Here's what I know now.

So, I went for a run on the trails. I covered about 5 miles or in about an hour, testing various things on my knee, and here's what I know now:

• I was able to have a pretty decent run in my old New Balance 767s, even considering the ones I was wearing are in awful shape, having been run over by accident once. Did I mention that they don't make them? Now they're 768s.


• I can run completely flat or uphill. I cannot run downhill at all, or on wind-y trails at this time.


• When I stop and stretch, crossing my ankles and leaning, my knee (right) it feels better.


• I can't speed up or overstride or my knee says, "Nunh-uh"

Now, turns out that one of the teachers at my school who is married to another teacher at my school and they are certified athletic trainers and coaches, and she suggested this: based on the fact that I'm not sensitive to aspirin: 2 aspirin, 4 times a day, for 5 days, don't miss a dose. She says that this will wipe out any inflammation anywhere.

Here's what else I know now: Turns out that my beloved New balance 767s correct "mild to moderate" pronation, and guess what can bring about ITB syndrome? Yeah. That's right. So, tomorrow, the Brookes go back to the running shop, and I get a pair of 768s (the newest version of my old beloved).

If you know someone who "can't run" because of a pain or another, maybe it's not them. Maybe it's the shoes.

So for the next week, easy flat runs; lots of stretching; and aspirin. We'll see how it goes.

Today's run was badly needed. Due to my annual sick month (FEBRUARY) I've barely run since the 50K about 3 weeks ago, and so I've been bombarded with depression symtoms that have come back without regular exercise.
I know "bombarded" sounds rediculously melodramatic, but that's what it feelsl like. It's like being hit with those spiky gumballs from the sweet gum tree except they're the size and weight of apples, and instead of puncturing skin, they puncture my spirit with lots and lots of bad thoughts. But, know it and I can keep on top of it. It is what it is.

So, I actually got to run a on Sunday, and then Thursday and today, so I'm back on my way to feeling better and being ready for the Grasslands marathon on March 22nd.

...

Knee pain?

I went for a run yesterday after all my appointments (I'm having lady surgery after Ironman CDA, but it's very minor. I'll write more about that later) and then my KNEE started hurting.

Oy.

I'm very distressed and uncomfortable with such a development. I mean, hey, I run my special, slothful, shuffling pace so that I DON'T get injuries, so if I get injuries ANYWAY, well, hell, I might as well speed up!

Which, of course, violates my laziness threshold.

I first had this pain the last couple miles of my 50K in Alabama.

Then I had it again last week. I tried running through it, because it felt kinda like a muscle cramp.

Not. So. Much. I limped back to the car.

I had it again yesterday. I couldn't even speedwalk when it kicked in.

Now, I'm crossing my fingers--it just so happens I had this pain - which I've NEVER had before --when I was wearing a different type of shoe other than my beloved New Balance 767s. I'm going to put them back on today and go for a run, but already I've noticed it when going down the stairs today at work, and I was wearing Keens. However, I never wore anything but 767s for 3 years until about a month ago when I switched to Brooks and then this pain started.

I'm also going to try this 5-day aspirin thing that the athletic trainer at my school told me about.

Oy. Here's what I'm worried about. Bowleggedness? Nyet. Overpronation? Nope. I'm a neutral pronator. Banked surfaces? Possibly. I tend to run to the left of U-shaped trails.

cross your fingers for me that it's the shoes. Shoes are easy to fix.

...

How many blind triathletes does it take...

Wow, who'd have thought there were that many near-sighted triathletes around?

You, you sneaky guys with your contacts...I feel better now in my near-sighted non-perfection. POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

Just a couple of thoughts on your comments:

1. I'm very pissed that my shoes come in pink and nobody at the shoe store told me. I'm considering taking them back tomorrow (I haven't worn them yet) and making them order pink ones. yeah, well, there's all these things said about women and how capricious we are, and I never am, so I have some wiggle room.

2. Clearly, the contact lens thing is a go. I already wear the disposable contacts because I lose everything, and I strive to bring Sweet Baboo, who is in charge of the budget, as little pain as possible

On other, unrelated news, I would like to come forward and state loud and clear that my diet was totally blown somewhere between half-priced Christmas cookies and half-priced Valentine's chocolate. I'm at 165 pounds today, exactly where I've pretty much been since March of 2006, after I lost that first 30 pounds. I am determined to get to 150 before the end of this year, not to fit someone's ideal image, but to have some more tissue that is working tissue instead of hauling-up-and-down-New-Mexico-mountains tissue.

