Putting a toe out of line.

Toe protection: my new best friend.

Meet my new summer shoes: the (very comfortable) Keen Baha, featuring their patented toe guard. Those of you who know me personally probably know that I am not a fan of wearing gym clothes outside of the gym. Nor am I usually a fan of athletic footwear as everyday footwear. So, what has me wearing hiking sandals to work and to summer parties? The same thing that knocked me out of my scheduled tri on June 2nd: a little accident involving my toes.

All through May, I kept meaning to update this blog and share what Andrew and I were (and weren't) doing to get ready for the Rock Hall Sprint Triathlon. In particular, I wanted to share that we participated in a terrific open water swim clinic on May 18th (info on future clinics by that company here). I also wanted to tell you all about my amazing trip to the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, NC, aka: the most fun place on Earth. I was eager to share how I'm doing with my ActiveLink activity monitor (pretty well, thank you) and my increased food and veggie consumption (okay, but striving for better). I never got around to writing those updates because I was too busy running around doing all of this great stuff. Then, I hit a wall... or, more specifically, a door.

Warning: I am not going to post any gross pictures here (you're welcome), but the next few paragraphs may not be suitable for the squeamish. If this applies to you, the sanitized version is that I had a freak accident involving a door which resulted in two banged-up toes and one lost toenail. Now, you can skip to "End of gross story". The non-squeamish can read on:

On Thursday, May 30th (3 days before Rock Hall), I was attending an all day continuing ed event at my clinic's flagship office. This particular office houses a  portion of our residential treatment program, so it has features like a gym and a cafeteria, and all the doors are big and heavy for security. I was just finishing up a pleasant lunch with some co-workers, when my colleague Jen and I decided to return to the cafeteria and pick up some snacks for the afternoon. When I opened the cafeteria door, I opened it over my right foot. It really hurt, but I thought it was an "I stubbed my toe" hurt- as in, "this really hurts right now, but it will pass in a second." So, aside from some mental cursing, I didn't say anything. Jen had no idea anything was wrong until a couple minutes later, when I looked down at my foot and realized that two of my toes were purple and bleeding. Fortunately, this particular office also has a nurses' station. I flagged down another colleague who has worked in that office and said "Do you know if its okay for adults to go to the nurse? I think I have a problem." He took one look at my foot and very chivalrously walked me straight to the nurse.

At the nurses' office, a very kind nurse cleaned, examined, and bandaged my foot. Thankfully, I didn't appear to have any broken bones or cuts that required stiches. I had a cut/bruise combo on my 3rd toe, and the nail on my 2nd toe was partially pulled off. As soon as I got a good look at those injuries, I thought "Uh-oh. This might not be good for an open water swim." At that point, it hadn't even occurred to me that running or biking that weekend might be too painful (triathletes sneer at pain), but I was concerned about bacteria from the water getting into my cuts (a very real risk in open water swimming). I told the nurse about the upcoming race and asked if she had any advice about waterproof bandages or other coverings. Given that she was filling out an "occurrence report" for HR/Workman's Comp at that moment, I expected an evasive non-answer. Instead, she actually thought about it and said "I can't tell you whether or not its safe to swim, but you might want to pick up some 'finger condoms' at a drug store. I can't remember the real name, but they are designed to protect wounds on fingers and they would probably work on toes too."

So, that afternoon, I limped into Rite Aid in search of waterproof bandages, "finger condoms," Neosporin, and some antibacterial soap for soaking my foot at night. Sure enough, I found what the nurse had described right away: 

The real name for them is "finger cots," and they really are little condoms you can put on your fingers or toes. I went to work Friday morning, wearing bandages and finger cots on both toes, feeling ridiculous, but protected. In fact, when I got home on Friday afternoon, I learned that the finger cots had formed such a tight seal that they cut off my circulation! My toes were a little swollen, but clean and dry. I thought I might be okay for the swim... and then things got worse.

My mother stopped by to check on me Friday afternoon, just as I taking off the bandages and investigating my foot. I was sitting on the couch, talking to her and not paying close attention, when I lifted up my unbandaged foot and knocked it right into the coffee table. This is something I probably do 3-5 times a week on our big, heavy coffee table, and its usually no big deal. Of course, I usually don't have a toenail that's barely hanging on. Warning: this is where it gets really gross. After kicking the table, I looked down and saw that my toenail had opened like a window and my toe was covered in blood. I think both Mom and I went into a little bit of shock, but I was able to give her instructions and she was able to follow them. She got my foot-soaking basin and filled it with water so I could wash off the blood. Then, she got me some Advil for the pain and a pair of tweezers so I could get a closer look at the toenail itself. Once I willed myself to grab the nail with the tweezers, I realized that it was 99.9% detached, so I took a deep breath and just pulled it off. Mom went out and got me some more supplies, so I could clean and wrap it. As gross as it was, I was actually a little relieved. I didn't kick that table very hard, which tells me that nail was going to get kicked off sooner or later. I'm happy it happened at home and at a time when I had someone there to help.

End of gross story.

When I woke up Saturday morning, I was pretty sure my Rock Hall race plans were over, but I couldn't let it go without at least trying. After changing my bandages, I gingerly put on socks and running shoes and went outside to see if I could run. I went up and down the street a couple times, and it was painful, but bearable. Then, I tried putting on my bike shoes (which are much harder) and walking around the house. Again, painful but bearable. This was frustrating. If the pain had been awful, my decision would have been easy. Instead, I was stuck with "Maybe I could do this, but should I?" Andrew very patiently helped me think through the pros and cons:

Pros:

-I would get to do the race and feel like a badass for pushing through a (disgusting) injury.

Cons:

-I might be in so much pain that the race would be miserable.
-I might be in so much pain that I would have to drop out of the race.
-I might get an infection from bacteria in the water.
-Running and biking might make my injuries worse and put me out of commission for races later in the month (including one of the Champ Series races).

Once I laid it all out, the right decision was obvious. It just wasn't worth the risk. The possibility of missing the next Champ Series race (which is on 6/16) really made the decision for me. As much as I didn't want to miss the tri, I really don't want to miss out on my 4th IronMan award by having to skip a Champ Series race. So, I put away my gear and focused on being Andrew's lead cheerleader/equipment manager for his first tri.

