Too Funny Not to Share

Tired of the campaign rhetoric, the commercials, the call in shows, the newspapers, the debates, the phone calls, the signs....





So you turn to Dancing With The Stars for a little mindless relaxation and what do you find?

• Back and hip still hurting, sans running
• Appt with ortho in less than a week
• A little nervous there will be no answers but there's no sense in worrying about it
• Really don't want to bore anyone with my whining
• Swimming 3 - 4x per week.
• I hate counting laps but I think 30 minutes is around a mile.
• Last night I did 32 minutes of continuous swimming.
• I get a foot cramp at 25 minutes every single time I swim. What up?
• I attempted a couple flip turns - they quickly reminded me of the decade or two that have passed since being competitive. hee hee
• I bought some flip flops for keeping at the gym. Somehow I thought I bought 8's and got home with 11's :S
• Rough start to the Viv Weight Loss Challenge but I think I've righted the ship.
• I'm thinking of dressing as a scary Cavewoman for Halloween and suprising the kids. I could use a little club right now.
• Took my little one to the ISU game last weekend on a date.
• We lost but I had the time of my life dancing and cheering with a 3 year old.

The Plan in Bullets

hMy doc and I have agreed that I will see an ortho guy who does a lot of hips (here to for referred to as He Who Does Hips, only because I couldn't think of a cool symbol). :D @ this maybe?
+I don't see him until the 30th.
xIn the meantime, I am not running
(I'm sure you don't want to read my daily pain scale reports so I probably will not post very much.
IWe did join a gym with a pool right up the street so I am over the moon about that.
'I did 1250 tonight, kinda PO'd it wasn't 1600 but what do I know? I really haven't swam much in years.
JIt could easily have been 1600, I'm horrible at counting and didn't time it.
sI think it was around 35 minutes of swimming??
"My racing suit is still from another decade. eek
NNo amount of lipstick can really overcome my thighs in a decade old suit ;D

YOne minute they are crying and fighting, the next they are reading books and telling me about the Eiffel Tower.

Speed Round

• I'm here, I'm just swamped
• I'm also hurting and haven't felt like blogging
• I miss you all
• My corneal ulcer is now just a scar, but only after being "debrided". UGH.
• I've worn my contacts for a total of 4 hours. :D
• NYC was fun although I wasn't able to garner a blogger meet-up :(
• I could hole up at the Alex hotel for a month in Manhattan and be happy as a clam
• I'd love to do a "secondment" ( I had to look it up ) and at least be there a little.
• I also went to Chicago for a couple days for meetings
• My colleagues are so dang smart and it's usually a little daunting
• I haven't run in over a week
• I finally faced facts that my hip and back hurt almost all the time
• Apparently limping for the first 4 or 5 steps you take after any sitting isn't normal
• It's worse after sex
• This has been going on for a year
• I know, I know, I don't like to talk about it (one of the few things)
• I am saddened by my loss of mileage and endurance but I think I have to figure out what is wrong
• An MRI is probably next
• The words spina bifida were used about one part of one of my vertebrae in an xray overread- the guy said not remarkable, but STILL!!
• Muscular versus skeletal? Can't seem to make the call.
• It's hard to read marathon reports when I suck, but I still do read them. You guys really rock and I am so proud of you. And Tri people just rock times three :D
• We might join a gym that has a pool. I'm.so.excited.
• My baby finds out if his broken arm is healed tomorrow
• I am starting to realize what life is going to be like with two sports-minded little kids
• I wish the Cubs would win a game
• That's about it for now
• Thanks for friends who inquire if I am okay. :D I'm okay.

I'd Rather Be Running

My running pals had to meet without me as I made a semi-urgent visit to the eye surgeons. Holy crap. Surgeons?



Yep, it's a corneal ulcer. Something I should have never googled. Glasses and looking like a dork until Friday is nothing if this thing will heal. I don't like some of the alternatives.



I will definitely keep you all posted.

