Miscellany for Thursday

• Let's start with the obvious.  On Monday I wished my friends good luck at Boston on my Facebook status and stated that I was super-jealous.  I had planned on qualifying and being in Boston (pre-pregnancy).  I wanted to run it so badly.  But in light of the recent events, I'm obviously glad I wasn't there.
• The news in Boston makes me so mad.  Those marathoners weren't there to make a political statement.  They were there as a celebration of all the hard work they had put in to finally get there.  The spectators were there to cheer them on in their celebration.  The Boston Marathon is a joyous event that has now been tainted for, probably, dumb, dumb reasons.
• However, I am not scared to go back and run Boston.  In fact, I can't wait to run it again.  Although, I have no plans for running a marathon any time in the near or distant future.  I will, though, rethink bringing my son to the race.
• Moving on....the weather this week has been beautiful and I have been a walking fool with the little bug.  We have put many miles already on the BOB.  Now if only he'd sleep through the whole walk instead of waking up and crying and screaming his head off.  People are staring at us!
• I'm thinking of cutting my bangs again.  I know.  I know.
• I'm starting to get incredibly anxious about racing again.  I can't wait to get the all clear from my doctor to get back to working out.  Although the walking is good for me and at least I can do something, I'm really looking forward to running and swimming.
• My 35th birthday was two days ago and I had a great day.  I got some great presents including a case for my iPad, some Yurbuds, $$$$, and Dave gave me a beautiful charm for my necklace that's a scripted letter 'A'.  That's what I really wanted to keep little baby A close to me at all times.
• Our friends and people we don't even know have been so good to us since the baby has arrived.  In the last week we have only cooked one meal (on my birthday) and only ordered two pizzas.  All our other meals have been provided to us.  We still have a backlog in our refrigerator as well as some meals we froze before we had the baby.
• I have to admit, I kinda miss work.  Not so much the work, just being able to get out of the house, socialize, and wear real clothes.  Although I don't want the little bug to grow up any faster than he already is, I am looking forward to him being old enough that I can take him outside in public.  I don't go back to work until mid-June, but I am looking forward to it.
• That's all for now.  Lots of pictures tomorrow.

Wednesday Rants

I've got a few things to rant about today.  I was going to do it on Twitter but I think I have too much to say for 140 characters.

First, let's talk about the Beyonce lip-synching thing.  Y'all know she lip-synched the National Anthem at the Inauguration on Monday, right?  I find it interesting how quickly everyone was to knock Ashlee Simpson on her buns when she lip-synched on SNL and basically ruined her career but because Beyonce is BEYONCE!!! she gets away with it and people are actually forgiving her?  WTF?  Um, Kelly Clarkson and James Taylor both sang at the Inauguration too and neither one of them lip-synched. 

Moving on.  I've mentioned it before and I'll mention it again, I am a huge tennis fan.  HUGE!!!  I've been trying my best to follow the Australian Open which is really hard since it is on in the middle of the night.  I was a little shocked the other day when Dave texted me and asked me if I heard Sloane Stephens had beaten Serena Williams.  Supposedly, Serena Williams hurt her back and then had a hitch in her serve, blah, blah, blah.  Yet, she didn't seem to be too hurt when she was pounding her racket on the ground until it broke.  Sloan Stephens has said that she idolized Serena Williams growing up and even had a poster of her on her bedroom wall.  Nice example you're setting there, Serena.  You're really a great role model.

Finally, I just finished reading "The Perks of Being a Wallflower".  Um, I didn't get it.  I didn't get it at all. 

What are you ranting about today?

Miscellany for Thursday

Gosh, there's just not much to talk about in the winter months. So, here's a few somethings that have been on the brain.

• I switched to the half marathon in Houston. Yes I've been doing the long runs in the marathon training and I enjoy the distance training, but my heart wasn't in the marathon. Frankly, it's not much in the half marathon either but I think the half will suit me much better right now. I think I am going to continue to keep the super-longs run though just so I can have someone to run with.
  
