Weekly Recap: 10/23/2017 - 10/29/2017

I'm slowly working through my crazies. It is hard to lose something you love very much, and while I didn't lose running, I feel like I can't connect with other runners, who am I to them?  Some washed up never been with 3 marathons and an ultra under her belt bum knees that rubbed off all the cartilage and a hip that won't freaking get right. 

Monday - NYC, early freaking train, conference call on the train, no nap, even fouler mood than I went to bed with on Sunday night....  After a lovely Turkish dinner, I did take a very long walk around the streets of midtown in my work shoes and dress.  Perhaps I should have put on the running shoes I did bring and change into something a little less weird to take a 2-mile walk in.  I was kind of on a roll, so I went with it.  The blasted joint pain started poking around, I assured myself this was because of the draft.

This is a 'vision board' as a team project to define "Head, Heart, and Guts"
It was an interesting exercise.  

Tuesday - NYC in the rain, always a good time...  between the neighbor slamming their door constantly and what sounded like rearranging furniture for most of the night and HVAC that was noisy, I slept okayish.  My mood was a little less sour, but it was clear a nice long walk to Whole Foods on 57th to scoop up some Bells beer was not going to happen (rain).  I got home to more rain, torrential after I got in the door (awww thank you weather gods, you are sweet) and two dogs dying to go on a walk... sorry guys.

I finally had to delete WTF (What The Forecast) from my phone, lack of using it and not a lot of space,
This one was pretty funny though.

Wednesday - Hills with Ro.  OMG the weather gods were so kind, again, squeeee, we were clear 11 - 1, the time we fit in our hill workout.  Ahhhhh..... poor Ro's eardrums are probably still ringing as I unloaded all my crap on her.  She said she did like running with me better, she got to control the conversation.  HA!  Love her!!  That worked out a lot of crazies and anger and general grouchiness I seem to be in the midst of lately.  A couple acetaminophen pre hills and the joint pains that are actually for real (craptastic) subsided and we kept up a super great pace! I hate medicating like that, why be miserable?  The rain continued on and Gus and Jax vowed to get even, great a fourth night of crappy sleep....  I really can't blame them.

The cat in the antique shop downtown.  He saw Jax, Jax did not see him.

Thursday - The second shot in the series.  I wasn't as nervous as this was the second time.  I wasn't able to get to Dr. Coppes office in Westerly and had to drive to Wakefield, in the rain.  For whatever reason I grabbed my umbrella as I left the car to walk into the office.  I was glad because when I left it was raining buckets like it was on my drive out there.  Pshew.  All went well and he noted that again the right didn't bleed and the left now had a nice bruise from the site of the last injection and bled.  He appreciated the spot of blood so he knew where to stick the bandage.  The man is a great ortho however not much on the personality side.  Unless you get him talking about his dog, then he lightens up.

Round #2

Work was uneventful and very strange going in without my backpack of gym clothes, and not going to the gym. There was a break in the rain and I took Gus out for a short walk just as the sun set.  We saw neighbor Jeff with Shep and Trixie, Gus acknowledges them and then goes back to sniffing.  I've finally figured out why we have to walk by Jeff's house, it isn't walking by Jeff's house it is walking by the neighbor's house to get their dog Blossom barking and to keep an eye peeled for that crazy orange cat Yuko, or Yoko, or whatever it's called, the Crazy Orange Cat who likes to barf on my front step.  Someone told me that means he likes me.  Yippieee...

Friday - A perfect afternoon to get a bike ride in.  Work had other ideas and when the temps were nearly 60 the eMail went bananas.  Oh well, this does pay the bills and I kinda need to pay the bills.  The morning was started with quite a shocker, my buddy Tanya accepted a job (in the company) in Australia.  Well that blows to hell our biking trip out to Lake Placid next summer, ha ha ha.  I sent her a quick eMail but have to talk to her.  I guess she is going to have the year with two summers?  Her girls are both out of college and working.  Her husband is a FEMA contract architect.  I can't wait to hear more about this new adventure she is going on.  I'll miss working with her terribly, she was an ounce of midwestern sanity and clarity in the midst of tons of New York lawyers.  

Got Gus out to Wahaneeta, we haven't been there since he passed out and I haven't been there since falling at the start line for the race.  It was a success, no passing out or falling!

We ran into not the neighbor Jeff, I saw someone running in an orange shirt, but they were going the opposite direction and Gus was really not interested in going that way, he wanted to go to the car, he wanted dinner...  Dogs, right?  We had a nice chat and I am a bit over protective of Gus and his many ailments.  Jeff probably thought I was a bit looney. 

Not the bridge Jeff broke

Saturday - After hemming and hawing and not hearing back from Bob I decided I wasn't going to volunteer with the RI 6 Hour 2.0 or go up and cheer on Crutch like I told his wife I was going to do  I would absorb what has to be the absolute last perfect biking weather day, and take the time to have a decent length bike ride with the temps in the mid 60's.  I cobbled together a route that led me by Clyde's Cider Mill, then up to through the Eastern Pequot Reservation, and back down to the shore. This ride gave me such a feeling of freedom and happiness, I haven't felt like that in awhile.  I was glad to be out there under my own power and enjoying a beautiful day soaking in the sun and the colors and the simple beauty of New England.  It really was grand, or maybe I had a sugar buzz from the donuts and cider at Clyde's?  

