Moving chafing

I feel like the first half of this summer, all my chafing issues were at my waistline or above.  Primarily right around all the edges of all my sports bras, and especially in the middle of my back near the clasp on any of them. 

It didn't seem to matter what I did to try to prevent it, I ended up with a lot of hot spots afterward. 


And since then, my weight has not changed, and I don't think my weight distribution has changed either.  But now, all my chafing issues are below my waistline.  Yow.  Particularly on my right inner thigh. 


Two long runs in a row, it has rubbed a huge spot totally raw -- bigger than a quarter, and to the point where it looks like it's about to draw blood. 


To quote Nancy Kerrigan... whhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyyyyy?


I'm planning a really long run this weekend (and I'll try an entire stick of Glide again basically), but then, thankfully, my distance will drop.  It's supposed to be a high (for me) mileage week this week, and so far, at least on my group runs, it has been.  We had 10 on Tuesday and 11 this morning.  In theory, I should be running more during the rest of the week, but I'm just not.  I don't care enough, and I'm perfectly happy to just do boot camp or bike on the other days (although I usually get in a mile or so on boot camp days).  But given my plan for 22 on Saturday, that's going to put me at 45 or so miles for the week.  With only three real runs! 


That counts as high mileage for me this year (well, and some other years, but not recently). 


Oh well, just posting to complain about my chubby right thigh.  It's odd, because it doesn't look any bigger than the left one -- but the left one hasn't chafed at all this season. 


Why do we do this again? 


Oh yeah, cheesecake in the office today...  Yum!  Considering that, a huge chafing spot on my leg is 100% worth it. 

Transfer

So I was hoping to magically transfer my husband's cold to me so that he would be better for the weekend.  That plan didn't work.


Instead of taking some of the sinusitis symptoms (or whatever it is) off my husband so he could enjoy his weekend away, I just got the symptoms myself and he still has it.  So we're both down for the count.  He's toughing it out and trying to enjoy Lamb Jam.  I'm laying low.  Did some volunteer work with a friend this afternoon, and hoping to be able to hammer out a slow 20 miler tomorrow morning.  We shall see...  I feel awful.  My throat hurts to swallow, so I'm barely drinking any water.  That's not going to mix well with 80 degrees and 90% humidity! 


In other news, my search for a car dealership that does NOT steal all the coins out of my car continues.  I took my new car in for service the first time on Friday, picked it up on Saturday.  I did an exact count of the coins in the armrest when I dropped it off -- 4 quarters, 2 dimes, 1 nickel.  It was the first thing I checked when I picked it up.  1 quarter, 2 dimes, 1 nickel. 


People are such $hitheads.  I'm beyond irritated.  I even told my customer service advisor that the reason I drove all the way to the dealership in Plano was because the Dallas one had stolen change from my car.  I didn't tell them it happened again because it just wasn't worth it (and of course, my customer service rep was off today). 


Seriously, who does that???? 

Sicko sympathy

My husband has some kind of cold/flu/upper respiratory illness happening right now and I'm so miserable for him.  I wish more than anything he could transfer it to me for a 5 day spell.  This weekend, he's had long standing plans to go to San Fran on a guys trip.  He leaves Friday night and will come back Monday.  I actually have a late flight out on Monday for work that week, so hopefully we'll get to cross paths in the airport for about 30 minutes after he lands and before I board.  But anyway, he has been so excited about this trip for so long.  It feels so unfair that he'd get sick right before it. 


When we first started dating, he spent a lot more time dealing with the general public and I felt like he used to get all kinds of illnesses, and often transfer them to me.  It felt like once a year, we'd both get a horrible upper respiratory infection (usually him first, then I'd be a few days behind).  But since he changed jobs a few years ago, he spends more time at his desk and deals with fewer people (though still way more than me).  And since then, we both seem to get sick very rarely.  I've actually never taken a sick day in more than 6? years at my job (though that's misleading, because I have been sick, just never too sick to be unable to work from home).  But I haven't even had a sniffle in ages, and he really hasn't either.  The timing sucks for him. 


In San Fran, the primary plan is to attend this event called Lamb Jam.  Tickets were actually way more expensive than I'd ever have guessed, and are already purchased.  It's 100% not my thing.  From what I understand, it's a music festival put on my our nation's lamb farmers, and a bunch of chefs come from all over and cook dishes featuring lamb.  Exactly the kind of place I do not belong as a vegetarian!  I'm also not really a music festival person.  I'm sure they're fine, but it's not even close to the top of my list of things to do in the Bay Area. 


My husband will gladly eat vegetarian things, but he will also readily add meat to something I make -- usually chicken or tuna.  He's never been a big eater of beef or pork.  But unfortunately for my animal-loving self, he loves "the weird meats" the most -- rabbit, lamb, stuff like that.  And he's also way more musical than me.  Lamb Jam is right up his alley! 


He's been so excited about this weekend, he's even made up a song about it that he has been singing at least every other day for more than a month, sometimes many times per day.  Technically, I suppose I might be exaggerating to call it a song -- it's really just melodic repetition of the phrase "Lamb Jam."  But he gets so excited about it when he sings it. 


We've both been getting killed at work lately, and he's been super stressed.  Summer is always a rough season in his job, and for some reason, this summer is particularly bad.  Lots of really hard stuff for him to deal with.  I'm trying to convince him to talk to a professional about it, because it's really getting to him sometimes, to the point where he has been having trouble sleeping, and this week, he's had an upset stomach. 


Not clear yet if the insomnia and upset stomach are related to all this nasal/coughing stuff he's got going on.  I'd guess not, but who knows.  Anyway, to add to not being able to sleep because of work stuff, for the last few nights, he's been waking up coughing horribly.  Tuesday night, he was actually coughing so hard and suddenly stopped that I jumped up from bed and was tearing through the bathroom to find towels, I was so convinced he'd just puked all over.  He was practically crying after the coughing spell and was very confused when I came rushing over with towels and was trying to figure out where/what to mop up in the dark. 


So he went to the doctor yesterday.  He managed to avoid the chest xray and got meds (cough stuff, z-pack, prednisone, nebulizer meds), so hopefully those will kick in today and his long-anticipated trip won't be a miserable mess.  Fingers crossed for him! 

Inevitable

I suppose with all this travel, it was inevitable that I'd get sick.  It's definitely happened.  Just so I have something to write, I'll list my symptoms, in order of severity:


No lung capacity.  Can't breathe.  Wheezing.
Runny nose.
Exhausted (but that could be the red eye I took Sunday night to Monday morning still).
Cough (pretty mild actually).


Ugh.  I hope it gets better today or tomorrow, since I fly out on Friday for 4 days, the last of my "fun" trips on the calendar, going to DC for a friend's baby shower. 


I've really got to get my stuff together -- I need to unpack from San Francisco, repack for DC, and start getting my stuff together for the next two weeks, which will both feature trips to Philly. 


The bright side is that I'm making a huge dent in getting my airline elite status for next year already! 


I'll leave you with a couple nephew pics.  Loved spending time with this little guy.  Although, I will say that when I woke up in San Fran on Easter Sunday morning with a sore throat, my first thought was that it must have been an allergic reaction to all his crying Saturday night -- he had a rough night!  Molars coming in, no afternoon nap, not in his own bedroom, plus some dim sum sampling at lunch, lots of possible reasons for the sleepless night on his part. 

