My Blog has been Hi Jacked

And I'm happy to let it happen.

For the next month (or til Traci -- Tres si ) gets bored I'll post some photos from San Miguel Allende.. the town where they are attending Spanish language school. Traci and Denise have an apt. and Annalise is living with a local family. You can read some highlights of their days in the comments section.

But I see we have to work on photo file size.


Annalise and Denise

the previously commented on hot air balloons

a picturesque window sill

the skyline of San Miguel Allende

Hey

Could someone down there in Meh hi co please find out "como se dice BLOG en espanol?
Traci or is that Tres-si ? email some photos to me, I'll post 'em. cuz my big sister said I had to. :) You can tell me stories, too, and I'll post, and if your T.O. friends don't have the blog address............... well, I can't believe they don't already, but you could send it to them.

So, ok, we are back in racing form. NOT REALLY. But this morning Gina left early to do a 5K race, the Shore Run. There were other options, the 6.7 miler, or the half marathon that went across the 520 bridge.... but given recent training schedule and the HEAT she chose the 5K. She's a wise runner. She felt pretty good about her time.

I went over to the lake for the Green Lake Open Water Race. I did the 1 mile race and did pretty well for myself, considering I have only one lake swim under my wetsuit, and the recent layoff for surgery. Did it in 30 minutes. Two years ago I had a 31:00 so things are looking up. Either the stroke is better, thanks to the torture machine, or I swam a slightly straighter line.

Then I hit the gym to go thru my series of leg strenghtening exercises, 3 times. And my new routine of some abs, followed by 100 bicycle crunches. Joan, ask Grady if he needs the list of quad exercises.

And I rode my bike to QFC for some supplies (yard waste bags, cuz I've done some work finally, COFFEE, and some other stuff) But can you believe I actually rode the bike for shopping errands? Jeez, I'm really following in Joan's pedal strokes.

Because I know you're wondering .... the foot is still ,.... ok, it's a family blog.... it still hurts. Doc is sending me for a bone scan tomorrow. This is to rule out any bone issues (stress fracture, fracture fracture). Because possibly the next step for a neuroma would be a cortisone shot, and one would NOT want cortisone in the area of a bone that is trying to heal. Folks at the gym say if it's a neuroma to "get it surgically removed !!!" but my sports med doc, my g.p., and my good friend and orthopedic surgeon doc, Trish, ALL say "SURGERY ON YOUR FOOT, ESPECIALLY NERVE RELATED, IS LAST RESORT !! IF EVEN THEN !"

I tend to agree. I'll keep you in-blog-a-formed.

Adios

To our buddies who live on Avenida de los Flores.... The Bender-Browns (Denise, Traci and Annalise) are leaving for Mexico, for a month. The tres of them will be taking espanol classes.
Speaking of flores... here is the dreaded peony, still in the yard.. It will not see the inside of the house, now that we've all seen how it affects my nose. But it is lovely in the yard. The yellow ones, well, if you look closely you can see they are a variety of dandelion.

Anyway, safe travels, amigas.
Hey, I don't think I mentioned the band news.. Annalise will be captain of the drumline next year!!! and if she wasn't I would have had to hunt down the famous Marty Martone, band director.
Oh, and watch out on the streets of California, cuz she also just got her driver's permit.

Ironblogger

These are pics from the torture chamber. I know, I know, we in America do not torture, but that doesn't stop Coach Lesley from purchasing devices to tor... er, train her clients. This is the dreaded dry land swimmer machine. I hate to say it works but I did get to go swimming on Sat. and Sunday, (the incisions have healed up) and hmm, I think I am pulling thru the water much better. Altho, it might be the last few weeks of pull buoy swimming only. No, I'm sure it's the machine.

What I do know is that one can get totally out of shape in 17 days. I wasn't even swimming fast or hard, but still breathing hard. :( I was thinking I'd be able to particpate in the Green Lake Annual mile (or half mile) swim next Sunday. I'll give myself a week in the pool to see if I can get the lungs for the half mile race. And I use the word race very loosely.

I also know that after 45 consecutive days of biking yet another body part can start hollerin... and waving the white flag.... This is a family oriented blog so I won't post photos......so I've switched to the redundant bike or no bike.

Today I was the IronFan... Coach Lesley was racing an Ironman in Couer d Lane. Also our running buddies Ty, and Carol. And I kept on top of things on the computer. They live broadcast the finish line for every competitor so if you have Gina to calculate the times and paces, you can keep an eye on the screen and hear and see them become Ironmen. It's pretty cool.

But for these guys to just to get in that lake today and swim 2.4 miles they truly deserve medals. I think it might have warmed up to 58 degrees... Freezing.

I just got an update from Coach Tony... Lesley is in the medical tent getting an IV. But that happened 2 years ago, too. As Gina says a re-hydrating IV wouldn't be a bad idea for anyone of these finishers. But hopefully she is ok.

I've been hydrating ( ? ) with a nice pinot grigio.

HEY

I only post on sunny days .

Not much new to report on the medical front. I've been pedalling the stationary bike every day. Twice a day even, sometimes. And yesterday and today I've been able to "push it". A little higher tension, higher rpm's . Anything to get my heart rate over 100. And I'm doing endless quad sets. Although, I must say the left leg does not seem that much stronger than the right. HEY, what's up with that?

