New goals

Dear Diary,

MEDIC!!

I need some goals, now that the year is winding down. Here are a few:

13. Lose the ten pounds (I still insist that this is at least partly high sodium water weight)

Yep....any day now...I'll just piss it all away.

Any day now.

12. Get up at five am on weekdays and do some kind of exercise for at least an hour.

11. 26 minute 5k.

10. 59 minute 10k

9. PR at the San Antonio rock and roll marathon.

Thats it for goals right now.

8. Blind kitten update: at first, her eyes seemed to be stuck shut. Now they are opened, although she still seems to be blind and her actual eyes are kind of dead looking. At first, She refused to eat. Now she is lapping up formula and nibbling at kibble. She went from barely moving to doing a few leaps in the yard and exploring. At I write this she is lying next to me, attacking my arm. We will be takng her to the vet to have her checked out some time this week. She has a crate with a soft towel in it, and under the crate is a heating pad. I move the crate around the house. i do stuff so she can hear me.

7. Update 2: she tested negative for kitty diseases, got her first shot, did you know there are veterinary opthamologists? Me neither. She'll be seeing one soon. By Tuesday, she was eating some solid food and was up to three teasoons of formula every four or five hours.
(It is a truth universal that a large vet bill will occur something in the 2 months before Christmas.)
By Friday, she was eating her way into a coma.  I can no longer feel her ribs.  She has that round kitten belly, and she's scampering, somersaulting, leaping around, and acting silly.  Just like a proper kitteh.

Those are not my hairy legs.  

And bumps into things. Poor blind kitteh.

6. Monday morning I got up at five, fed Stevie Wonder (that's what I'm calling her right now, because she just moves her poor, blind little face around, following the sound of me walking, moving, and talking.) then I got dressed, got on the treadmill, and ran like hell for about eleven minites. The rest of the day, I had no pain at all in my ankle. None.

5. Announcing. New Mexico's newst ultra: the Mount Taylor 50K Run.  Y'all come.

4. A big middle finger to the photographer at the Point Defiance 50K who took my picture limping painfully into the the end of the 2nd loop.  And then sent me a notice letting me know, YOUR PICTURES FROM THE DEFIANCE 50K ARE READY!

Take that, ankle.

ps: Sweet Baboo was, like, 18th overall, and 2nd in his age group.  BOOyah.  It's very satisfying, I must say, to live with someone studly and fast.  Since, you know, I"m not.  I can have my daily brush with greatness that way.

3. I went out and did a hilly three mile run. No pain from ankle. None. After, I wrote the alphabet with. My big toe. The next morning, NO PAIN.

2. I am considering another Ironman. The Outlaws peeps are chompin' at the bit to do another race as a team and after all, we are multisport, not just running.

1. So, here is an observation that I have about Seattle. Actually, it's more of a question.  So here it is.

where do you folks keep all your fat people?

Seriously, the whole time I was there I saw maybe four people who I could honestly say were obese. That's a huge change from where I live now. This wasn't just Seattle, I noticed it in Bellingham as well.

Any thoughts?

...

Stupid things.

Dear Diary,


So, I've apparently gained 10 lb. of weight? Plllttt. This is bad. This is very, very bad. This time last year, I was at 146 lb.. Now I'm at 156. Luckily, I never did completely finish getting my clothes tailored. They were somewhat loose, so they fit fine now.

I blame weight watchers, and their stupid new points plus program. I was doing well, and they changed it.
Stupid weight watchers.

(of course, I have slacked off my training seriously since early summer, but yes, let's blame weight watchers.)

I need to get moving. Since I can't do any log distance running for several weeks, I'm looking at the p90 exercise system. I may be modifying it as my ankle heals. I'm also planning to do some walking on the treadmill to see what I can do and how long I can do it.

Those are not, by the way, my hairy legs.

Why am I having these thoughts today? Because lots of people I know are running the Duke City Marathon now. RIGHT now. And me, I'm sitting here with my stupid ankle, I thought I might be able to pull it off and maybe do the half, but as soon as I thought that, the swelling went away. Turns out the swelling was keeping it from hurting. It also hid most of the bruising. My foot is bruised, on top, near the front, and my leg, all around, well above my ankle.  I can walk on it, but I can't touch it, it's tender.

Well, yesterday Sweet Baboo and some other guardsmen discovered a small, blind, female neonate. She's calico and at most four weeks old. I'm not sure how this scenario will turn out. She's completely blind, and I have a dog that thinks that everything small and furry is a chew toy.  She was in bad shape, barely moving when they found her, and refusing all food.  After wrestling with a tiny bottle (seriously, I put huge holes in this tiny nipple, but nothing will come out) I contacted DP, who is one cat away from being a genuine cat lady, who advised us.