Thankful

This year I've been keeping a "grateful list" -- an old school journal started many years ago, but with remaining pages.  I couldn't bring myself to post something like this on FB, so many similar posts make me roll my eyes.  And it hasn't been convenient to post the list here (I write as I get in bed each night).  So the journal has worked well. 


It's been fun to look at the journal itself.  It keeps falling open to pages I wrote in 2007 on our trip to Europe when we got engaged.


But, in an effort to get back into the habit of blogging and bring things back up to speed, here's a rough run down of my current "grateful list" as I sit at my desk eating lunch.


I'm grateful that we got to go on an amazing vacation for most of October, enjoying time in the Andalucía region of Spain, all over Morocco, Southern Italy, and then a final day in Milano.  The trip was one of our best ever and we honestly had trouble on the flight home trying to decide what the "low point" was (I concluded it was getting ripped off by a cab driver in Tangier (charged us the equivalent of $7 when it never should have been over $2), husband concluded it was spending as many nights in Tangier as we did, considering it was actually our least favorite part of Morocco and the nights would have been better spent elsewhere). 


I'm grateful that I still have 2 vacation days to use over Christmas!  That means my "work remotely from Italy" plan worked!  It was 100% worth it to carry my work laptop all over creation with us.  The goal was to do 50% on a Wed., and then 75% days on Thurs and Fri.  Of course the very nature of vacation in my job means there's tons of stuff that builds up when I'm gone, and I was able to easily blow through tons of it.  I actually worked the equivalent of 3 full days I think, instead of the 2 full days I'd planned. 


I'm grateful that I have a lot of job security.  While I was on vacation, my co-worker (who just started in January!!!!) gave her notice.  And her notice was basically "I'm quitting in 2 weeks, but I have some unused vacation and floating holidays, so I'm out of here next week actually."  That was horrible.  Fortunately, we were able to recruit back someone who quit a few years ago, and she'll be starting next week.  It will take some time for her to get up to speed, but far less time than it would take with anyone else we could have hired.  So right now, my main excuse for not having posted since we got back to the US, I'm basically working double time.  I'm handling all my cases, plus all of my co-worker's.  It's impossible.  I'm not really "handling" them -- I'm doing more triage than anything.  All my major reporting deadlines are passing me by and I'm powerless to even make a dent into my "real" workload -- but for the most part, I haven't horribly dropped the ball yet as far as I know.  It's scary, because years ago, when I was hired, it was a situation like this -- I was coming in to take over for someone who had left the office a few weeks earlier.  And my old co-worker (the one who quit's predecessor, who is still with the company but in a different role) was basically managing a double workload.  And she inadvertently had a lawsuit go into default on her watch.  She was notified it was served, intended to retain counsel, but failed to actually do so.  Total disaster in our industry.  We were able to work around it in the end, but I feel like it's just a matter of time until I basically do the same thing.  It's impossible and unrealistic to manage this kind of caseload, so if/when I drop the ball, I have a feeling my boss will be forgiving.  I just hope it doesn't have dire consequences.


I'm grateful that I'm running.  I wore my ankle brace religiously on vacation.  As the weeks went by, I noticed a decrease in the amount of pain and swelling (though it's still a bit swollen).  By the end of the trip, I could walk for hours with no pain at all, unless I was on any kind of side sloped surface (think walking on a sidewalk, crossing a driveway that slopes down to the street).  I went for a follow up doc's appointment, and got the all-clear to start running (wearing a brace) as long as I was pain free.  Well, running in the brace lasted all of 5 minutes.  That thing was going to blister me like no one's business.  So I'm wearing the brace for boot camp, but I'm running brace-free -- trying to stay off all sloped surfaces (frequently running in the middle of the street; luckily, not many cars at 5:15 on the streets we run), trying to avoid stepping on any kind of rock or pebble or acorn or anything else that might cause my ankle to rotate out or in.  There's some definite medial (inside) ankle pain when I get over about 6 miles.  But the places the doctor said to watch for pain (and immediately stop if there was any) were all on the outside of my ankle and a bit into my calf (where the stress reaction or fracture is).  No pain there at all, so I'm proceeding.  I ran 13.1 miles this past Sunday.  Pace was terribly slow, and I definitely would have had trouble going further, but it's miles.  The plan is still to do a marathon next weekend (WTF????!!!).  Fortunately, it's never a marathon I intended to race.  It's a girls' weekend trip, and I may do the full with my bestie if she does it and our paces line up.  I don't care if there's walking involved, I'd just like to finish.  I read Amy's post about basically doing the same thing -- running a marathon severely underprepared, but just because she can finish, and because she likes to run.  And so many people can't and/or don't.  And that's basically my attitude.  I think the race will be fun, even if it takes 6 hours.  And I don't think it will hurt me to do it (if there's "bad" ankle pain, I'll absolutely stop). 


I'm grateful that we don't have to travel for Thanksgiving this week.  I get to keep up my longest streak race (huge local Turkey Trot (over 30k people I think), 8 mile distance for maybe my 12th consecutive year?).  We are going over to my former boss's house for dinner as we've done the last couple years.  And this year, I'm going to endeavor to make the main course for me and my friend (ex-boss's wife, my former co-worker in Big Law) -- the vegducken.  Butternut squash stuffed with an eggplant stuffed with a zucchini stuffed with scallions.  Looks labor intensive but we shall see...


I'm grateful my husband is feeling better.  He came back to some work chaos as well, and (my theory...) got stressed about it, wasn't sleeping well, etc., ended up with a weakened immune system and caught an upper respiratory infection.  He was down for the count for about a week (even took a sick day, which is rare for him).  He got better, finished off the steroid pack, and then within a week or so, he felt like he was getting the same thing.  He was considering going back to the doctor, but as of this morning, he thought he was actually around the corner, making a comeback, feeling better. 


I'm grateful some family drama has resolved.  It unfortunately began last week Monday morning, and continued throughout my nearly 100 hour work week.  Lovely.  The short version:  my sister-in-law was very upset because I had asked her kids what they wanted for Christmas the first weekend of October when I was up there for the marathon that wasn't.  And then I bought them what they wanted.  And it turns out that I can't return things on Amazon after more than a month.  And it turns out what they asked me for (and what I bought) is also what they wanted from Santa.  So she was freaking the f out about it.  Which was awesome given my work hours and stress level.  She was texting me all the time about it.  Unnecessary lost sleep for me stressing about it.  But we found a solution -- she is buying the gifts from me for the kids from Santa, and she is going to shop for new gifts from me and wrap them.  Win-win.  I told her my whole point was to be done with them (and a lot of the rest of my family) before vacation, buying as much as possible small items that I could wrap here and fly home with, rather than large things I'd ship there and then have to hurriedly wrap in the days before Christmas.  But I honestly don't think our relationship wasn't harmed by all this -- I'm not a quick forgetter or an easy forgiver unfortunately.  I'm left feeling kind of bitter and unappreciated -- there was no "it's so great you did all this to make my kids happy" and there was a nasty voicemail from her telling me I "just don't understand because [I] don't have kids".  But I shall try to let go and move on...  Either way, I'm grateful it's over, resolved, done. 


I'm grateful I finally got back to writing.  Just sitting here for half an hour, checking out of the office mentally, it's nice.  Not sure I'll ever get caught up on blog posts I missed while I was gone, but at least I'm back to reading, which is always what I've liked to do. 

Marathon Plan

Well, my hopes for a miraculous full recovery of my ankle weren't enough.  It's still swollen, but significantly less painful for the most part. 


