

Two - The PT Appointment

I finally got in to see a physical therapist yesterday at Rehab United (RU). I was supposed to see someone on Tuesday, but I made the appointment when I was at the beach with Betty last week, and somehow I entered the wrong time on my iPhone, so I missed the appointment. GAH!!!!!

The good news is that I rescheduled the appointment (after apologizing profusely, even though I still don't know how I could have entered the wrong time...3pm instead of 9am...which is crazy. I would have had a whole different thought process about how to manage a 9am appointment than a 3pm one...and I was completely thinking about afternoon the whole time...but whatever) for the next day (after extreme whining about not wanting to wait until next Tuesday!).

Anyway, for the 3pm/9am appointment, I was going to work with a newer PT. Yesterday's appointment I got to work with one of their senior PTs and he was completely awesome! (There. I got to that point).

He had to do a quick screening (a little frustrating since I'd already done a screening appointment, but whatever), watching me walk, do squats, balance on one foot, then the other... He came up with pretty much the same diagnosis as the screening PT, that my PF issues (and my IT issues back in January) stem from the fact that my left side is really weak.

We did one exercise where, lying on my side, I did a leg lift, tried to push up as Brian (the PT), pushed down. On my right side, no problem. On my left side...I could barely even hold up my leg, let alone against Brian's pushing down.

I was pretty surprised by how weak my left side is, but it certainly explains all the problems I've been having.

So, I'm going to start seeing Brian three mornings a week for the next few weeks to see if we can strengthen the left side AND to get rid of the PF. (Yeah!)

The best part about going to this place (which both Irene and Edith completely recommended to me...so thank you Irene and Edith), is that Brian completely got it...the whole thing about running and me. He was talking to an intern that it was great to work with people like me who were highly motivated to get better (yes, I'm rolling my foot over the frozen ice bottle as I write this). He didn't laugh or even bat an eye when I said my goal was to run the AFC 1/2 marathon in 6 weeks. He just said, "OK then, that's the goal. You can do it!"

He did say that I probably should stay away from running for a bit longer (since it still hurts to walk since the surfing incident, I wasn't surprised and was ready for this), but then he acknowledged that I have to do something to keep getting the endorphin high that I'm used to getting from running.

Now, this is the part where I almost cried, because he understood.

We talked about how not running has been like coming off a drug and that I need to find something to get that high...we talked about biking and swimming (which I've been doing) and maybe water jogging (which sounds dreadfully boring, but I could do it).

But we also talked about how probably, for me, those things wouldn't give me quite the same emotional, physical, and social satisfaction that running has giving me.

And, he's right. And that's when I could feel myself choking back the tears, because I physically and emotionally miss running.

Not to mention socially...I miss running with my friends.

He explained to the intern that running probably changed my life.

It did. In more ways than I can even articulate.

I haven't run for 12 days now (yes, I'm counting). I've been cranky and sullen. I'm eating waaaaaaaaaaay too many comfort foods (for me...that would be chocolate and anything that's bread). It's probably a good thing I was sick last week or lord knows how much wine I would be consuming.

I fret about going back to being a non-runner, about being non-active...pretty much like I was before four years ago when I was fat and lazy and really out of shape.

Evidence - Ignore the fabulous overalls...it was a popular look then...really!

Yeah...that's me... DramaGirl and her uncle are in the water in front of me. Walter and Turbo are in the background. I'm sure he's thinkin' "who's that fat chick?" (Just kidding...he'd NEVER say or think that. Actually when we were looking at these photos, he blamed the photographer for making me look so bad, and trust me I look this bad in ALL of them)

This was taken about 9 years ago, Turbo was about 18 months old. We were at a rock-slide park near Sedona, Arizona on a family vacation. Everyone was having a really good time sliding down these really slippery moss covered rocks into this larger pond, but not me. I wouldn't have dared. Not only because I would have NEVER been seen in public in a bathing suit, I was completely afraid of anything that required physical effort, mostly because I was weak. I'm struck by how, in this photo, I'm not even paying attention to the people around me. I was completely focused on how freekin' difficult it was to walk around, and in truth how miserable I was because everyone else was having fun in the water and I was on the sidelines, watching.

I remember this vacation quite well...one of the things I remember (besides being absolutely fabulous in the denim overalls) was how many active things I wouldn't do. Just doing this hike was a complete effort. I'm sure I got back to the hotel and ate a mountain of food, justified because I'd just gone on a hike...

This is my fear. That I won't be able to run...and I'll become THAT person again.

There's still this little voice inside me that says that all of these injuries are a sign that I really should be THAT person. I mean, who am I kidding with all this running, active lifestyle stuff anyway.

I'm pretty sure I'm not THAT person any longer. But it is part of the reason I almost cried yesterday when Brian was, oh so accurately, telling the new intern how important running had become to me...and I thought, "oh, if he only knew...if he only knew."

Yeah...even with the quirky foot, this is ME!

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OK...Gotta go now, but stay tuned on Twitter. I'm taking Turbo and friends bowling this morning. I'm sure it'll be a fun-filled morning for me!