Howdy Do ~
I have no idea what's happening with everyone, but it looks like jobs and retirement are the recent topics. I love my job and will be here until they tell me I can't be here anymore. As for retirement, due to the happenings in our life 6 years ago, full retirement will more than likely not be a possibility for us, unless we really, REALLY go small and frugal. That being said, Shorty will have 6 yrs of sobriety come mid-April, we're happy, and that's worth more than any amount of money.
We've been absolutely deluged with rain, but today there are blue skies, which are supposed to be around until tomorrow evening, then maybe a week of no rain next week. Wow! It's turning cold again this morning, and what I thought this morning was geese poop splattered on the back deck ended up being ice splats. Water must've dripped off the power lines.
I saw an orthopedic surgeon while I was in Portland last week. Not good news. She diagnosed hamstring tendinopathy, and although she said it was my decision whether or not to run the races last weekend, a big "but . . ." hung in the air and I wisely - but at the same time sadly - chose not to run. It was a good thing, considering how incredibly bad the mud was this year.
She is recommending an MRI and referred me to a local ortho I've seen before. I am waiting for him to review her notes and either make an appt for me to see him or hopefully refer me for an MRI first. I'm not looking forward to the cost of that, but the Portland doc said we need to find out how bad things are. I'm trying not to get discourage, but from talking to her and doing some research on the issue, I could be out 3-6 months rehabbing. I waffle between being really upset and on the verge of tears to "Okay. Let's get going on this and get me fixed." The 2 things I'm most upset about are (1) Mt. Hood 50 is a lottery and I was lucky to get my name pulled this year, and (2) the race fees I've already paid to the tune of about $400. I can get a 50% credit toward future races with that organization, but none of my $$ will be refunded. Oh well. That's what I get for planning FAR ahead.
Right now I can't do any kind of exercising - no running, no power walking, no stationary biking - until the significance of the injury is determined. I don't know how to swim (like really swim), so that's out. I'm feeling fat and going stir-crazy. But I can work on core, upper body ST and some lower body ST, so I'm trying to get myself refocused in that direction. It doesn't help that today for my birthday treat at work I requested a bagel try from a local bagel bakery and have made a fairly decent dent in the offerings.
I'm also at the point where I'll do ANYTHING to be able to sit comfortably. I'm very tired of sitting on my donut, it's causing it's own issues, and I don't know when I'll get the sit/stand desk I've requested (and which has been authorized, is my understanding). I need to talk to my boss and see if there's any way to get it expedited. This past weekend I stood all day Saturday and Sunday volunteering at the race and it really helped.
Anyway, that's my tale of woe. It's now time to pour out my bowl of crybaby soup and get on with it.
Enjoy the downhill slide into the weekend, my friends ~~~
Leslie Living and Running Behind the Redwood Curtain -------------
Trail Runner Nation
Sally McCrae-Choose Strong
Bare Performance
...fatozzig//.........One Word
'' Pool Run''
with a Flotation Belt
hope you feel better
..nothing takes the place of persistence.....
wow Leslie - I had no idea the rehab for this type of injury could be so long! I'm sorry. Is there anything you can point to that may have caused this (maybe you've said and I forgot?), or is it an overuse injury that just finally got bad enough to halt thing?
and are you having any thoughts yet about the relay? or just taking it one month at a time for now?
Tammy
Tom - Right now I can't do any type of "running" motion until I find out what the doc and MRI have to say. Well, let me say I'm not going to because even power walking exacerbates things. But if that ends up being my best option at keeping fit, I'll definitely be "pooling" int.
Tammy - Right now I'm not making any decisions until I get an MRI. Being off my butt and on my feet for 2 days over the weekend really helped as it doesn't hurt as much to sit now as it did before I went up to Portland. I'm sure not running in lover a week has helped, too. As soon as I know anything, I will let you know about the relay. That, Mt. Hood and Mt. Lakes are all I've been able to think about.
As far as how it happened, a number of years ago, I slipped and fell getting out of the shower and my right hip landed on the lip of the shower before I hit the floor. It was a bad fall that jacked me up for quite awhile. Since then, my pelvis has a tendency to get off kilter once in awhile. I thought I was being diligent about my core ST, but evidently not! Anyway, things got tilted and irritated right before Christmas and I put off going to the doc/PT too long and I trained through this, except for about 1 1/2 weeks at the end of Dec/start of Jan, which just kept irritating everything. Because of the location (high hamstring, where the hammy meets the butt), it's a hard injury to heal because of sitting and the motion of moving your legs back and forth when walking, etc. It's my understanding it's a common runners injury. Depending on what the MRI shows, getting a CT-guided cortisone shot may be an option, but we'll see. In the meantime, it is literally a pain the butt to sit, but has improved since last Thursday. Dang it!
MM#5991
6.1 miles today. A run where I questioned everything including why do I run. Just one of those days/weeks I guess.
Tomorrow is a new day.
Lori
*it's Bertha or me. My money is on me.*
**"There is no growth in the comfort zone and no comfort in the growth zone".---- Sandy**
Hey gang. Just a quick check in from Hartsfield in the way home. Busy travel week but great news on my projects. Kept the streak alive. Only one more flight to home.
Hope all is well with you. Cheers.
"He conquers who endures" - Persius "Every workout should have a purpose. Every purpose should link back to achieving a training objective." - Spaniel
http://ncstake.blogspot.com/
Marathon Maniac #957
Leslie - Happy Birthday! Other than that, my personal opinion is just to rest and pool run if you can. As you know, I was out most of last summer with a hamstring issue, and 3 PT visits, which cost me nearly $1400, did nothing to fix it - if anything I think they made it worse. Like Tet says, rest will fix most things that ails us in the way of running stuff. The cost of the race fees is nothing compared to what the health practioners will charge you to "fix" the issue.