The official diagnosis:  I've torn two ligaments (ATFL and C-something).  I have a medial sprain (which is apparently fairly rare, less than 10% of all ankle injuries!).  I have a "stress reaction" on my fibula (small bone in the shin).  It could already be a stress fracture, but my doctor can't tell, but it's also from the fall.


Prognosis:  cast has come off and I'm wearing this awful brace thing.  I'm free to be active as long as there's no pain, and as long as there's no inversion or eversion of my ankle (kind of redundant since there's crazy pain with the slightest inversion/eversion).  The doctor said probably no running for 8 weeks (though I was cleared for things like pool running and running on a special treadmill), but the doctor said I could walk until I'm blue in the face.  In 8 weeks, the doctor will apparently be able to tell if the two ligaments are healing properly.  If they aren't, then it's a pretty simple surgery to stitch them (and then more recovery time).  In 8 weeks, the stress reaction will likely be a full stress fracture if it's not already, or it will have subsided. 


So far...


The day my cast came off, I tried the elliptical. 


I likely overdid it.  Who would have thought just over 2 hours on an elliptical in a whole year was too much????


(Ignore the fact that it was over 2 hours after more than a week of full immobility on my leg and yeah, I hadn't been on an elliptical in probably 5 years before that day.)


So I strained a medial gastroc muscle.  That's territory I know!  I've never had to miss over a week of running due to an injury since I got hurt in October 2005 (and then I missed months).  But almost every year, when my mileage gets high, I miss a day or two of running due to fear of an injury, usually in one of my calfs (calves?  That sounds like cattle to me.). 


A few days of exercising more reasonably resolved the gastroc strain, so that's out of the picture now.


I also ran on a treadmill for just over 1.5 miles.  It was an Alter-G treadmill at a sports rehab facility.  Basically a normal treadmill, but you wear biking shorts with half a zipper around the waist.  You get on the treadmill and a big bubble thing is pulled up around the treadmill belt and up to the treadmill side arms.  You're then zipped into the opening at the top of that bubble.  It's a little like wearing a huge hoop skirt or something.   Then the bubble is filled with so much air you almost float off your feet.  It calibrates a few times, then you set how much impact you want, based on a percent of your body weight, from 20 to 100 (so 100% has just room air in the bubble, and it's like running on any other treadmill).  PT thought I'd maybe start around 65%, and they said if I got up to 95% without pain, I could probably run the marathon.  But there was pain at 65%.  And 50%.  And 45%.  But not at 40%!  So I ran at 40-42% of my body weight (I fluctuated it a little).


It was so-so.  I was so happy to be running and it was totally pain free, but wow, it was awful.  Alone on a treadmill and not even a TV to watch (well, there's a TV screen, but you're just watching 3 different camera angles of yourself running).  Insanely boring!  Made me think that I might not love running as much as I think!  Instead, I really love exercising with my friends outside.  The actual running motion inside on a treadmill doesn't hold much joy.  But I was actually elated for most of the run just because I was doing it.


So I don't know what it means for this weekend's marathon.  The doctor assured me that I would likely be fine walking for the better part of a day repeatedly in Europe and Africa, he said walking doesn't have any impact that concerns him, as long as my steps are on level pavement.  And the doctor said I could walk the marathon if I was so inclined.


The marathon pace requirements are 14:52 per mile, and that might be pushing it for me.  I walk with my neighbor sometimes and we usually hover between 15:45 and 16:15 per mile (I consider her a fast walker).  So I'd have to be faster than that. 


The most likely option I think is that I start the marathon, walk until I'm tired, bored, or the last person/behind the required pace, and then take the sag wagon to the finish.


I have a friend who gets here on Saturday and she's racing it, trying to do her first sub-4 ever (this is the friend I paced a few years ago to a 4:10ish PR).  So I would like to be able to go with her to the start and enjoy some of the race (they don't let you defer entry anyway). 


But I might also just watch, though it's not a spectator-friendly course. 

Life Wheel

In something I was reading for work, I came across something about a "Life Balance Wheel."  It has a circle divided into areas of the person's life: 


Career,
Personal Growth,
Fun and Recreation,
Time Alone,
Partner/Romance,
Family,
Friends/Social Life,
Health and Exercise,
Spirituality,
Financial.

And when I read that, it hit me -- running (and boot camp) is what fills a lot of my circles!


It's fun and recreational -- aside from travel, it's probably one of the most fun activities I do with any regularity.


It's one of the things I love doing with my husband. 


It's my time with friends and it's a big part of my social life.  I run/boot camp with many of my dearest fiends -- feel free to draw your own conclusions about cause/correlation -- when you run with someone, you spend hours talking to them every week, so you'd better hope it's someone you like.  I'm very lucky there, and I know it.  I don't spend tons of time on the phone with out of town friends, and the local friends I spend the most time talking to are definitely working out friends.  Sure, I'm emailing with people while injured, and people have stopped by to sign my cast and commiserate, but it's not the same as spending hours chatting per week. 


It's my health and exercise.  I have been trying to go to boot camp the last few days and just stay on my mat, doing abs and arms and stuff, but yikes, not really burning any calories at all.  I've been struggling to find any cardio I can actually do in this cast, but honestly, even if I found something, I'm not wild about it since I've noticed sweating in the cast is very uncomfortable and makes it even itchier. 


It's what I spend most of my "fun money" on, so I guess the financial part of my life is better without it?  Not really, since it's fun money and I don't really spend a ton on it. 


And in a lot of ways, it's where I feel like I set goals and have personal growth. 


So what now?????? 


I know there's a lot more to my life than running/boot camp, and I know with certainty I'll be back as soon as this ankle is healed, but right now, I'm mostly just crying in my beer at my own little pity party. 


Going to the doctor again this morning to get this stupid itchy cast off.  And I find out what's next.  Another cast for 8 weeks?  A brace of some sort?  Or (my hope, hope, hope), the "all healed, good luck in the marathon next weekend"?! 
Haha, wishful thinking.  It's still pretty sore and I'm worried about what the doc will say. 

Down for the Count

Well ... for the first time in my life, this is my new look:

Ugh.  I made it over 40 years without ever getting a cast, and I decide to have my first one put on 2 weeks and 3 days before I have an out-of-town marathon on the calendar for which I am fully trained.


Here's the "before" when I was in the ortho waiting room:

On the upside, I'm lucky both my husband and my running husband chose purple so I didn't have to explain another color to one of them...

Doctor thinks it's grade 3 sprains (my ankle rolled in and out), but there are two possible breaks based on the x-ray.  He said the best thing to do was cast and immobilize it for a week, then we'll look at it again next Thursday when the swelling has gone down.

He advised I would not be running the Oktoberfest 5k that I love so much this weekend, and that he does not think it looks good for running a marathon in two weeks.  But he wouldn't say it was impossible.  He said he'd never seen anyone fully recover from grade 3 sprains in less than 2 weeks, but he couldn't say it could never happen.  I'm super strong and I think I'll heal fast. 

So I guess I'm just going with an extreme taper? 

No running obviously, and no swimming since I can't get the cast wet.  I might try a stationary bike or an elliptical early next week.  I think I need to do something, but the upside to doing nothing is that maybe I'll gain 100+ pounds this week and my cast will split open -- which will finally allow me to scratch my damn leg and point my damn toe!  Both of which I'm dying to do!