Clyde's Cider and Donut
(ok 2, I had 2, I could eat a whole dozen, but the bees would have been too overwhelming)

Then something felt funny?  Shoot a flat, on CT 184.  Oh crap, I didn't inventory my bike seat bag or put in the tube that was on my seat.  That was the tube Dave took to PA, right?  Pshew, yes there was a tube and tire irons in my bag and I flipped the bike over and took off the back tire and wrestled the tire off and got out the tube and didn't do a super job checking the inside of the tire for debris (I discovered this later).  Re-assembled it with the new tube, pumped up the tube with my old fashioned hand frame pump, no fancy dancy fix a flat (ha ha - ask Mikey about this) CO2 cartridges.  A man stopped to offer his compressor to blow up the tire and I assured him all was fine, he asked a couple more times.  I said, "Thank you for the offer.  Thank you more for stopping and offering, you've given me hope in humanity."  He smiled, sort of like, good grief that woman is a lunatic, glad I didn't get any closer! and got back in his truck.  

In Ledyard (kind of hidden behind a tree - but it is progress)
Yes this is a narrow road, as you can see no shoulder.
It's a 35 MPH speed and lightly traveled.  I saw 5 cars in 3 miles.

And I pedaled on my merry little way, feeling even happier.  It gives me great pride to be able to fix my flats and decipher what's not quite right on the bike while I'm out on a ride.   Deciding that I would take a more direct route home, I was getting close to 40 miles and starting to get a little tired, and really wanted a pop, my treat when I bike, and icy pop!  Ventured through Stonington and then by the Velvet Mill and it would be 6 miles to home from here.  Thought about putting a couple beers on reserve at Beer'd but figured I could come back and pick up what I wanted.  Then Boom PSSSS.  Oh crap the back tire and I don't have another spare tube!!  DOOOHHHH!!!  Oh crap Dave was asking if I had a patch kit.  I said I did in my bike seat bag. Did he put it away?  Oh please tell me he put it away, I can't walk 6 miles in bike shoes dragging Ruby (my bike).  He did! 

The directions were a bit tough to read with my old eyes, but made enough sense.  Finding the hole in the first flat was fun.  Eventually I did find it and patched it and the patch held air while I got the tire off and the freshly blown tube out. But there's a story, there's always a story....  

During the hole finding process a very nice Australian couple stopped and asked if they could help, and did I know there was a bike shop a few miles that way (pointing).  Funny, Tanya is moving to Australia and this is who stops first.  Huh...  They were lovely and said they'd let me get on with my project and I wished them a nice day.  Finally I found the hole!  Yeah me!!!

A horn blares and it startles me, I look up, lose where I found the hole and some man grumbles "Where's the Velvet Mill?"  I said "Huh?"  "The Velvet Mill, where is it?"  I pointed to my left and said go that way and turn at the first, or is it the second left.  "That's where the Velvet Mill is?"  Muttering to myself about people, I finally said "Or you can get on that main road you just got off and go to the stop sign and make a right, follow that to the end. Don't you people have GPS?"  They drove off in a huff. Serves them right, humanity. I went back to re locating the hole.

While patching the hole a couple other people slowed down to gawk at the biker and one lady stopped and said she couldn't help but I had her moral support.  The same car drove by about 3 times (they had a peculiar sounding engine).  They wanted to know how to get to the Borough.  Again, no excuse me or looks like you are  having trouble can we bother you to help us.  Common courtesy people.  

Then the final crabby lady, stops, cracks open her window, starts shouting asking where such and so dock was as her father docked a boat back in the day.  I said "I don't know." and went back to pumping up the tube, now securely in the tire and completely checked for debris and holes in the tire.  "Are you sure." comes the gravely quite accented voice  "it's gotta be down here, Sandy Point don't you know it?"  "Um, yeah, yeah," I say, "go down that road and take a right at the intersection where it T's. It should be at the end there."  Then she can bitch at the man looking for the Velvet Mill down that same road. I'm evil.   Maybe the spirits in the graveyard will be more accommodating than I?  

Tried to take a selfie, too much work I had bigger fish to fry!

I got myself home, contemplated stopping at Grey Sail for a beer, but really didn't want to risk the patch blowing and then I'd really be walking Ruby home the last mile. Or me home to get Eddie to pick her up... So I went home, two very happy dogs, wondering why they weren't getting adventures - later boys, later, and where was I and where was Dave.  I couldn't tell them where Dave was, I couldn't remember.

Gus got a nice long walk, he was speedy, it was an hour for a 5K (3.1 miles) that's pretty spectacular for him, this includes pee poop and sniffing breaks.    Jax went out after dinner for a short walk, he gets bored on in town walks, half an hour is pretty much his max before he has to stop and sniff every leaf blade of grass or even just the sidewalk.  

