Damn Dog

Murphy is one of those dogs that is so awesome, you just can’t help but love him.

On the very first trip home from the vet, I veered off to stop at my dad’s tree and the dog shit in the car.

On the second trip to the vet, I was going to drop off some things at the Goodwill and he barfed all over the front seat.

I think on the third trip to the vet, I will either have Adam take him or I will go straight home.

Think’n that’s a good plan.

How Lucky How Thankful

Betty, my awesome mother-in-law, started this great tradition this year at Thanksgiving.  She left out a pad of paper, a pen and a basket.  Each of us was to write down what we were thankful for and then we would read them at the dinner table.

At the end of dinner, all the kids crowded around Papa to read the notes.  They were read one by one.  The kids tried to guess who wrote what.  Some of us fessed up, some did not.

It was CT who wrote this:

As it was read, he looked up into my mom’s eyes and gave her the sweetest smile and head nod.  It was as if to say, don’t worry Grandma, we won’t forget him.

Thuy

I have been fighting a bit of knee trouble these days, so I decided to take some time off of running, thinking that would solve my problems.  Since it has not, I starting seeing a Chiropractor, her name is Dr.Thuy Katzenberger and she is the fiercest little woman who inflicts the most amount of pain, I have ever met.

I always love it when you go in and try to get one thing fixed, full well knowing (or maybe not) it is stemming from something else all together.  Here is the email I sent my coach of the rehash (from my perspective of what Thuy (pronounced Twee) said to me.

What is wrong:
1.  My pelvis is the biggest issue.  I actually stand with my pelvis tilted way forward which causes a whole host of alignment problems. Also in the position that I am in all the time, it does not allow for my hamstrings to be used to their full potential.  Instead they sit there contracted and shorted up because they are not allowed to be in their normal state.  This pelvic tilt also has my lower back in a constant contracted state, which is no good.  All of this pelvis stuff is causing my gate to be funky.

PLAN:  I have to retrain my pelvis to live in a different position.  I basically have to stand shoulders back, butt out, then breath and try to relax those muscles.

2.  My feet.  She was appalled at the state of my feet, their wear pattern, how crocked my toes are and the callouses I get.  I have some very strong muscles in my feet and then I have some that have atrophied.  She wants them all in play and wants my foot to strike differently.  Which supposedly it will once the pelvis is fixed.

PLAN:  Straighten my toes out (I’m not exactly sure what kind of Chinese voo doo can help with this, but let me tell you it hurts) and she wants me to walk around in Vibrum 5 fingers 30 minutes a day to get all the muscles in my feet working.  She feels that walking around in these is better than any exercises she could give me.

3.  The knee.  Again an alignment/weakness issue.  I’m asking muscles to do things they should not be doing because the others are not up to the task and I just keep burning through to the next stabilizer muscle.

Thuy said that my pain progression from IT band to other side of the knee is exactly what happens right before you tear your lateral meniscus, which usually happens suddenly due to something stupid like tripping over a sidewalk or rolling over a stone.  The constant ache in the back of the knee is all my muscles just trying to keep their shit together.

PLAN:  Get in alignment, strengthen hamstrings.

4.  Weaknesses:  hamstrings and glute medius.  My glute medius is like jello…I am hoping for a better ass in 2011.

PLAN:  I have hamstring exercises to work on and glute work will come later.

5.  Balance:  I forgot what she said about this besides the fact that when asked to balance on one foot for 10 seconds I begin to shake, which someone in my physical condition should be able to stand there for a good minute before this happens.

PLAN:  Go back to bed and wake up in a different body.

This is what I get for asking my 40 year old body to race hard.  Better get on it, the start of marathon training is just around the corner.

If this new skiing endeavor of mine fails…

There is always a fall back.  Thank you Surly!

My new hot sweet love

I have fallen in love with a thing.  That thing is a French Press.

My coffee maker broke one morning when I was up at 5 am working and I have sent it off to get fixed.  No coffee at 5am = no good for me.  By mid afternoon that day, there was a French Press in my hot little hands. I’m not sure I have ever enjoyed coffee as much as I have this past week.

So in honor of my little lovely Frechie, here is a haiku, because who doesn’t like writing haiku’s?

Dawn sky breaks early

Slow thoughts dribble through my head

You are steaming strength

Write one, about anything, it’s fun.

Man jobs

Yeah…I don’t like to ask for help.  I also don’t like to ask men for help because really, I can do anything a man does (within physical reason).

I am actually on the fourth day of a toilet clog that I cannot for the life of me get out.  The questioning started out like this:  What’s in there?  Is it just poop?  Did you use a lot of toilet paper?  By day three I was asking:  What else did you put down there, a pony, a car, a stuffed animal?

Usually it kinda breaks up and then I can plunge it out no problem.  At this point in the post you are asking yourself, how does she know that?  Well people, I know that because I have a son that has clogged so many toilets in his lifetime that I can’t even count them on all my fingers and toes.

Needless to say, after another round of plunging, the snake and a conference call about “plunging procedure” for this particular toilet to Adam…we got it.

Oh yeah…the things I will not do.  Chop wood.  I tried that, with PJ watching and almost chopped my foot off.  I decided it wasn’t my thing.  And, change a flat, because really, I just don’t want to.

I am still waiting on my friend Erik.  Where the hell are you “pool boy” Erik???

Queen of the tundra

I have taken on a part time gig at the City of Lakes Loppet Foundation as their Sponsorship Coordinator for their big Loppet weekend in February as well as the Junior Olympics which they are going to host in March.  Needless to say, because of this, I have suddenly found myself on skis.

Every Tuesday night I go to a ski class.  So far it has been a bunch of dry land training, which I have no problem with.  Last night, due to the snow, I found myself on skis for the first time since I was 7.  The images of me laying in the snow crying because I was cold and frustrated all came flooding back.

With 33 years and only a pinch more patience than when I was 7, I plodded back and forth with no poles trying to get the gist of skate skiing.  At least I was laughing as I fell down instead of crying.  My plan is to complete the 33K Loppet race on February 6th.  I have a lot of work to do and honestly have no business doing it, but why the hell not?

Hey, if you ski, come on out and participate.  If you don’t come on out and watch.  There is something for everyone.

Buy the ticket…take the ride!

I saw that saying on a bumper sticker yesterday and totally love it.  It’s kinda how we roll over here.

Adam and his business partners have uprooted themselves and moved camp from Minneapolis to San Francisco to make some good inroads with their start up Evolve.

If you’re a gamer, sign up and give it a test drive.