Weekly Recap: 9/18/2017 - 9/24/2017

Monday -  Uneventful drive back to RI.  Listened to books and didn't have to pull into a rest area to take a nap, I'll call that a win.  I did forget to get the Black Butte Porter, Rachel has some for me from her last trip to the heartland.  I stopped at the Kroger in OH instead of Meijer and didn't even look for non-Ohio beer.   This is why I need a list.  I was kinda bummed I couldn't go to the nifty craft beer store in Ann Arbor, but that would have worked my last nerve dealing with the traffic.  I lived there I remember one Saturday leaving the house early and then getting stuck in football traffic, it felt like hours to go 8 miles.

Driving and unpacking once I got home.  I'm getting pretty proficient at not packing too much stuff!  My knee did the crumply thing after so many hours in the car.  The last few through NJ and CT I can't rely on the cruise control because there are so many people on the road and I want to be away from them.  I did manage to not yell and scream in frustration too terribly much.  Going East over the Tapanzee was nice for a change!  We have four lanes as the Westbound are now on the new bridge in their 4 lanes.  Although they looked pretty backed up, who knows what that is all about.   Took a bit of walking around and finally, things clicked back to where they are supposed to be, and I felt more stable walking around.

Tuesday - I woke up, ate breakfast and Jax and I took a nap.  LAZY!  Then I went on a run and still didn't feel quite right.  Takes a while to unwind and get back into home mode.  I'm glad I take the day after I drive back off.  I dealt with some work eMail, I didn't bring my computer home, this limits me to what I can get done on the phone, which isn't much, and that is perfect.    It was fun to run on sidewalks and be able to have lots of choices which direction I went.  But that also makes it tough because I can cut my run short, my MI runs are some factor of 5 miles long due to the midwest farm grid.  I did groan when I wasn't even at 2 miles and so ready to be done. The run after a long drive is always tough.  I'm glad I got out there and did it.  Plus it's so much nicer to take a shower when I feel like I earned it after sweating like a pig.

The son of a friend of Dave's gave him some clams.  They looked pretty good.  Dave ate two and there was one left, he decided Jax might like that as a treat.  I wasn't in the mood for raw clam.  I dumped this in Jax's food bowl and he took one sniff of it and looked at me like WTF is this crap?  He ate a little then diligently picked out each bit of clam and plopped it on the floor.  Well, I did need to wash the floor.  Gus thought this was nifty and got a piece of clam, he was up and down starting at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday.  Lucky me....  Jax stared daggers through me the rest of the night.

Wednesday - Crazy day being gone from work for 4 days and not really diligently checking eMail.  I needed the break.  Ro and I got out for a short flat walk, at least it was something.  Jax was very dubious about what exactly I'd be serving him for his dinner and slowly went to his bowl sniffing and giving me side-eye when it was his regular kibble he was quite content to stop being suspicious and eat his food.  Gus got the first part of the walk then Jax.  While it is longer it is easier on me to walk them separately.  Gus needs a bit longer of a walk that Jax, Jax gets bored after 20 minutes Gus could wander for hours.  They are so very different.

I saw this guy in the park over the summer.  
I see a lot of cardinals on bike rides.
Legend? has it cardinals are people we knew in life coming back in their death to keep an eye on us.
I'm pretty sure this is Andrew checking on me.
Good to know someone has their eyes peeled!

Thursday -  I took a circuit training class at work, at lunch, that was fun, well fun if you like sweating and lifting weights and being generally uncomfortable for 45 minutes while Chris tries to get someone to bite on betting him 500 burpees on the Sox or the Yankees.  I think that's baseball, and not really sure which would be the good bet, but based on the snickers and banter I think the Yankees are the better bet.  At the end of class, I was certain it was 4 p.m.  It wasn't it was 1 p.m. and I hadn't even had lunch yet.  My mind is going, it really really is, I'm certain, or maybe it's Lyme disease....  blood tests will soon discover the true cause of my memory loss, never-ending or remedied aches, and fever.

Beer'd run with Rachel, or rather me chasing Rachel, which is fine.  I don't put in the effort so I don't see the results.  Kinda simple how that works!!

Gus got a walk and decided it would be good fun to poop a lot and on tall grass, making it hard for me to clean up.  We ran out of bags and I directed him home.  He pouted, in fact, he pouted until bedtime.  I'm so mean.  Jax went out for a short walk, he has a short attention span and is freaked out by everything in the dark...  Poor guy.

Whisker'd Wit with Pineapple
Surprisingly tasty with the Pineapple, even for not fruit beer people!

Friday - Doc ordered the Lyme Panel and an Antinuclear Antibody Panel for the fatigue and constant joint pain and achiness.  This came with the questions about anyone in the family has Lupus or Rheumatoid Arthritis, not to my knowledge.  A cousin has Myasthenia gravis which is an autoimmune disease and another with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia which is starting to be classified as autoimmune, but that is a new classification.  Of course, if I have anything I have Lyme, Darcy and Rob were diagnosed in their 30's with these things and I am 50....  probably I'm a hypochondriac who is stressed out over her knees and long-term running prospects, or it is Lyme.

