Best Wishes for our Wooo Hooo friend

Today is the first day of chemo for one of the Wooo Hooo's. Our Nancy has Lupus and this disease of a thousand faces has struck again.

Four years ago we almost lost Nancy to Lupus when it decided to turn her ordinary cold into a nightmare. Within hours she was unable to breath and was rushed to the hospital where an emergency tracheotomy was performed. It was during this time in hospital that the doctor's discovered that Lupus was also attacking her kidney's.

Previous medications were just not keeping up with the way Lupus was affecting her system and Lupus found a way around the medications being prescribed.

So today a more aggressive drug will be introduced to try to keep this horrible disease at bay for a long, long time.

Nancy, we are all thinking of you! We love you girlfriend, there are many, many prayers being sent your way....you WILL complete your half marathon in May and we ARE going to party it up on the Rideau Lakes Bike Tour in June!

Life's fun if you don't weaken,

Lily

It only hurts when I move...

I learned yesterday during our 29K run that despite all of my stretching, babying, bullying, cajoling, I think my S.I. joint is going to win this battle.

It is odd, since I've never had this issue before December 2008 or January of this year, especially on my right side (it was my left hip that was damaged due to the horse falling on me). see post

I was enjoying a lovely run in the cold driving rain yesterday when my lower back tightened up and I had an amazing spasm in my S.I. joint that travelled down my leg and locked up my right knee. The pain doubled me over it was that intense. We were just heading on to a trail in front of Andrew Hayden Park so I still had a long distance to go before I got back to the store.

I ended up walk / running until I got to the Mlacak Centre, I called the Running Room on my cell phone and Cecilia and her husband Mark came to collect me.

Although I am disappointed that I may have to forgo the marathon (we will see), I am not stupid enough to inflict further injury, luckily my serious competitive nature is dwindling. ; )

I will definitely miss running with the group (even for a little while), they are all doing so very well. I'm so proud of them, yesterday was the longest many of them have ever run and it was disappointing for me not to be able to cheer them on the last few Km's.

Anyway, I'll see how it goes, what my major concern is my right knee, it is showing signs of stress too and I don't want another knee injury because that would affect my cycling. Oh, the trials and tribulations of aging (not so gracefully)!!

Well enough of my whining, thanks for listening (you really didn't have a choice did you? hahahaha).

Life's fun if you don't weaken,

Lily

All indicators are up, but I'm no Iron Man

Today, while driving into work I looked down at my dashboard and all the indicators were all in the upright middle position. The gas indicator was exactly at the half way mark, my speedometer was at 100km, and the thermostat was at half way....not too exciting, but it was kinda of freaky because I'm exactly midway through my marathon training. Yes, can you believe I've go two months until the Ottawa Race Weekend? All my indicators show I'm on track for the marathon run and the Rideau Lakes Bike Tour.

One thing is very clear to me though, I'm getting tired and it is taking longer for me to recover from my heavy training on the weekends. Combine that with an extremely heavy work load, I'm craving my sleep.

Yesterday, I had every intention of running my 10K right after work, but I was starving because I had missed lunch. So, I thought, I'd make dinner early and go for my run around 7pm. Shrimp and veggie stir fry was sounding pretty yummy so I turned on the stove element to cook up some Basmati Rice and turned on the other element to start the stir fry....I had placed my cutting board on the stove so I could cut up my veggies and fire them into the wok. One thing was perfectly clear, I was so tired I didn't notice I'd turned on the wrong element and my cutting board was now almost on fire!!! Holy Yikes! I grabbed the cutting board and threw it into the kitchen sink and turned on the water full blast, then I had to open the patio door and kitchen windows to get the smell of melting PVC or whatever it is made out of out of the house. Luckily I was right there to divert the potential disaster, but that is when I knew I was too tired to run. Instead of running at 7pm, I was in bed and sound asleep.


With all this training it has truly shown me that the possibility of an Iron Man is out of my agenda for this year, so Judi, John and Wes, I bow at your feet! However, it has made me realize that the Canadian Half Iron Man on September 5, 2009 is within my grasp!


Life's fun if you don't weaken,

Lily

Wordless Wednesday

What a windy weekend!

Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny. My tri friend Anne and I had made plans to hit the road Saturday after her swim so I loaded up Ruby and headed off to meet her.

It was colder than we thought, but luckily I had thrown a couple of coats into the car, two pair of gloves along with my Buff. Thank goodness, because once we got out on the roads it was windy and cold! It is still cold here, after all it is only March in the Ottawa Valley!

