What to Blog About???

Well, my "running blog" is going to have to take on some new content...considering I have no running to blog about, but I still want to blog!

So, for now I'll just blog about whatever is going on in my life!

The last couple days I have spent a lot of time figuring out the best thing to do with this totally adorable litter of kittens that were born "out back" at work. There are 3 stray/feral cats that "live" out there and I already had plans to "Trap and Release" them (trap, spay/neuter, then return them to their "home"). I was just waiting until my ankle was good enough to hustle around a bit, but of course the one got pregnant and had kittens! They are SO freaking cute! Anyway, I have a friend that is a vet and she will spay/neuter the adults for me any day that I catch them. However, the kittens are a different story. They really need to be caught and then checked out by the vet, and then fostered to get them used to humans so that they can be adopted. Unfortunately I am going to be out of town about 11 of the next 15 days, so I can not foster them. However I have been getting them use to seeing me and recognizing that I am bringing them food and that I'm not going to hurt them.

There are 5 of them, but 2 are a little more brave! I got these pictures of them yesterday...

Aren't they adorable?!?!?!?! If you have any experience/advice on handling wild kitties, feel free to share!

Back in the Days....

Well, I don't have too much to update on....I'm making progress, so that's good. I can't remember if I ever fully updated about my hip situation, in case I didn't here you go....the MRI showed a small tear in the labrum, so no surgery, just more PT. My ankle is coming along, I'm now able to do the stairmaster (for 5 minutes)!

Not running is still totally sucking, not going to races is sucking even more, missing out on all the fun is sucking the worst! However, I am able to walk around without being in total pain and I've even progressed to cute flats instead of sneakers for a "night out"!

As for the title of this post "Back in the Days"... I came across some old photos of me when I was about 13-15 years old. I used to be totally into horses and extremely competitive at horse shows, traveled all around to tons of them. Anyway, below are 2 pictures from "Back in the Days!"

The first one is me on my horse "Addison", he was so awesome! I had him from the time I was about 12 up to around my junior year in college.

The second picture is me on a horse named "SuperNatural", I started showing him when my horse (Addison) got hurt and was retired. This horse was totally cool too....

Just thought these were kind of cool pics and figured that most of my "blog friends" only know 2 things about me....I ran a marathon, and now I'm injured! So now you know a little bit more! LOL!

Just a Quick Check In.....

I've been MIA......but I'm trying to get back on here....TONS of reading to catch up on.....I'll write a real post soon!
That's it for now......I'm off to see what you all have been up to!

Pittsburgh Marathon "Cheering" Report!

This past weekend was the Pittsburgh Marathon! As many of you know I did the Marine Corps Marathon in the fall with Team in Training (http://www.teamintraining.org/) and raised money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Through TNT I made so many wonderful friends and have become very involved in their "Alumni Club". So, when it was time to get out and support the 115 Team In Training participants....my "inner cheerleader" came out in FULL FORCE!!! We had 45 people running the Full Marathon, 42 doing the 1/2, and the remainder doing the relays!!! In total they raised over $100,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society!!! Isn't that AMAZING?!?!?!

I got together with a couple other alumni that were either injured or had chosen not to run Pittsburgh but still wanted to be involved and we started planning. TNT was "assigned" to mile 11-12 which came up Carson Street in South Side and across the Birmingham Bridge and into Oakland. We decided that we needed to make a bunch of signs to spread out through the mile and then base our "camp" at the beginning of the bridge to cheer the runners on over the bridge and get them pumped up to tackle the hill that they faced after the bridge.

Friday night Erin and I met at my work (we have huge cutting tables) to make the signs. We started at 7:30pm and didn't finish until 12:45am!!!
Then on Saturday night we went to a friends house for a Pasta Dinner (they were running), Erin and I decided that we needed to carb load for the next day! LOL! After that we headed to Erin's house where we finished up the signs and went to bed around midnight. Before we knew it it was time to get up....5am and we weren't running! This was to get the signs out there before the road closures!

We did 1 sign that had all of the "Half" names on it and 1 sign with all of the "Full" names on it....they were LONG! Here we are hanging the "Half" sign on Carson Street....yes, we brought our own ladders!

Next it was onto the "heart" of South Side and taping the signs to various poles along Carson Street.

As we got closer to "our bridge" I was getting so excited! I knew that it wouldn't be long before we would start to see runners. We still had to get the signs spread out over the bridge....

Once we had the signs up it was time to sit back and wait.....

Oh, I forgot to mention, Erin brought a Megaphone/Bullhorn thing.....not that I needed it....BUT I LOVED it!!!!! I noticed a "camera guy" hanging around quite a bit, then he made his way over to us.....I ended up on the news! http://kdka.com/video/?id=56954@kdka.dayport.comDuring the "interview" one of our good friends that we did MCM with came running by, I was SOOOOO happy to see her! I never would have made it through my training for MCM if Chrisie wasn't there, as you can see....it was a little emotional (all while camera man stands there!)!

Eventually we made our way to the finish line and got to see just about all of our teammates cross the line! It was amazing!!! By then it seems like we pretty much stopped taking pictures and were totally "in the moment"....but I never stopped using by Bullhorn!

It was an amazing race and I was so happy to still get to be a part of it, even though I couldn't run. It was a little bitter sweet, it only made me realize even more how much I want to be able to really be a part of it all again. I know it's going to be a long time for me though, but until then I plan on being the best cheerleader out there! GO TEAM!!!!!!!!

Anyone doing the Pittsburgh Marathon this weekend???

This weekend is the Pittsburgh Marathon! Let me know if you're planning on running it! I'll be there cheering on Team in Training (and of course all the other runners)! We'll be between miles 11-12 on Carson Street at the beginning of the Birmingham Bridge.