Met with the Physical Therapist today.  She was glad I filled in lots of information on the form, her initial suspicion with a PT order for Osteo Arthritis was that I would come shuffling in barely able to move.  Clearly not my problem, I can move, my problem is I fall down when I start to run!  ha ha.  We got off to an awkward start as I do with most anyone I meet native to New England, it's clearly my odd personality combine with my sarcasm.  Recently, I was told, "You are the most sarcastic coolest bitch." Clearly, this puts many people on their back foot.   And that has to be one of the most awesome compliments I've received - believe me I WILL take you up on your offer to get drunk!  Anyhow, back on my knees... She did a really thorough evaluation and I wasn't even sure how to answer some of the questions.  About 1/2 through she said, my goal is to keep you running not stop you running, and that helped me relax.  Because really, while I'm not a superstar I enjoy running, I enjoy the freedom it gives me and how easy it is to do.  I love love love cycling, that takes way more time and planning and not something portable or frankly practical.  Cycling is a nice way to spend the day.

The structure of my knees is not good for running, bottom line.  She taped my right knee and left my left knee as is so I could feel the differences between my high patela condition and a more normal patella.  After 4 miles of dog walks, I could tell the difference.  Far easier to walk up the steps with pressure on my right knee.  Fascinating.  The human body I am in such awe of it!

One of the many murals painted around town!
I'm enjoying finding them.

Up and out Saturday morning to meet Sir George, George, and John for a 50-mile bike ride, the point of the ride was to get cider and donuts at Clyde's in Mystic CT.  We started at the Richmond RI Town Hall and it was 22 miles to Clydes and 28 back.  Sir George asked for some suggestions on roads and he picked the ones which worked with his route and they ended up being perfect.  Because I managed to delete my ride, I paused the Garmin when we stopped with 3/4 of a mile to go to fix John's blown front tire.  He hit a sharp pothole and POOF flat tire.  It was nice to be on familiar roads but knowing that I had to bike back to my car to drive home made the last few miles tough.  That and I am tired and someone turned up the heat!  We missed a few hot August days so they are being made up in September.  Seems like making up extra snow days in June?

George, Sir George, Me, John

Woke up late lacking motivation on Sunday.  Got myself pulled together for a short bike ride to the beaches, stopping to watch the surfers at Misquamicut for a while then the rich people in Watch Hill while I munched on an ice cream cone, that's a good breakfast right?  It has protein?



Enjoyable ride, I worked on the hill climbing suggestion Sir George gave me during our ride.  

Knitting:

A bit more progress on the sweater.  Gotham is back on, so there was some TV to knit to, but damn it's still a bit hot even for knitting on a baby sweater.

Reading:  

Finished "The Green Road" by Anne Enright - nice calm story, nothing exciting, really rather a pleasant story.

Started "Empty Mansions:  The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune" by Bill Dedman - fascinating, I feel bad for Huguette, born into unimaginable wealth and surrounding herself with people it seems who want her only for her money.  But at the same time she is one smart cookie who knew what she was doing, as I'm getting towards the end it seems like those people I'm perceiving as leeches, latching on to what she can do for THEM, may actually be protecting her from a family she separated herself from.  I need to borrow this on the Kindle so I can see the photographs.   One never really knows WHY a house, a home, a mansion, a castle, an apartment on NY Upper East Side sits vacant, they have their stories to tell.

Mileage:

Feet:  24  (sneaking up on 1,165 for the year)

Saddle: 77 (sneaking up on 2,240 for the year)

Sincerely,
Beth, with a little bit to contemplate running vs cycling and stupid high kneecaps.

Weekly Update: 9/11/2017 - 9/17/2017

Recovery from The Flattest Century in the East wasn't too bad, with the trip to my parents I knew this was going to be a really low mileage week and I needed one.

Monday - my appointment with the ortho was in the afternoon and I didn't have time to get out and even walk.  My DX: Patella Alta and advancing osteoarthritis in both knees.  While the right is the one giving ME problems the doc fixated on the left and its tissue paper thin cartilage.   The cartilage is worn away because of the structure of my knee, my knee cap sits too high on my knee and movement causes friction against the cartilage and it wears away, the pounding of running excels this process. 

I'll get some PT to strengthen the muscles around the knee and some fluid injected under both knee caps and see how that goes.  Doc did mention that my muscles, tendons, and ligaments are doing their job quite well.  Probably the falling/weakness/crumpling is due to the kneecap catching on the cartilage and my leg not straightening.  He seems less concerned about that more about my left knee.  I don't have to stop running, I probably should cycle more, however not stand up on the pedals as that causes the pressure I should be avoiding.  

All very fascinating the mechanics of the body. I feel a little relieved that I won't be running any more marathons or ultras and at the same time disappointed.  As my mother says "You are not a natural athlete."


Tuesday - NYC day.  Mehest - Not good, not bad, just kinda like "Why am I still awake for this".  Both Biddy and I are over this project in the worst way.  

This is out by my parents, I always love the lone tree in the middle of a field.
These are soybeans.

