hey. whoa. where'd i go?

Hey, guys! It's been a while.

I've been keeping myself busy so as to not dwell on the limited exercise of interest thing (this eliminates swimming from the discussion, so don't suggest it...got it?).

I know you all are curious about how the injection is playing out and probably all the awesome things I've been up to since I clearly have NOT been blogging.

Bullets...here you go:

• PRP Injection? Two thumbs way UP. For two days after, I babied the heck out of my hip, then I started bearing more weight and being more active. A bit of pain...it comes and goes when I walk, especially when I have to carry a child. But the most amazing thing to ME is this:
• I saw Life of Pi in 3D. Triple snap in Z formation. Go see it. About two-thirds of the way through the movie I started crying for a reason completely unrelated to the movie (which did make me cry in its own right). I was crying because I realized that for the first time in ten years, I was not uncomfortable AT ALL while watching a movie. TEN YEARS, people, of pain in movies. It was a mind-blowing experience to NOT have that. I'm calling Injection #1 a success. I get #2 in three weeks. I can't wait :)
• A couple of weeks ago I offered to help someone out. I don't know her that well, but our daughters are best friends. I'm watching her daughter before school for 90 minutes for the next three weeks. The child is super polite and sweet and EASY. And makes our mornings easy...which is hard. She came over every morning this week. Today the mom paid me! Whoa. I wasn't expecting that! Woo hooo! Now I have money to:
• Mail out the Jingle Bell Hell prizes! I had NO IDEA how expensive shipping had gotten :( But they ARE coming, people. Hope to get them out by the end of next week. So Christmas in March not February ;-) I may need to go buy Jennifer some more powdered donuts, though. Not sure how rich in preservatives these guys are!
• We enjoyed a lovely day and went on a lovely walk...

Except for this one. She ran...

...and kept running...

...until she found this tree, upon which she stopped and pointed

and loudly proclaimed,

MOM!!! THIS TREE HAS A PENIS!

I do believe that the entire horde of tourists visiting Muir Woods on that beautiful Sunday morning then noticed that, indeed, the tree had a penis. 

She looked up and saw this...

and delightedly shrieked,

(I say 'delighted' because she's my child)

These trees are SO BIG! They're THIS BIG!

and she jumped to show me how big.

That's why the picture is blurry.

This one got mad.

I don't remember why, 

but I remember that he worked it for a good, long time.

Then we let him take our picture.

He was so excited that he tried to grab his own face.

It was beautiful.

And kind of loud because we were there.

• We followed up with lunch at In N Out, which I think was the kids' favorite part of the experience. Even though I made them all share a shake. 

Hope all of you out there have a lovely weekend!

Anyone doing something fun?

– we have soccer and birthday parties and piano tests and housework to look forward to :)

Still smiling ...

Today I go and maybe get a giant needle stuck into my hip and have stuff injected in there. But I might not. It depends on what the doctor says. I hope he says,

LET'S DO IT!!!!

because I am eager to get the show on the road even though it's needles and needles freak the crap out of me. If it works, if it doesn't work...at least it's a starting point. So I'm smiling even though I haven't run since I can't even remember. 

Thanks, everyone, for your shared excitement about the rowing. It was really fun. I did it twice last week, and that will be all...for now. Deciding to proceed with the prolotherapy course of treatment (which is not covered by insurance) will be a financial commitment that will already stretch us. Rowing is way more expensive than I had imagined. I had a hard time keeping a straight face when I was given the cost breakdown. What the WHAT? LOL! And, dude, 4:40 a.m. is sooooooo f*cking early!!! 

For now the energy will be focused on healing or treating or whatevering my sweet little hurting hip :) I will not curse it. I will be loving it and nurturing it and promising to do right by it.

As I ponder what lies ahead, I've been spending time hanging with one of my favorite girls...

Can't catch me!

Yeah, right now I can't...but wait until I get this hip sorted ;-)

We know who runs the show around here...

