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.

M's win and

I'm still bored...........................................................................

Have been swimming, using the pull bouy so i don't kick. Endless 25 yard sprints. zz zzz
And spinning on the bikes. Not too hard, no standing. zz zzz
And doing a variety of sit ups and arm weights. zz zzz
Anything to raise the heart rate.
Jeez, even the hot flashes have subsided, so I can't even use those to work up a sweat.


OK, got the 2nd opinion on the knee. What else have I got to do while waiting? This guy was definitely better in the communication dept. Any doubts we had have subsided. Of course, the appt was supposed to be yesterday, til we got there and found out someone must have accessed the computer deleted me and inserted some other gimp. I've got the Rodney Dangerfield of knees !
The one week til surgery countdown has begun. zz zzz


My coach and teammates continue on..
Here's Coach Lesley (on the right) and Patricia (PNak) and Carol... out for a nice swim in the lake tonight. Carol and Les have an Ironman race in less than a month, which is why they are forcing the "open water swims" issue. I'd join them but putting on the wet suit would put too much stress on my knee. yeah, that's it. Well, HAVE YOU tried putting one of those things on??



oh, and it's RV season at the lake again. Time to call the parking enforcement. Doesn't Gina's car look nice? it's not. and doesn't our shrubbery look nice ? it's not.

Wildlife and Winds

So, I'm bored, have scanned all my fav. web sites, read both newspapers front to back, checked the mail, done some laundry..... so I'm milling/limping around saying "look how windy it is outside", "oooh boy, it's really windy", "I can't believe how windy it is", etc (talking to Gina who is not really listening), then I see a raccoon on the back porch, (now I'm un-bored) going around the house, I poke my head outside, it reverses direction.... now who knows where it is? all the while I keep saying things like "it's so windy it blew the raccoon out of the tree" and "wow, sure is windy out if even Rocky can't stay in his tree" and " I can't believe the wind blew that darn raccoon out of the tree"......... and I wonder why Gina doesn't listen to me.

Next thing we know, we both see the deck umbrella go flying !!!!!!!!! OMIGOD !!!!!.

DOUBLE OMIGOD !!!!!

Gina runs to the back yard, I cautiously venture/limp out front (remember, there is a wild rabid raccoon on the loose) .... One minute I'm looking for a raccoon, the next I'm wondering where the hella did that 'brella go ?

OH, it's up on the roof. Great, we don't have a ladder tall enough for Gina (NO , not me) to get up there. At least it didn't go flying over and into the neighbor's house. I get back in the house and before I can get a camera (or even think to get a camera) it comes flying back down onto the deck where I had been standing. Thank allah I was back in the house. "Oooh, boy, it's sure windy out there."

Don't worry, it's all settled now.. umbrella has been tied down. Gina is blaming me cuz I kept saying how windy it was so why didn't I go out and put the umbrella down?

SHE WAS LISTENING TO ME !

I still don't know where Rocky went off to but I'm not doing any yard work today.

This all happened cuz I'm not out riding my bike for 50 miles and running for 10 or swimming..... well, I can't swim in the lake, too wavy cuz .......

it's TOO gosh darn WINDY !!

Limping Along in Limbo

If you remember good ol Festis, and how he walked.. well ..................
That's me... just limpin along til June 4. Saw the doc today to go over a few things. Not much new to report, except he keeps mentioning it might be the arthritis that will be my pain, after surgery. HEY, I didn't have ol arthur bothering me before so let's not get ahead of that wagon.
He is pretty sure I won't be doing any Ironman races this summer. And unless I have some miraculous recovery , rehab, and an awesome 10 week training session, I guess I would have to agree. I do think it would be stupid to participate in such a huge undertaking at anything less than 80%. Full strength would be optimal but I'm not sure that even happens for a majority of folks.

But just for fun let me tell you about my last swim at the secret pool.. always something there. This time a dude was practicing holding his breath underwater. At first he'd just go down and hold on to this weight. Then he started doing a kind of crab walk along the bottom across the lanes. It looked very weird, was quite distracting. He'd be under for a couple minutes.

Trivia time

Yahoo ! The sun is out, I did a bit of yard work, to earn my beer and sat out on the deck. I was reading this week's Sports Illustrated and there was a great article about Dan Patch. And it got me to wondering.... have any of you loyal blog readers heard of Dan Patch ? If you are a Rinehart, you surely have heard the name.

Special prize for correct answer. No fair Googling, Wiki-ing or reading your copy of S. I. Oh, right, like any of you subscribe to that literary magazine. :)

OK, gotta go figure out the special prize.

Tri Cities 75 miler

Weber canyon.

