I'm Going to Rehab

Well if that didn't get your attention, I don't know what will! I've actually encountered the most painful event I've had for a long time in the last few weeks. So, for the last two months or so, I've had an awful pain in the back of my leg behind my left knee and in my low back. Feels kind of like a gremlin is locked behind my skin and is playing with my muscles and tendons in his spare time until I decide to let him out. Well I finally broke down and went to the doctor last week. I actually have a little respect for my doctor which is amazing as I don't really care for any of them. But, he is a triathlete and a marathoner so I give him kudos for that alone. Anyway, he had me stand on one leg, sit, squat, bend my knees and then the final test of them all - he got our the tape measure. As I'm laying on my back staring at the spiderwebs floating across the tiled office ceiling, I'm thinking, huh, I wonder what the hell he's going to measure with that thing. I hope to God it's not my feet. I had visions of him coming in with interns to show them the length of my feet. (As many of you know, I have issues with my large feet). Instead, he measured my hips, leg length, etc. and then left the room. I was hoping he'd come back in with a new tri suit fit to my measurements as I really want a different one but instead, he came back in with that weird hammer thing to check my knee reflexes. (Which to me, is still a mystery of science itself and one of the coolest things ever). After he put me through all the weird stances and flexes I could imagine, he came up with a diagnosis - SI Joint Dysfunction. I still don't 100% understand what it is but it has something to do with where the hip and the back joint come together or something. Either way, he sent me to physical therapy.
I've always had thoughts of physical therapy being kind of like a great massage session with a little workout and strengthening built in. Not quite. I showed up for my first session thinking I was going to be the master of this physical therapy crap. I mean, how bad can it be, someone rubbing your back and leg for an hour two times a week? Lifting a little weight? Hell, I'm all over that crap. I can do that in my sleep. I walked in to the room and should have ran out right away. I think my physical therapist was staring out the window watching me exit my car just drooling over the thought of new blood. I swear I heard a small cackle as the receptionist led me to the room. She was a nice looking woman, about my height (5-9) and looked average as far as strength but I thought, I could take her if I had to. So, she has me lay on the table and of course, goes for the most painful area first. PAIN screeched through my leg. I wanted to turn and yell "what the hell are you doing? This is nothing like the hour massage I got before my half marathon!" "Don't you know this isn't supposed to hurt as I'm in pain already." Shouldn't you get to know me a little first or something? At least give me a drink. But, I couldn't say anything. I was in awe. My body just froze and the sweat started to form on my brow line. I'm sweating from this. I swear I think she had little stick pins in the ends of her fingers. Like I said, she was scoping me out before I even got in the door. So when the session was over, I got up and turned around and I swear her biceps looked bigger than they did when I first came in. She smiled and said so "I'll see you Friday." I was scared to say no as she now knew my weakness and I grumbled yeah and limped out the door. I've been back a few more times but I feel like physical therapy is an underground, secret world. You don't really understand what the hell is going on and it hurts so bad and you're scared as to what they're going to do next you just can't wait to leave. Yet...you keep going back because it's kind of intriguing and well frankly, I'm a little scared of Helga, my PT. She might just put a hit out for me if I don't show up and like I said, one hit in the back or leg and I'll be down for a long time.

Laziness & Nose Injury

So, I had quite the embarrassing thing happen to me last week. I thought I should share this as I love making fun of myself and actually can now laugh about this since the swelling has gone down. I was doing laundry, just like every other normal person. As I went to pull something out of the wash machine, it caught on the lid and slammed it down on my nose. I know, funny isn't it?! You can laugh, I don't mind. It is funny I will agree. Tears immediately started clouding my eyes and I just stood still waiting for the blood to follow. My first thought: "Damn, this is going to get all over my clean laundry." Second thought: "Shit this hurts." It never bled. I wanted to pass out from the pain but instead, I got a swollen nose. The next day, I was expecting raccoon eyes but just had swelling. As the week progressed, it turned into a burn almost on the top of my nose. I of course, being the scab picker that I am, have been picking all the poor thing all week. Saturday, it had progressed to the point where you could feel the indentation from the damn door hitting my nose. How gross. It's been interesting the looks I've been getting. I think some people think it's just a super bad case of acne and don't say anything. So, I'm starting to feel compelled to tell everyone I see what happened so I don't feel like a 7th grader with bad zits. So, for all of you looking for some entertainment and those of you just plain wondering what it looks like - here it is. Now, keep in mind, I just got home from the gym, I have no make-up on and yes, the one on my chin is a zit.



Otherwise, it's been so hot here this weekend. We did an 11.11 mile run yesterday for Marathon Training. It went fine on the way out but the way back was soooo hot. Otherwise, today, I've been trying to catch up on bills and all that fun stuff.
I also owe my MOM a huge apology. I forgot to mention that she was one of the group of people waiting for me at the half marathon. SORRY MOM!

Takin' a Back Seat

Sorry guys, I've once again pushed aside the blog. It's been hectic to say the least. After the Buffalo Tri, I had grandma's half marathon, a trip to Colorado, started marathon training with brick or swim workouts on my off days and am playing in a volleyball league. I'm tired just reading all that.
I'll start with the Half. It went super well. I shaved about 11 minutes off my time from last year and finished at 2:16. I was hoping to finish around that time but you always think oh, I could have finished around 2:08 had I really pushed hard. I was happy with my time and actually ran most of the race with the exception of water stops. It was once again, hot and steamy in DULUTH of all places. What is going on up north?! It seems to be that everyone has accepted the heat and humidity on race day in Duluth and it's not as much of a shock as it seemed to be last year. I crossed the line with Nicole, my coworker and we both felt great. I think mostly because I was shoveling ice cream in my mouth right away. How can that be bad? But, I did have an upset stomach for a day before the run and most of the day of the race. I don't think it was all nerves and believe I ate something that didn't agree with me. So, that made things a little more difficult as I am sure I was dehydrated going in. I was lucky in that two of my aunts, three cousins, a friend of the family, my roommate, my nephew, my MOM,my brother and my sister-in-law all came to watch. Bad thing is, I crossed the line before they got to see me. I actually called them from our meeting spot as I couldn't find them. Turns out they were still waiting to see me come by. They were surprised I was done already. We figure we missed each other by about 4-5 minutes max.
The next week, I flew out to CO with my friend, Janet. It was soooo much fun. It was nice to get away for a while. We toured the Fat Tire Brewery, Coors, went fly fishing, went through the Rockies, went to Estes Park and Garden of the Gods. I really do love CO but decided it's hard to beat northern MN.
Fly Fishing in Eleven Mile Canyon:

View of the Rockies:

Volleyball has been fun. In all honesty, we're a good team but we goof around too much to every win. Which is fine by me. It's kind of nice to have something you can do and not feel like you have to be giving it 100% all the time.
Marathon training is going okay. I think I'm getting a little tired of the running routes though. We're doing a lot of the same trails, etc. that we did for the half marathon training so it's getting a little old. But, hopefully, things will get switched around soon.
I'm considering doing the Pigman half iron next year. I can't believe I just told everyone that. But, I'm thinking about it. Nothing more at this point. Has anyone heard anything about this one?
Well happy 4th!