Tomorrow, I'm taking the day off to go visit the lady parts doctor. I kind of wrote about visiting this doc for another problem back in 2006 and the subsequent treatment for it. I strive to do this in a sensitive way that doesn't make all the guys out there go, "Ewwwwwww" but that is perhaps useful for someone out there.
Meanwhile, because of the odd time of time of my appointment, I had to take the whole day off. I'm not making this up. I have to take a whole day of sick leave, SOOO, I'm going to do a 5:30 am spin class and maybe swim - if I can find some goggles - and then shower and then visit the doc. Then visit the shoe store, and see if I can get them in pink. I can't believe they didn't tell me. Jeesh! And then have coffee.

In unrelated news, today at work two of my students left the room, in their words, "To get a breath of fresh air." I didn't realize it until they came back (OMG!!) and then I said, "do you realize that it's entirely inappropriate for you to walk out of class without permission?"

Their response: Geeze, we just got a breath of fresh air. Take a chill!

Not quite the apologetic tone one hopes for. I admonished them not only for their behavior but also for the resultant paperwork.

You're writing us up just for getting a breath of fresh air? You're seriously writing us up?

Uh, yeah. Take a chill, girls.

...

Random thoughts less than 4 out from CDA.

Things I'd like to throw...and the people at whom I'd like to throw them. I was thinking about that tonight, at the worst spin class I've ever been to. The cycles were bad, the instructor was--bless her heart--well intentioned. But uninspiring.

So, things to throw. Well, a soft, slightly overrippe tomato....the three guys at the back of the spin class I was at tonight who were carrying on a very loud conversation during the entire class. Holy cow, I mean, if you are that relaxed then you aren't working hard enough. And you need to be tomato-ed.

This week marks the beginning of my training for Ironman Coeur D'Alene. And, I know that triathlon season is approaching, becuase I'm getting a hankerin' for gear. Gear. GEAR! GEAR!! Yes, I'm excited because GEAR! spring is here.

I'll be swimming...just as soon as i get new goggles. I'm thinking pink. I'm thinking mirrored. I was wondering, now that I have contact lenses, can wear them during a long course triathlon? I mean, is it doable? I mentioned it to the contact lens lady who was training me to wear my contacts, and she sucked air through her teeth and said NO. However, I'm highly suspicious of advice from even professionals who aren't into running or multisport. It SEEMS like it should be okay. I've worn them for an ultra-marathon. But I haven't worn them with goggles yet. I suppose I'll train with them, and see how they work.

I bought new road shoes. I'll try them out tomorrow; they are Brookes Adenalyn road shoes. SIZE 9, because for some reason, my feet keep getting bigger. It's like they're pizza dough and when I run they just get slapped larger, larger, and larger...

I got my dirty-girl gaiters today. I'm going to wear them at the Grasslands marathon March 22nd. They are the "Fetish" pattern on the Dirty girl page. I'll review them after the grasslands trail run.

Okay, my thoughts are completely disorganized. First, work on the training plan, directed by Sweet Baboo. Then get some gear. I'm not sure if I'll do another ironman after CDA. It's like, 2 hours a day, 3-4 days a week for training, and then 4+ hours a day on the weekends.

Thursday, I go to see the lady parts doctor. About, em, the lady parts. And yes, she is a runner. I pretty much won't see anyone who isn't. They just don't GET it, you know?

...

My message, to my fellow Texans.

I make my decisions based on the decisions and actions of others, not of their promises, or what they say they will do. Not on their gender, or my gender. I view how someone will behave in the future based on what they have done in the past. I look to vocation. Dedication. What they've exemplified, and actively supported.
Accordingly, the candidate who represents me chose to dedicate life, education, and vocation to civil rights law, rather than corporate law.
My choice, my opinion. For what it's worth. And that's all I have to say about that.

HOPE = VOTE



...

spring: you can't see it, but it's coming.

My grades for the 3rd quarter are due on Friday.

I received an email reminding me (us) of how and when to export my (our) grades electronically and I realized, with a start, that the semester is half over. The general panic that sets in when kids realize that after Friday they cannot do anything to affect their grade, and the associated nagging that goes along with that as they beg, beg, beg for extra time or extra credit, is eclipsed by one fact that is undeniable:

My work year is 3/4 over. There is 1/4 of the year left.