I'm wearing das boot these days. ( I have a closet full of items from past injuries) It keeps all pressure off the itty bitty toes. That and the tape job with spacer seems to do the trick. I had to wait til my surgery knee was ready to be the stable side so was using crutches for a bit. Everything's fine, til I take off the boot and un-tape my foot. Then, the same pain. I'll give it another week or so. Next step might be a shot of cortisone or lidocane or some such medicine. Actually, I'll probably call my friendly local accupuncturist in the mean time. HEY, Tami ? any time open on your calendar?

So today while spinning the bike I had a Father's Day moment. Tuned my iPod to a few selections from the Music Man. Visuals of D.O. D. singing all those tunes.

Guess that answers the "what's on Ann's iPod" question. HEY, I'm a geek, ok ?

And that brings to mind another trivia question.... Anyone know who the town of Gary, Indiana (gary indiana not louisiana paris france new york or rome) was named after ? I heard it on the song. Something new every day.

HEY, by the by, speaking of trivia that no one tried to answer : Dan Patch was a horse, a standard bred, pacing horse.. Held the record in the mile, early 1900's. HUGELY famous, at the time.

To quote somebody: "Pacers move their legs on the same side at the same time; trotters move right front/left rear then left front/right rear at the same time. Trotting is a natural gait; pacing is not. Either the horse has to be trained to do this or, like Standardbreds, it has been sort of bred into them over the years."

Now you know.

Neuroma, NOT Neurotic

Neuroses is my other blog.......... "Living Crazy"





Today the X-ray of my foot fortunately did not show a fracture. YAHOO !!! or Freiberg's Disease. Not sure what Freiberg's is all about but glad to know I don't have that. It just sounds awful. But he does think I have a neuroma.

A neuroma is a swelling in a nerve caused by the laying down of fibrous tissue in response to long-standing irritation. (limping around for 6 weeks, maybe?) Neuroma formation is attributable to compression of the interdigital (between the toe) nerve against the intermetatarsophalengeal bursa. Say that 5 times fast.

I need to wear some r o o m y shoes, that have a hard sole. Do you think I can fit into Gina's Dansko's ? Do you think she'd let me? never. I could use the infamous boot from my achilles days, but right now I'm trying my Bjorn sandals, and they might do the trick. Also, tomorrow when we talk to the surgeon we'll ask about maybe staying off my foot by using crutches for a few days. Right, like he'll talk about something other than his surgical skills.

So, there you have it. Doc Anderson says today "I guess, when it rains , it pours" and he wasn't talking weather. Funny guy. But we did get some sketches on the white board. Love him. Although I did use a 4 letter word in front of him... as I got off the table I rammed my toe, YES, the bad one, into the chair. yowza ! (that's 5 letters so you know that wasnt' the word). In response, Dr. Funny Guy said " yes, that toe will probably have a bulls eye on it for a while".

Ready to Run

Run to the toit-ey and throw up breakfast, that is. :)

Hey, the surgery went very well. Quick. Doc said it went great, took about 20% out, which seemed less than he originally thought. Anyway, I had an epidural ? is that the shot in the back? so I was awake during surgery, watched the whole thing on a big screen. I do have the dvd so I can re-live it if I want. Since I was not out, the recovery room scene was quick. I was home by 12:30. Had a nice afternoon hanging out on the couch, feeling pretty good. Coach Lesley came over with cupcakes, mm mm, and some lovely peonies. My node was congested within minutes. Guess I know what I'm allergic to. Later that night, I took a percoset, as advised to help with pain and to sleep. The pain did finally arrive around midnight. The pills worked a little. So sleep was off and on.

But this morning (all day)......... I had a percoset hangover. Gina waited on my every need, but puke time was for me alone. Fortunately, my knee is feeling much better so I can toss those drugs out. Stick to the ibuprofen. And the icing. I had some visitors, Cornie and Val. I managed to not puke while they were there. :) I mostly just slept the day away. But by dinnertime, I had a cup of coffee and things started looking up. I walked to the living room for a few pieces of pizza. I was STARVING !

And look at me now ! I'm Blahgging ! aren't you lucky. and let's get the photos up.


Post Puke.
don't worry those are fake flowers in the background.

My responsible adult to drive me home. And who lost the discharge notes? hmm
Good thing we read them before we left.

The Cryo-Cuff, compliments of Grady. Thanks.

Da Knee...
ok, so that is my quad on the right, and my, yes, my skinny calf on the left. Guess there was some swelling.
Oh, and they shaved my knee. Don't they have to ask first ?

No news is no news

I know it's been a while since posting.... but I was always taught that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. Allah, if I had a dollar for everytime my parents said that to me.........................
So, I've been a bit of a moper, pouter, bored of waiting for this surgery.. Why, I even found myself being cranky . NO, you say ! It can't be, not the ever cheerful Ann.
But I have been trying to get some workouts in. Spinning, and swimming. Actually, the only time my knee does NOT hurt is when I am spinning. Not hard, and no standing on the pedals, but I've managed to get my heart rate up a bit, work up a sweat. And coach Lesley has let me use her torture machine. A dry land swim exerciser. Working on using those triceps a bit more. yowza.
Anyway, I should have some more news tomorrow. Hopefully the doc doesn't have to take out too much of the meniscus. We'll see what happens.

No eating in the morning so I'm pigging out tonight. Just had a huge piece of rhubarb pie. Mmmm.... thanks Val. Gina got a bite of the crust and proclaimed it THE BEST>

I'm posting these photos cuz my sister Joan, on her blog, put up very similar pic's from her front yard in Portland. Minus the beautiful models, of course.