We headed off through Stewartville towards a little town called Burnstown. The roadways are gradual hills, turning into larger hills the closer you get to Burnstown. Some hills where very deceiving until you looked behind you to see just how far you had climbed. On one particular hill Anne was waaayyy ahead of me, (I am more of a sightseer when I ride), when I noticed two deer on the opposite side of the road. Anne was aero and not letting up, a brown pickup truck was coming up from behind and was obviously trying to give us room but had not yet spotted the deer. The first deer darted across the road and the second deer was not too far behind, but he had to change his pathway to avoid the truck and Anne. The driver of the truck finally spotted the deer and their movement and hit the brakes just ahead of me. I had visions of being a part of deer, bike, rider and truck giblets.....I really don't know how the disaster was avoided but the deer made it across the road, the driver of the truck went on his merry way and I kept blinking my eyes because there had been no reaction from Anne during the whole scenario. When we finally caught up with one another at the top of the next hill, I asked her if she saw the deer, she hadn't seen anything!! Holy moly, I wish I was more confident on the bike because I had my camera with me and that would have made one spectacular picture!!

We made our way to Burnstown and I was ready for a break. We came across a really great little restaurant called Neat Restaurant. Way too cute, we stopped for a quick bite to eat and a coffee and hot chocolate. While we were there a couple came into the restaurant, they were around my age. The gentleman had obviously had had a stroke and was visibly altered and walked with a cane. As they sat down at the table across from us I nodded and smiled. Anne and I continued with our conversation and when we were getting ready to leave, I heard "how far are you girls riding today?" It was the gentleman at the next table, he knew the lingo and was curious as to our route. It turns out both he and his wife use to be avid cyclists and swimmers, I think they may have even competed at some point. We ended up talking with them for some time and you could just see the light shine in this mans eyes when we talked about bikes. I am a true believer that things are meant to happen when they do. We were meant to meet these really nice people and he was meant to be able to "talk about bikes" that day.

We got back on the road and headed towards White Lake, it was another long ride of hills, valleys and wind. By the time we got caught up with one another we headed along towards Stewartville and headed home. It was a great ride and I loved it. I'm finally feeling more comfortable riding in traffic and feeling stronger in general. It was a great ride!

(*so, you computer geeks, are you up for a challenge? I've been trying to figure out how to map this route to show you where we were, if you can let me know how to do it, I'd really appreciate it).

Sunday was our group run at the Running Room, the marathon group was doing 19K. Again it was so windy and we were on hills...yikes, but we did it.

Today is my rest day, so I'm heading off from the office to get groceries and head home to put my feet up. Tomorrow, a 6K tempo at 7 minute pace.

Life's fun if you don't weaken,

Lily
*affectionatel speaking of course*

Watch your posture

Some time between the two half marathon's I ran in September and now, my posture has taken a noticeable dive.
Not sure what has caused this but I now have a major pain in the butt (or SI joint) again. (please see previous post).

Because I'm tall I often find myself slouching or leaning down and forward to talk with people, slouching in front of the computer or even sitting with one leg tucked under me. This causes a major misalignment of my hips to say the least. The worst offender? Lying on the couch watching the T.V. When will the crappy summer shows start so I can get outside and not be a slave to "Lost", "Dancing with the Stars" and gawd knows what other crapola I've been stuck on.

My chiropractor has been wonderful to work with and instead of saying "don't do this and don't do that" she gives me exercises to do and she really spends time with me to try to alleviate my pain. She is not one to fly in to the room, poke, prod, crack and leave. No, we discuss the various reasons that this may be happening, various trigger points that might help calm the area down and we even talk about proper eating, hydrating, along with sleeping positions and vitamin intake habits that might work to help the spine and hips of an aging pseudo-athlete. So far though, my SI joint is crying out for help and is not a happy camper.

Even driving in the car for longer periods of time are starting to get to me. You'd think with all the stretching, running and now cycling I'd be in fairly good shape and yes even injury free. Well, only time will tell, so for now I'm really concentrating on core exercises and yoga stretches.

On the running front, our mileage is starting to accumulate. Last Sunday was 26K and we are dropping down to 19K this week. The weekend of March 29, we jump to 29K. A year ago we ran the 29K distance at the Around the Bay Road Race. That was a lot of fun and definitely a race everyone should do at least once.

Well, there you go, my sad tale of woe, running will continue and hopefully be pain free, I really don't want to have to slow up too much more or horrors, drop the marathon totally.