It hurts like crazy, I've taken a double dose of OTC sleeping pills all three nights with no luck, and I don't think I can stand it any more.  I should have asked for pain meds.  Ooops. 


This officially breaks my years-long streak of no significant running injuries. 


So if you don't mind, cross your fingers for a second and hope it's healed by the marathon and definitely that I'm not hobbling through Morocco a month from now...  (not asking for prayers, too many things far more worthy of prayers in this world) (can you tell I've been clicking on sob stories on FB to try to keep this all in perspective?) (honestly, I wasn't in PR shape and it's really not the end of the world). 

Owww

So I went running yesterday morning in Philly and it did not go well. 


It started off wonderfully.  I was staying out in the 'burbs, so I ran toward Swarthmore College.  Tons of beautiful homes in the area, and running around campus so early was fun. 



Technically, sunrise was at 7:10 or something, and I set out a little before 6, planning to run about 10k and wanting to be back by 6:50 or so. 


It was not actually pitch black when I started running.  A combination of street lights and that pre-dawn light meant I could see just fine, especially after the first mile or so. 


It was COLD!  Temps in the low 60s, so (like any runner on the first fall-ish run) I wore long sleeves.  Totally not necessary, but ah, so nice to get to wear them and not be miserably hot.

I ran until about mile 3.5 and was getting ready to U-turn, thinking I would take a more direct route back to the hotel, so I'd be good on distance.
It was so pretty. 

Those were the last happy pictures.  6:26 a.m., both of them. 
I wanted to run just a little bit further and I realized the sidewalk I was on was leading to a public transit station.  I saw a sidewalk on the other side of the street. 


There were a few cars coming from my right, so I waited for them before crossing.  There was a car in the distance to my left, but I wasn't worried about it. 


As the last car passed, I stepped out into the street to run across.  And somehow I stepped on a single huge (softball sized?) rock in the road. 


I rolled my left ankle BOTH WAYS, if that's even possible?  I went all the way down and got some very slight scrapes on my knees and my left hand, but I think my ankle absorbed all of it.  I quickly crawled back to the grass so the oncoming car wouldn't hit me.  I sat in the grass for a minute.  I actually felt like I was going to pass out it hurt so much.  I tried to stand on it and I knew I was done.  No more running.  I tried to get an uber, but of course my phone wasn't working (100% operator error, I think I tried to turn off the wifi in the morning before I ran but I accidentally put it in airplane mode).  So I walked/jogged painfully back to the hotel.


Perhaps the worst part was crossing a very busy intersection -- turns out my defense counsel was driving through and saw me.  He said he almost yelled but he was worried I'd turn to see him and get hit by a car.  Just hearing that I could have been spared the misery of the last mile almost makes me cry.


Anyway, got to the hotel, got a bag of ice to put on it, and took off my shoe.  It was already very swollen and seems to be bruising a bit.  Owww.  This would happen 2.5 weeks before my marathon.  I'm hoping it's just a sprain.  I'm kind of a wuss and I don't think I could have gone about 2 miles on a broken ankle. 

And a picture of the swelling on the inside. 

I ended up settling my case in a hurry just so I could get on an early flight home.  I got to the airport, changed my flight, and walked right on a plane to Dallas.  They gave me bags of ice on the plane so I could keep icing, but it's ugly.  I sat next to a really nice guy and we ended up talking for a fair amount of the flight, which is so rare for me.  He's 61, married 26 years, 4 kids, youngest is a senior in HS now.  He was connecting in Dallas and heading on to Lake Charles, LA for work.  I had started working on the plane, but after about an hour, I asked him what he was reading, and that started the conversation -- he was reading a book by a friend to do an Amazon review for him, and then he told me about this friend, and we just exchanged stories for the next hour-plus about travel, people, family, everything.  So pleasant! 


As they made a final trash sweep on the plane, I asked if I could get a wheelchair when we landed.  I've never used one so I didn't know if you had to pay for it, or arrange it when you booked your flight or what, but apparently not -- you just let them know and they get it set up for you right then and there.  They ordered one for me, but when we got off the plane, while there were several wheelchairs, no one was there to push. 


The sweet guy I'd talked to for most of the flight had carried my suitcase off the plane for me and hung out with me while I was waiting for a chair-pusher.  He eventually asked the guy at the counter if he could just push me, and the guy said it was fine.  He insisted he had more than 2 hours before his flight and he didn't mind.  He pushed me to the tram that we took to the terminal where we parked.  And while he pushed me, he dragged my suitcase and briefcase with his other arm (I carried his briefcase on my lap).  We got to the terminal where I was parked and he was ready to push me all the way out to my car, but I insisted he stop at the security exit -- no telling what the lines would be like to go back in to security and I didn't want him to risk a mess.  It just kind of blew my mind.  And I never even got his name (though I know where he lives, the names/schools/future plans of his kids, names of his brothers, father's age, his surgical history, how he spent the summer when he was 19, what he thinks about Donald Trump, etc.). 


How in the world are there people this nice in the world still? 


Needless to say, no mile repeats for me this morning.  I slept late and I'm about to leave for the ortho.  I got an 8:00 appointment because I want to have it checked out.  And I want to hear from "a real M.D." (to quote Pretty Woman) that it's just a sprain and it will be fine in about 3 days... 


Fingers crossed! 

August as Usual

I hate complaining about the summer weather here.  I mean what exactly would one reasonably expect from Dallas in August?  And I do complain bitterly when I'm miserably cold, and I don't feel like anyone should complain about both heat and cold, but yeah, it's pretty much what everyone does this month here. 

So we've had some awesome things like this:

Note that this was at 4:33 a.m. this week.  And I'm smack dab in the middle of Dallas.  So 89 degrees at the start of my run. 

Yow!

And I definitely wanted to quit yesterday.  I considered turning around at the first water stop, which would have given me about 5 miles round trip.  But we had 9 on the schedule, and I stuck it out.  And then I negative split that bitch!  I was running with my new-ish running friend Bobby and we were egging each other on.  By the last quarter mile, I was seeing 7:30s on my watch, which hasn't happened on in August on a weekday run in longer than I can remember.  It made me feel really good to be done and I tried to really soak in how it felt so I can remember pushing through and kicking butt when it comes to race day. 

Speaking of kicking butt...

The last two weeks have had two races.  The Badass Brazos half-marathon down in Waco this past Sunday, and the San Francisco Marathon that I ran two weeks ago.

Remember how I thought it was kind of crazy to do a half in Texas in August?  Well, the weather did not disappoint:

I was amazed at the parallels between the two races.  They were surprisingly similar, but Waco was half the distance and twice the temperature!  (That's kind of a lie, San Fran was about 55 degrees when I started, and I finished before it hit 106 here this past weekend.  Details, details...)

There were some crazy steep hills in Waco that I was not expecting.

There was some walking involved.

San Fran also had some hills, but given the city's elevation profile, they absolutely could have made it worse.  It was "not bad for San Francisco" but that's enough to nearly kill me! 

They actually put the elevation chart on the inside of the medal ribbon, which I thought was pretty cool. 

The white part is the first half, the navy part is the second half. 

I ended up running my basic plan -- ran the first 11 miles, then walked to mile 18 (though if we were ever going downhill, I tried to jog or run that part, which seemed like it was about 30% of the time in those miles), and then I ran it in.  I had grand plans of running marathon pace or something the last 8 miles, but my legs and spirit were tuckered out.  I ended up finishing in 4:36:07, which was fine with me.  Marathon 22 was in the books, and state number 11 checked off the list. 