Bright and early Sunday morning, Andrew and I arrived in Rock Hall for the race. It was a beautiful place and a perfect day for racing. I was very glad that I had left my own equipment at home because I definitely would have thrown caution to the wind and tried to race if I had the opportunity. It was warm and sunny with clear skies and what felt like just a little wind... until we got to the water. Down in the harbor, the wind was serious and the water was super-choppy. I got really scared and I can only imagine how Andrew was feeling. Then, we noticed people jumping into the water to warm up. I had never seen people do this at a tri before, but I immediately told Andrew to join them. I wanted him to see how rough the conditions really were so he could prepare himself. He jumped in, paddled around a bit, and came out with good news: it wasn't nearly as bad as it looked. He was visibly relaxed, which calmed me down too.

Ready to race!

Still, I didn't really relax until Andrew finished the swim. His parents came up to watch the race, and we nervously stood at the docks until he came out... running!

Looking good!

 He looked better than I usually look at the end of a swim, and he did a pretty quick transition onto the bike. 45 or 50 minutes later, we had another period of worry. Andrew had exited the water just after our Striders' buddy, Noreen. So, when we saw Noreen come in from the bike leg, we expected Andrew to be right behind her. When we were still waiting 10 minutes later, I got worried that he had a flat. I found out later that he hit a big headwind in the last 5 miles. The headwind was rough on everyone, but especially on Andrew who had very little training on the bike. Finally, he made it in and headed out for the run. A little over 30 minutes later, we saw him round the final corner and sprint for the finish:

Here he comes!

I was so excited for him, and even more excited that he didn't say "Hell, no!" when I asked him if he would do another tri one day.

My triumphant husband.

In fact, Andrew is already signed up for another tri. By the time we got home from Rock Hall, I was determined to make up for my missed race somehow. I had heard of a small, first-time sprint tri happening near our house on June 30th (details here), but I hadn't signed up because two triathlons in one month felt both expensive and crazy. Now, this race would be my chance for redemption. I signed up a couple days later, and Andrew signed up too!

Of course, as soon as I signed up for the 6/30 race, I started to worry. What if my foot isn't better in time? For a few days, it wasn't looking good. As the cuts on my toes healed, the pain actually got worse. I only tried minimal exercise most of last week, and it was rough. Then, this past Saturday, I tried getting on a treadmill for the first time. Initially, it looked bad. It hurt just to lace up my shoes and walk to the treadmill. The first few minutes of walking on the treadmill hurt, but I gradually upped the speed and the pain gradually went away. After 20 minutes, it didn't hurt at all. I was even able to do some military-style pushups (aka: on my toes) afterward. I think that running actually stretched out the skin around the wounds and relieved some pressure. Two days later, it still feels better.

So, I am not expecting to PR in my race on 6/16 or in my tri on 6/30, but I am expecting to get across the finish line and be grateful for it!

Special deliveries.

I am currently run-down with a cold and an intense job hunt, which are hampering both my training and my blogging. I have been trying to calm my anxiety by reminding myself that I still have nearly a month (29 days, to be precise) before the marathon- plenty of time to bounce back! My mail, however, is not cooperating with this anxiety reduction plan.

Yesterday, I came home and found this in my mail pile:

That's the official NYC marathon runner's handbook, complete with this terror-inducing map:

See what that is? Its all of NYC. I probably wouldn't try to drive that in one day, but apparently I am going to run it.

Today, I got more marathon-related mail:

This is my one-of-a-kind, extra-special marathon shirt, designed by the lovely and talented Rachel Pollack of St. Lydia's. The front is awesome, but the back is even better:

How great is that? I hope and expect that any runner who sees that after about mile 15 will think "These St. Lydia's people know exactly what I need right now!"

While these special deliveries are a little scary, they are also very exciting. Once I kick this cold, I hope they will give me the boost I need to finish my training strong. This is going to be an amazing experience, and I want to be able to enjoy it!

Remember to visit St. Lydia's at http://www.stlydias.org/ and offer your support through a visit, a prayer, and/or a donation!

Running through fog.

Ever since I returned from Houston, I've been battling... something. I'm not sure if I have a cold or if I'm experiencing severe seasonal allergies. Today is day 8, and I have a doctor's appointment later to hopefully find out what's going on. The symptoms have varied from day to day and included just about everything: sore throat, headache, fatigue, congestion, coughing and sneezing.

This weekend, it was sneezing. I took several half-days from work last week and went to bed on Friday night feeling pretty lousy. This made me worried about my planned 10-miler with Katie on Saturday morning. Fortunately, the run went well. I felt okay Saturday morning, and I felt great once we got outside and got moving. We took a bit of a scenic route. First, we went from my house to a nearby park, where we stopped a few times to admire a turtle, the water and a sculpture garden. Then, we left the park and ran downtown, where we stopped to greet some friends who had just completed TriRock Annapolis. Finally, we took a meandering route home through my neighborhood of Eastport, stopping a few times so I could show Katie the local sights. With those few short breaks, 10 miles felt totally doable and both Katie and I ended the run feeling more confident about our upcoming half.

Saturday afternoon, I helped my mom shop for clothes to wear to my graduation this weekend. That may have been overkill. By early evening, the fatigue and the sneezing had started. I went to bed around 8pm, taking PM cold medicine so that I could stop sneezing and fall asleep.

Sunday morning, I awoke to a sneezing fit that lasted pretty much the whole day. It was miserable. I have suffered from seasonal allergies pretty much my whole life, but I recently found a combo of a prescription and a non-prescription medication that makes things a million times better. On Sunday, though, it felt like I hadn't taken anything. After going through an entire pack of tissues in church, I came home and took a Benedryl just to make it stop. Of course, this also knocked me out. Inconvenient, because I had my tri-training class at 4pm and we were scheduled to do speed work on an indoor track.

I woke up from my Benedryl nap at 3:30pm feeling groggy and slightly nauseous. The sensible plan would have been to stay home from the tri-training class. I resisted because (a) I paid for the class, and (b) we were running. After struggling through weeks of swim and bike workouts in which I am undoubtedly the worst student in the class, I was not about to miss the week focused on the one activity I can do. So, I headed to class in my Benedryl fog determined to just try my best.

When we had all assembled by the track, our coaches announced the workout. We were doing a warmup followed by a "pyramid" series of speed drills: 200 meters fast, 200 meters easy, 400 meters fast, 200 meters easy, 800 meters fast, 400 meters easy, 800 meters fast, 400 meters easy, 400 meters fast, 200 meters easy, 200 meters fast, 200 meters easy. That works out to 1.75 miles fast with 1 mile of recovery. When I first heard this plan, my stomach did a little backflip. Once I got going, though, I experienced the same sensation I experience when I run after biking: the thrill of doing something I know how to do. I actually enjoyed the whole drill and got faster by the end. It took a good 25 minutes for my stomach to settle afterward, but it was worth it.