• I am excited to see that Greenswell has added two aquathlons to the schedule next year. I'm in!
• I have only asked for $$$$ for Christmas this year. I started a new job in September that has required me to completely redo my entire wardrobe. I get a fat discount and I've been using it, but I'm still looking to get a few more outfits.
• I am looking for the perfect red lipstick. Here's what I'm looking for: prefer it to be long-wearing, cannot fade to pink, must be a blue-base (ladies, you know what I'm talking about), prefer it to be shiny or a gloss to a matte lipcolor. Any suggestions?
• I'm also looking for the perfect daytime lip color. Nothing in the pink family, but something with just enough color that it looks like you're wearing a little something. Suggestions?
• Feeling great about myself, huh? (sacrasm, see previous two bullet points)
• Are you digging the new look of Facebook Timeline? I think it looks a lot like MySpace, which I'm way too old for, but otherwise I think it's pretty rad.
• Dave and I are planning an epic weekend trip this spring. It's going to be amazeballs!

What else? What's on your mind? What am I missing?

Miscellany for Wednesday

Today is about a lot of random stuff going on in my head....

• Did you watch the coverage of Ironman Hawaii on NBC this past Saturday? At first I hated the broadcast. If I had to see one more product placement of Ford or Road ID or if I had to watch that A-Hole Macca yammer on about how he's the most awesome athlete ever, I thought I might hit something. But then I watched it again on my DVR and was able to fast forward that stuff and the broadcast was a lot better. Now that I've attempted the distance, I'd like the broadcast to be different. I think it's a little "fluffy." I don't think they really show how difficult and draining the day can be nor do they really articulate what is put into the training to get the result. Someday I'd really like them to cover the "everyday" triathlete and not just the athletes there on a media pass.
• I have suddenly started snoring. SNORING!!! On Sunday after spending a day with my sister, her boyfriend, and their gazillion kids, I fell asleep around 9:30pm. Dave was not so tired and played on his phone while I slept. He said I was snoring. Loudly. I totally denied this until Tuesday morning when I woke myself up snoring. Usually people start snoring as they put on the pounds, but I've lost 3 pounds in the last 6 weeks so...what's the deal?
• All my Christmas shopping is done and wrapped. Hallelujah!!! And I'm so excited to have others open their gifts. I think I did really well this year.
• I haven't been on Facebook or Twitter since Friday morning. I didn't check my email all weekend and have limited myself to checking it only three times a day since Monday. It's liberating.
• I cut my bangs again. Did I mention that? I have absolutely no willpower when it comes to growing them out.
• Training is continuing to go well. Updates next week and a end-of-year wrap-up.
• I'm going to Mexico in less than a month!!!!

I hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday. Merry Christmas!

The Offseason

My triathlon friends seem to enjoy their bikes WAY more than I do and thus are enjoying their off season cyclocrossing. Is that a word? Myself, this is running season. But since I don't have a fall marathon ahead of me, I've decided to do some other things besides running and swimming. I've decided to give weight training another chance. For the last two Mondays Dave and I have been attending "Strictly Strength" at our gym. It's sort of aerobics-meets-weight training. It's small weights, high reps, and it's all set to music. Sure it's kinda a "chick" class, but if it will get me stronger then I'm in. The first week was killer since I haven't lifted a weight since maybe May, but this past Monday I totally kicked that class's butt. For every squat and lunge I kept thinking "this is going to make me a faster biker." And for every fly, pushup, and shoulder press I thought, "I'm going to be a faster swimmer this year." I'm not nearly as sore as I was the first week. I hope to keep Strictly Strength on the schedule for many months to come.

Tonight I tried something completely new: CrossFit. Some friends of ours from college have recently started doing Krav Maga (kinda mixed martial arts) and CrossFit. I have absolutely NO desire to do any contact sport so we said we would join them for a CrossFit session. While filling out the information sheet I said my goal was to have "Big ass muscles!" I don't know if the leader understood that as big muscles or ass muscles, but he set up the workout to be strength, strength, strength tonight. After a short warmup we got started.

4 X 50ft walking lunges with weight overhead: I joined the other girls in the class with the small bar--30 pounds. I did three sets at 30 pounds overhead and then moved up to the 45 pound bar for the last set. Thank goodness I would say lunges are a strength of mine.

