Fingers Crossed

It has been a much longer (and rougher) road to recovery but I am beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel. I am hoping to get the green light for my "return to running program" on Wednesday when I meet with my sports doc. My sanity is at it's weakest point right now, really in need of some mileage.

Last weekend was hugely exciting for our family as the zippy member of our family ran a 1:30:05 half marathon and placed 2nd in is age group! He used it as a training run for his first marathon that he'll run in May. A 3:05 finish time would qualify him for Boston...

And on Thursday our "I hate running runner" had her first track meet. She ran the 800 and the 400, and competed in the long jump. She still hates running but she's not giving up on track (yet). There is hope...

And a Dilbert funny:

Happy running!

Why I Long For Winter

“There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you…. In spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself.” – Ruth Stout, author

I found this quote at Vanessa Runs and felt it really defines my need for (cold, gray) winters and rainy days in any season.

Love All This Snow...Wish I Could Get Out and Enjoy It!

There is nothing I love more than the muffled quiet of snow covered trails. Our first winter back in Illinois was a huge snow winter. Lots of days of snow covered trails. My favorite thing was to be the first out on a few of our favorites, my footprints being the first. Then the next two were a little sparse. But this winter has been fantastic! Record snow for many parts of our state. It snowed a bunch on Friday, a little more on Saturday and today has been nonstop, mostly snow, some ice, since about 7am (it's almost 2:30 now). We even had snow thunder! I keep thinking about how amazing the trails would be for a hike with the dogs....sigh.

 

Our bench out back does a pretty good job of illustrating how high the snow is in the backyard. There are drifts throughout the yards (front and back) that are higher, but this is pretty indicative of the average amount of snow that will start melting this week. It's going to get soupy.

Heart Day...Not The Flowers and Candy Kind

February 4 my Dad had a stroke due to an undetected heart arrhythmia, specifically atrial fibrillation. It was, fortunately, a mild stroke that has impacted the posterior portion of his frontal lobe. The damage he has suffered is affecting his speech and his ability to understand some things being said or asked.

Heart disease and circulatory issues are a common concern in his (my) family history. His older brother died of a massive stroke when he was just 40 years old. One of his sisters died from a heart attack when she was 43. His other sister suffered for years with breast cancer, finally losing her fight at the age of 52. Two of his nephews have partially carried on this genetic tendancy, one having a heart attack and one have 2 strokes (both due to Afib), but both are still alive and doing well.

My Dad is 71 years old and other than having his gall bladder removed a year and a half ago, has been healthy. As a matter of fact, he thought he was having a heart attack because the symptoms of gall stones include chest and arm pain. Before scheduling him for surgery the doctors had him examined by a cardiologist to make sure that his heart was healthy enough for surgery (had a treadmill stress test and  EKG readings were done) and there was no sign of an arrhythmia at that time.

My Mom does not drive. Never has. Never will. She is Irish, born and raised, lived in Dublin, Ireland until her early twenties and never needed or wanted to drive. My folks live in a suburb of Chicago, about 3 hours from me, so that is where I spent the past 10 days. My brother and his wife flew in from Seattle, arriving 13 hours after he had his stroke. He spent 6 days in the hospital, getting his blood pressure under control and working out what anticoagulant would work best to prevent a future stroke. He is home now, started speech therapy yesterday and will soon start occupational therapy, with the goal of getting behind the wheel again. My brother, sister in law and myself have worked out a schedule to be with my parents through the end of March, getting Dad to therapy sessions and helping my Mom.

So now, in addition to figuring out if there is anything I did to get this stress fracture (other than running a lot of miles), I am going to get established with a cardiologist and find out what type of preventative checkup schedule I should embrace. Got to keep my heart happy!

The Saddest Little Man

75lbs of unhappy

Poor little guy. Not only are we not able to go out and play (crutches=sad doggies), but he gets introduced to the pack. Not at all what he was expecting and he is currently not a big fan.

Yesterday was the first day we tried it on him to see if it fits. It's actually pretty cool in that the pack portion or panniers detatch from the harness portion. We had him wear the harness for about a half an hour and then only for a couple of minutes added the empty panniers. He stuck by my side the entire time he had it on (actually he's never heeled so nicely...) I guess hoping I'd rescue him from his burden. Today just before sitting down to type this I put on the harness and guess who is sitting on my feet....

Really? What fresh hell is this?

Dude, help me out here!

 

 

Motivational Video...Needed This

Thanks to Ultrarunner Podcast webpage for this inspirational video....useful when feeling less than.

Marathon du Medoc: Bucket List Run #2

Back about 14 years ago as we prepared to move from Illinois to the French Alps, a guy in my running group told me about this race I had to do. He couldn't remember the name, but said it was a marathon in Bordeaux where all the rest stops had wine. Interesting.

While we lived in France I thought often about that race, but didn't try very hard to actually make a running of it happen. Did run the Dublin (Ireland) Marathon during our time in France, but really spent more time biking, hiking and skiing while living there and so running took a back seat.

A few months ago I was descending down the rabbit hole of the internet, one event search sparking the dive into another search, and landed upon the Marathon du Medoc. The race with the wine.

Words cannot begin to describe how insanely fun this race looks! First and foremost, the French know how to have fun. We learned straight away while living there that family and recreation are priorities. They embrace their leisure time. Be it a long lunch or a 10 hour randonee through the mountains. Life is to be lived to it's fullest. There is no tomorrow, only today and have no regrets with the choices you have made. So keep that in mind as you imagine a race that has a theme each year (last year it was Aliens and Superheros) and according to the race webpage, 90% of participants dress in costume. That's more than Disney. There is a huge party the night before....making the race a "hair of the dog" thing for many. There are 21 wine tasting stops, charcuterie/hard sausage tastings, oysters, cheese and ice cream and all of these are labeled on the course map along with view points. So you can plan your dining and your kodak moments.

When you finish the race, not only do you get a finishers medal, but a finishers tshirt, a race poster, "surprise gifts" and a bottle of Medoc wine! And there is a BALL that evening in the Marathon Village with more food, wine and fireworks. The next day there is a recovery walk in which you can participate.

 

 

There are youtube videos that can do a much better job of bringing to life this crazy cool race better than I have. I highly recommend checking them out. And registration for this year's race (September 13, 2014) opens in February.