Of course, I woke up yesterday feeling lousy again and today is no better. Becoming active has added many wonderful things to my life, but it seems to have taken away my ability to take it easy when needed. I should work on that. Perhaps while I am resting, I will write to Benedryl and suggest that they launch a Groggy 5K. Or, even better, a Benedryl vs. NyQuil Battle of the Sleepy!

Quick updates.

The big news of the past few days is the Annapolis Striders' annual awards banquet, which happened last night. I'm going to give that its own post. Before I do, though, here are some updates on other things:

-My neck: I spent most of Tuesday experimenting with various neck pain remedies, including ibuprofen, ice, a prescription gel for tendinitis, and my beloved IcyHot. In the end, the most effective thing turned out to be this Ironman Muscle Rub Gel. I had a sample from a race goodie bag (either Baltimore Half or MCM) and it was surprisingly effective (even better than the prescription stuff!). By Wednesday, the neck was feeling much better, but I still skipped Group Power because I didn't want to risk straining it further. By Thursday, it felt pretty normal again, though it definitely hurt a bit after Boot Camp and after I did an 11-mile run Saturday morning. So, I'm going to take it a bit easy on the weights this week just in case.

-Weight Watchers: I seem to be on a bit of a plateau. I weighed in four times in February, and the weights were as follows: 151, 151.5, 151, and 151. So, the good news is that I'm not gaining, but I clearly need to step things up a bit if I want to get out of the 150's anytime soon.

-MCM 2011: This week, I had to decide whether or not to register for the Marine Corps Marathon in 2011. After much agonizing, I decided against it. Two major factors played into my decision. First, I am in the lottery for the NYC marathon. Its a longshot, but if I get into that, I would have to defer MCM. With my very tight budget, I did not want to put out the nearly $100 for registration and take that gamble. Second, I am hoping that I will be able to save enough money to visit my former roommate Katie in Hawaii this December and run the Honolulu Marathon. So, I would rather my $100 go toward that goal. If neither of those things work out, I will just focus on my tri training this year and plan to do my second marathon in 2012.

-Contacts: Speaking of tri training, I am continuing in my quest to assemble everything I need to do Irongirl in August. Thus far, I have my registration, a couple books on training, a helmet, bike shoes, goggles, a swim cap, ear plugs, and registration for a local tri training group. This week, I added contact lenses to that list. I had a choice between contacts and a combo of prescription goggles and prescription sunglasses. The contacts seemed like the simpler and more economical option. Everything is relative though. While they may be simpler, they are certainly not simple, and while they may be more economical, they are certainly not cheap. This past week, I  had an initial eye exam and fitting, and then I went back a few days later to get the first pair and learn how to use them. The second visit was challenging. I have never liked anything touching my eyes, and that aversion got a whole lot stronger back in '00 when I had to have stitches on my left eye (see my 12/30/10 post). Thus, I had a terrible time getting the lenses in and an even worse time getting them out. What should have been a 1-hour visit stretched to over 2 and I needed a beer afterward (I think the doctor did too). Finally, though, I got sent home to practice on my own. It has not been easy, but it is getting easier.

Okay, I think that's everything leading up to the banquet. I will post about that soon, but first I have to put my contacts in and go celebrate my brother's 40th (!) birthday!

Choose your pun.

There are two options to cover the past few days:

1) Blowin' in the Wind: That about sums up this past Saturday's 12-mile run with the Striders' half-marathon training group. In case you were wondering what its like to run into 50mph winds, the answer is hard and a little frustrating. On the flipside, running with 50mph winds at your back is easy, but a little scary. I was actually worried about being blown over once or twice. Pretty amazing. This run was also challenging because I had not done a long run in a couple weeks. I was very grateful for Sunday afternoon's yoga class, which stretched my legs back to normal after a day and a half of tightness.

2) Pain in the Neck: This morning, I either pulled a muscle or pinched a nerve in my neck. At this point, you are probably expecting me to say that I did this while lifting weights, doing yoga, or engaged in some other strenuous activity. Sadly, that is not the case. I did it... washing my hair. That's right. I was shampooing my hair this morning when I apparently pushed my neck too far in the wrong direction and experienced some kind of pop/snap followed by intense pain. Thanks to my marathon training experience, I own a pharmacy's worth of prescription and non-prescription remedies for muscle problems, so I've been experimenting with them all day. Thus far, Advil + topical gel the doctor gave me for tendonitis + ice= some relief. It definitely feels better than it did this morning. Still, I don't know what my prospects are for the rest of the week's planned activities. Boo.  

So, I'm headed home now to apply some more ice and engage in activities that do not involve looking to the left. Shampoo carefully, friends!

Happy Friday!

Its been a very busy week. I spent Monday afternoon-Wednesday morning on a work trip to Philadelphia. It was a pretty good deal. In exchange for about 6 hours of work, I got the chance to take a friend to some terrific restaurants and visit one of my alma matters, Bryn Mawr College. Since I got back, I feel like I've been regrouping from an extended weekend. Other than the trip, there isn't much to report from this week, but a few things worth noting happened today:

This morning, I went back to the dermatologist to have the stiches taken out of my shoulder. I've had stiches removed twice before, both times from my eyelid, which was cut badly in a car accident. Having eyelid stiches removed is very painful and made me wary of having any other stiches removed. Fortunately, I learned today that having arm stiches removed does not hurt at all. Even better, my biopsy results came back a week early and I have no skin cancer at all, not even the benign kind. Whew!

Later in the day, I got inspired about Christmas gifts, so I used my lunch hour to do some shopping online. Somehow, between the online shopping and a little errand-run-with-detours that I made for the office, I covered nearly everyone on my list. It is November 19th and I am almost done Christmas shopping. For me, this is a Christmas miracle. I still have to face the "Christmas sweatshop" portion of the season, during which I make cookies and homemade gifts, but I vastly prefer that to the mall.

Finally, tonight is the premiere of the new Harry Potter movie! When Katie moved out, she left me a couple of free movie tickets she won playing bar trivia. I have been saving one for this very night.

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Negotiations.