4 X 2 each side Turkish get-ups with increasing weight: What the hell is a Turkish get-up? Well, it's part sit up, part squat, part don't drop the weight on yourself. :) Start laying on the ground with a kettlebell in one hand straight up above. Take the leg on the same side as the kettlebell and bend it with your foot on the ground (to push off of). Then roll to the opposite side onto your arm, pushing up to your elbow and then onto your hand. The weight is still up in the air and is now above your head. The whole time you're looking at the weight. Now push off your hand on the ground and take the leg that's not bent and sweep it under you until your kneeling. The kettlebell is still overhead. Now push off the leg underneath you until you are standing up, keeping the weight overhead. Now reverse everything...down into a kneel, hand on the ground, leg sweeps underneath and is put in front, elbow on the ground, roll onto your side, and onto your back, of course keeping the weight above your head. I started with 4kg (~8.8 pounds) for the first set and then went up to 8kg (~17.6 pounds) for next three sets.

5 X 5 front squats with increasing weight: After adjusting to the technique of holding the bar in front (see picture), I totally rocked the squats. Squats have always been a specialty of mine. I started with a 30 pound bar, then 45 pounds, 50 pounds, 60 pounds, and I maxed out at 80 pounds. It gave me great pleasure when the total stud of the class said I did really great on the squats.

4 X 100m sled pulls with increasing weight: Finally the last workout of the night. I started with 95 pounds on the sled and then the instructor went crazy with the weight. I have no idea what the middle two weights were but the last weight was 195 pounds. People, that's nearly two of me I was pulling! I felt like such a cartoon character. My feet were going so fast and I was going nowhere. I was leaning at a 45 degree angle. Had I stopped, I would have fallen over. And I felt like such a fool as Dave and our friend Dave were walking beside me giving me encouragement as I was "running" with the sled. Seriously, though, I was pretty impressed with myself with all that weight.

Well, we gave it a try. It was fun and I think we did well at it. Unfortunately it's a little too heavyweight for our triathlon training, but it's certainly good to have learned some techniques that we can incorporate into our regular weight training at lower weights, higher reps. I'd say CrossFit was a success.

Miscellany for Sunday

Registration is now open for Rev3 Cedar Point at a steeply discounted rate. This rate does not include tickets to the amusement park, but if you're a no-frills person like myself, this is a great opportunity. OR, if you'd like to have tickets to the park, it's cheaper to buy them than the regular price of the race. Head on over to Active to register today. Come join me at Cedar Point in 2011. *wink, wink*

My husband is tweaking his running form. Hop on over to his blog and tell him what you think.

And on the subject of running form...I've been thinking about the compression calf sleeves. Research has been conducted on compression gear and has found it to be effective post race/workout but the jury is still out to determine if it actually does anything during racing/working out. I have three pairs of compression socks and I only wear them during recovery. But, I've been contemplating the use of compression calf sleeves during running. See, I'm a prancer when it comes to running. I run mostly on my toes and forefoot with very little heal strike. This has helped me to become a lot faster, but it has also made my calves hurt all.the.time! While I run I will often stretch them out by throwing in a series of heal strikes to elongate the leg. I've been wondering if the compression sleeves would help this. Honestly, I'm so vain that I just don't want to wear them and look like all the other triathletes. I'm a runner, dang it! :)

Splish is 2-for-2 on sending me good looking grab-bag suits. What's a grab bag suit? Basically, you're picking blindly. You say "I want this style and this size" and they send you a suit. This one I adore.


I'm in the market for a new bike pump. See, I've got HED3 racing wheels that I've dubbed my "magic wheels". I love them, except I don't love pumping them up. Because they're tri-spokes, they've got a little notch cut out where the valve for the tube comes out of. It's nearly impossible for me to use my pump in this little tiny notch. I have a pump that is good for both presta and schraeder valves. I figured if I bought a pump that was only for presta valves this would solve my problem. Not only am I having a hard time finding this, it doesn't look like it's going to help. Then I went searching online and found this solution: a Hirame/Kuwahara pump head adapter. Problem is, I'm having trouble locating it and it's like $60. I can't guarantee it would even work with my pump which could cost me another handful of money to replace. I know HED makes pump adapters and valve extenders, but reading online there wasn't much good said about them. Anyone used them? Any thoughts?