I worried the race did some serious damage -- during the marathon and afterward, my right hamstring seemed really tight.  I stayed an extra day in San Fran (went to Sausalito and hung out drinking wine with my brother) and came home late Monday night/early Tuesday morning.  Given the timing, there was pretty much no chance I could run on Tuesday, which was good.  I ran a bit the next few days, but it hurt.  I tried foam rolling, taking it easy, stretching, and it just wasn't getting better.  I was a bit worried I'd really mucked things up. 

Last week Saturday night was a friend's bachelorette party and we had a ton of fun, but ended up staying out until after the bars closed (actually got stuck in horrendous traffic in uptown, crowds of people in the street, impossible for my beastie's husband to drive through (which was fun for him with about 8 drunk women piled in the car, sitting on laps and in the trunk, all trying to tell him how best to drive and get out of the traffic, haha, he's a saint!)).  So Sunday morning, given that my leg still hurt and I was probably still drunk at 5:30 a.m., I skipped my long run, but I did go get it checked out by a chiro.  He recommended a sports massage and said easy running was fine if it didn't hurt, and advised me not to stretch it since that seemed to aggravate it.  Well, I went to Philly for work (oh, that's a good excuse for not blogging lately, I've had a ton of work travel), and ran there, and by the end of the run, I couldn't remember which leg had been hurting.  So 9 days later, all back to normal (well, except the toenail...). 

And now things are just ticking along.  It's Restaurant Week here, so eating out a lot.  Wedding this weekend, then back to Philly! 

Steaming Piles

Did I mention it has kind of felt like the world was (mildly) $hitting on me lately? 


Bear in mind that I readily acknowledge I'm still insanely lucky.  No significant health issues for me or anyone I love.  Great husband who loves me.  Interesting job that I enjoy and that compensates me well.  Yada, yada, yada.  It could be one million times worse.  But at the same time, I hate when people delegitimize how they feel about things.  If something upsets you, even something trivial, something that should be "hashtag firstworldproblems," it does, and you're entitled to own that feeling.  Just because it could be worse doesn't mean it's not legitimate.  I could go on and on about this and still not feel like I'm explaining myself well. 


Regardless, in the context of my good and happy life, in the last month, it's felt like there has been more steaming piles of crap than in the last 5 years combined?  Maybe I'm overstating it, but I've been down and feeling beaten down for several weeks now.  And it seriously all started when we came home from San Francisco. 

 

The short list of problems, none of which existed as of Memorial Day:

• I'm homesick.  Not so much homesick, but family sick.  I particularly miss my parents and some of my younger brothers and my nieces and nephews.  My husband has said we can move anywhere I want in the world in 6-8 years, but he is not willing to move right now even if I got a job with a starting salary over $1,000,000 (I think I mentioned this, but he found out while we were in Nepal that he was changing jobs within his organization; he now loves what he does and feels he's making a major positive difference in the world and is not willing to walk away from it for a slew of reasons.).

• I'm feeling blah about Dallas.  I was enamored with (of?) San Francisco.  It's so geographically interesting with the bay and the mountains.  It's got amazing running trails.  It's got hills that I could learn to love.  It's got tons of people out and about -- eating, doing things, being active, etc.  It's got great weather.  Again, my husband has said he's fine with moving there in 6-8 years, even if we live in a ghetto one-bedroom apartment, even if my brother and sister-in-law and nephew Willard have moved away, even if we have not a single relative anywhere in that time zone.  Just as long as we wait 6-8 years. 

• I'm reconsidering the decision I've been certain of for more than 20 years -- that I don't want kids.  I think spending so many days with my baby nephew gave me pause.  (I think I mentioned this, but my husband has one grown son from his first marriage, and expressly told me within the first month we were dating, almost exactly a decade ago that he ABSOLUTELY DID NOT want to have children and if I wanted that, we should end things then because he was positive.  So where does this leave us if I have actually changed my mind?  I should mention, however, that I am far from certain I have changed my mind, it's more just something I've been thinking about.  But I'm almost afraid to really consider it because if I concluded that I really did want that, I don't know how we could bridge that divide.)

• Someone at work who started after me in a different division got promoted above me to a spot in that division (no such opening in my division, absolutely irrelevant to me, says nothing about my performance, just a matter of job openings, but still hurts.  And hurts a lot actually.) 

• I've been overwhelmed with work.  The furthest behind I've been in ages.  Approximately 6 reports I need to write, 4 of which were due in late April, each of which will take at least 4 days, and likely a full week to research and write.  Reports are one of the most important things I do, and I've never had more than 2 that were past-due, and I usually work hard to do them all on time.  And aside from reports, on all my other 170 cases, tons of other matters that need to be addressed.  Inbox overwhelming.  I feel like if the reports were magically written overnight tonight, I could still work for about a month straight with nothing new coming in before I got caught up.  And it's never nothing new coming in.  2 of the reports I need to write just hit my desk this week (so they're not due for a few weeks, but I really should be starting them now, instead of working on the 4 that were due in the last 2 months, but of course I need to get the oldest ones done first.)  It's like the mail -- the flow of litigation seems to never stop. 

• As I mentioned, I scratched my eye again last week Sunday.  It's all healed up now, but it was causing a lot of pain and logistical headaches (running with glasses, repeated trips to the eye doctor, etc.).

• My father-in-law was moved into a nursing home.  This was not unexpected, but still a lot of turmoil and adjustment.  My in-laws moved into one of those "here til you die" places a few years ago.  It has the 3 stages -- independent apartments, nursing homes, and hospital-level care, all on site.  They've been in an apartment but he's been falling a lot so they had to wait for someone in the nursing home to die, and that happened a few days ago, so now my father-in-law has moved into that person's spot.  Ironically, his new roommate is someone he went to high school with.  And in many ways, this is better -- he and my mother-in-law have been married for over 50 years, but they seem to fight all the time in the last 8 or so years.  Some separation and space might help them to be less agitated with each other.  Regardless, it's very clear now that my father-in-law's health is fading.  My in-laws' situation is one of the main reasons we bought trip insurance for our fall vacation.  My husband lives the furthest from his parents but calls pretty much daily and is very close to them. 

• My husband had a car accident last week -- got rear-ended on his way to work.  Fortunately it was by one of the approximately 50% of Dallas motorists WITH insurance, and the guy was totally honest with his insurer about it (admitted he looked away from the road, etc.).  (I assume it goes without saying (since it otherwise would have topped the list of steaming piles of $hit), but my husband was physically fine, a little sore, but the guy who hit him gave him some ibuprofen and my husband took a lot more ibuprofen in the following few days and now seems to be totally back to normal.)

• And for good measure, let's throw in general dissatisfaction with the state of my body and fitness.  Wanting to lose weight (but not wanting it enough to DO something about it), running slower than I'd like (but injury free), feeling flabby and old in general. 

 

So the latest addition to the list? 

 

• Found out last night that my husband's car is actually totaled.  It didn't look too bad from the photos I saw, but it wouldn't restart at the scene.  It was towed to an auto shop by our house, and we understood from a friend that sometimes cars need to be reset by a mechanic if they are hit hard enough, some kind of fire precaution or something.  So we thought, okay, they reset that, do some bumper repairs, should be good as new within a week or whatever.  Well, no, it's actually totally done.  The other guy apparently went under my husband somehow (I still don't really get that, since my husband has an Audi A4, so it's not exactly a high riding vehicle, and the guy who hit him was driving an Infinity or something like it).  And of course this happens not too long after my husband had finally paid off his car. 