Sweet Baboo started dipping his finger into kitty formula (yes, there is such a thing, available at the pet store) and smearing it on her muzzle.  She licked it off, and then eventually she started licking it off his finger.  When I came home, we got her to transition to lapping it from a small jar lid or a spoon.  Now she's climbing out of every box I try to put her in.

I carry her around the house in a favorite scarf that I have fashioned into a sling. She's very sweet.

My ankle is still stupid. And I still feel fat.

Stupid ankle. Stupid Weight Watchers.

Nice kitty.
...

Friday 14 - The Seattle Travel Edition.

Dear Diary,

The Zensah Ankle sleeve.

14.  I am back home where, predictably, I was missed at work.  It's good to be missed.  The 20-something who lives 2 offices down, for instance, bounced by my office yesterday and said, Oh,Misty,I'mSoGladYou'reBack. ImissedYourEnergy!!!

13. This whole ankle thing has gotten old. It's on average about twice a year that I sprain my right anke. But there's nothing and buying eqUipment won't fix, right?



Stupid ankle.

Nemo?  Where are you nemo?

12. Meanwhile, the ankle is still swollen. Ooo, and ug-lay. Behold. This is day four, after wearing a sock all day. I spent most of the day sitting, too.

It's a Port, After all.

Himself.

11. But I can walk on it just fine. Up stairs, down stairs. I wore heels. No problem. But I can't touch it. Owie.  Stupid ankle.

10. Seattle was beautiful. Despite a forecast of rain for five days out of seven, it sprinled lightly early one morning and then never rained again.

On day one, we ate Indian buffet for lunch out with Baboo's Dad, who is also a psychologist and was in town for a DBT conference.

9. Day 2, we went to Pike Street Market, and had coffee at the original Starbucks. Then went to the REI flagship store. Then I had a stragith shot of espresso. Then we went running trails at Cougar Mountain. Then Had dinner with Dad Baboo at the cheesecake factory.

One of the many musicians along the waterfront.
We saw banjos, a capellasin ging, guitars,
and this guy, to name a few.

8. Day 3, we got up early and deove along the Olympic Peninsula. Baboo ran a 10k through the Hoh rain forest, and I hiked about four miles. It was so cool, mossy and dark. We drove back along the Pacific, stopping to look for shells. There weren't any. Mostly, there were rocks and driftwood,

7. Being fit is awesome. Loud tourists near you? No problem: run away.  Big-assed hills?  So what?  I was at sea level, practically swimming in oxygen.  Until day 4, I felt like I could run forever.

Best sandwich ever IN MY LIFE.  Shrimp and bacon club,
with sweet potatoe fries, at the Cheesecake Factory.
This was two meals for me.

6. Day 4 was the race. Stupid ankle. I would have been at least fourth, possibly third, in my division of my ankle hadn't given out.

Well. There is always next year.

Stupid ankle.

5. Day 5, drove to Vancouver, which is beautiful, expensive, and doesn't "do" iced tea. We went on a suspension bridge. We avoided buying gas there which was, apparenly, 140.8. I have to assume that is cents, per liter. On the way bome, we stopped in Bellingham, and ate at Anthony's on the waterfront. I had crab and a small steak.

I discovered that the persistant queasiness I'd had on and off was because of the outgassing from the leather seats in the rental car.

Peroshky, Peroshky!!
Mine was smoked salmon

Red velvet cheesecake, finished with white chocolate.
I finished this over 3 days.

It occurs to me that most of
my travel pictures are about food.
That seems wrong, somehow.
(Top Pot Donuts)

4. Day 6, we slept in, then drove into town and ate at Top Pot donuts, which had the best coffee on the trip. Oh, and donuts. We cruised through the market on Pike Street again, particularly an antique store and a place that sold old ads and magazines. We walked through Olympic Park. WHERE MY ANKLE WAS JUST FINE.

Stupid ankle.

We ate dinner at Paolo's in Kent.  It was great.  The food was wonderful.

Suspension bridge in Vancouver.
Can you find the Baboo?

"We don't do iced tea."

I can see Alaska from my porch.

Van Burien Press' fairly uninspiring menu board.