And finally, I just finished a project that took me four years to compile and only 15 minutes to put together. I know, pathetic!


I hope this week was great for you. I took it as an off week. Back to some tri training next week and my first go-round with Cross Fit.

Sweet Dreams

I've been dreaming a lot lately. Like, every night! And I've been able to remember most of them.

First, there is the recurring dream. I have enrolled back in college. I'm taking a HUGE load of classes. But, I'm still maintaining my normal life: Ironman training, owning the photo booth business, teaching gymnastics, etc., etc. Being that I'm so busy, I just forget to go to school. It's not until the last week of classes that I realize I'm failing all my classes because I haven't gone to any of my classes. Yikes! This is when I wake up every time. It's pretty obvious to me that I'm stressed and have a lot on my plate and I feel like I'm not getting every thing done. This dream is starting to happen at least once a week.

Then there's the weird dream. I'm a kid living in my current home and my parents are living here too. I have a huge fish tank full of fish. For some weird reason, I take the fish outside and leave the tank open. Frogs come and eat all my fish, and then these frogs get HUGE. I mean, so big they can't even fit inside the tank. Then, and this is when things get weird, lionesses come and eat my giant frogs. Lots and lots of lionesses! The lionesses follow me down to the house. I beg my dad to get rid of them. So my dad, being the genius that he is, grabbed some ground beef, made it into balls, and threw them at the lionesses. Seriously! Of course, that didn't get rid of the lionesses and they started to come towards the house. That's when I woke up. Terrified! I was so tired but didn't want to get back to sleep because I was scared of having the dream continue.

There's been many more weird dreams. Thing is, I'm not eating right before I go to bed, I haven't been drinking, I haven't kept a weird schedule. Why am I having these dreams?

What have you been dreaming about lately?

Where have I been?

I went from blogging every day in 2009 to being completely absent (it seems to me). I've been super busy and don't really have anything interesting to talk about. I'm training and training and training some more. I have been updating the blog. You just may not have noticed it. Over there on the right --------> I've been putting in all the miles, meters, and hours I've been working out. And up above, I've been putting new tabs to clean up the messiness of this blog. I promise there will be something interesting soon. It's just yet to happen. :)

Miscellany for Monday (Pictorial Edition)

For some time now our dryer has been making a loud screeching sound. It's gotten so bad that you could hear it outside and poor Sloopy hid her head whenever I needed to do laundry. Yesterday Dave took the dryer apart to find out what was the problem. The problem was a tiny, tiny piece. So we headed to a not-so-nice part of town to get that piece. This part of the story was a hoot! Ohio has a smoking ban like many other states. On the door to this store there was a no smoking sign. We walked into the store and it hit you strong: the smell of smoke. We asked the woman working if they had our part. She stared at the wall of parts; we stared at the wall of parts. Finally she turns to us and says "do you see the part?" Um, what? Finally she found the part and as we were checking out an older gentleman walks through the door, mumbling to himself, lit cigarette dangling from his mouth. He walks through the store in a hurry to the back. What the hell was that? Finally we came home and Dave, or should I say Dave (Mike) Holmes, put the dryer back together and it works.

If you don't watch HGTV this picture may not be as funny to you.



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Sloopy enjoyed a nice afternoon snack yesterday. On the menu, my iPod earbuds.



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And finally, I was looking on Craig's List just for fun for racing wheels. I didn't really expect to find anything, at least not in Columbus. But lo and behold I found someone selling his whole bike set up including his race wheels and they were 650s. I started an email conversation with him and he made me a great deal. And today, they became mine.

Monday Adventures

Yesterday was full of crazies and Dave and I were included.

The locker room at our gym has a digital scale. A woman got on the scale yesterday and stood for one minute or more staring at it. Now, I don't think she was in disbelief at the weight, she was waiting on the tenths to stop moving. The funny part was, she did this three different times. What cracked me up is that it looked like she was waiting on the weight to jump off her. Dude, those tenths aren't going to stop moving. You're breathing!!!