Handsome drool bubble
He wanted a bite of apple, and yes, he got a couple pieces.

Sunday - We knew it was going to be crappy, the dogs, not so much, they did let us sleep past 6, but not much.  This was not going to be a fun day for dogs, we had house chores and rooms to swap around.  After 18 years we've given up the ghost on the dining room being the dining room. It is now the bike room and Dave's office.  There is a wonderful room with a bay window in the back of the house that is perfect for a dining room, we bought a silk rug on our first trip to China in 2002 (the second trip was in 2006), and it fits perfectly under the (oh it's some fancy name, not my thing, Dave's thing) dining room table Craig's List find, and 6 chairs.  The china closet will, well, be in the bike/office.  So this meant Dave had to get all his music crap out of the front room and that also goes in the bike/office/music room.  I'm delighted!  Less crap for me to look at.  The dogs, well this was all very upsetting to them, they do not like change nor do they appreciate not getting out of the house for an adventure, no matter how short it may be.  

The picture isn't great, it all finally looked and felt right!  Still a few things to tidy up and curtains to hang!

The dining room!

Mileage:

This was a pretty low mileage week, which is fine.  I'll not be seeing many weeks north of 25, it is what it is.  I did notice that when I cut my running way back my weight dropped!  It's stayed pretty consistent too.  That is odd, must have been fluid retention from all the over use?

Feet: 14
Saddle: 47

Reading:

Almost done with "The Penderwicks at Point Mouette" by Jeanne Birdsall, nice light story, well it did get a little heavy with one of the girls friends finding out who his father was, and of course one of the girls had a summer love with a boy who wasn't very nice.  Still and all a very sweet story I am enjoying immensely as there is some heavy stuff going on around me.  I should start the 4th, and last book tomorrow.  

Knitting:

Made a bit of progress on the tan with flecks baby sweater and found out one of my friends is expecting!  She is 41 and due in March.  There was some talk about going to DC to run Marine Corps, completely out of the question for me, but I'd run the 10K or cheer.  And Andrea piped in her world was changing in March.  I was hoping her husband wouldn't be deployed, nope, a baby!  I'm so happy for her, it took her a long time to find the right guy and didn't expect it to be possible to have her own baby.    It will be fun to pick out just the right sweater from my collection for her.  

All in all not a bad week, it had some low points, me being mean, and some high points, me feeling like I'm on top of the world.  It all balanced itself out. 

Sincerely,
Beth, who will solemnly swear to not be too spiteful even if someone really deserves it. 

Weekly Recap 10/16/2017 - 10/22/2017

Monday - a running day, my last running day for a while.  Well if I listen to my physical therapist my last day for three weeks, if I listen to the ortho I can run after two days.  I'm really not sure what I am going to do.  Of course, I am going to push the envelope, it's kind of what I do, gently push it, not shove it...

Ro finally convinced me to run with her again.  I agreed to a 5K and by the time we were 1.5 miles in it was pretty clear I wasn't holding her back any more than she wanted to be held back and I was enjoying myself so we did a full 5 miles.  Sometimes I just need to get out of my own way.  I can't talk as much when I run as when we power walk, I managed to hold up a bit of my end of the conversation, Ro, an Otter did the majority of the talking asking me yes or no questions, so it was all good.  I'm a Beaver (and after reading it, very true for both of us) What is your running spirit animal?  I know sometimes these are dorky, but they are fun, admit it!!

Tuesday - not a running day but my last day before "the shots".  I was a bundle of nerves, not sure what to expect and after seeing that guy limp out of the lobby of the ortho office after his last series of shots I had all sorts of awful running around my mind.  I left work early and took a short bike ride to burn off some crazy, it worked, and I also got pretty cold and cut it short....   I needed one more layer on top and a headband.  My ears and chest were cold, oh and more windproof gloves would have been helpful.  All in all a nice ride, despite the setting sun and being chilled.  Gus was in the mood for a long walk.  I had to turn him towards home several times, he was not the least bit happy about this.

Wednesday - Shot day.  I got into the exam room and there they were all laid out looking at me taunting me needles the size of oak trees.  Ok not really.  They didn't look that bad, but they were going in my knees...   After a numbing spray, there was a pinch and it was over on the right knee.  I held the gauze on the spot after Dr. Coppes put on the band-aid and then did the left knee...  Huh... so what the hell was this guy doing limping out of Dr. Coppes office?  I think he may have been putting on a show for the receptionist?

Gus got a short walk, again ticked he didn't get his way.  I do love my grouchy curmudgeonly senior boxer boyz.  He grumbled and grouched and I couldn't do anything but give him a big kiss on the top of his head.  So cute.

Gus enjoying the sun in the backyard.