Olympic Park

3. Day 7, we slept in, and had coffee at the Van Burien Press, despite our Nuvi's attempts to keep us in Seattle.  Really, Nuvi had some kind of nervous breakdown in Seattle, where everything is a freeway.  Like, we would be sitting at a red light, not moving, not even in very heavy traffic, and suddenly out of the silence Nuvi would say, "RECALCULATING". uM, what?  recalculating what?  We're not even moving!

Anyway.  The Coffee at Van Burien press was so so. The barista seemed somewhat uninspired.  We were subjected to a very, very loud conversation between three high caffeinated new-agers that were going on, ad nausea, and youknowthere'saforceintheuniversethatformsbetweenusandthemoonandthesunreallyscientistshaveactuallymeasureditandicanFEELit.Ican.Imantrathatshit,youknow.

Aussie!  Aussie!  Aussie!  I had a chicken and asparagus
pie.

We sat around for a few hours, and then had lunch at Aussie Pies. Then, we flew home.

2. Now, somehow out of all of this, I gained 10 lbs.  Not sure how that's possible, that would involve something like an extra 25000 calories eaten, added to the face that we were up on our feet moving around most of the time, when usually we are each of us sitting in an office chair.  I mean, I enjoyed myself, but not 25000 calories worth.

I'm assuming that because we ate out so much, I took in lots of sodium.  My clothes aren't tighter, by the way, so I don't know where it all is.  If it isn't gone by this weekend, well, I'll have to revise my ticker up at the top of the page and do the special K challenge, I guess.  Meanwhile, I'm taking in lots of green tea and water.

1. So, back in Albuquerque, where we only have two freeways.  I loved Seattle, and will probably go back, really, since I still don't have a Washington marathon.
I was scheduled to do the Duke City in about 2 days, but, um, probably not.  Tomorrow morning I"m hoping to go out and see how the ankle holds up to walking around the block.  I'll work my way up from there.

Next up: THe Rock and Roll San Antonio marathon, November 12th.

...

Not quite yet, Washington.

Looks like I will be coming back to Washington.

The day started auspiciousl. It was cold and damp. For running, I lerves me some cold and damp. The trails were absoutely the best I have run on. You know how you see those new-fangled rubberized tracks at schools and you think to yourself, gee, too bad they can't just have a bunch of these installed in parks, well, this was't a rubberized track, but it was close. The are is a temperate rain forest, and the ground is soft, usually covered with solidlly pounded down leaf letter or pine needles. It was fantastic. Mostly runnable, with just enough roots and technicall sections to keep from getting too bored. I am crazy jealous of people who get too run these all the time. Oh, and the run start/fiinish was at 8 feet below sea level. There was so my oxygen I felt invincible - like I could run forever.

After the aid station at the fort, there are three climbs. They will get your attention, but after the third one, there's a long runnablle section, until you get to the Gnarly Descent, where they have a small rope to hold onto. The girl in front of me I was about to punch in the head--she was not a good downhill runner, but she wouldn't yield the trail. I decided, must beat stupid giirl.

The first loop, I think I did in about 2:10. I was stoked. I might be about to come in around 6:45. I certainly was going to beat my 50K PR of 7:16 or so.

On my second loop, t mile 18, a volunteer who was acting as a crossing guard in one of the places where the trail crossed the river told me I looked great! I did look great! I felt great! I was on track to finish this second loop in about 2:20 or so. I turned back to give a winning smile, and at that moment, I stepped off the pavement. It wasn't a far drop, just a couple inches, but I stumbled a bit. It wasn't even a big stumble. I didn't smack into a tree, or fall off a cliff, or do a face plant. it's just that the ground was softer than the pavement, so that when I stepped down onto it it provided a less firm footing. So, I stumbled a bit, and then as I regained my footing, I stepped down on the outside of my right root, and rolled my ankle.

I did the usual hop-hop-step, hop-hop-step, swear like a sailor, but kept moving forward, biting my lip. I roll my ankle a lot. Usually, it's nothing.

After about 50 yards, I resumed jogging, and after about a half mile, the pain had faded. I felt nothing in my ankle. Nothing. I jogged easily, watching the trail carefully. Hmm. I might have a slower third loop. But I should still easily beat 7 hours. I jogged another half mile.

And then--ow. A smalll pain started in my right foot, somewhere in the middle. It grew quickly, sharpening when I toed off. Over the next quarter mile or so it worsened inexpliicably, untiil I was hobblling down the trail. The downhills I had taken with gusto before I carefully took now. At one point I actually sllid a foot or two on my butt.

I reached the running path 50 yards from the finish and at this point, I could barely wallk. Still no pain from my ankle - just that horrible stabbing pain in my foot. Had I broken it somehow?