 

Now what?  Does anyone have any experience with this?  Do you just take whatever the at-fault motorist's insurer (USAA if it matters) offers?  Do you negotiate that?  Do you have your insurer negotiate the offer (or set up a subrogation claim)? 

 

Man, this sucks.  The last thing we want is a car payment, or even to spend the time car shopping. 

 

We figured my car would die first (it's still under 100,000 miles, but it's a 2001), and the plan was that I would take his Audi, and he would get a new car.  That seemed good because he really, really, really, really wants to get a Fiat 500.  And if we had the Audi, we'd still have a car that was good for transporting 4-5 people, plus luggage, etc.  My car is a 2 door BMW convertible that technically seats 4, but the backseat is not large and when the top is up, it's almost impossible for my parents, for example, to get in and out of it. 

 

What to do? 




New car for him?  Fiat?  Something else?  Used car for him? 




When exactly are we supposed to figure all this out and deal with the colossal headache that is sure to be car shopping?  We don't want a new car!  We don't want a car payment!  We want a time machine to go back and make this guy keep his eyes on the road!  We want a paid off, well-maintained, owned by us from birth, Audi!  Wah, wah, wah. 




I recognize that I'm putting a whole lot out here in this post.  Any words of wisdom (or even just good thoughts (save your prayers for real issues, which I fully recognize these are not, except maybe a few prayers for my father-in-law)) on any of the above-mentioned piles of $hit would be appreciated, but what to do regarding the "totaled" car is the most urgent pile of $hit and is particularly in need of advice/words of wisdom. 




Thanks friends. 

The Reorg

We have a small guest bedroom on the first floor.  It also kind of serves as an office we don't use, a general dumping ground for clutter (think lots of AG awards (now old ones)), and my husband's dressing room (he uses that room's closet).

Last weekend we finally rearranged it so it looks much neater and more spacious when you walk past it.

As seen from the hallway:

Before:

After: 

So for a vast majority of people who come to our house, that photo above is all they'll see of it.

For anyone who actually goes into the room, it's roughly an equal amount of mess, but in a better arrangement with less wasted space. 

From inside the room:

Before:

After: 

In other news, I got a huge blister (half-dollar sized?) on my right heel during yesterday's "long" run (12 miles).  It popped at some point during the run but it is insanely painful now.  No idea how it happened.  No new shoes or socks. 

Same story

Somehow, I scratched my eye again.  My eye doctor thinks I need to shift to wearing daily lenses, which are apparently even softer than the soft contact lenses I usually wear. 


It happened late in the day on Sunday, which was a bummer, because Sunday was actually one of the best weekend days in terms of productivity that I've had all year.


I got up early as always to meet my friends for 10 miles.  I am running with a new group right now, I was so tired of dragging @ss behind my usual running buddies, that I decided to take advantage of the fact that we run with a very large program with a variety of paces.  And I'm actually assistant coaching this group (the number of certified running coaches in the program isn't huge, so I'm always willing to help if they need it).  But before we started running, I was meeting another running friend who was dropping off a shirt I'd ordered.  So by 5:45 a.m., I'd paid for and gotten a new running shirt, gone to meet my friends, and already run more than a mile! 


It set the day's productivity bar high.


I was supposed to meet my running buddies for coffee afterward, but my mind was on auto-pilot and I just drove home.  Oops.  I had breakfast and my husband talked about going grocery shopping.  He decided he'd wait until I went to Chinese class so that we could hang out for the morning together.


I bet he regretted that! 


I told him I wanted to rearrange the downstairs bedroom.  It's been on my mind for months, and since I have a jam-packed weekend ahead and my brother is coming to visit the following week, it was really Sunday or nothing. 


Colossal project. 


Take all the books (and knick-knacks) off two bookcases.  Take everything off and out of the desk.  Move the bookcases to the desk's old home.  Vacuum under the spaces previously occupied.  Jimmy the desk into the bookcases' old home.  Reload everything.  We managed to throw a bit of clutter away in the process, but not a lot.  It wasn't my goal.  Then we had to move the bed and filing cabinet.  And more vacuuming. 


So worth it though.  The room looks awesome.  Much more spacious and it looks so much less cluttered!  When you walk past the room from our front door or garage now, it looks so organized. Instead of seeing a cluttered desk (the messiest thing in the room), you see the side of a bookcase.  You have to step all the way into the room and look in the corner to see the desk (which looks slightly less messy somehow). 


After moving all the furniture, we went to a restaurant on our block that we rarely choose but always enjoy.  We picked it because they had wi-fi.  Why we didn't just do all the wifi stuff at home I couldn't tell you.  Anyway, we got a booth, sat on the same side, ordered lunch, and then spent time looking at plane tickets.


And we did it! 


We bought plane tickets to Europe for October!  Woot!  We are flying into Madrid and out of Milan.  We'll still have to figure out everything in between, but the big ticket items are done.  The plan is to go south from Madrid and spend the first 5-7 days in Andalusia, Spain.  Then take a ferry down to Morocco, and spend the next 5-7 days in Tangier, then Fez, then Marrakesh.  Then we'll fly to Italy (into Lamezia), and we'll spend the next 5-7 days in Lamezia with my husband's family, or in Pizzo, the town where we got engaged and married (only about 20 minutes away from Lamezia).  Then we'll fly up to Milan for a day, or even just an afternoon or an evening, then we have a morning flight out of Milan, with a connection in Miami on the way home.   Having a connection stinks.  We have a direct flight to Madrid, and I'd much rather connect at the beginning of the trip instead of the end, but this just worked out better.  So excited! 


We stayed at lunch too late, and by then, I was going to miss Chinese class.  So we headed home and my husband went to the grocery store and I started cleaning.  I cleaned the rims on my car and did some serious cleaning in the downstairs bedroom, blinds, a bit more decluttering, filing, etc. 


That was when my eye started hurting.  I think I'm allergic to cleaning!  I could barely sleep Sunday night because it hurt so much.  Monday morning, I was back at the eye doctor right when it opened.  He put drops in my eye to numb it and said come back as needed.  I decided to work from home, and basically went back every 2 hours for more drops.  My doctor commented on what a low pain threshold I had, but geez, it hurt like a mother!  I took some sleeping medicine last night that knocked me out, and it was good.  I woke up this morning to some pain, and a lot of light sensitivity, but I'm actually at work now.  I've got the lights off and the blinds and the door closed (but we have a glass wall, so there's still light).  I figure I'll try to make it a few hours in the office, then head home early and get more drops if necessary. 

Eye Status

Apparently my eye is rejecting some contacts.  All of a sudden a couple weeks ago, one of my eyes started getting blood red and my contact hurt.  I posted about it before, but basically, I tried another pair of contacts, same thing.  Went to the eye doctor, got a new prescription, then after a couple days, same thing.  Went to DC with a horribly red eye and my glasses. 

Because I'm vain, I tried yet another pair of contacts for the big reunion event Saturday night.  I made it through dinner, but by the time we got back to the law school for dancing and open bar, I had to take it out because it was turning red.  (I opted to wear one contact and have weird vision instead of putting on my glasses.) 

Finally, this past Tuesday, my eye was clear again and I tried another pair. 