Thursday - I took Chris's circuit class at the gym, usually, he is more focused on strength than cardio.  Well, today was a bit of cardio which was jumping around, of course, it was.  So so not good for me... I did my best to modify, but not enough.  Then I let Gus take me on a nearly 3 and a half mile walk.  I really am not taking care of myself like I should.  I'm frankly going bananas.  I managed to get down to three or four intensely active days, and clearly, I missed my Wednesday hill day with Ro...  I hobbled through the day and popped some Vitamin I to get me through the night and Dave, the imaginary husband, scolded me, as he should.

Jax enjoying the sun in the house.

Friday - While I brought my running gear to work I did not run, yeah me for a sensible decision?  I left early because I was going bananas on top of the intense frustration and irritation of having to get someone to do their job (what is with people?  what the frig do you get paid for?  for this person clearly not for their ability to do their job) and needed to do something physical.  Throwing plates probably would have sufficed, maybe even a hissy fit, but the jumping was really going to hurt.  I went for a nice reasonable bike ride.  Threw in a few hills for some fun and felt much better for it.  Dave, the imaginary husband, laughed and said, well that sucks, when I told him my work issue, he's watched this dance with this person before and I can tell he feels sorry for me and he would totally do what he knows is going through my mind, but at the same time isn't going to watch me do something stupid he lets me vent and adds in his own two cents and I feel better.  I think that is as good as it will get.   It would be so much easier for me to do the task, so.  much.  easier.  however, the long run this will NOT pay off in my favor.  Yes, I do not suffer fools gladly, and it bites me in the ass. 

Neighbor's decorations.  The old guy under the window even freaked me out a bit!

Saturday - Another bike ride on a beautiful day, enjoyed the color as it is starting to pop in South County!  Definitely, the sun is not as strong as it is in the summer, and sleeves are necessary, not so much long riding pants. 

Sunday -  The boyz hadn't been out for walks, each got about 2.5 miles and were happy to have their own walk to themselves. 

At least they replaced the gnomes!
I love the names on the tomb stone, very creative.

Eratta:
I've been struggling with my feelings on running and my abilities for quite some time.  I went back and attempted 7 Sisters for the second time and bailed on the second time, I did get a little further, could I have finished, sure, did I want to no.  

This blog was just the ticket to make me feel like less of a failure (ok that is maybe a little harsh, but some word along those lines). 

"I just didn’t want to. I was tired mentally and I had zero motivation to finish. So, I didn’t. "

This is a runner far more accomplished than I am.  His words, the ones above, and many more in his post gave me what I needed to move past, not even through, past my 3 DNF.  

Knitting:

Finished the lavender baby sweater and started on a tan with flecks yarn.  I didn't get very far, only a couple rows in.

Reading:

Finished  "The Penderwicks on Gardam Street" by Jeanne Birdsall, definitely the nice light airy fiction I need to read right now.  The Penderwick sisters are trying to save their dad from dating, and it backfires, sort of.  

Started  "The Penderwicks at Point Mouette" by Jeanne Birdsall.  I think what I do like is you don't really have to read these in order, she re-introduces the characters so you aren't at a total loss if you aren't reading them in order or are only going to read one. 

Mileage:

Feet: 23
Saddle: 83

All in, not a bad week.  I'm glad I got one last run in and was able to bike on Friday and Saturday.  Sunday is a different matter, completely not my choice to waste the last beautiful biking day of fall.

Sincerely,
Beth, glad the shot didn't cripple me and more willing to take it easy for two days after the shot.

Weekly Recap: 10/9/2017 - 10/15/2017

Monday -  One of those warm wet humid Augtober days, the most remarkable thing were all the animal guts on the run.  The Opossum smeared on Shennie nearly made me vomit.   That is really unusual for me.  Surely this was not as bad as three dogs in the car after being sprayed by a skunk?  Not sure what my excuse was for not taking Gus on a walk.  I do recall he was pretty ticked my time was occupied not with tending to him.

What Gus and I didn't see on Monday night...
He forgave me by pre-bed snicky snack time.

Tuesday – Not a running day, PT then Circuit Training.  I’m coming to grips with none of this is fixable, all this ‘stuff’ is to keep me running as stable and as long as possible and the shots (those start next week) are to help alleviate the pain in my knees.  Got Gus out for a stroll then took Jax, he always looks so pitiful when he stops his frantically spinning around.  Jax was amazingly well behaved.  I found out after I got back that he had been on a hike with Dave earlier in the day.  That explains it.

This sends Jax into hysterics. 
I wish it make breathing noise and flapped its wings,
but it is on a busy road so that may be bad in terms of Jax losing his mind over it!

Wednesday – Hills with Ro!  I do enjoy this endurance ‘run’, I’ll miss it and her when she goes to Martinique for a month in November - December, and then Breckenridge for three months January to March.  Retirement treats both her and Mark well.  I’m happy for them.  Gus and I got out for a nice stroll and ended up at Grey Sail Brewery, why had I not thought of this before.  Dogs are allowed and I could have a beer mid dog walk and he can rest up for the mile walk home!  We were welcomed in and Gus had a nice organic treat of sorts and was happy to take bits of that from the folks at the brewery, but not so much to let them pet him.  I usually stop at the brewery for a beer after a 30-mile ride, before venturing the mile home and up that stupid sneaky hill.