I limped over to the first aid tent, where they seemed, frankly, to be bored. I was happy to give them something to do.

"I am not a quitter. I am not a cry baby," I sobbed, "but this really hurts. My foot has never felt like this before."

The doc examined my foot, and no, nothing was broken. What had happened, he saiid, is that my tendons had locked down as a protective measure. You say protective. I say conspiracy, I whined. As I said that I gingerlly tried to flex my foot backwards, and--well, nothing happened. My foot would't budge. If you can't move your foot forward and back, let's face it, on a techical trail with rollers, you are done.

The doctor examined my ankle, gently pressing here and there, he said, "I need to take off your other shoe and sock to see if it's swollen'"

"Well, of course it's swollen," I said indignantly. "I don't have cankles. Will this get better if I just sit here for a littlle while? So that I can finish?

The EMT sighed. "I've found it does no good to telll an ultra runner to stop running. But I wouldn't advise that you try to finish."

Well, then, I'm goiing to make your day, doc. I can't walk, so I'm done. Besides, I have a marathon in a month that I really wanted to PR on, and I don't want to do any more damage.

The EMT asked me how long I had been running.

"Since I turned 40," I replied.

blink. bliink. "You're over 40?"

I love these moments. "I'm 46."

He blurted, charmingly, "You're older than me!"

"Yes, and I'm pretty sure my oldest son is about his age," I said, gesturing to the doctor.

"You don't look like you're that old."

Careful there. I may not be ablle to take all that charm when you turn it on full force.

Anyway.

The next day we drove up to Vancouver, where Brian went running, and I did some hobbling. I refused, on principle, to pay the $44 fee to ride the Tram all the way up to the top and back. Why? Well because I live where the world's longest Tram is located, and I can ride that any time I want for that. So, I decided to work on a short toung--in-cheek travel report on Canada. Which is a post for another day.

Feeling Seattle

14. Yesterday, the Sweet Baboo and I went for a run in the woods cougar mountain. We went aboout 6.5 miles, it was a nice run. Pictures to come; Baboo took pictures in the woods, and they're on the camera. Anyway. There were huge slugs. They were cool.

13. First, we went to Pike Place market. We had coffee at the original starbucks and then I had a smoked salmon peroshki (sp?). We walked and gawked. Everyone was pretty friendly. The one exceptiion was a weaver who was terse and said, "clearly, you don't know what you're looking for' ?? Uh, I'll telll you this, I won't buy from you.

12. Talk about coincidences: Sweet Baboo's dad, who lives in Alaska, was in Seattle for a conference. We met him for dinner at the Cheese Cake Factory.

11. I think I'm starting to get carsick as I get older.

10. The run was great. The forests here are so old, and the canopies so high. We were almost entirely in shade.

9. At the Cheesecake factory, I had a shrimp and bacon club sandwich. I shit you not, this may very well be the best sandwich I have had in my lfe. I couldn't eat it all. I hate one half, and also half of my desert. I ate the other half of the sandwich at 3 am the next morning, and it was a bit soggy, and it was still fantastic.

8. It was, by the way, a red velvet cheese cake. And a cosmopolitan.

7. Today, we drove pretty much all around the Olympic peninsula, and stopped in the Hoh rain forest. It was weird and gorgeous. You would think that a wet marshy forest would smell moldy, but it smelled great, kind of sweet almost. After being in the desert for 10 years, this was quite a change. It was cold, and moist, and it was great.

6. Baboo ran a 10k in the Hoh rain forest. I hiked about 3-4 miles, and took a lot of pictures. Which I can't seem to upload to Blogger. damnit.

5. Tomorrow, I will run a 50K around Puget sound. My goal is 7 hours. My fantasy goal is 6:30.

4. Tonight, I had bisque. It reminded me of a Seinfeld episode. Honk if you can tell me which.

3. Speaking of which, at work last week, this line was in a kid's medical record: "The patient is allergic to grases, some molds, etc.,"

uh, excuse me? oh, you did not just yada yada someone's medical history!

2. I downloaded another Al Frankin book for our drive.

1. I took a shot of espresso for the first time yesterday. I was going to be all cool and sophisticated. What I was was kind of sick to my stomach and jittery for the next hour. I'm just not cool enough to do espresso shots, I guess.

It's all in the wrist.

Dear Diary,

16. After months of dragging my ass around the hills at negative miles per hour, I finally feel like I'm coming back. I had a great run this week, running up most of the hills. I did it without feeling like I was gonna hurl, and felt great at the end. Stinky, but great . I'm pretty stoked. Between this and my PR at the 50K a few weeks ago, Point Defiance 50K (in less than 2 weeks!) is looking pretty good.