And now, Sunday morning, I'm still wearing that pair and my eye is totally clear.  I guess I've finally found a brand that works -- or whatever allergen was getting me is gone.  Or whatever scratch kept getting aggravated is healed.  Either way, it works.

The three worst things about it all:

1.  Having a very red eye.  Everyone noticed.  I looked ridiculous. 
2.  Wearing glasses while running.  Major fear of tripping because I couldn't see directly in front of me (gap between bottom of glasses and bottom of eyesight range).
3.  No sunglasses, particularly while driving, since I had to wear my glasses and don't own prescription sunglasses. 

And what's funny is that now that I'm finally able to wear contacts (and sunglasses), this was the forecast looking ahead on Thursday morning: 

 

Haha.  Irony. 

 

Especially since Dallas is one of the sunniest places ever and we never seem to have more than about two rainy days in a row. 

Bleary Eyed

Operation Ten Semi-Vacation Days in May is underway!

I woke up this morning in DC at a friend's condo.  She goes to work early.  And I mean EARLY.  She gets in at 6:15!  Not crazy.  But she has a desk job, so I find it very crazy.  She could work 9-5.  Instead she works 6:15 to 5.  Haha.  Guess not all government jobs are 8 or 9 hours a day. 

But I woke up bleary eyed. 

My contacts were bothering me a lot mid-April.  So I switched to a new pair, it was time anyway.  But then the new pair hurt almost immediately in my left eye.

Went to the eye doctor Saturday (weird story, I actually walked to the eye doctor and met a woman who lives near me and walked and talked with her the whole way; very bizarre because it's a pretty long walk, and no one really walks in Dallas, and we only started talking when some jack@ss nearly hit her).

He said my eye was okay and ordered a new brand of lenses for me.

Wore the contacts Saturday, no issues.

Ran a half marathon Sunday that felt hot and sunny.  (Weird story, the guy who I think is the most popular runner in Dallas introduced me to someone he'd just met, who was super-interesting and I spent a lot of time talking to, she was in town for the race because her husband is on a project in Dallas so she visited for the week from ... Grand Cayman!)  (Very weird because I feel like I never meet strangers, but two over the weekend!)  I think the temp was only in the low 70s, but it was oppressively sunny with no shade.  While waiting around for my AG award (very small race), I thought I got bit by something.  I was itchy all over.  Arms, legs, face.  I felt like my lips were swelling a little but it was no big deal.  I have tons of food allergies and if it just makes me itch or swell on the outside, it's fine -- the problem is when my throat swells on the inside, which is just a few foods that I'm well aware of.  I got home and my eyes were swelling a little.  Took out my contacts right away.

Wore the contacts Monday, no issues.

Wore the contacts yesterday, and by about noon, I could see my left eye was pretty red.  I took out my contacts again.  I left for the airport early and got in to see the eye doctor on my way.  He checked it again and confirmed all the blood vessels had broken, but there was no apparent issue. 

Well, last night I could barely sleep because it hurt so much.  Tears from the eye were running down my face. 

Today it's red and watery still.  Hurts.  Not sure what to do.  Keep waiting to let it get better?  Urgent care?  ER?  Find an eye doctor here?  Ugh. 

Did I mention it's my law school reunion this weekend and I'm going to see a bunch of people I haven't seen in 5 or 15 years?  Double ugh...

I think I'm going to give it today and see if it gets better on its own. 

Happy to be in DC though!  Going to lunch with my college mentor today. 

Unusual Chafing

I had the laziest weekend ever.  My husband was out of town visiting his parents (I was supposed to meet him there since I was thinking I'd be working in Philly last week, but my court setting was continued, and then it just seemed to late to book a trip on my own dime).  I had the house to myself which meant .... puzzle!  I'll have to share pictures later this week.  It's not even close to done, even with a friend coming over for 5 hours to help on Saturday.

I ran a little on Saturday around lunch time, ugh.  It already felt hot.  Think the high on Saturday was 90?  And of course, given the puzzle, and the fact that I was running solo, meant that I did not get out of the door early in the morning.  Running in the early afternoon sucked.  There were so many families out on the trail, which meant little kids who would just cut across the path with no warning, or who were weaving all over on their bikes.  But I survived and was happy to have gotten at least a little movement.

I stayed awake way too late Saturday night working on the puzzle.  I figured it would be horrible to have the alarm go off in just 3-4 hours to run, but I rationalized that I could nap later in the day.

But then I woke up and it was sunny out.  WTF?  It turns out I'd turned off my Sunday alarm last weekend (we had our anniversary dinner party and I'd planned on skipping my Sunday long run).  And of course I'd never turned it back on.  Ugh.

So that meant another solo run.  Fortunately, I got out there at about 7:00, so it was not as hot or sunny.  But it was humid and definitely warm. 

I experienced chafing in the most unusual place.  My collarbone/upper chest area.

 

So different.

 

You can't see it well, but those are little elephants all over my shirt.  I wore it today because my heart is still heavy thinking about Nepal.  I wonder if all the amazing things we saw just six short months ago are still standing, or if they are just piles of rubble now.  I worry about the one person we got to know the most, a guide that we kind of hooked up with.  He hasn't checked in on facebook and I hope he and his family are okay.  And then I wonder about all the other people we interacted with or just saw.  All the smiling people who were so friendly to us.  Are they okay?  Their families?  Their homes?  Their businesses?  It hurts my heart. 

Gear Review (for women)

When I read Jennifer's post about five brands for spring activewear, one of the items she mentioned jumped out at me:

Quoting from her post:

"4. CALIA by Carrie Underwood
This new line from Carrie Underwood is available exclusively at Dick's Sporting Goods and offers a lower price point than other high-end brands.

I really want to try the Inner Power Cross Front Mesh Bra. It's designed for high-impact performance like running, and it comes in actual bra sizes, which always seem to fit better than bras in general sizes (small or 6, for example). The mesh would be great for hot days, and the back is a unique design. I love this Smoky Plum color.

."

When Jennifer said "actual bra sizes," I was sold. 

In reality, I couldn't care less about price point if it's something that works.  I run enough that it's worth it to have an amazing sports bra (or five).  I've tried some pricy brands before without success.  I heard rave reviews of Lululemon's Tata Tamer, but I was sorely disappointed, it leaves chafe marks around my shoulders and sometimes near the clasp.  It's one of my last choice bras now. 

For running for the last few years, I've mostly been wearing Moving Comfort's Fiona, or Moving Comfort's Vixen.  I think I have 3 of each in different colors, but both styles seems to have their issues on me.  Those idiotic adjustable straps on the Fiona usually leave marks between my collarbone and shoulder wherever the seam is.  And the Fiona seems to result in band chafing for me, plus frequent chafing from the clasp.  The Vixen usually leaves me with chafing around the band and sometimes where the two off center seams go up.  Yow. 

With summer coming quickly, bringing hot, and sometimes humid runs over 16 miles, suffice it to say, money is not an object, though I'd certainly be reluctant to try something super pricey. 

So based on what Jennifer wrote, I decided to give it a shot.  I ordered one.  And I remeasured my band size for the first time in ages.  Am I one of the 80% wearing the wrong size bra?  Maybe!  (Is that stat real?  I don't know where I heard it, seems implausible, but maybe...)  I actually went down one band size from what I wear most days for work.  (No, I don't think it's a size issue with the Fiona and Vixen that I usually wear, since I have multiple sizes of the Fiona and they all have the same issue, and the Vixen is XS-XL sizing.) 