Dave and I got in the pool about 5:20pm. As soon as we got in the lifeguard put the sign out that our lane and the lane beside ours would be unavailable starting at 6:00 for water aerobics. I knew I could get my workout done, but Dave wasn't so sure. I finished my workout with about 10 minutes to go and Dave said he thought he was going to make it. As soon as I got out of the pool, however, the lifeguard was over undoing the lane lines and the class began moving into the pool with Dave. I approached the lifeguard and told her that Dave was almost done and that he was going to be done by 6:00. I said, if the lane was only available until 5:50 that the sign should have reflected it. She said not to worry. That Dave would be able to finish his workout. But, the class moved in and Dave splashed around them (and splashed them purposely too). What made me mad after all this was that this class not only pushy, only had three people in it and they took up two lanes. I kid you not, there were nearly 12 people waiting on a lane when Dave finished.

I went into the locker room and it was packed. I opened my locker and began to dry off and change. Let me do a little explaining. There are upper and lower lockers, which are pretty sizable. I always choose a lower locker because, well, I'm too short to reach the hooks in the upper lockers. As I'm disrobing this gigantor woman walks into my row and opens the upper locker two down from mine. She decides she doesn't like that one and opens the one right above mine. Now, I know I'm short, but I'm not invisible. She decides she doesn't like that one and then opens the upper one right beside me. She then looks at me and says, "I'm sorry." What the hell? Did you not notice me standing there? She then left all three of those lockers open and then went to another row to find another one. Wow!

Finally, Dave and I finish off the crazies. As much of the midwest and east coast this winter we have had a TON of snow. We have had snow on our lawn for the entire month of February which is just unheard of in Columbus. Yesterday we got some rain which began to melt the snow. Being that everything is frozen, Dave and I worried a little about our sump pump and our basement. Monday morning Dave did a little digging around the curbs to find the drain that goes from our sump pump to our street. He didn't find it before he went to work. When we came home from the gym we checked the basement and the walls were damp and the floor was changing colors. Despite our sump pump running, we needed to find that drain. After dinner (say around 9:30pm) Dave headed outside and began digging the snow again. By 10:00pm he still hadn't found the drain and he had almost gone the length of our yard along the curb. With my pajamas on, I put on my boots, hat and gloves and headed out to help. I took the flashlight and continued to help Dave look. At 10:30, I called my dad and asked for some help. He told us exactly where it should be, we dug there and nothing. With my dad on the phone we dug around our whole house and found nothing. NOTHING!! What? We were (and still are) completely stumped. Luckily, despite us being in the street, digging in the middle of the night, no one called the cops. :)

Maybe it was a full moon last night?

Miscellany for Wednesday

Two weeks ago I ordered a grab bag swimsuit through Splish. They were super on sale and I just couldn't pass it up. But, I was super nervous to find out what it looked like. Let's face it. I've seen those suits on the website and some of the are downright scary. Well, I got my suit while I was in Florida. My mom called me and told me what it looked like it. It's Pepto Bismal pink. Yikes! It's TIGHT! Yikes! And it says YIKES! across the butt. YIKES! But, I swam in it yesterday and absolutely loved it.

I cute 6 inches off my hair yesterday. I have absolutely NO idea what I am going to do with it when I am working out, but it looks so much better. I think it looks a little '60s mod. Hopefully I'll have pictures very soon.

Dave and I went surfing while in Florida. I can't wait to blog about it. But Dave's dad took video on his own camera and we won't be able to get that video until at least the middle of the month. Unfortunately, the wetsuit I was wearing has caused me a huge rash on my knees. I love that I'm allergic to rubber!!!

Last week I mentioned 10 things that made me happy. I want to add another one: authentic people. Today I dealt with several "sales-type" of people. I was exhausted by mid afternoon. Thankfully I was able to take a break in the middle of the day to see my friend Gini from gymnastics. She's the most authentic person I know and can ALWAYS put a smile on my face.

Coming soon....more talk about triathlon. I promise.

Manic Monday

Today started early. Really early. Sloopy, my dog, woke me up at 3:45am barking. I got up, took her out, and put her back in her crate. At 5:00am she started barking again. This time Dave got up, took her out, and put her back in her crate. By 7:30am she was crying again and Dave was getting up for work. Around 8:30 I rolled out of bed and tended to the puppy. By 9:30am she had eaten through the power cord to my laptop. It was sparking. Despite trying some electrical tape, the power cord does not work. Back to the Apple store tomorrow I guess.