15. However, I'm completely out of vacation days. In order to take the vacation time in Seattle next week, (YES! I'll be posting my blog from SEATTLE!) I will be working two saturdays this month. I'm really fortunate to have a job where they let me do that.  But that six-day week, well, maybe I'm just older than I used to be.  By the time Sunday (today) rolled around, I was all, nope, don't feel like running.  I feel like sleeping in (7 am, to those just tuning in) and relaxing.

14. I can't remember the last time Baboo and I had to vacation and mosy. I'm totally stoked. Me and my boots and hat will be on a plane Wednesday morning, with a layover in Love Field.

Me and a fellow therapist
who was working just as
hard as I was that day.
(Photobooth app)

13. My oldest kiddo, aka "Sweetface", turned 27 this week. (Holy shit, I am OLD.)

12. Hey, what the hell is up with Lean Cuisine. Why aren't there any vegetables in their lunches? It's not like they're incredibly expensive. I'm sticking with Healthy Choice, I think. More fiber, fewer refined carbs.

11. Weight, by the way, is holding steady at 152. Ish.  It was starting to creep up, but then it came back down when I started running. 

10.  After some experimenting, I am using the WatchR app. It's free, and although it doesn't have a food base, it automatically deducts activity points and weekly points. Cool.  I also use the GoMealsHD, which uses the Calorie King database.  And, I still use AllRecipes pro, which I <3.

9. Thursday, Sweet Baboo wrote me an email me, telling me that they are having some budget cutbacks at the VA, and so they are taking the Blackberries from some of the program heads.  Sweet Baboo is, unfortunately, one of them, and so we need to go get him a phone.
So we went to the Verizon store, where we found out that all this time (like, 5 years) if we had put it in his name, we'd have been getting a 15% discount, because he's a federal employee.  So that's what we did.

I took this picture Saturday morning, when I realized there
was snow on the mountain.

8.  We also got Android X2 phones.  These are like the coolest thing ever.  Sweet Baboo picked them out because Consumer Reports like them best, and, well, they are pretty damned awesome.  I have been playing with mine and it does a lot of things better than my iPad, like uploading pictures.  The camera is great. I suck, suck, suck at taking pictures but this makes it so much easier.  I can time/place stamp a picture I've just taken and then share it using a built-in facebook app OR THE BLOGGER APP!  WOOT!.


7. Best of all, there is a built-in navigator and when I have music playing through my car stereo (through the phone) it fades the music to give me another direction, then brings the music back up.  So, right in the middle of Lady Gaga, it's all ...'CAUSE I WAS BORN THIS...TURN LEFT AT MONTGOMERY BOULEVARD...
It's a deaf agorophobic's dream toy, I tell you.

I did not take this picture. Wish I had.  It was taken Saturday morning
of the Balloon Fiesta (yesterday)

6.  Unfortunately, since Sweet Baboo doesn't enjoy playing with things to see how they work, and I am the family nerd. So when I worked Saturday, since three of my appointments never showed up, I spent the time playing with and learning how to use my phone.  Then, teaching Sweet Baboo how to use it.

5.  It also pulled in and integrated all my contacts through facebook, LinkedIn, and Google contacts. And allowed me to combine them.  COOOL.

4.  Sweet Baboo just took off for his run. I did not.  I will make him a fried-egg sandwich.Meanwhile, there is new technology to play with.  It is windy, cold, and damp out.  Noooo thank you. Not quite ready for that yet.

3.  SO of course, I've been changing my Ringtones every other hour.  For instance, yesterday, my ring tone was "Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode.  But, I underestimated how much Sweet Baboo hates that song.  Not just hates it, HHAAATTTTEEEEESSSSSSS it.  So I'll be changing it.  I am not a sadist.  I won't force him to listen to a song he hates.  Not when there are so many other annoying songs to choose from.

2. Now, with respect to #16, I also have had these days where I just don't want to do anything.  I've been running at least every other day, so that's good, but I really need to get my shit together, and start running 5 days a week.

2.  I volunteered to pace the 5:30 group at the Duke City Marathon in two weeks.  I think the idea of pace groups is that they are usually groups for the Boston qualifying times, but what if you just want your own personal best?  It suddenly occurs to me, oh, my, God. I am going to be possibly leading people to make a certain time.  That's like, responsibility and shit.  Am I ready for this?

1.   THREE DAYS TO SEATTLE!!!  
That is all. 


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