C-R - Happy Birthday!
Okay, am I the only person who takes hours to pack for a weekend away? DS, who is going up to Ohio Northern to spend the weekend with his GF, laughed at the amazing amount of "necessities" I am taking. I have to pack for all eventualities!
Life is a headlong rush into the unknown. We can hunker down and hope nothing hits us or we can stand tall, lean into the wind and say, "Bring it on, darlin', and don't be stingy with the jalapenos."
I really wish I had time to stop by and comment on some of the stuff posted today. A lot of it was pretty funny. I like Holly S.'s overview of spending and the age of one's kids. Not having had any I have not had to deal with it.
Today I went running with my training partner. We had a very interesting discussion about investing her retirement money. I think that she wanted to talk since she planned out a pretty long route. In the end it was just short of 10 miles.
Live like you are dying not like you are afraid to die.
Drunken Irish Soda Bread and Irish Brown Bread this way --> http://allrecipes.com/cook/4379041/
MM #5615
Hello everybody!
Holly--where were you and that dang fish today when I needed you? My boss came in and drove me--and everybody else who he talked to-- absolutely nuts!
BerthaSlayer--I usually don't question why I run while I'm running...but when I get out of bed in the morning...that's when I start thinking I must be nuts.
For a week, now, we've been hearing about this huge snow storm that was going to dump as much as 18" of snow on us. Even yesterday, they said 6 to 10 inches. Tonight, they're saying that the northern suburbs (where I live) will probably get an inch. I'm fine with that. It doesn't sound like Starr is going to be quite so lucky...the system is going right through her town.
I did 7 miles...a whole lot slower that yesterday.
Okay--gotta go. See ya!
The other piece about jobs/retirement is that a lot of people are in a place where they have to stay...usually because of mortgage and kids. We decided very early on not to have kids, which had the unintended benefit of giving us enormous financial freedom to take lower-paying jobs that we like. We also intentionally bought much less house than we could afford so as not to have a big mortgage. It's not for everyone--there's no global travel in our budget and our small place is pretty basic--but we're happy where we are, feel very fortunate, and never for a second regretted our decisions. Sometimes less is more.
We went the same route too..our hut is pretty basic and no fancy things in it...
But we decided to have two kids, and I opted to be a stay at home mom for over a decade to be here for the boys. We invested in our kid's education and in giving to our community the whole time.
Today we still live in a much less house we can afford, we stayed in a very poor county because we felt that we can make a difference in our community and both of us gave up great professional growth opportunities to be to follow our own path.
I agree with you, Tramps, each of us must take a path that makes sence to us and stick to it.
Each to it's own dulcinea like don Quijote would say.
Carpe Diem to all.
And may your journey today find you happy.
"Champions are everywhere; all you need is to train them properly..." ~Arthur Lydiard
After a long day of flying, we got to Phoenix around 5 pm. Kind of windy here, and glad I had my fleece jacket. Got to our hotel and then went for dinner to an Italian place I found on Open Table. Good food, if not a bit more salty than we're used to, but the service was a little iffy at first. We were taken to our table and left there with a wine list and two glasses of water. After awhile, a server showed up with a basket of bread and was leaving when I said, "excuse me, can we get some menus?" He looked shocked, and asked "you haven't had a server??" "Nope, just shown to our table." After that, they were almost overly attentive, but dinner was good.
Hope SteveP's dad is ok, that's scary stuff.
Leslie, that sounds like what twocat struggled with for what, two years? Be careful!
We had friends who didn't have kids. They spent an amazing amount of money on trips to Napa and buying a lot of expensive wines. Not sure who spent more, us on our kids and their soccer stuff or them. Heh. Well, they've retired to Florida and have a boat and all that stuff. We're still working in Fairbanks and spending $600 a month on heating fuel (ok, not every month, but January's bill was big). In the end, I'm still glad I have my boys and not a long list of expensive wines I'll never see again.
But yeah, management jobs are over-rated. I'm looking forward to the time off and only checked e-mail 3 times today (hey, that's good for me! and it was while waiting for luggage, rental car lines, etc).
So whatever happens on Saturday will happen. I'm not going to damage myself to the point I lose my summer of running. Nothing is worth that. But, I will start and see how it goes, fully expecting to call DH and say I'm pulling out. But hoping with judicious walk breaks I can get it done. Maybe.
Jay, Yeaouch!! A slice there looks pretty scary.
I'm also a less is more person. DW isn't as much. We manage.
Shorty has a lot to be proud of in the sobriety department. That stuff ain't even though it becomes a way of life. (((((Leslie's Hammy))))).
It turns out that Dad was very dehydrated. Between Saturday and Tuesday, he had two of the ten freezer meals that were left for him. Stubborn cuss. Before he had the surgery, his Dr. advised him that recovery would kick his butt. When we went back a week ago Wednesday, Dad was hoping the Dr. would wave his magic wand and he's be all better. At this point, I don't know how I'll respond is I go back down for willful misconduct.
I'm playing ketchup with work issues and home maintenance. We have a manager in training who expressed that he was amazed at how quickly conditions deteriorated in the nine days I was gone. We're in an industry where people with simply a high school diploma can make a decent wage. He'll find some very intelligent people with very few experiences outside their own little world. There's also those with a variety of experiences who are quirky as all get out.
SteveP