That eye doctor took forever to see me.

By the way, totally off the subject but.....

Is anyone using iGoogle yet? OMG. I.LOVE.IT.ALMOST.AS.MUCH.AS.TIVO.

DOathlon for Life

DOathlon for Life sponsered by the local Osteopathic Society.

Amy had the duathlon on the schedule and got her husband to agree to do it with her. She was asking me to also, but I really am not properly bike equipped. In the end, I agreed to do one of the legs for her Hub and we became Team Underdog. Note the resemblance :D

It was a good thing to get my feet wet with one leg only. I am not really duathlon material either. We had quite the laugh checking out all the zero body fat hardcores and trying to find any one who even looked normal or.... like us. HA HA. None of them even wear lipstick. Can you imagine? I wish we had a picture of the bikes, the seats were the tiniest little slivers, I do not understand it!

Anyway, Amy and I did the first 5k and it was pretty respectable for me. I think we were in the 32:45 neighborhood. I'll take it.

I don't know how she did it, but Amy went on to the horrible head winds and hills of the bike leg and came back with an even quicker 5k. My hero!! Jim did a great job on the hills and the last 5k also and as Amy noted on her blog, NONE OF US WERE LAST !! After my leg, the DO students gave me quite the work over and I became their teaching case. Oh, look at her flexibility. Are there any tendons in there? Can you say hyperextension? How many times have sprained this ankle? Are you always that tentative when you roll over? Can you balance on one leg? Does this hurt? Anything in the name of science. :D

Last night I got a corneal abrasion, so PT and running are on hold for today. Nothing serious, I should be fine in a day or two. Tomorrow, an official meeting of the EWF running club!! Can't wait.

Mental Notes of a NonRunner

Caught up on a very few blogs last night.
Raring to go
I miss running
54 gorgeous degrees
I need my favorite nike 50 degree outfit
Where is my favorite nike outfit
Oh my god, i've lost my favorite outfit
There are like 5 pairs of gross shorts in this drawer I never wear
Goodwill calling
This cute white running skirt is just slightly too big and doesn't look right
I wonder if anyone would want it (it's a white skirt with pink piping from Target, XL) Vanilla? anyone? Bueller?
Okay, I'll wear lime green but I'm not happy
I love that nike outfit
The landscapers are here to do the rock wall
I'm so excited

It is gorgeous out!
How far can I go
Which way should I go
I never plan a route any more since garmie
It's usually sort of dangerous, I end up dying miles from home
I should be able to do 4 without dying since it is cooler
I'm going to do the clover, in reverse
I feel great
I love running over the interstate
I've really missed everyone
I can't believe the miles everyone is putting in
I'm not crazy busy like I can't stand it
Life is really good busy right now
Someone is adding an entire story to their house
Ouchie twinge in my left foot

Why did I think I was all hot and have to wear those heels all day

Why did I do this run backwards

I had a reason for doing it the other way

I guess I could turn around and make it 2.5 miles

Do I have to forget practically everything I know and keep re-learning it?

Don't I always say, if you learned something it's not a bad run?

The clover is cool (run plotted around an interstate clover) but that bridge up and over looks like a freaking mountain

Jess looked cool in her bowling shirt

I told her I'd like to be that tiny for a day but I'd probably be unbearable

I'd be all like, I'm so hot

I'm too sexy for my shirt

I'm too sexy for my car

I'm too sexy for my love

I'm too sexy for this run

shut up, it got me up the mountain

hey, I still have energy

oh yeah, I ate some, um, extra carbs around midnight

no wonder I have so much freaking get up and go

4 miles and still running, uncharted territory at least for the last couple weeks

I wonder if anyone is doing that 101 day challenge
My hip is hurting
It feels like a vice around it
I really gotta get those xrays to PT guy and get back
Pain into my left quad
Hey, at least I have a quad
4.5 and a couple block walk
Sad that I'm a little gimpy
The rock wall looks fabulous
I'm too sexy for the landscapers
The dogs go wild
Powerade Zero rocks

I wonder what Brendan James will be like tonight.