So I've been sick for weeks. Last week I finished up my dose of antibiotics. Saturday I started feeling bad again and by Sunday my throat was hurting, my nose was stuffy, and my glands were swollen. AGAIN! Before even rolling out of bed this morning I had called the doctor and got an appointment for today. Now it's bronchitis. Good grief! Another dose of antibiotics. Hopefully this time I'll feel 100% by the end of it.

The best part of today was finding out Dave will have a job for at least two more months. We've known for a while that the end of December could be the end of his job, but a big contract came through today. Christmas has been saved!!

And now that Christmas has been saved, I have to rush to get through my shopping. So after my appointment this afternoon I did a little shopping.

Finally, this evening ended with a solid, but tough, bike ride.

Hopefully, Sloopy will sleep through the night. I could use a nap!

Miscellany for Saturday

A little miscellany for this Saturday:

• This has been the weirdest Thanksgiving. We had one with my family, one with Dave's family, and I'm yet to have any turkey. Not because I didn't want turkey, because there wasn't any turkey. My family's never got done and we had roast at Dave's family. Weird.
• Our puppy Sloopy is starting to come out of her shell and develop a personality for us. She's a bit feisty. We're also struggling to come up with a signal to let us know when she needs to go out. We've had a few accidents. She did really well, though at the vet. She didn't cry at all when she got her shots.
• I've been sick all week. It's starting to tick me off. I don't feel horrible, but I've got a mad case of laryngitis. At Thanksgiving I was only able to whisper. In a family of 12, whispering was worthless.
• I've had two inquiries to take some pictures for Christmas. Although I've shut the business down, officially, I'm still interested and am really excited to do these portraits.
• Good luck to my friend Niels and Miss Bree Wee racing in Ironman Cozumel tomorrow.
• Big announcement coming in the next few days!!

And because how cute is a picture of my dog, check her out blogging:

Did somebody say hockey?

You guys are going to hate me. Being that I am racing this weekend and then have to take the next two to three weeks off, I just don't have a whole lot to talk about regarding my running and Ironman training. Today's topic has nothing to do with either.

For those of you new to the blog, and I know there's quite a few of you, I live in Columbus, Ohio. Cow Town, USA. Columbus is also College Town, USA with the largest university in the US right downtown. Our world revolves around the university and especially Ohio State football. The world shuts down on Saturdays to watch the game. You may laugh, but I remember in 2002 when we made the national championship game, high school basketball games were rearranged so that people could watch the game. Yes, that's how serious we are about our Buckeyes. And being that I am alumni and lived here my whole life, I LOVE IT!!!

But, we have two emerging sports in Central Ohio that are doing great and no one knows about. The first is our professional soccer team, the Columbus Crew. Last year our team won the MLS Cup and this year we have clinched a spot in the playoffs yet again. And being that my company has worked with The Crew many times this year, I cannot say enough good things about this organization. They are grade "A" and are very good to their fans. I am now a fan for life.

Another team gaining respect in town is the Columbus Blue Jackets, our professional hockey team. I have to admit, for a while I was quite skeptical. I grew up a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Mario Lemieux. But, they kept getting better and better and last year we finally made it to the playoffs. This year we are in first place (for now) and 4-1 overall. Tonight I attended my first regular season game. We were in the second to last row, but we were center ice and could see all the plays open up. Jackets won 2-1 with two awesome goals in the second period. Frankly, the score should have been 6-1 as we had three pucks hit the posts and one goal that went in but I guess the referees had already blown the whistle. What a crock! I had a lot of fun. I hope to go again sometime in the next ten years. :)

Horrible, Too True Nightmare

It's no secret that I am horribly, horribly scare of bridges. No, no; it's a phobia. I freeze up. My heart races. I sweat. I think I will die. Seriously, it's bad.

In four days I leave for San Francisco and they kinda have a very famous, very big bridge there. Dave says I HAVE TO go across it. I vehemently say no. NO!!!! Not walking, not riding. NO!!! Molly, do not let Dave talk you into this. Just say NO!!!