On Wednesday night, the Annapolis Striders hosted a party to celebrate everyone who completed a marathon (or longer) this year. It was a really nice event, but I haven't uploaded the photos yet, so here is another photo from the day of the marathon. This was taken in the parking lot of the New Carrollton Metro station. I returned there the next day to go to dinner with some DC friends and parked in almost the exact same spot. As soon as I did that, my whole body tensed up. It was a total fight-or-flight/PTSD reaction. I had to tell myself "Its okay; we're not doing that again today." By that point, some kind of endorphin-induced euphoria had made my brain forget the most difficult moments of the marathon, but my body definitely remembered!

Yesterday (Thursday), I went to the dermatologist to have a weird mole removed from my shoulder. The post-removal recovery instructions they gave me say that I should avoid "vigorous activity" for 6 weeks! Seriously? Its a mole! I had an organ removed and was back in the gym the next week!

There was a time in my life, not that long ago, when I would have responded to a prescription of taking it easy for 6 weeks with a simple "done." But things have changed. The words were barely out of my doctor's mouth when I began negotiating: "What do you mean by 'vigorous'?" "How much weight is too much to lift?" "The mole was on my shoulder, so I can still run, right?" And, of course, the most important question: "What is the worst that could happen if I push it?" 

Fortunately, my doctor is a runner and triathlete herself, so she understands. Very patiently, she told me that it is her ethical responsibility to tell me to take it easy for 6 weeks, but she also gave me a rough breakdown of the actual risks if I ignore her advice. In the beginning, they are pretty bad: popped stiches, infection, a re-opened wound. I don't want any of that. After awhile, though, the taking it easy just becomes a way to reduce scarring. At that point, in the words of my doctor, "its a matter of tradeoff." Personally, I couldn't care less about having a scar from a 6mm incision. The scar will almost certainly be more attractive than the ugly mole it will replace.

So, it sounds like I'm out of Group Power and boot camp for at least a week, until the stiches come out. After that, I probably need to drop back my weights for at least another week or two. This is inconvenient since this session of GP (which I love) is all about increased weight, but I'll survive. Also, I'm allowed to run, bike, and do lower-body stuff to my heart's content as long as I keep the incision site clean and dry. All in all, not terrible news.

Here's hoping that my next blog entry will not be titled "How I popped a stich and got chewed out by my dermatologist."

What does the appendix have against marathons?

This is a photo of Sarah and Ryan Shay, a pair of brother and sister runners whose stories I have followed in Runners World and various other running media for awhile now. In 2007, Ryan Shay (who was 28) dropped dead from heart failure during the Olympic marathon trials, held on the same course as the NYC marathon. In the years since her brother has died, Sarah Shay has gone through a divorce and been diagnosed with lupus.

Faced with all of this misfortune, what did Sarah Shay decide to do? Run a marathon for charity! As she shares in this article, she had a dream during one of her lowest periods in which her brother encouraged her through a difficult race. With her brother as her inspiration, she ran her first marathon in February and raised $13,000 for a charity that supports wounded veterans. The response to her efforts spurred her on enter the 2010 NYC marathon with the goal of raising $26,200. During that marathon, she would run past the exact spot where her brother died. Just as Katie and I set out to finish Dr. Murray's marathon, Sarah Shay wanted to finish her brother's. On November 4th, she told the New York Daily News: "I'll be excited and proud to run this marathon - one that (my brother) didn't get to finish... And in the end I will probably be bawling my eyes out."

Naturally, I can relate to this story and I have followed it with great interest. Unfortunately, I can now relate to it even more. As reported in this article, Sarah Shay started experiencing stomach pain on the morning before the marathon, and had to have an emergency appendectomy that night. She didn't get to run her race. When I read about this, my heart broke for her. I can recall perfectly the moment in late August when a doctor told me that my stomach pain was appendicitis and I thought I might not be able to run my race. I remember thinking about all of the people who were following my training and giving money to my cause, as well as all the hard work I had already put in, and I could not imagine not being able to run. I am so grateful that I was able to recover and get back in the game, and my heart goes out to Sarah Shay.

I hope that Sarah Shay will recover as quickly and fully as I did, and I really hope that she will be able to achieve her dream of finishing the NYC marathon in 2011. I put my name in the lottery for that race already, so if all the stars align, I might be there to cheer her on! I think a resounding chant of "Take that, appendix!" will be in order.

If you would like to donate to Sarah Shay's campaign, you can learn more about it at her website, http://www.runningforryan.com/.

Don't trip!

I have a co-worker who will be serving as maid of honor in her sister's wedding in early November. The other day, she told me that she is taking mega-doses of vitamin C every day until the big day because she is afraid of getting sick. I totally get that. I have only 10 days to go before the marathon, and the closer it gets, the more paranoid I become about illness and injury. I thought that having my appendix out during the heart of training gave me some karmic insurance against further problems, but the cold I had a couple weeks ago killed that theory. So, now I see potential hazards everywhere.

Recently, I saw a Facebook post about a girl who had to back out of her marathon when she hurt herself falling off a Bosu (see above). Guess what we use in our boot camp class every week? That's right, the Bosu. Guess who holds her breath every time she jumps up onto the Bosu? Of course, the Bosu is only one hazard among many. This morning, I survived the Bosu portion of the class and then tripped doing drills on a step. I don't know whose heart was beating faster at that moment- mine, or my boot camp instructor's. She has been super-supportive throughout my training and I know she does not want me hurting myself on her watch. I may just strap on some padding and a helmet for the next week and a half.

On a more positive note, the donations are pouring in! I am only $685 away from my personal goal of $2500. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has donated! If you are still planning to contribute, you have until 10/31 to do it online. If you can't remember whether or not you already donated (a few people has asked about that) let me know and I can look it up.

Is nobody healthy?: Metric Marathon 2010

As I mentioned in my last post, my fall race season began in earnest this morning with the Annapolis Striders' Metric Marathon. A "metric marathon," as the name suggests, is a 26.2K race, which comes out to 16.3 miles. Pretty much the exact distance I failed to run last week, a thought which pushed me to work harder than usual on my weekday training this past week. 

Thursday, I had dinner with the lovely Katie Cashin and learned that she is currently struggling with a hip injury. Yesterday morning, I woke up with a sore throat, which quickly developed into a full-fledged cold. Yesterday afternoon, I logged onto Facebook and learned that Val fell and twisted her ankle on her Saturday morning run. What is going on? The month of the marathon arrives and we are all dropping like flies. I took some cold medicine and went to bed early, uncertain whether or not I would be racing today.