4.5 miles ~ 57:17 ~ 12:43 pace
Random thoughts, courtesy of busy half assed runner data geek pharmacist girl soccer mom.
Yes, I wore lipstick Y

And tomorrow, it's EWF and maybe a couple newbies...

Still Struggling to be a Runner

I'm here, and I'm missing all of you, life is just winning out right now.

The Kindergartner broke his arm about a week ago but it hasn't been as bad as we thought. No cast, just a brace and no restrictions. The Hub and I were seriously excited as he started soccer and football and is such a sports hound. We understood how much it was going to suck way more than he did. Thankfully, just the brace...

About a week ago, I also tried to "go long" well, longer than 5 anyway. Amy had told me she did 9 and I was all like, "damn, girl, I've got to get out there." Well, it was pretty much a disaster very similar to Nitmos' Mirage post where he fell in love with the water at the laundro mat. I went out in the heat of the day and did great for 3.5 and then fell apart. I was about 2 miles from home and seriously delusional. Hee hee. I thought about drinking water from hoses, knocking on the old babysitter's door who I haven't seen in about a year, and even considered dousing my head in the scary gas station bathroom. In the end, I death marched it home and decided I better stick to some 3's and 4's for now. .

Amy and I then met for 3 last week and did an amazing clip (for us). I was esctatic at the company and the pace.

We had quite a fun weekend with ISU tickets and friends here and the 1 mile challenge. Our kids are members of the little clone club so we got to go out on the field with them and make a tunnel for the players. It was their first big football game experience. They were quite impressed with the "tailgating" which we had to explain and the smoke the players emerged from. Looking forward to lots more fun with them as they discover sports. As I said to a friend, "it's all sports, all the time around here." The Kindergartner also got to go see our friend's son play in a Grandview College Soccer game. It's amazing the things these kids get to do at 5, eh? (The picture is the soccer player and my son after the soccer game.) (Razz, do you remember Curtis Craig? That's his son!! His mom is my good friend and now their son is going to college in Des Moines)

Also this weekend, I really wanted to support Reid in his 5 minute mile challenge. I was going to shoot for a 10 minute mile which should be totally do-able. First I went out with the little one and he was driving his John Deere Gator around our circle - 4 laps would be a mile. It was his big thing since the older one got to go to the soccer game.... Thing is, he's a little herky jerky and I had my knees clipped a few times as he stopped abruptly in front of me. Three year old drivers, go figure. We did go around 4 times, but it was an unacceptable "race." Although I did consider that Reid would totally approve of a family event no matter the time.

We parked the gator and headed up to Valley High School Track about a mile from my house to have another go at it. This time we brought the Harley big wheel, my garmin and a parachute launcher (to celebrate afterwards!). I decided to run fast but not kill myself. I really have no idea how to pace it to go right up to the edge but have enough for a whole mile.

The track was nice and the little one did about a quarter of the track to each of my laps. We chatted and encouraged every time I passed him, not sure who was prouder. Unfortunately I did have a mishap, I was lollygagging at a car going by and stepped too close to the edge of the track. Down I went. Well, Reid got bit by a dog in one of my races so I guess I will provide the drama this time.

Got back up and kept moving but I knew I wasn't quite going to make a 10 minute mile. I ended at 10:07, slightly disappointed. I know this isn't my best as I have run faster miles in a 5k but that is where I was at yesterday and it was pretty fun to have the little harley rider there. He made it all the way around and was SO proud. We launched the parachute guy out of the tube a few times and watched him float back to the ground as we sat in the middle of the track. Good stuff.

I think I might do this 1 mile challenge a little more often. I know I have a 9 something in me.

What a weekend!! Thanks everyone for wondering about me. And BIG CONGRATs TO REID who did make his 5 minute mile!!!!