Shipping was free, but not speedy.  I shipped it to work and it actually arrived on one of my running commute days, so I decided to try it out the very night I got it -- not a tough call since the alternative was the stinky sports bra I'd worn on my way TO work that morning, and plus, my commute is just under 4 miles, so a much more comfortable distance to give a new gear item a test run instead of a regular weekday run, which is always over 6 miles.

My thoughts:

The second I put it on, I could tell, it fits great. I picked the right size. It was comfortably secure when I put it over my head, and appropriately tight when I hooked the clasp. 

My second thought was that it seemed too low cut in the front.  I was nervous that meant it wasn't going to work well.  And I knew, regardless of how supportive it was, I'd hesitate to wear it without a shirt since I'd be giving quite the show with this one, but aside from three runs in near-emergency conditions (all detailed here), I don't run topless, so how it looks is kind of moot. 

On the run, wow.  Fit great, no chafing, fully supportive, not uncomfortable at all, maybe a little cooler feeling with the venting?  Hard to tell.  But great.  Two thumbs up unequivocally while running. 

Got home, and I could immediately feel where the chafing had happened -- in the back, right near the clasp.  The cause?  Plastic tags.  Perforated so I was clearly supposed to remove them before running in the bra.  My bad.  Cut it as close as possible to the fabric, and threw it in the laundry.

Next, I wore it tagless for a weekend run of 12 or 13 miles. 

Perfection!  No chafing anywhere, comfortable, supportive, perfect.  Can't even say how happy this makes me. 

So now, I've discovered the product's true flaw, and my biggest complaint:  it's always dirty.

Seriously, I never get to wear it.  I do laundry on Fridays or Saturdays, which means that it's clean for my Sunday long run, and it's now the first sports bra that I grab from my drawer, so it's never clean and an option on a weekday.  It really feels like I never get to wear it.

 

Solution:  I ordered a dupe of the one I liked, as well as one in the other color.

Now my biggest complaint is probably the lack of color options.  The Moving Comfort bras have tons of color choices, why only two here?  I'd especially like some lighter colors.  Not that I'll run in just a sports bra ever (barring another emergency), but there's something I don't like about wearing dark colors, even underneath a shirt, for an August 20 miler.  Maybe some blues?  Yellows?  Pinks?  Light greys? 

Thankfully, the second and third ones I ordered were the same price.  Dick's doesn't know it, but they had this priced right for me to try it, but once I knew I liked it, I easily would have paid double the price for the next two.  Whew!  They could be like a coke dealer -- first hit is free, then they gouge you when you're hooked.  Good thing for me that's not a business model they've considered. 

I would assume it goes without saying, but my opinions, my money spent on all products referenced.

So thanks for the tip Jennifer!  You made my upcoming summer much more comfortable!   

Puzzle

This one was pretty easy, thanks to all the words.  To make it a bit harder, we put aside the box top, but it was still a one day project, one of my best friends came over to help since she loves puzzles too. 

By the way, I think the calf pain I had after the 5k this past weekend and then my 13 miler the next day is gone.  I took Monday completely off, and did boot camp Tues but took it very easy, then another boot camp Wed., and then took it for a 6 mile run this morning and it was fine.  Fingers crossed that was it!  I love it when something hurts like crazy, amputate-now, pain, and then you take two days off and then you're not 100% sure which leg it was that hurt....

Head Pains

For once, I'm writing to complain about a pain that has nothing to do with running or working out.  I'm at the point where it hurts to wash my hair.

We finally took down our tree last weekend, and I was bending over to take off a low ornament, and I stood up, whacking the back of my head into an overhanging corner of an armoire that holds our TV. 

It hurt so much that there were immediately tears in my eyes and I grabbed my head and held it as I ran to another part of the living room.  The fact that I knew to get off probably the best material possession in our house (a silk rug I bought in Thailand) was my first indication that it probably wasn't a mortal wound, but I was still pretty worried that I'd split my head open in a big way and I figured there was likely an imminent trip to the hospital.

I cried and cried and my husband basically had to pry my hand off to see if it was bleeding because I couldn't let go.

In fact, it wasn't bleeding at all, but over the last few days, it has developed into a goose-egg bump that hurts so much if my hand so much as grazes it.  I should have just put my hair into a ponytail once and left it alone all week. 

It has now been 5 days since that happened and it still hurts!  Definitely less than it did before, but yikes.  I guess it's probably like any other bruise and it will go away in a week?  10 days?  It actually throbs when I'm running.  How weird is that? 

I sometimes make a list in my head of what things in our house I'd want to keep and ship across the ocean if/when we ever move to Italy.  I am officially taking the armoire off the list.  It was always borderline because it's heavy and very Mission style, which likely wouldn't fit well in Italy, but at the same time, it's always been one of my favorite pieces.  Until now.

Pure evil.  Same as our coffee table for my husband, which is glass and seems to catch him on his calf about once a month. 

Piling on the Miles

This is it.  Hitting peak training mileage, and starting to feel it.  I'm just telling myself to hold on for about 13 more days. 

Two weeks ago, I had mileage in the mid-60s, exceptionally high for me, but since it was Labor Day weekend, it wasn't "really" mid-60s mileage.  It was mid- to upper-40s week, my usual, but with a long run day switch, I added 17 miles.  So that meant the following week should have been about 17 below usual -- so maybe upper 20s?  30? -- since there was no long run. 

But I didn't work on Labor Day, which meant I had time to do things like boot camp, a 10 mile run, bleachers, and yoga (it was truly a day of laboring without pay!).  And then I threw in a race this past week on Saturday, my normal rest day -- and surprise, it put me at another week in the mid-40s. 

That gets me over 200 miles in the last 4 weeks.  Unremarkable for some, a lot for others, but a bit frightening for me. 

This blog has shown me time and again that when I do three consecutive weeks in the mid-50s, I start hurting.  As in, thinking I'm injured hurting.  I've been insanely fortunate in that it always turns out to be nothing -- a few days off, and I'm back to normal. 

But SOMEthing starts hurting.  And yep, that happened. 

I made the mistake of doing yesterday's 20 (woo-hoo, last 20!) in brand new shoes -- and I mean new.  In addition to being fresh out of the box, they are a new model of my usual favorite (trying out the Brooks Glycerine 12, after more than a year of wearing the 11s, and more than 5 years of wearing mostly Glycerine most of the time). 

And so, which is causing the pain?  The new shoes or the high (to me) mileage?

If I want to self-diagnose, I think it's an inflamed tendon on the top of my foot, right where it meets the ankle.  There are two apparent tendons there, for me, the inner and larger one is where it hurts (there are actually a bunch of tendons there, but only two readily apparent on my foot to the untrained eye).  Google makes me think it's the extensor hallucis longus or the tibialis anterior tendon.  My money is on the latter since there's no pain on the actual top of my foot, it's just at the front of my ankle. 

The good news is, it feels fine right now.

The bad news is, it hurts when it is in contact with running shoes.  (So the heels I'm wearing now are fine, pain only when I actually rub it.)

I'm going to try to ice it tonight, but we have big dinner plans with a high school friend of mine who is coming into town.  So the icing may not happen in reality. 

So maybe I'll skip the planned 8 miles for tomorrow? 

Hoping this will be totally true to form for me -- a pain that scares me about a month out, totally forgotten less than a week later -- to the point I'm not even entirely sure which foot/leg it was.