The alarm went off at 6am and it took a Herculean effort to drag myself out of bed. Once I did, though, I pretty much went into auto-pilot. I started the teapot to make some Thera-flu, put on my running clothes, and started packing my gym bag. I had to at least try to do the race. The Thera-flu and some breakfast were enough to get me to the race, and the pre-race crowd energy got me to the starting line.

For me, today's race was divided into two distinct sections: the part where I struggled to keep down breakfast and the part where my hip hurt like crazy. Miles 1-12 were all about fighting my cold. I spent about 1-7 in a dopey, nauseous fog, willing myself not to throw up and/or drop out. I kept thinking of my supervisor at the morgue, who told me about how she tells her body not to throw up whenever she faces anything particularly gruesome at work. She has developed an uncanny ability to give her stomach orders and have it obey. I tried employing that technique this morning and it seemed to work. Mile 7 was a milestone because, at that point, I decided that I had gone too far to drop out. Miles 7-12 were probably the best of the day, especially when I realized that I was actually hitting my time goals despite the illness.

Then, somewhere between miles 12 and 13, the hip pain started. This has been a problem for me ever since we passed the 14-mile mark in training. Whenever I pass 13 miles on a run, my left hip starts screaming in protest. To add insult to injury, I've done some online research on hip injuries and every website seems to agree that I should start doing exactly the strength exercises that I have already been doing for the past year. Helpful. The pain was really bad in miles 13 and 14, and I had to walk a fair amount. As I approached 15, though, it seemed to ease up (or perhaps the thought of finishing helped me push through it). I was able to run from the 15-mile marker to the finish, where the 3:10 on the clock told me that I had better-than-maintained my marathon goal pace of 12 min/mile. Hooray!

So, now I am home in bed awaiting pizza delivery because I don't have the strength to get to the grocery store. I wish I could say that I somehow ran down my cold, but that does not seem to be the case. Oh well. Best wishes and healing thoughts to Katie and Val! I hope that we can all meet at the starting line of the MCM smiling and feeling strong! 

On your marks...

Tomorrow is the first day of October, which means that the fall race season is about to kick into high gear. This Sunday, I'll be running the Annapolis Striders' Metric Marathon (about 16.6 miles), which will be my longest race to date and my longest before the marathon. In two weeks, Val and I (along with many other running buddies) are doing the Baltimore Half-Marathon. I remember watching that on the treadmill last year and thinking "I wonder if I could do that one day." If you had told me then that this year's race would actually be my fourth half-marathon, I would not have believed you! Then, I think we all know what's happening on October 31st (gulp). After that, I have a few short races in November and then my (hopefully) triumphant return to the Striders' Anniversary 15K in December. I did that one last year and it wasn't pretty, but I'll save that story for later.

A few updates:

Earlier this week, I got the above photo in the mail. This is me headed for the finish of the Parks Half-Marathon, 16 days after my surgery. I've never paid for one of these professional race photos before because they are crazy expensive, but I thought this was a memory worth preserving. I think I will put it in a frame with an engraved plaque that says "walk it off."

After I wrote about my awful run last Saturday, I got word from many other running buddies that Saturday was an awful day for them too. Funny how these things can be contagious. The one person for whom it was not a bad day was Val, who placed first in her age group at a 10K! Amazing! Its incredible how much Val has improved since I met her in January, and I know how hard she worked to get where she is now. Inspirational.

Today, I awoke to find that monsoon season has arrived in Annapolis. My alarm went off at 5:30am and I should have gone to boot camp, but it was cold, dark, and pouring. The last thing I wanted to do was go outside, even just to go to my car. So, I turned off the alarm and the next thing I knew it was 8:15am, aka: the exact time that I am supposed to leave for work. D'oh! The moral of this story: don't skip boot camp!

Finally, the current combined donation total is $1670. We have progressed a lot in the past couple of weeks, but we have a long way to go to hit $5000. If you haven't donated yet, please do it now!

20398

That's the bib number I just downloaded from the MCM website. It will be my number on race day. I hope its a lucky one!

I'm in the middle of a pretty crazy week right now. I'm about to enter my busiest time of the year at work, school just started up again, and I'm gradually resuming the training schedule I was on before my surgery. My life is basically gym, work, school, eat, sleep, repeat. I do have a couple updates worth noting:

At this point, I feel pretty much healed. I don't have any pain in my incision sites any more. I am having some shortness of breath, but I think that's more about having missed 2 1/2 weeks than about the surgery. I'm back to my regular weights in Group Power and I even added a bit this week. I went back to boot camp this morning, which was super-hard, but again, I think that was more about the training break. My training group is doing 20 miles this Saturday, and I'm going to get as close to that as possible. Our schedule for the next four Saturdays is 20, 18, 20, 18. I may have to do 18, 20, 20, 18, but I think that's okay.

On Tuesday, I finally got around to uploading the Nike+ data from my race on Sunday, and I was a little surprised. As you may recall, I forgot my watch, so I had no way to gauge how fast I was going throughout the race. I felt like I went slow for miles 1-6, much faster for 7-10, and then slowest for 11-13. According to the Nike+, I ran a pretty consistent pace throughout. Miles 7-10 were about 10 seconds/mile faster than 1-6 and 11-13, which were all about the same. I suppose that this says good things about my ability to stick to a pace, even if my ability to gauge that pace myself is a little weak.  

This may be a good time to say how I feel about the Nike+ system, which I've been using since 2007. Nike+ involves a sensor that you put in your Nike+ shoe (or on the laces of your non-Nike shoe, using an unlicensed adapter). The sensor connects wirelessly to a receiver which is pre-installed in IPod Touch or IPhone. If you don't have an IPod Touch or IPhone (I don't), you can buy a receiver for an IPod Nano or one that comes in a wristwatch. I have both of the latter options. However you set it up, the functions of the Nike+ system are very basic: it tracks time, distance, pace, and calories. If you use it with an IPod, you can choose to have a voice update your progress throughout your run and you can download special workouts and playlists from ITunes. When you upload it, all of your data gets sent to a website, where you can look at graphs and stats from your runs and do some social networking. If you want, you can connect to sites like Facebook, Twitter, and DailyMile (that's how I get the ticker updating my mileage on this blog).

For me, the biggest selling point of Nike+ is the price tag. If you go with the wristband option, it will only cost you $59 plus the cost of the shoes. Even if you have to buy an Ipod and shoes, you'll spend less than you would for some of the mid-priced Garmin models. This is important for people like me who have a tendency to break small electronic gadgets (I'm on Nano #4 and wristband #2). The biggest drawbacks are the limited functions and the accuracy. Nike and IPod claim that the system will be perfectly calibrated for 95% of runners straight out of the box. I do not find that to be true at all. I have calibrated and re-calibrated numerous times and its still not always accurate. If you're just looking for basic data and don't mind a margin of error, Nike+ is probably a good fit for you.   