Turkeys that hang around Campus!

Thursday – Not a running day, PT then Circuit Training.  I was meeting Sarah and Tuck (her pup) at Beer’d, she wasn’t running, she took the week off after smashing a 50 miler over the weekend.   I took a short stroll to at least feel like I maybe deserved a sip of beer.  Coming home late smelling of another dog, Gus and Jax gave me the third degree.

Sarah and Tuck
He's a handsome devil!

Friday – I was leery about running, my Friday runs are typically sluggish and defeating.  This one was peppy and good.  Nice way to end the week with a peppy run.  When I got back to my desk I managed to smash the shit out of my kneecap ramming it into my desktop.  Number One Smart Guy says “What’s all that cursing about?”  I said, “I smashed my knee and it hurts like a SOB.”  #1SG “Ice may help more than cursing.”  Me: “Thanks, thanks a lot.  I’m just gonna go pass out now.”

Saturday - My plan was to go to Hartford to cheer on Leslie, Eric, and Sarah and whoever else I happened to see.  For the first time in weeks, I slept through the night and the fuzzy alarm clocks didn't wake me up at the usual 6 a.m. their usual shenanigans didn't wake me up and it was 7:40 a.m. and I needed to leave by 7:30 a.m. to be where I wanted to be before 9 a.m.  I slugged around the rest of the day, doing things that needed to be done, watching WWII movies, and knitting.  It was actually kind of nice to slug and I don't feel one little bit guilty about my slothful behavior!  (that is also not normal)

Jax let me know I was done knitting by sitting in my chair and laying on my knitting.
Yeah, he probably drooled too.

Sunday -  Jess came over and we went for a ride to Clyde's Cider Mill, Relive it here, the weather was crappity, not as crappity as yesterday...  nice to get out and about on the bike.  Jess was just about to comment how nice of a ride it was, that we weren't harassed by drivers when someone slowed down to "explain" to us that we were to use the crosswalk and then got very agitated when we ignored him.  We were less than 1/2 mile from my house so that at least made it something we could laugh about as we pedaled up Narragansett Ave and onto Summer St. 

The cider and donuts were excellent and biking there is far better than driving because you can't bring any home! ?  hmmmm....

Jess and I

Mustered up the nerve to take Gus to Champlin for a hike.  The dew point is still high for heart attack hound, but...  We had a nice nearly 2-mile hike and I managed to not panic everytime he stopped to smell something.  He was annoyed by me constantly checking to see if his gums were turning white.

Gus hates selfies
He loves to drool!

Books:  

I finished "The Great Escape" by Paul Brickhill, it was good.  I cannot imagine what the POW went through.   Many of them made it many of them didn't.  

I started, finally "The Penderwicks on Gardam Street"  the second book in the series.  It finally made it to my checkout cue on Overdrive!  Nearly a week of the radio was making me batshit crazy.   I started the 3rd book but felt like I really needed to listen to them in order, and now that I'm a few minutes in, that was the right decision. 

Knitting:

My sloth day on Saturday, and watching Valkyrie and Conspiracy were well used by making stellar progress on the lavender baby sweater (the one Jax is laying on in a picture above).  

Mileage:

Feet: 28
Saddle: 32

All in all, not a bad week, possibly my last running week for three weeks...

Sincerely,
Beth, happy the weather will hold so she can get out on the bike more

Weekly Recap: 10/2/2017 - 10/8/2017

PT on Monday morning was interesting.  I had peeled off the tape, it's NOT KT, it is some other heavy duty, nothing but nail polish gets the glue off sort of tape, not at all pliable.  I get a little of the stiff tape on my leg, but the under tape peels off nicely.   Friday I was really having problems with my balance.  This upsets me on a variety of levels and that then messes with my mind and my balance even more.  Sue put some tiny wedges in the inner side of my shoe, at the heel.  It was like freaking magic.  I was completely stable.  Even with a taxed quad, I could still balance on my right side.  I have one for my left now, also.  The kinetic chain.  I ran 3 miles, figuring this was a big difference to what I am used to and to not overtax a well taxed right side and a now coming to the party left side. It felt good.  Way better than my run on Friday, historically I'm spent by Friday and my Friday runs are nothing spectacular anyhow.  My knees are never going to get better, it is going to get worse, there is nothing to prevent that, well never running again.  The PT is to deal with strengthening the quads and loosening up the hammies to prevent the falling I've experienced while starting to run and even attempting to run across the street.

Gus wasn't so much for his walk and then he was and then he wasn't.  He's 10, he's old.

Finish Run for the Pumpkins 5K
Shhhh don't tell Sue I didn't have on my tape
Photo by Jana Walker

Not a running day on Tuesday, a meeting day, which worked out ok.  I went to the noon circuit class and that was fun.  Learning to work within my 30% bend in my knees while weighted was interesting.  I'll get it, eventually.  My late meeting was canceled so I went home early and took a bike ride out to Watch Hill and back.  I had just about enough time before sunset and dog dinner time.  Sunset is the more important variable.  I donned a warm jersey, snuggly warm, and it was perfect.  Of course, I had the wrong gloves so my hands weren't happy.  I'll get it all figured out, how to survive winter road rides.   A small investment in some appropriate outerwear will be a good use of that bonus I got a few months ago!  I knew that would come in handy.