Here is Gina making it to the top of Weber Canyon. I wanted to get a picture of her, so when I got to the top, she was not quite in sight at that bend.. I stop, get my glove off, get the phone out of bag, turn it on..... takes forever while "searching for network" .. hello, I'm not making a call, just want to use the camera feature.... just got it going as she passed by. whew.. that was harder than riding up the mtn.

This stretch of the road was about 6 miles long and all up hill. Not hugely steep, kind of like Stone Way, but 6 times longer. It was fun to do. I had a clicking noise that was bothering me, I thought it was a gear thing, (no, not my knee) and of course it only clicked when I was in the necessary granny gear. About 3/4's the way thru I looked down and saw it was some little wire hitting my foot, making the annoyance. I hate to stop on an uphill but did and bent that little wire and made my way up the rest of the hill in peace.

That was my favorite stretch of road on the Tri Cities 75 mile route. I love going up hill. But of course, what goes up.... must come down. There was a 2 mile section of 5%(or some such number) grade that truckers had to check brakes, and there were runaway truck ramps... so give you an idea of steepness. I was doing fairly well, trying not to brake the whole way down. But the cross winds were huge. It was scary trying to keep the bike upright.

The only other excitement came when passing the 2 farms/ranch that the dogs were not fenced in. One sure way to get the heart rate up and the cadence up to 127 is to have some huge barking dog come running at you.

Oh, and we did miss a turn, somehow. Just like last week. Only we didn't add any extra mileage this time. Just minutes staring at the map, and fuming about how we missed the "excellent marks on the road". And we got back too early. Cuz the beer garden wasn't yet open. Bummer.

Anne Miller

Anne Miller passed away on Monday. Peacefully, she just fell asleep, as was her wish. Thankfully, she got it. She deserved that much.

She lived with osteoporosis for, well, forever. I moved here in 1981, and lived with her and helped her with some chores (mostly it was a gift to me, a place to live and the opportunity to get to know her) and I'm not sure how long she'd been dealing with it then. Anne would have turned 95 this summer. And I'm sure I would have found the perfect "you are OLD" card for her.

FYI, Anne is my sister Joan's mother-in-law, Grady and Ardie's mom, but best described as a good friend.

Most of my memories of Anne are from my pre-digital camera days. But here are some pic's from the past few years. Mostly I remember sitting at her dining room table, having great conversations, or just quiet spells, and food (stuff we never had growing up in Michigan), and looking out at her fabulous back yard and garden. Gina loved talking with Anne, and sipping eggnog laced with booze at Christmas. A tradition that continues at the Young's, with a nod to Anne M.

\
2003 in her apt.


Christmas 2005, with Aileen

Grady, Kristoffer and Anne in the aloha spirit

Anne, Grady and Ardie, reliving their Hawaiian youth

Anne always hung on my every word.

Contemplating.

Spell Check

Got this off Utter Wonder blog..
love it. and she has such a nice shirt, too.

Hold everything !

So, last posting had me telling you the bad news of a lifetime on crutches. Today, it's different news, and nothing new has happened. hmm.

Seems the doc gave us the worst (best?) case scenario. But with a little googling, a brief chat with Gretchen the surgical nurse, talking to Dr. Trish, (our orthopedic surgeon friend who unfortunately moved to the northern territory, AKA AK) And a consult with regular sports doc (Anderson) , via Shauna, the world's best receptionist.... all info seemed to point to the fact that my horizontal cleavage most likely cannot be "repaired" (meaning the lifetime of crutches) and that he would probably trim the bad parts away, and send me home to a short recovery period.

And today Dr. Holland, via Dr. A, via Shauna...... confirmed that's what would happen... He will know best what he can/will do when he is actually in the knee. But that less than 5% chance for the repair surgery, most likely the trim job.

Why did he say the other? Did we just hear him wrong? Gina just had a hearing check and was OK'd , so we think he just forgot to add the ".... OR it could be this other scenario".

Whatever, we do have another pre-op consult with him, and this time we have a list of questions. And we are now hoping for a cancellation so that I can get in earlier than June 4.

Ironman is NOT off the schedule, yet.

OK so

I guess some folks can tear up their little meniscus, go have a quick little surgery, be out for 2 weeks and then be good to go..

I hate those folks. (except you Grady)

Me, I have to have the "horizontal cleavage tear" . The first time cleavage and me are in the same sentence.

This particular repair cannot be cut out, a meniscus-ectomy. NO, I guess due to the horizontal plane , it needs to be repaired. Which means suturing it up or whatever he's gonna do. Which means WEEKS OF NO WEIGHT BEARING . Did you hear me ?.... WEEKS OF NO WEIGHT BEARING. That means crutches... then more weeks of recovery...