Also, I went to the hip doctor today, xrays were fine (as we thought they'd be) and scheduled for an MRI next Thursday to see if there is a labral tear.

11 Weeks Post-Op Update/ I Want (part of) Last Year Back

Here's the latest....I'm currently completely out of the boot, I'm wearing a very supportive ankle brace (sort of laces up and velcros) with sneakers pretty much 24/7. At PT I started doing heel raises, eccentric lowering (stand on 4" step with bad ankle and bend knee so that good foot taps the ground), and started doing "2 up 1 down". It's like doing leg extensions, except that you put a 4 lb weight around your 1 ankle then use the other foot to assisit it lifting the bad one up, then lower the bad one by itself. Let me tell you, it's very hard! Keep in mind that when I was "normal" I would go to the gym and do the leg extension machine and not struggle too much to do 90 lbs (obviously with both legs), and I'm pretty sure that I did 45 lbs for single leg extensions, I'm sweating doing 4 lbs. At least I'm doing them though.
Of course there's more to this update....2 more things actually, I'll start with a conversation regarding my future with running at PT.
PT: So, your Dr. has talked to you about running in the future, right?
ME: Yeah, basically no more Full Marathons (PT nods his head in agreement), which I say is fine since "I really just want to run a bunch of 1/2's".
PT: Like how many 1/2's are we talking about?
ME: Well, my plan before all of this was that I was going to do 5 this year, so I'd like to be able to return to that plan at some point.
PT: I'm not so sure about that......maybe 1 or 2 per year.
ME: Why? (tears filling up in my eyes)
PT: Why would you want to do that to your body? I know you love it but I don't think you understand...
ME: Understand what? (tears fully streaming down my face)
PT: Oh no, listen, I'm treating you as I always said I would, as if you were one of my family, one of my loved ones. Listen, let's say that when we're born God gives us Grade A+ cartilage.
ME: (nod my head)
PT: I'm thinking that for your cartilage to blow out so fast in your ankle, maybe you started off with Grade B, or maybe B-.
ME: (nod my head, wipe tears, curse at my fucking sub-par cartilage)
PT: Then you blow out a chunk of your B or B- cartilage and the Dr has to go in, clean stuff out, and then "pick" your bone to make it bleed and form scar tissue to "act" as cartilage in the place where you have none.
ME: (suck in the snot that's about to come out with a massive downpour of tears, curse my motherfucking cartilage again)
PT: So now we're talking about having an F in cartilage and maybe a C in substitue cartilage. It's not meant to be "beat up" like that.
ME: (trying to not sob, doing ok at keeping it together, nod my head) This sucks.
PT: I know, it does, 100% without a doubt totally sucks. Look, if it was your knee and you were so into continuing to run, I'd say - Well, alright go ahead, we'll try to keep you as healthy as possible, just know that you'll probably get about 10 years of running and then it will be time for a knee replacement, if you don't run you'd probably need one in about 20 years, so enjoy the next 10 years. BUT unfortunately, ankles are totally different than knees. An ankle replacement is shoddy at best, that's not an option for you, but if you keep tearing your ankle apart you are going to be left with horrible arthritis and not be able to function.
ME: fuck. what am I going to do now?

I'm not handling this well, at all. I know that I could swim, I could bike, but come on you guys - YOU are the only one's that know, they aren't the same. I know that no one can give me the answer here, because there really isn't one, it just sucks. Once again, it makes me feel like I got cheated, I just found running and all the great things that came from it, and I might not get to do it all again. Sure, I could do a 5K or maybe even a 10K at some point (which I'm sure I'll be very happy to do when the time comes), but the truth is I like 10, 11, 12, 13 miles. I don't really like 3,4, or 5. You guys know, doing a 5K and doing a 1/2 are completely different. I like how a 1/2 feels.

Part 2 of the update.......so, I was in "the boot" for about 9 weeks (6w/crutches and then partial to full weight bearing). During those last few weeks walking with the boot I started having major pain in my right hip, it was so bad that it was actually waking me up at night. So at PT we started treating that too, stretches, heat, ice, massage. It was really deep in my hip, more like my groin area, my iliopsoas was really tight and tender, so that sort of made sense. Well, after a couple weeks of treating that and not getting much of a response the PT tried moving it a few more ways, then steps back and says "I don't like this. I'm getting very concerned as to why we're getting no where." I say "I know, seriously, do you think something else is wrong?" He says "Look, I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't tell you this, but I need you to see a hip specialist, let's just hope that you are all jammed up from that boot, but I gotta tell you, you have a lot of the symptoms of a Labral Tear." Me "WTF?" PT "I know, look, let's just hope it's just jammed up and maybe you've got a strain in there, but you need to see someone, get some x-rays and an MRI." ME - (crying).

So, this Wednesday I will be seeing a hip specialist to figure this out. My hip HURTS, like a bitch. It hurts when I'm sitting here, it hurts when I'm laying in bed, it hurts when I'm driving, it hurts when I'm walking around.

Seriously, I'm done. I'm so over all these stupid injuries. I just want what I had last year back. I want the excitement of running in new places, meeting new friends, buying new Nike shirts, feeling good, actually feeling amazing, happy, proud, I want it all back.

That's it for now. I wish that my update was full of good news, and that everything was falling back into place, but right now it's not looking like it will. I think I need a vacation.....

Good Luck LAM!!!!

Todays post is dedicated to Lam, who will be running in Boston on Monday! As many of you already know, not only is he an amazing runner but Lam always shares wonderful words of wisdom and support! I know his encouragement has meant a lot to me, so this one is for LAM!

Just wish my sign could be there "in person" for your BIG DAY!!!!!