...and clearly, it isn't me!

Alrighty, time to go be a mom. Because guess what? My kids are ON VACATION!!!! Might be a good time to take a trip to the zoo ;-)

I'll be sure to report back about how the doctor appointment goes!

What would you want to do if you were a kid on vacation? Don't say Disneyland...think local :)

Ever tried a course of treatment that seemed experimental? How'd it go?


p.s. Jingle Bell Hellers...i have NOT forgotten about you! 

She's a natural...

And it's winter...

Two beautiful photos for you on this beautiful day :)

Still cranking through this high school application biz...hope to be done tonight! But then it will be time to tackle the financial end of things. I remember complaining about college tuition going up over ten grand...we're looking at triple that for high school :P Keep wishing me some luck :)

Hope to spend some more time here later in the week!

Wishing you all a lovely day :)

Breaking with (one week old) tradition...

I ran today.

I was going to not do squat all week and then have a killer weekend of brutality on the elliptical and the trails because that pattern worked out so perfectly last week. But it was gorgeous out today. And I had a hankering to run. And after deciding (in a totally delusional state late last night) that I need to run this race, of course I headed on over to Moeser.

yes, I always use this picture when I talk about Moeser...

because it very wonderfully displays what a total b*tch of a hill it is.

I would have looked like this today, but I had on yellow shoes.

And I've finally wised up to the fact that although black is slimming, 

it is really hot ...especially at high noon on a sunny day.

So instead I wore my hootchie-mama-on-a-hot-day outfit...

which, incidentally, keeps me honest about using my core for stability

because it is just a sports bra and booty shorts.

If I don't solidly engage my core, it is a beyond scary sight.

Thankfully, I now have a tan.

Even though I only had time to bust out one trip up and down...stretching things out at the top to equal 3 miles, I figured I was getting a jumpstart on 11 months of potential training. Nothing like being prepared, know what I mean?

And in other news...

Miss C has now entered The Dress Phase.

After 3 and a half years of violently shunning dresses, it is now all about the dress. If it isn't a dress, it doesn't get worn.

The nice thing is she is not slowed down or at all changed by the dress. Well, a little slowing down might have been nice, now that I think about it...

She still will climb anything and everything.

And even in a dress, she still ignores me.

There must be a dress ready to go at all times. She even must sleep in a dress. Not a nightgown...a dress.

I'm not even going to get started on the new situation with tights.


Did you ever have a favorite kind of clothing or article of clothing as a kid?
– In sixth grade, I wore this hideous acrylic argyle sweater just about every single day. Every. Single. Day. Much to my mother's dismay. I even had my school photo taken in the thing...because I forgot it was Picture Day and was, of course, wearing my favorite hideous sweater. I should see if I can scare up that photo...

Do you ever not work out for days on end in the hopes that your next workout will be awesome because you're so well rested?
– I am that delusional, yes.

I shall call him 'Squishy,' and he shall be mine...

...and he will be my Squishy.

– Dory, Finding Nemo (2003)

Yes, that is a jellyfish...a fragment of a jellyfish, anyway.

Want to entertain a 3-year old for hours? 

Give the child a jellyfish and a 5-gallon bucket of sand!

The only thing I might do differently would be to put sunscreen on her sweet, little arms :(

#momfail

Sometimes the jellyfish needs a spanking.

Mixing things up with teeny, tiny sandcrabs that cannot be seen in the photographs 

keeps the interest going all day long :)

She had so much fun.

Have you ever been stung by a jellyfish? 
– Yes, and it stung like crazy!

2012 Zazzle Bay to Breakers Race Recap: The good, the bad and the ugly...times 3

**Warning: there is a photo of a naked person in this post. 

'Parts' have been pixelated and are small, but I'm warning you anyway**

Update: The person in the photo found my blog while searching the internet for naked 

Bay to Breakers photos and has left a comment.