Last night I had a dream, nay, a nightmare. I was being forced to go across the Golden Gate bridge. It was awful. I woke up in full panic.

Seriously, I'm not crossing that bridge.

Miscellany for Sunday

A little miscellany today...

• Watching Ironman yesterday scared the devil right out of me. People looked like HELL crossing the finish line. Louisville has the possibility to be as warm as Hawaii. Yikes!!
• Generally I don't get involved in politics (yeah right) but seriously, Ohioans, we have a big scheme on our hands with Issue 3. Do your homework. This article is an editorial, but it sheds some light on the things the casino companies are hiding.
• I've been filling out some sponsorship applications and going back through my last couple years of racing results. Holy wow have I made improvements in the last year! Seriously, I was bad.
• I hate to shop. :) I spent an hour and a half in one store today, tried on several, several things and walked away with nothing. I love how fast I've gotten, but my body has totally changed into total athlete. Clothes look horrible on me now. Damn you Anthropologie.
• Last week before the marathon!!!

Feeling a Little Bloated or Swollen

It's been 6 weeks since I broke my finger and it is starting to feel better. I can finally bend it and can almost get it into a fist. It's still super-sore, but definitely better. I have to wear the tape for one more week and will probably wear it through the marathon just for protection. Today I tried on my wedding rings just to see. Luckily I was not wearing my rings when I fell and did not have to have them cut off. But I've been worried if they'd ever fit again.



I'm hoping I'm still really swollen. I'm going to wait several months and then make a decision if I need to get my rings resized.

I really did some good damage when I took this spill.

Hi Ho Hi Ho...

...it's back to work I go.

Well, it's been a good summer, but tomorrow I head back to work. In case you didn't know, in addition to owning my own business, I also teach gymnastics part-time. Last year I taught between 10-15 classes per quarter, but this year I'm only teaching 6--3 on Monday, 3 on Tuesday. This should be the perfect schedule between a HUGE schedule of weddings and parties coming up and continuing for the next year and my continued marathon and Ironman training.

The summer without working, though, has been great. I've traveled to Idaho, Alabama, and California. I've participated in two triathlons and a half marathon, placing in my age group in all the races. I've spent my first week alone since Dave and I got married (I did NOT enjoy this, but survived, nonetheless). I've been to at least one weekend every weekend except for two weekends the whole summer. I've logged hundreds of miles on my legs and many, many hours of naps. And one bad trip has left me with a finger that is still not useful (I start occupational therapy hopefully in a week).

I've loved this summer and although work starts tomorrow, I'm looking forward to the next few months and seeing how 2009 rounds out.

Foto Friday-More pictures of the finger

I tried my best to take pictures of my jacked-up finger. Surprisingly it doesn't look as bad today as we thought it would. Guess the ice yesterday helped keep the bruises away. But, you can kinda see the bruises and you can definitely see the swelling in these pictures.

Trippin'

I chose the wrong week to stop drinking.

This morning I headed out on my run. Not even a mile into it, I rolled my right ankle which caused me to fall on my left side. I did a little damage to my knee. This picture does not do all the cuts, scrapes, and bruises justice.



That wasn't the first part. When I fell I landed on my left hand smooshing my fingers straight back. Immediately I knew something was really wrong. My left ring finger was throbbing and REALLY painful. I took some deep breaths trying to keep myself from getting sick. I tried to jog home, but my fingers were throbbing so badly I couldn't. I got home, called the doctor and made an appointment for later in the day. My ring finger was swelling bigger by the minute and turning lovely shades of black and blue.

The doctor saw my knee first. "Oooh!", he said. "That looks bad." Then I showed him my finger. He sent me directly to X-ray. She didn't have a hard time figuring out what she was supposed to get film of. Then he showed me the pictures. Broken. Crap! I chipped part of the bone off in my knuckle. He put it in an ugly split. That's going to be lovely when I'm a bridesmaid next week. I go back in two weeks for more X-rays. And, there is no swimming for probably a month. At least I can run.



Thank goodness I don't wear my wedding rings when I run or else they would have been cut off today.