Jax taking advantage of a higher vantage point to see what's going on.
I kept thinking he should yell STELLA!

Hills with Ro are Wednesday's fun! It was another day of crazy meeting times so we moved up our hill workout an hour and that worked out well.  This was the first time I managed to out bright Ro with my orange shorts.  Usually, she is so multi-colored bright you can see her 1/4 mile away!  Much better walk than the heat of last week.  We had gone out to dinner on Friday and she came over to my house to go for a Gus walk.  She was surprised how big the boys are!  80 lb dogs are big, I guess.  She said the pictures of them make them look small.  They were as gentlemanly as they could be and she said she enjoyed the stroll with Gus.  I'm never sure about letting anyone into this house, it's a disaster, well it is VERY lived in, by humans, dogs, and a few spiders (based on the webs in the corners - sorry Sheila, I'll clear them out when you visit!)

Faith and I were going to make a trek up to Treehouse Brewery, but the only thing they canned were IPAs.  Not my thing, or her thing.  We will go another time.  Jax got a hike and Gus got a long walk.  He is still limping but it isn't slowing him down and the bump on that leg doesn't bother him when I mess with it.  Again, he's 10, this is what happens...

Gus sad he hasn't seen the Bob Tailed Squirrel in a few weeks.

Back to PT on Thursday and I took a walk around the exercise loop on campus afterward.  I wanted to be outside and this worked for my purposes.  Finally made it to a Jealous Monk run.  Met up with Faith and we started early with the 5K loop.  I'm so painfully slow it's frustrating to watch everyone spread out in front of me plus it gets dark early these days and I have that tape on my knee and really just want to hide.  The loop was a hill loop and actually not that bad, I like the long slow climbs, the short steep ones, not so much.  We had a beer the Jealous Monk brewed and called it a night.  On the way home, I decided to get gas instead of scrambling to get it in the morning.  I picked up a razor blade in my tire.  I heard the air escaping as I drove to the gas station 2 blocks, then called Dave as I was pumping gas and he suggested I come home.  I wasn't sure if I would make it before all the air escaped.  5 blocks and I was a 2 lbs of pressure.  Dave changed the tire (thank you I can but I don't want to - kinda like he can vacuum but doesn't want to) and that's when I found the razor blade.  Loaded the whole thing up in the back of Eddie and crossed my fingers this wasn't going to turn into an ordeal like everything does with cars and me.

Razor blade in my tire is how Thursday ended.
Glad I was close to home!

While Friday is a running day, I was really more interested in the circuit class, Ro was teaching, I did that and then went off to deal with the tire.  I made an appointment, but then never asked for the tire size.  I was sure this was going to be a saga, tires and I are always a saga.  I hunkered down waiting for them to page me and tell me the saga.  The page was that my vehicle was ready.  What?  Are you kidding me?  Seriously?  It was.  The hole wasn't pluggable so they replaced the tire, stored the spare and the jack securely and appropriately (no shit!!) and plugged the small leak I had in the front right tire.  I've never bought a lottery ticket, but I should have on Friday, for sure!  I can fill a book with my tire sagas, maybe my life is going to have less tire drama for the next 50 years, the first 50 had more than one person should endure.  I went for a quick bike ride on the Tour de Farms loop, 3 miles of chip seal makes it a bit slow and a bit rough, still a nice ride and a nice way to end a good day I started convinced it was going to be horrible.  :)

The Bob Tailed Squirrel!

My running club's trail race, Run for the Pumpkins, was on Saturday,  I ran the 5K version of the race and it was good.  I enjoy a run in the woods and on marked trails where I'm most likely to NOT get lost, even better!  It was not a spectacular run, although I didn't fall at the start so that's something, right?

Me and Carol Ann Gray
Photo by Jana Walker

The rain on Sunday killed my plans to ride with the Narraganset Bay Wheelmen, I don't like riding in the rain, no one does I imagine.  I went out early from home and got in a decent 30-mile ride with the last mile being in the rain.



Reading:

"The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy"
by Jeanne Birdsall such a nice light cute novel a nice break after some heavy stuff.  Looking forward to the other three books in the series.

"The Great Escape" by Paul Brickhill pretty heavy subject matter delivered in a very well thought out book.  I loved the movie when I saw it years ago.  Definitely, one I want to see again.  Hogan's Heros was definitely a light-hearted version of this reality.

Knitting:

Continued working on the lilac sweater.  I really should expand to a new pattern.  I like this one...

Mileage:

Feet:  26
Saddle: 66

Clearly, the -3 in weight means I am behind on my beer drinking.  Which was one of my most favorite sign-offs from my mother when she wrote me every day in college.

All in all a good, week, mostly because the joint pain seemed to disappear on the 7th, it was nice waking up not feeling like hell.