It's a cable car :)

The Lead-Up

The Good

My training has been going so well for the past several weeks. I've been consistent and diligent. My cardio base is getting really solid. I've put in some amazing hill runs with the idea of going into Bay to Breakers feeling like the Hayes Street Hill ain't no big thang. This was accomplished :)

The Bad

My left calf was feeling sore and super tight for a few days but only during running and walking down stairs. I had to extra-minimize the amount of running I was doing. No amount of rolling, Sticking, icing, or massage seemed to be making a difference, but I kept doing those things anyway. Additionally, something had been feeling 'off' in my mid-back and hip/pelvis. Things were feeling inflamed. I chalked this up to hormones...because they are a great scapegoat.

The Ugly

Awesomely, there was no lead-up ugly :)


The Day Before   


The Good

This year's expo was easy to get to on public transportation with a three-year old, easy to find, easy to navigate and appeared more interesting than last year's by a long stretch. But I didn't do any exploring.

Happy girl on her first trip on BART

The Bad

By the time I found the bib pick-up area, my number on the board and the line for my number, aforementioned three-year old was pretty done. Granted it was lunch time, so no expo exploration other than a quick trip to the Nuun booth to say 'hello.' The meltdown began as I tried to exit the premises. Must touch all the balloon sculptures. Cannot walk. Carry me, mommy. Somehow we made it back to the BART station in one piece. But the trains were loud...

sooooo loud, mommy

The Ugly

Transferring trains was most upsetting. She didn't want to get off the train even though we were going to get on another one. She let the world know she was not happy with this arrangement by cleaning the floor of the platform with her body while hollering, "don't wanna get off! don't wanna get off! let me onnnnn! let me onnnnn!" It would have been comical...but it wasn't.

But I had the bib, we made it home, we got lunch and were able to relax. Whew.

And the next day was...

Race Day!!!

The Good

Things were great right off the bat! Of course, because of the title, you know they didn't stay that way.

I didn't oversleep. My pre-race prep at home went off without a hitch. Parking at the train station was easy. I was on time for the train and even ran into some good friends while waiting :)

Nothing like seeing costumed runners at the crack of dawn waiting for the train!

I got a boo-hisssss for looking like a 'serious runner.' I assured the hecklers that it was, indeed, a costume. And anyway I had the samurai hair-do and a sparkly headband on... the combo = costume. At least to me it does.

I was so busy chatting with my buddies that I didn't take anymore awesome costume pics...but there weren't a whole lot this year anyway, or so it seemed. However, right as we parted for our respective corrals, I had the first naked runner sighting...

You can biggify this if you really want to...but I did pixelate the 'parts' 
...nothing we haven't seen before...
fortunately, this year was not as cold as last.

There were LOTS of naked guys this year as compared to last...probably a function of the nicer weather. But there were very few women despite the mild temperatures, just LOTS of guys.

The scene at the start was your typical giant race starting line zoo...

I tried taking pictures but was having a hard time with the camera...as evidenced by the next two photos...

I put the camera away with the intention of taking it back out after the Hayes Street Hill. Also, as I mentioned before, there just didn't appear to be that many cool costumes at this point, which might have been due to the fact that I was in Corral A and with the faster runners. Or maybe I was just oblivious.

Best Points of the Day:  I felt amazing going up the big Hill. I wasn't fast, but I was strong and steady. I credit this to all the Moesers I've been running. To top things off, my hip was feeling GREAT. When I crested the hill ahead of my previous time while feeling fantastic, I had high hopes for improving on last year's finish. 

Shortly after I flew down the short descent from the summit that precedes a mile or so of fairly flat terrain, I felt that sense of elation and optimism quickly fade.

The Bad

Within moments of hitting the 'flat' stretch right around the 3-mile mark, the stiffness I've been having in my left calf flared with a vengeance. I kept thinking it would loosen up, but by Mile 4 the stick of rebar that had implanted itself in my lower leg extended all the way up and into my hamstring. I stopped to the side and attempted to stretch and massage it out...to no avail.

