an insane and incongruous five things rant

1. I haven't written much about running or working out for a reason....there's nothing to write about. And that stinks. The only thing to really say about the topic is that I am still trying to adjust to my new shoes and new way of running. Today I have a massive and painful muscle knot in my left calf. I ran 4 miles on Wednesday night (yes, in spite of the marauding burglars on the loose) and did 4 little burst-ish quarters, one each mile, going from a sluggy yet comfy pace of 9:30-10/mile to a brisker yet still comfy-ish pace of 8-8:30/mile. I think the semi-speed work is the culprit because at the end of the 4th quarter thingy, my lower left leg literally stopped working. It didn't hurt and there was nothing to precede this, the leg just stopped working. Such a weird feeling.

2. I've been really struggling lately. Chronic pain is a snarly, rabid bitch that should be put out of her misery. Even though my hip is doing much better, I'm having some weird inflammation issues. I believe my migraines and chilblains are a result of this. I am about to embark on a radical path in an attempt to sort this crap out. And the inflammation issue extends past simply body comfort and on into attitude...meaning that my psyche also feels 'inflamed'. More than a weird feeling, this piece of my life just sucks right now...plain and simple. More on the 'radical path' as I begin it.

3. Seems like I've seen the term "no excuses" a lot lately. Maybe I'm imagining this because I am in a compromised condition...again... and starting to feel like I'm making excuses and so feel guilty or some such crap about that. But is "I really HURT" a valid 'excuse'? Or how about "I really want to hang out with my family"? I guess I just wish people were more sensitive about how they toss around terms like that. Or maybe I just need to turn a deaf ear. Probably the latter.

4. The Olympics. I think because it is a summer Olympics year and the hype has begun, I've been thinking about how different things are now as compared to when I was younger. I miss the amateur angle of The Games. Sure, the Easter Bloc countries used to have athlete 'factories' and some countries subsidized their athletes as a way of trying to gain a stranglehold on the medals. And guess what? Non-subsidized and non-factory-farmed athletes still won. Maybe not as much, but they still did medal and sometimes win. Four-time Olympic gold medalist in the discus, Al Oerter, was one of these amateurs... enthralled with the joy of competing and the journey...

After visiting an Olympic training facility in the 1990s, Oerter rendered his judgment of the professionalism that has subverted the amateurism of his day. According to the New York Times, he lamented, "I saw these athletes in their 30s training full time....That's their life. What happened to the rest of it? I'm happy that I had a normal life, with a career and family. That makes a person whole."

source

Al Oerter, 1971

This is not to say that I am down on professional athletes and professional sports...I just wish the Olympics had been kept 'pure'. Furthermore, I do think there is a difference in subsidizing athletes' living expenses by creating programs like OJOP (which I don't see as an egregious violation of amateurism) as compared to allowing NBA players and track stars with multimillion-dollar endorsement contracts and race winnings in excess of five or six figures to compete (clearly not a shred of amateurism in that). Additionally, I think the doping issues would have been nearly non-existent had there been no massive monetary gain. The Olympics seem now more about money and fame than anything else, and that is sad to me.

5. This descent into crackpot-ness has nothing to do with the burglars. I'm pretty much over that...mostly because nothing near and dear to my heart was harmed or taken. I learned a solid lesson that I am taking with me as I move on. As long as my little people are safe, I'm basically good. 

Even if I am a crackpot. Which I won't be for long. It's a phase. I think.

Fortunately...Unfortunately...

When I was a kid, I read this book. It was about good luck going bad and then turning back to good again. Right now, I feel like I am living that book. And y'all are super lucky... this is the second day in a row in which I share a really gross picture :)

Fortunately, I figured out that sticking my feet into baggies of grated potatoes would ease my chilblains, which are often a precursor to a migraine.

Unfortunately, the migraine materialized anyway :(

Fortunately, it isn't crippling, driving-me-to-my-bed bad.