Okay, back to work and then off to class!

Take that, appendix!: the 2010 Parks Half Marathon

Last November, I ran my first race longer than a 5K. It was the 2009 Turkey Burnoff 5-miler, put on by Montgomery County Road Runners and held in Seneca Creek State Park. It was a great race in a beautiful park. During the race, I noticed hundreds of people wearing "2009 Parks Half Marathon" t-shirts. I deduced that this was another fall MCRR race, held in another beautiful park. I thought "Its too bad I don't run half-marathons because that's probably a fun race."

Little did I know that, just a couple months later, I would be training for my first half-marathon. Or that, just a few weeks after that, I would be crazy enough to sign up for a full marathon. I never would have guessed that the 2010 Parks Half Marathon would actually be my third half marathon. Funny how these things happen.

As late as this past Thursday, I didn't think I would be running at all. As I mentioned in previous posts, I've been mostly recovered from my appendectomy for about a week now, but I was still having pain at my incision sites when I tried to run. I really didn't want to bail on another race so soon after missing the A10. For the past week or so, I've been icing, taking Advil, eating tons of protein and carbs, resting, putting myself on prayer lists- anything I could think of. Something worked, because I went out for a test run yesterday, and had no pain at all. Game on!

I had to leave my house at 4:30 this morning in order to get parking and hit the last-minute packet pickup for this race. When I left, it was chilly and sheeting rain. Fortunately, by the time the race started, it had warmed up a bit and the rain had become a mere drizzle. The race started at the Rockville Metro station. At mile 2, we turned into Rock Creek park, which we ran all the way to Bethesda. The Rock Creek trail is narrow, so the race start was staggered by pace group. I put myself in the 11:15-12:00 group and stuck with them for the first 6 miles. Thanks to this slightly-slower-than-usual pace, I hit mile 6 feeling great, and decided to push it a little.

I really hit my stride for miles 6-9 and made my way to the back of the next group up. I passed a ton of people who had gone out too fast. Around mile 10, I started feeling like one of those people. I had to back off a bit for miles 10-12, but I managed to stay with my new group. Most of us picked it up in mile 13, especially when we passed a wonderful volunteer who let us know we were only 1/4 mile from the finish. I had inadvertantly left my watch at home, so I had no idea of my time as I approached the finish. I thought I might be on track to beat my best half time, 2:24, but wound up finishing at 2:35. I think I took it too easy in the beginning and too hard in the middle. Oh well. The park was beautiful and I felt 1,000 times better than I did during that half in July (shudder).

After the race, I met up with my friend Scott, who ignored my odor and took me out for a burger and a beer. The burger was some kind of CA inspired creation with avacado and sprouts. It would have been good under any circumstances, but after a long run it was unbelivable. As we ate, I thought about the fact that, just two weeks ago, I was stuck on my couch eating canned soup and icing my belly. Hooray for healing!

On the road again!

I like to think Willie Nelson and I have many things in common. For example, when we're not on the road, we can't wait to get back on it again. As of this morning, it had been three weeks since I did a long run. I had tried to run a few times since my surgery, but always had to stop because of pain at the site of one of my incisions. After two weeks of diligent icing and Advil-popping, I decided to give it another go this morning. Lo and behold, the pain was gone! I did 7 miles, which wasn't easy after all that time off, but gave me the confidence to attempt my scheduled race tomorrow. I'll let you know how that goes.

Another thing Willie and I have in common is that we both love this country, and we're especially fond of values like personal (including religious) freedom and tolerance. I hope we can all keep those values in mind today.

Good news and bad news.

This has been a week of good news and bad news. Good news: I'm back at work. Bad news: I am totally swamped from all my time off. Stuff like that. Here are some highlights:

Good news: I had a follow-up with my surgeon and I have been pronounced officially healed. The doctor is totally satisfied with my progress and says that I have "no restrictions" on what I can do. I've been able to return to Group Power and some other athletic activities. Bad news: I haven't been able to run yet. Even though I'm healing well, the sites of my incisions are still a bit swollen and tender, and the pounding of running causes significant pain. Its getting a little less every day, though, and I'm hoping I'll be able to get in a longish run this weekend. We'll see.

Good news: Over the weekend, I ran into a colleague from my first pseudo-counseling job, which I held from 2002-2004. I hadn't seen her in 3 or 4 years, and it was great to hear her news and also get caught up on events in the community where I used to work. Bad news: My former colleague informed me of the death of one of my most beloved former clients. She was a grandmother, raising her grandchildren after one of their parents died and the other was incarcerated. She was one of the strongest and most loving people I've ever known. I told her at our very first meeting that I was there to work for her, and she was humble enough to let me do that, despite being many years older than me and light years more experienced in life. At the same time, she found hundreds of little ways to let me know that she cared for me, as a professional and as a person. I've thought about her and her family thousands of times in the 6+ years since I last saw them, and the world feels just a little colder knowing that she's gone from it.

Finally, a piece of unambiguous good news: I saw a former clinical supervisor on Wednesday who knows about my marathon plans and about the appendix situation. I was updating her on my progress, and she commented that she had talked to her brother (a marathoner) about my situation and shared some of his advice. I was so unbelievably touched that this person had thought enough about my situation to actually talk about it with her family. It made me think about all of the people, throughout all the various nooks and crannies of my life, who are so invested in my marathon experience. I don't have adequate words to express how touched I am that so many people care so deeply about me and my journey. I truly feel like I will be running this marathon with a support team of hundreds. I can not thank all of you enough!

"It worries me."

If you've ever seen "Project Runway" (and if you haven't, you should), you've probably seen Tim Gunn say "it worries me" while making the face pictured above. 

I thought of this picture yesterday when I went out and attempted to run for the first time since my surgery. The good news is that my breath issues were not a problem. Owing in part to the dramatically cooler weather, I was able to walk briskly for a good 45 minutes. The trouble came when I tried to pick it up to a run. As soon as I did that, the pounding made my surgery incisions flare up painfully. I felt like I was getting hundreds of little punches in the gut. Not good. I didn't push it, because I know that will only make things worse. I think I'm just going to have to wait until things heal up a bit. Unfortunately, I am not a quick healer when it comes to things like cuts and bruises. I used to think it was anemia from all my years as a vegetarian, but the added iron I'm getting from eating red meat doesn't seem to be helping much. So, I'm worried. Next week's half-marathon is looking more and more like next week's $55 I can't get back. Boo.