Sincerely,
Beth, behind on her beer drinking

Weekly Recap: 9/25/2017 - 10/1/2017

Seems like I post one of these and I have to start over again!  Funny how time simply does not stand still.  Monday didn't seem to contain anything spectacular.  I ran a 5K with my knee taped (from Friday's PT appt) and it felt pretty ok.  The tape was getting loose, still seemed to work.  Not a lot of pain after the run, climbing the stairs out of the gym and back to my office is not my favorite part of the post-run activities.  Lunch and shower tie for most favorite part of my post-run activities, the climb wasn't met with the same amount of tenderness.  Then again I only ran a 5K. I was jonesing for a run and if they are going to have to be short at least it was something.  I have to work within my own limitations.

My limitations are distance, the longer I run the more pain I am in post run.  Apparently, this is not normal to hobble constantly after running.  I thought everyone wanted to scream in pain on stairs and general walking the morning after a run, um no...  you guys who don't have this really are lucky.  Biking doesn't give me pain, 50 miles I have a little repetitive motion soreness nothing that cripples me like a run.  I do need to adjust my cleats to point out a few degrees so my knees track like they want to.  And I'm not a zero drop shoe candidate, I need that lift in my shoe to keep the knee tracking as well as it can.  There is nothing, short of shortening the lower tendons and lengthening the upper tendons to make the problem I have go away.  It is structural, not fixable.

PT will help me build up some strength in my quads and loosen my hamstrings to make this after a regular run pain something more manageable. I don't even want to think about how long it took for the pain to go away after 10+ mile runs and to know NOW that wasn't normal.

Gus wasn't much into a walk, it was chicken cooking night and we left in the middle of Dave cleaning up the kitchen and Gus was sure he was missing out on some goodies.  He wasn't, but he led me back home as quick as he could!

Gus embracing his inner curmudgeon.
He took copious notes on how Gizmo behaved and slowly he plays each card.

Woke up to fog, no sun, and Jax's foot in my face on Tuesday. After my PT appointment, I ran with a friend in stealth mode so it was an imaginary friend run.  We did the run 5 minutes walk a minute routine.  It was nice.  Another blogger I follow does this, she was diagnosed with RA and that seems to help her manage her all the time pain.  I am really not good at running walking running walking, by the end, I was so ready to throw in the towel but managed to keep going!  It was humid and I was drenched in sweat and exhausted.  We managed to solve most of the world's problems in our hour-long run, so it was time well spent.  Now if we could get someone to listen to us!

Walked both the dogs, sometimes this goes well sometimes not.  It had been a while since I subjected all three of us to this torture and it went pretty well.  Plus with the humidity, they weren't interested in being out long and once we got home they were happy to sack out and snooze till bedtime.   Plus I think Dave enjoyed an hour of completely alone time.

High maintenance Jax demanding I scratch his back,

When is summer going to end?  It's the 27th of September this humid and 80 shit has to end.  Not a fun Wednesday on the hills with Ro.  At least we could keep each other motivated and not tempted to throw ourselves off a cliff!   Jax turned 7 today.  Wonder if he will eventually ACT his age.  Probably not.  I woke up this morning with him sticking his paws in my face, again, to get me to wake up and scratch his back.  Gus stays in the Gus Hut until after the Jax attention fest is over then he climbs into bed for his scritchy scratchy time.  I could get to work at least 30 minutes earlier if it wasn't for these high maintenance dogs, ha ha ha.

The Dumb Game, he stares at the ball until I throw it.
He whines or paws the ottoman if I'm not playing.

Wednesday morning I got the call that it isn't any of the categories of Lyme, and I had a positive antinuclear antibodies titer.  None of this means anything, I get to see a Rhumetologitst and have more tests.  Lovely.  Kinda made the day a bit of a bummer and that lasted into Thursday.  I thought I had PT and I could wear the same shorts for that for the Beer'd run.  I didn't have PT, and the weather was so nice, I was still a little down from my test results, in reality, they told me nothing, and that is where I landed.  I don't know what I don't know and life goes on as usual.  I had quite a bit of tedious work to deal with and I focused on that knowing I'd get my run in at Beer'd.  Well, that didn't happen.  Oh well, forces beyond my control.  I was happy to go home and it was cool and dry and early so I leashed up Gus and we went for a walk, it ended up being 3 miles and I think he would have gone further.  This cheered me up as it is his longest walk in months.  He was energetic the entire walk and persistent on where HE wanted to go. 

I only went to the car to load my bike for Sunday.
You'd think I was leaving for a week.
But then again, they never know when I'll come back.

PT on Friday was a bit more mood lighting.  It's not that I CAN'T its that I have to want to manage the pain.  Fair enough.  I'm a big enough wimp, I'll settle for a 1/2 once a year and be good with that.  Maybe the therapist was in a better mood or maybe she had a better feel for what I was capable of and willing to do and willing to put up with?  I felt much more positive.  Went out for a short run, and ran into some of my EB running pals, Dave and Neils, with a 1/2 mile to go.  Dave was all for walking with me (I was walking at the time), but I decided I'd run in with the guys.  My pace picked up dramatically, with the company and it was a slight downhill.  Dave's back to running after a Lyme saga, then knee surgery, and something else.  He is happy to be out there at whatever pace.  I don't know much about Neils story.