Surgery is scheduled for June 4. I might get in sooner if someone cancels. woo hoo !

BUT, the good news is, and there is always good news, it should be good to go and it won't cause future arthritic type issues. So I should be able to train for another Ironman when I'm 65. I'm gonna knock Sister Madonna B.'s age group records off the charts.

As for my crutches life style... the Mariners suck so I should be able to see every inning of every loss.

MEN... who (k)needs them ?

Between the sleepless nights caused by hot flashes from what is most certainly "Early Onset MEN opause", and the knee pain from my damaged medial MEN iscus, I am not a happy camper these days.

Here I am playing doctor with the films from the MRI.


good lateral meniscus (one a 15 yr. old would be happy to have, says doc Anderson)

bad medial meniscus

ok, so the meniscus is that sort of triangular/arrow looking thing betwixt the large shapes... and it should be all dark, the little white-ish area denotes some tearing.

But on a GOOD note, check out my toes these days. looking pretty good, wouldn't you say?

The bruising on my left foot is a result of my plastic hairbrush (weighing about, what? half an ounce?) falling and hitting exactly on one of those veins. Lumped up immed. and then bad bruising.

Anyway, I have a surgical consult on Thur. morning to decide if arthroscopic surgery can help the situation.

Meniscus Surgery
The meniscus is a C shaped pad of rubbery cartilage inside the knee joint. It is similar to a shock absorber and cushions the knee during movement. It may tear when placed under too much stress causing pain. Arthroscopic surgery will involve either removing a damaged section or repairing with sutures. Recovery will take approximately 4-6 weeks and physical therapy is usually needed.

Coach Lesley is thinking positively (and so am I) and does not think that even surgery would throw off the schedule TOO badly. We'll see.

And hey, I lived thru the Boston disappointment once... ok twice.. :)

Stay tuned.

I don't KNEE'D this

Yes, it's been 10 days since posting on this blog. Ten days of knee pain. sheesh. OK, so mid Feb. I come down with this lame knee ache. It starts to get a bit better. Then relapses badly. But then starts to get better. and better. and better. OK. Then I decide to do a 4 mile run on the treadmill (cuz I'm so sick of the cold wet weather and I just wanted to run in shorts). And cuz it's so boring on the treadmill I decide to up the speed, and up it a bit more. And it was fine. Til later. And this time the relapse was/is worse. I'm scheduled to see the doc tomorrow. It is getting a bit better. I can ride and swim.. can even run but that hurts. arrghhhhh.

Did I mention I can ride ? Yesterday Gina and I rode around Lake Washington (approx. 55 miles) It was a beautiful day. We still bundled up. Shed a layer here and there. But it was 4.5 hours of fun. And today we got back on those bikes and rode from here to Seward Park and back (approx 30 miles). and each day I spent the ensuing hours icing my knee.

One of the reasons for no blogging lately is the knee totally stiffens up while sitting here.
So, I'm outta here !

Week 13 Totals : Apr 21 - Apr 27
Swim Time = 1hr. 4 min. (2900 yards)
Bike Time = 8hr. 9 min. (100 miles)
Run Time = 1hr. 0 min. (6.25 miles)

Total Training to Date
Swim Yards = 18hr. 12 min. (51050 yards)
Bike Miles = 51hr. 58 min. (755 miles)
Run Miles = 38hr. 37 min. (241.85 miles)

Mercer Island Poop

We swam at the M I Pool, and rode the M I Loop, so anagrammically I'm calling it the MI Poop.

Here's how i described the day to coach:

by the by, we did our swim and mercer is. poop today. it took all day. but only cuz when we got to our pool the guy (Russ) said closed.(and yes we did call before but no answer)... til the health insp. comes and gives them the ok, which he figured would happen, then we could swim (actually he nicely gave us directions to bellevue pool but i don't do bellevue). insp due some time before 11. so we waited. (insp. showed at 11, which we also predicted) we figured we'd have the whole pool to ourselves. and then he tells us "a disgruntled ex employee called the health dept" OMIGOD i said was it diane? the nut job from last week? yep. we really hate her now.
and then some old lady showed up, wearing a big ol neckbrace (should she be driving?) so i told her it was closed, to save her the steps to the pool. then she starts chatting... i mistakenly asked how she broke her neck... that story was gonna be endless... til the guard poked his head out to say "we passed!". gotta go lady... then i hear her at the desk moaning about who's gonna teach water aerobics.... sure enough a little later, 2 ladies in the pool, and russ the guard doing the motions on the deck. quite cute.