Unfortunately, it makes me feel super nauseated, and I am running 13.1 miles on Sunday.

Fortunately, Sunday is three days away and my migraines tend to last only 2 days!

Unfortunately, one of those days is supposed to be a fun-filled day in Las Vegas (did I mention that I am running in Las Vegas?).

Fortunately, I will be able to relax with my headache alone in my nice hotel room...without my kids demanding on me!

Unfortunately, I will actually miss them.

Fortunately, we found something really gross in Miss C's hair last night and I was still home to assist with it's removal...

did you just throw up a little? 

Unfortunately, I discovered last night that I am really squeamish when it comes to removing bugs attached to my very small child :P

Fortunately, my husband was game to perform the extraction while I held her... she was amazingly cooperative...which...

Unfortunately, leads me to believe that it was really bothering her :(

Fortunately, we are seeing no bullseye thing on her head or other signs of Lyme Disease. That's a really big 'fortunately.'

So there are no more 'unfortunatelys'... isn't that AWESOME!!!

I'm going to share a little secret now...

I have never been to Las Vegas. I have never wanted to go to Las Vegas...except to see The Strip at night. I was thinking that someday I'd take a road trip that would include a quick nighttime drive-thru of The Strip...that way I wouldn't have to deal with any of the other Vegas-y crap. Nothing I've heard about it or seen in print or film appeals to me. Maybe my mind will be changed when I experience it for myself in the flesh. I registered for this race because of The Strip at Night component...and because some of my fave Nuun buddies will be there...I had a ton of fun with Jess and Tricia and Kim and Caitlin back in the good, ol' Hood to Coast Relay days :) Despite my indifference for Sin City, I am super-stoked to be going.

How do you feel about Vegas? Is your feeling based on actual experience or impressions?


Do you have a Fortunately/Unfortunately story to share?

Pota-toes... kind of gross image warning

I suffer from chilblains. 

They really hurt and burn. My toes get all swelled up and inflamed, and they look like this...

source

(not my actual foot...but it looked a lot like this, 

but my thumb toe and second toe are not that weird-looking)

The chilblains often precede a migraine...which is even less fun. One thing that does help sometimes is to cool them off by running them under cold water. If you read the literature, this is NOT what they recommend, but it is what works for ME. 

Last night, however, they were particularly bad. I tried the cold water thing. Didn't help. I needed to go for a little taper run...and getting the taper-crazies means getting to do that little run is really, really, really important to maintaining a shred of sanity. There was, however, no way I could stand putting on socks let alone shoes. My toes were on fire.

I wracked my brain. Inflammation...in-fluh-mation...in-flam-ayshun... what to do? what to do? I needed something different. I needed an old wives' tale-ish home remedy. And for some reason, my bout with mastitis popped into my head. 

*ping*

One of the most effective methods of reducing inflammation when I had mastitis was to put a grated, raw potato compress in my bra...directly on the point of breast inflammation. It was pretty messy and kind of icky...especially how it basically cooked the freakin' potato...no lie.

So I grabbed a couple of potatoes from the fridge, grated those puppies up, and put the shred into baggies. And then I put the baggies of potato sludge on my toes. And how awesome is it to find out after the fact that the chilblain home remedy website recommends potato usage as treatment? I am smarter than I thought! or something... 

It felt SO. GOOD.

And it totally worked!

My toes were normal enough to comfortably put on socks and shoes and go for a little 3-mile easy run. 

It was very messy though, and I was wishing I had done it in the bathroom. I ended up needing to walk across the carpet and up the stairs with potato goo and shreds dripping from my feet...and I ended up needing to clean up that mess :(

Of course there were jokes about having hash browns for dinner.

I am now wondering if I should bring some taters, baggies and a grater to Las Vegas in case the situation flares up before my race.  I'd probably need to check the grater since it's metal and has cutting surfaces... which would ruin my idea of just taking a carry-on. what to do? what to do?


Had you ever heard of chilblains before?


Should I bring the grater?