As long as I can't spend two hours at the gym every day, I'm continuing to channel that energy into developing my beginner sewing skills. I've been working on sewing since mid-2008, when I started watching "Project Runway" and grew envious of the contestants who can make amazing things from scratch. I had an old sewing machine in my attic, something a former roommate purchased at a yard sale for $10 and never used. I pulled it out, ordered some simple sewing books, and spent a good couple weeks figuring out the machine's manufacture date and model number and then hunting down an old manual online. Just learning how the machine works and getting aquainted with the basic tools of sewing took a couple of months. Several times, I've been tempted to just fork over $200 for a newer machine, which would probably be infinitely simpler and easier to use. For some reason, though, I feel a strange loyalty to my early 70's avacado green Kenmore (see previous post for a photo). 

In the past two years, I haven't had the time I would need to devote to sewing to get good (or even competent) at it. Whenever I have blocks of free time though (holidays, blizzards, post-surgery recovery), I try to complete a simple project or two. Little by little, I'm starting to feel like I'm not totally lost, and that feels pretty good.

While I sew, I like to put on old seasons of "Project Runway" for inspiration. Its fun to watch the designers whip up evening gowns in the time it takes me to make a set of placemats or a tote bag. As I once told a friend, its like watching Julia Child while you microwave a burrito.

Less appendix= more free time.

Check out my new bag:

Wondering where I got it? I'll show you:

That's right- I made that bag myself! Its my biggest sewing project to date. In the seven days since I had my appendix out, I haven't worked out at all and I've only spent a little over four hours at work. I have slept about twelve hours a day; made the above-pictured bag; read four books so far; watched countless episodes of "Top Chef" and "Lost;" and made guacamole, blueberry cobbler, peach oatmeal crumble, salads that my mother said looked straight out of a restaurant, and (my new favorite) spaghetti with bacon and eggs. Its been a busy week off.  

As many of you know, I have ADHD (Attendtion Defecit Hyperactivity Disorder). It manifests for me in a variety of ways, but one is an insatiable need to always be doing something. When I was first diagnosed, my psychiatrist was trying to determine whether I had the inattentive or hyperactive version of the disorder, so she asked me how well I tolerate sitting still. I thought about it for a minute and replied (honestly) "I don't know, I don't really sit still long enough to find out." This disorder has provided plenty of challenges for me throughout my life, but I think it also makes me well suited for manic pursuits like my work/school combo and marathon training. 

Speaking of which... I still don't know how this whole experience will impact my training. All in all, I've felt pretty good this week. I've had almost no pain, but I have dealt with exhaustion and pretty severe shortness of breath (a side-effect of anesthesia). A few days puffing on this lovely device has restored my breathing to almost normal- at least indoors. Outdoors, the heat still leaves me out of breath pretty quickly. The combo of the exhaustion and the shortness of breath means that I haven't attempted to run or go to the gym yet. There's also the fact that I still have three wounds on my stomach healing. Despite the lack of pain, I can definitely feel that I had surgery in my abdomen just a week ago and I (obviously) don't want to risk messing anything up in there. 

So, I'm taking it easy, but I am very aware of the ticking of the training clock, and even more aware that I'm registered (and paid) for a half-marathon on September 12th. As a bonus, its a half with a strict cut off time of 2:45, which means that I couldn't just decide to walk the whole thing. I think I'm going to try a brief treadmill walk at the gym tomorrow and see how it goes. I have a follow-up appointment with my surgeon on Wednesday and I hope she'll give me some solid guidance then. She was very understanding about my desire to resume training as soon as possible. 

If, for some reason, I don't make it back to training soon, I'll be happy to take orders for tote bags, and maybe even decorative pillows!  

Goodbye appendix and A10.

So, this is something I only have in books now.

This past Wednesday night, I came home from work and made one of my favorite dinners: gnocchi with homemade pesto cream sauce and fresh green beans. The basil and spinach I used for the pesto were a little past their prime, but they looked okay and tasted fine, so I thought I was okay. After dinner, I went to the gym for Group Power and a short run. It felt way harder than usual and I wasn't feeling so hot, but I chalked it up to being overfed. I went home intending to get a few things done before a very busy Thursday, but wound up going almost straight to bed.

At about 3am Thursday morning, I woke up to horrible abdominal cramping and nausea. My first thought was that the pesto was bad, and I cursed myself for making a double-batch. I took some Advil and managed to fall back asleep. When the alarm went off at 5:30am for boot camp, the nausea was gone, but the cramping was still there. At that point, I thought I might have re-pulled my abdominal muscle at the gym. I decided to skip boot camp and go into work a little late. I went to work around 1pm and immediately knew I had made a mistake because I felt awful. I felt so awful that I actually bailed on my last night of counseling at the Wendt Center- something I had not even considered that morning. I postponed my counseling appointments, made sure payroll was done at the office, and went home.

Thursday night, I talked to my mom about my symptoms and spent a great deal of time with my favorite doctor, Google (see previous post). My symptoms sounded a little like food poisoning, a little like a hernia, and a little like appendicitis, but not a lot like any of those. All I had was a dull pain and some fatigue. No nausea, no loss of appetite, no fever, and my belly wasn't tender to the touch. I considered going to the ER Thursday evening, but decided to wait one more night and see what happened.

Friday morning, I woke up to no change, so I called the doctor. He was able to take me right away, so I headed in at 9:30am. Apparently, doctors don't mess around with possible appendicitis. I 've never been seen so quickly before. I literally did not have time to sign in before they took me back. The doctor did a quick exam and sent me over to the ER just in case. He thought I probably had something fairly mild, like a UTI, but wanted to rule out appendicitis.

So, off to the ER I went. I had just signed in and taken a number when I ran into two friends from my church, one escorting the other who had terrible nausea. I felt awful for the sick person, because she looked terrible, but I was very touched to see her being escorted by a non-related church member. Its always great to see church people caring for one another like we should! The escort immediately took me under his wing as well, and sat with me while I waited and got my tests done.