The weather was for rain from 4 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.  I went to bed with that in my mind and the day not being ideal for the planned bike ride.  The EBAC ride was canceled, so I'd have a good chance to rest up for the Horrible Hundred on Sunday, plus the weather is ideal, topping in the mid-60s.  I think I have a chance of getting that done 100 miles 7,300 feet of gain in less than 10 total hours, probably 8 hours of ride time.  The weather was not as predicted so Gus got a walk when he would rather be napping and then Jax at the regular walk time.

The new faucet for the utility sink in the basement!
Been a long time to come and working with old plumbing is never fun,
Score one for the Imaginary Husband, he figured out how to make it work.

So, Sunday, I was up at 5:08 a.m. (I set the alarm for an odd time, dunno one of those funny things).  I needed to be out by 5:30 a.m. to be in Niantic for 6 a.m. start for the Horrible Hundred.  It was 45F and dark and the sun doesn't come up until 6:45 a.m. what the actual f-ck is this non-sense.  I put in my contacts and braided my hair and said 'oh f-ck it' and went back to bed.  Dave woke up at 7 a.m. looked over and said: "What are YOU doing here?"  I replied:  "Um I'm your wife, I live here, we've been sharing a bed for more than 20 years, this is now a surprise for you to wake up and find me here?  Who were you expecting?"  Wink wink grin grin.  Surprise surprise he remembered I was supposed to be riding.  DOH!  He said: "You would be better off on the Mountain bike today, it's gonna be cold, going up those hills slow and freezing and then going down at 30 mph with the wind chilling your achy joints."  Gotta hand it to him he gives as good as he gets.  

I got up and fed the dogs and Jax and I curled up first under a fleece blanket and when that clearly wasn't cutting it, he nearly shoved me off my chair pressing against me for warmth, I pulled out a quilt and laid that over us.  Ahhhhhh.  Gus was more than a little miffed, he told me all about it later.  

He was so content and warm!  Ahhhhh

I decided to get off my lazy arse and ride the Clyde's Apple Cider route Faith and Jessica and I were going to do in a couple weeks.  It would be good to check it out to make sure the roads were ok.  Boombridge has chip stone between 184 and Clarks Falls, but we won't be going at a breakneck speed so it will be ok and probably more tamped down in a couple weeks.  Everything else was fine, pshew!  Clyde's was a madhouse, the line was around the building.  Kikies.  I went into Mystic and stopped at Sift, I hadn't heard great things, but thought I'd give it a shot, maybe these people were uber picky.  For what I paid the hot chocolate and croissant (while as big as my head) was mediocre at best.  And now I know.  The place was packed and some MAMIL (Middle Aged Men In Lycra) were trying to beat me to the front door.  After nearly running into me on my bike.  I'm not a MAMIL fan, fortunately the men I ride with are nowhere near middle aged (they are a 1 maybe 3 years older than me and I'm certainly no where CLOSE to middle aged) and they are kind and bust balls and uteruses equally.  

MAMIL  ---  ha ha ha

Gus toured me around all the folks in the neighborhood grilling out.  One of the down sides of walking him before dinner, he is hungry and food focused.  The up side is not having to move after people dinner!  :)

Reading:

Finished:  "Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune" by Bill Dedman, Paul Clark Newell Jr.

Wow! From a curiosity about an empty mansion to opening up our eyes to the history and life of an heiress. How fascinating. Huguette Clark was reclusive by her own devices and surrounded herself with people who WANTED to be around her for her being her not for her money. Although there were points I thought, "what a scum bag, they just want her money, she is far too generous" then I would reconsider and think about how she interacted with people and truly she knew what she was doing. The contesting of her will left a very sour taste in my mouth, others who had squandered away their portion of the W.A. Clark copper fortune were now latching on to the last child of W.A. Clark, at 105 years old to get what they believed was rightfully theirs, hardly, IMHO, for people who never acknowledge their 'dear' Aunt Huguette was alive. As frustrating as parts of this book were, overall it was worth the read and reinforced, to me, the root of evil is the desire for excessive wealth.

Started: "The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy" by Jeanne Birdsall

Seems to be a cute novel about a widowed father taking his four daughters on vacation and they manage to get into all sorts of trouble!  Very light and fun.  There are three more novels, a series will be fun!

Knitting:

Finished one sweater (off white), started on another (lilac).  Tis the season.  I need to sew some buttons on the washed stash and start giving these out.  I'm gonna die and people are going to find bags of baby sweaters and think I lamented being childless.  HA!  Hardly.

Mileage:

Feet:  31
Saddle: 32

Not a bad week, not a great week, my mood needs a little improvement.

Sincerely,
Beth, and on into October we go, looking forward to spooky yard decorations and roasting vegetables