In and among all the nonsense, over-bearing parents demanding special treatment for mi hito, gang members and the kids that have been expelled from other schools (and the one or two that I wish would get expelled from this one) is the certain knowledge of the coming of my golden summer.

My golden summer.

This is the reason that people teach. Don't misunderstand - it's not that teachers just bide their time until summer. It's just that we can ONLY do what we do if we are afforded some time each year because it takes about ten weeks for the bitterness and weariness to fade, and to get our sense of optimism and excitement and dedication in full gear again.

Actually, for many of us, optimism has faded somewhat by April, and then we hang in there because we know what's coming: we plant seeds in the spring and tend them during those ten golden weeks because they, at least, are far less heartbreaking for all our nurturing and tending.

I chose to work with kids: thrown out of other classes, other schools, or whom have recently been released from jail into the public school system. Every May I throw my supplies into boxes and say, "that's it, I've had it, next year will be my last. "

But then, over ten weeks, that certainty will fade. Ten golden weeks. My golden summer.

They're not so bad, I'll think, following my late morning nap.

Next year, I'll think as I sip my morning espresso, things will be different.

I will be different, I'll think, as I head out for my morning run.

mischivious imps! I'll think as I climb a hill on my bike.

For ten glorious weeks I will follow my bliss. Hang out with retired friends, like SW Tri gal and Hartley, if they'll have me. Unhurried. Unruffled. My clothing will be sporty-spice meets REI end-of-season-sale. I'll get up each morning, smell the fragrant chocolate flower, and then shower. I'll visit and subtly harass friends who get paid way more than me but don't have summer off. Maybe lunch with Sweet Baboo.
Maybe this year will be the year that I get that hammock, and read that growing pile of books I don't seem to get to during the school year.

And you want to give this up? Sweet Baboo asked.

Over ten, golden weeks I'll forget how horrid and frustrating it is between August and May. And in August, I'll head back for another year, full of optimism and excitement.
This year, things will be different. I'll be different.

My grades for the 3rd quarter are due on Friday.

spring is coming, and summer is right behind.

yesterday, I bought 5 packets of flower seeds.

....

Dude. Apparently, I'm like, a hippie and stuff.

in class this week:

Student A: So, hey, Mrs. P--so, were you like, a hippie back in the sixties?

Student B: Dude. Of course she was a hippie.

Me: Actually, I--

Student B: I mean, LOOK at her. She's like, a vegetarian and stuff.

Student A: Cool. We got a hippie teacher.

Me: But I was born in the sixties. I couldn't have--

(Above: Me and my hippie friends at a showing of "The Spirit of the Marathon" movie.)

Student C: So, like, what about the seventies? Were you a hippie then?

Me: Actually, I was in elementary school in the 70s. I'm more of an eighties chick.

Student A: But you like, eat all healthy and stuff.

Me: A lot of people eat healthy. That doesn't make them hippies. I've heard President Bush eats healthy food.

Student B: Dude. Of course she's a hippie. I mean, have you even see the bumper stickers on her car? She's all, "my other car is a bicycle" and stuff.

Me: Actually, that has more to do with--

Student C: Hippie! Hippie!

Student A: And I mean, like, you never wear suits and dresses and stuff like the other teachers.

Me: I wore a suit two weeks ago. i'm wearing a dress right now.

Student A: But that's like, a hippie dress.

Student C: My brother? He had you about four years ago? And he said you had really long hair, all the way down to your butt and stuff when he was in your class. He was all like, "Mrs. P is that hippie teacher, and she's all, 'put your bottles in the recyling bin' and stuff"

Student A: Mrs. P, it's okay that you're a hippie. We still like you.

Me: No, but you see I --

Student B: In fact, it's kinda cool that you're a hippie.

Me: I AM NOT A HIPPIE! I live in a gated community by the golf course!

Blank stares.

Then,

Student C: So, did you like, get all on LSD and stuff? and go to that big, you know music thing? With all the mud?

Student B: Dude. Of course she did. She was a stoner. You know she was.

Student A: I can't wait to tell my grandparents that my teacher was a hippie! So did you like, wear tye-dyed clothse and stuff?


~~~~

(This conversation was even more surreal, considering that this web site seems to have been penned by someone who followed me an Baboo around for year. )

...