At the ER, I spent several hours undergoing testing. I had to have a CT scan, which meant spending two hours drinking nausea-inducing contrast fluid while also being filled with IV contrast fluid. The big downside of this was that I had eaten nothing but a cereal bar all day and couldn't eat or drink in case it turned out I needed surgery. Being hungry did nothing for my pain or my nausea. The upside was my first experience with IV-delivered pain and nausea meds: that stuff works! I got the scan around 4pm and was told I would have to wait an hour for the results. By 4:30, though, a doctor came and told me I had acute appendicitis and would have to have my appendix removed ASAP.

By this time, my mom had come to join me. This was great because I've only had surgery once before and it definitely makes me nervous. I met my surgeon around 5pm and she put me right at ease: warm, laid-back, funny, and totally understanding about the fact that my first questions were about whether I could run my marathon on Oct. 31. The answer to that question is maybe; the surgeon thinks I can ease back to the gym in about a week and see how things go from there. So, there's a chance, which was a big relief to hear.

I had to wait a couple hours for an OR to be open, but once the surgeon got a room, the actual procedure was very fast. They gave me some valium at 7:30pm right before they wheeled me in to the OR. Thanks to the quick delivery via the IV, I hit the OR just loopy enough to speak my first thought aloud: "This looks like the morgue. I used to work there." They knocked me out after that.

I woke up in recovery sooner than anyone expected, feeling a little sore, but otherwise okay. By the time I got up to my room, I could walk around with fairly minimal assistance. I made it through the night with only one dose of pain meds and no real trouble except the after-effects of a catheter used during the surgery (yikes!). In the morning, I was able to eat some solid food and the surgeon told me I looked good and could head home. I was leaving the hospital by 10:30am.

So, now I'm home and doing pretty well. I have a pain prescription, but haven't needed it, and I was even feeling well enough to cook myself dinner. I am very dissapointed about not running my first A10 tomorrow or hosting my Jock Jams party. My buddies from a former job have been running the A10 every year since 2001 and this is the first year I've been fit enough to join them. Its a big milestone for me and I hate missing it. Still, I can't complain. I caught this thing before it got really bad and I'm so grateful for the fact that I'm fit enough to recover quickly. I am also very grateful for everyone who has called, texted, and emailed over the past two days! I hope to see you out on the roads again soon.  Finally, I'm grateful that neither pesto nor Group Power was the culprit in this illness, because I couldn't imagine my life without them.

The internet is my doctor.

As long as I can remember, my mom has been an advocate of medical books, ie: random books on health and medicine purchased from the B&N clearance rack which she believes qualify her to diagnose and treat any ailment. She inherited this from my grandmother, who had little formal education but read voraciously and considered herself a self-taught PhD in pretty much everything. If you mention any symptom or discomfort in front of my mother, she will immediately reach for one of her trusted books, scan the index, and dispense her expert advice.

I've made a lot of fun of "Dr. Mom" over the years, but the truth is that I'm a total hypocrite. I don't have a shelf full of medical books myself, but I do have the internet. When I have aches and pains, do I call my family doctor? No! I simply consult "Dr. Google." Lately, this has become an almost-daily habit. We're just about halfway through our training now and it seems like something hurts pretty much all the time.

As I mentioned a couple days ago, we're scaling back our long runs for the next two weeks in preparation for the A10 next weekend and our first 20-miler the week after. With the easier weekend runs comes more intense training during the week. For me, it seems that more intense weekday training also means more aches and pains.

Last week, I started off pretty well. Katie and I pushed it and did spinning and Group Power back-to-back on Monday. This resulted in a lazy Tuesday (see my 8/17 post), but I felt back to normal by Wednesday. Wednesday's Group Power was no problem, and I felt great during boot camp on Thursday. The operative word here is during.

For Thursday's class, we followed our usual pattern of running from the gym to downtown, stopping at several scenic locations to do drills. This week it was a series of medicine ball exercises, including jumping jacks, squats, plyometrics, and lunges with twists. Usually, during boot camp, I'm too focused on not throwing up to enjoy the beautiful views at places like the McNasby's pier:

This week, though, I felt great. I was full of energy throughout the class, taking in the views, and chatting with my classmates. At the end, I actually felt like I could have done more.

Well, its a good thing I didn't act on that feeling, because by Friday morning, I couldn't feel my quads. I'm not sure which exercise did me in (I suspect the lunges), but the stiffness and pain lasted well into the weekend. It made for a challenging "easy" 12 miles on Saturday.

I took it extra-easy and went to bed early Saturday and Sunday, and felt back to normal this morning... until Group Power. Again, I'm not sure what did me in, but by the time I got to work this morning, my left calf was swollen and as tight as last year's jeans. So, I spent a little time this morning with Dr. Google. His advice is pretty consistent: rest, ice, compression, elevation, and stretching.

So, if you look for me this afternoon, you'll find me in my office with my feet up, popping Advil and sneaking off to the bathroom to stretch every half hour or so. Doctor's orders.

Pulling oars and muscles.

So, remember when I said I started having pain in my lower abs after last week's boot camp? Well, apparently the way to make that better was not to ignore it and hope it would go away. Seven days and numerous workouts later (two runs, three Group Power classes, two spin classes, and another session of bootcamp) the pain has gotten much worse. By this morning's bootcamp, I had to scale it back because I had no choice- the muscle simply won't let me push it any further. Fortunately, I did some reading on abdominal strains, and it looks like I just need to ice, take ibuprofren, and avoid ab exercise for awhile. I should (knock on wood) be okay to run. I'm supposed to do a half-marathon on Sunday, but I'm going to let tomorrow's shorter run tell me whether or not that's a good idea.

Between the heat and the injuries, I've been really struggling the past few weeks. I think its hard for anyone to psych themselves up for a first marathon, especially someone like me who consistently missed straight A's in school by getting B's in gym. It doesn't help when your mind, body and environment all seem to be saying "You can't do this!" Right now, what's keeping me going is the thought of honoring Dr. Murray and the people who are supporting me. If you are reading this, you are one of those people, so thank you!

On a happier note, I started training this week for an event that will happen in April 2011. My friends Krista and Ray, both ultra-marathoners (ie: people who run races longer than 26.2 miles), are having their wedding on the same day as a run-bike-canoe triathlon. Super athletes that they are, they decided to do the race the morning of their wedding and invite their guests to do it to. Apparently, they know a lot of crazy people, because many of us have agreed to go for it. I wasn't sure how my race partner and I would practice for the canoe portion of the event, but it turns out that my brother owns a canoe which was gathering dust in his yard. So, he and I cleaned it up and put it in the water, and Katie and I went for a lovely 45-minute canoe ride on Tuesday night. We're planning another for tomorrow. Way more fun than a pulled muscle!