It felt better to run than to walk...so that was good :P but every time I tried to push my HR over 145, the wooden deadness of my leg would transform into shooting, searing pain from my Achilles tendon up to just under my buttcheek. I kept things slow and steady and every so often made an effort to crank it up a notch... but it just wasn't happening. My struggle to survive superseded the desire to photo any more of the event...big-time blogger let-down :(

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I should have worn a pirate costume because I felt like this guy. 

He even has the wooden leg on the same side.

The Ugly

Running downhill and witnessing everyone around me open it up and blow by me as if I were standing still felt so lonely. 

Also, this is when I saw all the naked men's butts. Butts, butts and more butts. Lots of butts. 

Feeling fit and powerless is really frustrating. Finishing a race and not feeling tired just flat-out pissed me off.

And the kicker...

Getting passed by goddamned Gumby at the finish line was quite the tragi-comic moment. About this piece of the experience, I am rendered speechless. 

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I'm borrowing this photo from rachelhop.com. She took it last year. If I had seen Gumby right there behind me...well, it wouldn't have made any difference. I was already stumping along as best I could :(

The finish stats are as follows:

Time.... 1:14:01  (9:56 pace)    4 minutes slower than last year 

In the top 22% of overall finishers, top 11% of all female finishers, and top 11% of women in my age group. Not as good as last year...which does bum me out a little...but it could have been worse. Finishing upright and with no residual injury is always a good thing. And it was kind of fun...sort of. If running with a wooden leg is ever fun.

And look what they gave me for my efforts...

I started laughing so hard.

And no, I didn't drink it.

Twosday

In the past two days I've done two things that two years ago I couldn't do.

First thing:  Last night I ran a total of about two miles with two of my kids.

To start, I went out with my big girl for her debut run in real running shoes. She was super jazzed. And she ran a strong and fairly steady 0.83 miles. This kid is no complainer...a trooper through and through.

Then I ran with G. We ran 1.25 somewhat steadily-paced miles fraught with huffing and puffing and intermittent naysaying...but he persevered and even picked things up considerably for the last quarter-mile. And once the kids were done, I ran a mile on my own and felt great. I think these slow, happy miles with the kids are doing wonders for me :)

Second thing:  Today I walked alone with my two boys and my two-year old...pain-free.

One of the saddest things about my injury has been my lack of availability to my family. My mobility being hindered by pain meant that I could last for about 30 minutes before I needed to shut down and go inward to cope...even when out for a simple stroll. If a kid took off (as toddlers are wont to do) I was screwed. So we didn't go for manyany walks without daddy...even though we live in such a fabulous area for walking.

It was glorious here today. I headed out with Q and G and little Miss C to our usual Bay Trail path. Even though I've shown you this place before and talked about walking or running or biking here before, today was really the first time I can claim 'pain-free.' Okay... I had a little tightness and stiffness...but no pain. We went slowly and everyone was fairly cooperative, which I am sure helped a ton :)

One super awesome thing about not being in constant pain is that I get to enjoy and appreciate the discoveries and ramblings of my kids instead of wondering when the #*@% we can head home so I can sit and ice and stretch...alone.

finding daisies ...

"Look, mommy...bird poop!"

"It's hard to walk on these big, sharp rocks..."

"I know G says I should appreciate this hard-packed clay surface with its light gravel dusting, 

but can we go home now?"

And so we did.

Not Interesting to Anyone but Me

Just like Facebook status updates about these things, I can imagine that blog posts about potty-training leave those who are not entrenched in the process rolling their eyes so hard that you can hear them click.

*CLICK*

Those were your eyeballs rolling in their sockets because this is a post about potty-training.

Don't worry...that pic of the cute pink potty is the only picture in the post, and I won't go into gory details. But since this blog serves as a record of my kids' goings-on (in addition to words about fitness and training and other stuff), this post is appropriate and necessary.