Wednesday - Hills with Ro, nice to be back to something normal.

My childhood kitty is buried with the willow tree.  I visit Bells everytime I go home.

Thursday - Drive to MI

My parents are very big into "NO" signs

Friday -  The P loop from my parent's house.  Saw a field of turkey vultures, with one sitting atop a pole.  I hoped I was fast enough he wasn't going to round up what looked to be 50 of them pecking around a mown hayfield and try and chase me down for a more substantial breakfast.

The prairie and the trees co-mingled in the back 80.

Saturday - Did my beer run despite the caution from my father that it was a football Saturday in Ann Arbor.  He suggested I try the new Meijer a bit further out of Ann Arbor, and it was a success, they have a very lovely and large selection of MI beers.   When I got back we all went on a walk around the farm/forest.  Things are progressing nicely since we all started planting trees on 75 of the unforested acres.  The big plantings of 10,000 trees per year happened 1995 - 1998 I believe.  My mom has this all nicely documented.  I have memories of the weekend in April we did this each year, I've probably gotten the details all wrong (except year 1 I remember that clearly).

Year 1:  sitting in the tree planter shoving evergreen saplings in the ground at designated intervals while sucking in exhaust from the tractor.  
Year 2: hardwood planting was a bit less exhaust filled for some reason, my brother and I were really dreading the planter and the exhaust
Year 3: I'm thinking the planter worked well this time.  
Year 4: the ground was soaked after a very very very wet spring and dad couldn't use the tractor so we did this all by hand it was hardwood and it was some freakishly long days.

The pines on the left are from the first planting, they would be about 23 years old.
It was opening day of private land hunting, better to be safe than sorry.
The guys usually manage to harvest a few of the pesky tree eaters during the season.

Sunday - Did the 'hilly loop' backward, which means I have to cross and run on the busy hardtop road.  No incidents.  We met up with my middle brother and his family to watch Jin at LAX practice.  Jin is 7 this year and a very quiet docile boy, John and Julie were really surprised once they put him in the LAX gear he was busy bopping other kids on the helmet with sticks too.  It's fun watching all these wee people run around!  Guess I need to learn about LAX?

Jin
They usually can see him amongst the other kids (he is Korean) but with the helmet and pads, he looks like the rest of them.
He and John went on a boys night shopping trip to get some bright colors so they could pick him out amongst the other wee people.  ha ha!  It worked!

Not a high mileage week, I knew that going in.  I was going to bring my mountain bike out to my parents and ride around the back roads, gravel grind.  I decided the gear and the bike would take up valuable beer space so I left that home.  Plus I'm having issues with the tubeless back tire staying inflated. 

Knitting:  Made some excellent progress on the usual baby sweater.  

Reading:  Finished "One Thousand White Women" by Jim Fergus.  I thought it was true, parts of it are, but the whole thing isn't true.  It was a great story and a good read and gave me lots to think about.  The reviews are mostly "that it is a horrible untrue book", feh.  Enjoy the mind candy when it is presented to you.

Started "The Green Road" by Anne Enright, a nice calm novel about a family.  

Mileage: 

Feet:  23
Saddle: 0

Sincerely, 
Beth, good to go home and then to be home. 

TFCE - The Flattest Century in the East 2017

This is the 3rd time I've done this century.  2014, 2015, and this year.  I'm glad we took 2016 off, it made this time more enjoyable.  Although with over 3,153 Garmin 810 (3,827 per Ride with GPS) in elevation gain over 100 miles is it really THE flattest century in the East?

I did a little digging into other century rides and found the 2017 EBAC (Electric Boat Athletic Club) Solstice Century was 2,567 Garmin 500 (2,961 per Ride with GPS) on Long Island.

In any event, the TFCE has the undulating coastline of MA and RI and the fact you aren't going 50 miles into the wind and 50 miles with the wind at your back....  The north wind was strong for the TFCE, at least we were in and out of the wind and got a break from time to time.

This is really a great ride and if you are considering a century, this is a really nice one.  The aid stations are well stocked, the volunteers are helpful, the route is well marked (GPS is my preferred navigational tool), the scenery is amazingly beautiful and there are very few cars, and where there are left turns or tricky spots to navigate the Narraganset Bay Wheelmen have provided police service.  The EBAC LI Century is self-supported, so if you aren't prepared you are, well, screwed, only brought one spare tube and no patch kit?  Call Uber? Hope a fellow rider packed two spare tubes OR a patch kit.

Not sure what else to say.  We rolled off before 7:30 a.m. and the first rest stop is 31 miles in, I'd prefer 20, but hey beggers can't be choosers.  The next rest stop is mile 48, this is one of my favorite stops in Tiverton Four Corners, such a pretty part of RI, and the ride out till the next rest stop at mile 72 is beautiful, one of my favorite sections on my favorite century ride.  We all pretty much had enough with 12 miles left.  We stopped at the bridge, got our picture taken watched a few people take a dip in the water and rolled off, tenderly sitting in our saddles and hoping the final stretch of north wind would be kind.  


Map:



Relive:

CLICK HERE!

Sincerely,
Beth, looking for the next century ride!