Miss C is my youngest and final child. She was in a diaper longer than the other three were. She just didn't give a ----, and I was too lazy busy preoccupied to bust the diaper-free move. Doing neither of us any favors, I also think there was an element of "oh, my last baby...don't want her to grow up" going on...which is partly why I haven't bothered to wean her either. Slacker mom, I am. Whatever...

One week ago, I felt ready to take this beast on. Though she had been dry through the night for over a week, when confronted with the prospect of daytime dryness, Miss C was not entirely on board, but I was game for her resistance. After 5 straight days of pee everywhere (well, fortunately she had a penchant for only peeing on the tiled floors and not the carpets) and several pants-soilings, I am ecstatic to announce that we have had 3 consecutive accident-free days!

I attribute this potty-training success entirely to my superior parenting skills. There is no luck involved. The child has nothing to do with it. If you can't potty-train a developmentally-on-track child before they graduate from high school, well, you just suck as a parent. I really hope some of you more sensitive-types caught the tongue-in-cheekness of that. I am absolutely grateful to all of you awesome and amazing well-wishers who wished me good luck when I announced this undertaking last Friday. 

My idol, Catey, who has 8 kids and is expecting her ninth (her husband is trying to catch up to mine), was reflecting on how long she's been changing diapers and how many diapers she's changed and shared with me that even though those numbers are HUGE, she would rather change diapers than potty-train. And she wrote this, which totally cracked me up, in an email the other day...

There is a woman who writes and I love to read her stuff...she had a half a billion kids and I remember at one point she said she quit trying to potty train her kids.  She let them go as long as possible and then waited until they were old enough to make wild promises about never having an accident ever before finally letting them out of diapers.


I am most thankful that Miss C ended up being far less resistant as the process unfolded. I know there will be accidents. I know there may be regression. And while the growing up of my baby is bittersweet, I am feeling great about not changing another diaper until I either have grandchildren or must deal with spousal incontinence. I hope fervently to experience the joy of the former and to escape the misery of the latter.

If you have kids, did you have an easy time with potty-training?


If you have no kids, is potty-training one of the reasons you don't?

**************

If only all of life's problems were so easily solved...

We went shopping today at the outdoor mall. I needed some socks for Miss C, and I figured the post-holiday sales would be in effect so I'd get them for cheap. And I did.

I also got her some underpants, which may be premature, but I swear I am going to toilet-train this kid one of these days. Really. I don't know why I am dragging my feet. In fact, I am a total pro at toilet-training, having done it 3 times already...or rather, I've had some very cooperative pupils thus far. She is now officially my oldest child to still be in diapers at 2 years 10 months. Dang it. But I'll tell ya, these light rose-colored carpets are not conducive to free and easy potty-training ... if you know what I mean.

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The fancy mall we went to has some very fun water features... four cute, animal-themed fountains that are at toddler-level. Of course, my toddler had to go in. Yes, in one of the fountains. And yes, she got wet. And of course, I had no change of clothes for her.

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Close-up of the one she went in.

I used to be the most prepared mom ever...when I had one, two, and then three kids. For some reason, the fourth one just blew my 'prepared gasket', and I am now always flying by the seat of my pants ... from MacGyver-ing diapers out of old t-shirts and Target bags when there's been a blow-out and I've forgotten diapers to collecting cups of Cheerios off the minivan floor when someone is hungry on a car ride and I've forgotten to pack snacks.

Anyway...

The girl was wet, and we were just getting started on our excursion. Fortunately, the clearance section of Gymboree (conveniently located right next to the fountain) had just what we needed...

If only all things were easily remedied with $6 candy-cane striped leggings and $4.99 Panda shoes. Somehow, I don't think my husband would find it amusing if I suggested he console himself regarding his stolen Hasselblad baby with these items, but as far as Miss C is concerned, we are golden. 

She insisted on wearing them to bed.