Unlike this little meir cat, I'll try to remember to stand up straight with my tummy tucked in while working on my core and strengthening my S.I. joint and hips.

Life's fun if you don't weaken,

Lily

Wordless Wednesday

Sixty, Sunny and I'm Smiling...

Heehaw!!! What a fantastic weekend and fabulous weather! Oh thank you, thank you, thank you running weather gods....

Last year at this time we were freezing cold and up to our ass in snow! Remember this from March 9, 2008??? It was just crazy cold and snowy and just so hard to stay motivated for marathon training. What a difference a year makes. Today was GORGEOUS OUT for our 26K run! Everyone did really well and stuck really close to the 8 minute pace, good for you, you guys ROCK!! This is the longest distance some of the group have ever run, so I am just so excited for them!!!

Not too much else is going on and I'm soooo far behind in blogging

I didn't get a chance to post about the Sport-Wash that Tom from the Runners' Lounge was kind enough to ask me to critique...but so many of you already have that by now if I did mention something I would just be parroting what you've already posted. I'm SO sorry Tom!

Will you ever forgive me?

Plus, I didn't get a chance to compile my running story for the book that Tom and Amy are putting together. So, I will be absent from the book, but I'm looking forward to reading all about the rest of you!!

Again, Tom, I'm soooo sorry. xoxoxox

On another note, cycling has been going really well and thanks everyone for bringing me up to speed about clipless and shoes. I found a really nice pair of Shimano RT 80 shoes.


Recessed cleat design with slim-line walkable outsole

• Non-slip smooth rubber sole for off-the-bike activities

Micro-adjust buckle and straps allow for subtle adjustment

Large nylon mesh upper provides high breathability ,

and yes, Blue I can walk around in them, but they are not for mountain bikes. I'm going to have to save up for them....they are tres expensive!!! But hey, at my age, you'll be able to bury me in them...and YES Judi, I'm loving the bike!!! It is what I'll be doing for all of the summer and during the early fall this year getting ready for my Half Ironman.

Oh and folks, speaking of Judi, she is collecting donations for Northcoast Doberman Rescue....please help her with this worthy cause!

That's it for today, I was just so happy to out in the warmth and sunshine, especially at this time of year here!!

Life is fun if you don't weaken,

Lily

So much is going on

A lot of time has been spent on the road to no where. Way back in late January, a friend of mine gave me a bike trainer. How great is that? So needless to say, endless hours have been spent pedaling my butt at home on Ruby or going to spin classes at the gym I donate money to. I'm getting ready for the Century Ride for the Rideau Lakes Bike Tour in June.

Marathon training is in full swing as well, so needless to say, the only day I have to myself is Saturday, during which I've been spending time searching for pedals, bike shoes, bike jerseys, and questioning do I go clipless? do I get cages? So many things to learn and try out, so that is how I've been spending my one day "off".

However, last Saturday, the weather was finally cooperating so I met up with a friend of mine (who gave me the trainer) who is an avid runner and cyclist. We were able to get in our first outdoor ride of the season. Although it was cold and the sun was trying very hard to break through the clouds and there was little to no wind. We drove over an hour and parked the cars at the car park right in front of the locks and our tour began from the little picturesque town of Merrickville and headed off towards Burritts Rapids and beyond.

Once we were off the main road it was fantastic. Just miles and miles of beautiful old roads, rolling hills, century homes, farms and the Rideau canal. There was so much to see that the time and miles flew by. Since it was the first ride of the season I felt very fortunate to be able to seize the moment! On our way back the wind had picked up and it was becoming difficult for me to keep up even though I was drafting behind my friend, I ended up slowing down quiet a bit and caught up with them at the car park. We loaded the bikes into the cars and headed over to the Yellow Canoe Cafe for a late lunch. It was just the best way to spend a Saturday and end the ride. If you are ever in the area, I would definitely recommend touring the area and going to the cafe afterwards!

Another Saturday was spent with the Wooo Hooo's. We hadn't all been together since New Year's Eve and it was really time to catch up. Luckily we were all able to meet up and spend the afternoon talking, laughing, eating, having some wine and sharing our lives. Originally we had thought about running a 10K first then getting together, but the run would have definitely interfered with the reunion!!

So that's it to date, just a lot of cycling, running and friendship. Throw in my full time job and that is why I wasn't blogging too much.

Well, I'm back and happy for it, thanks for all of your support, I missed you guys!

Saturday is another day of biking and Sunday is a 26K run, so I'll let you know how it goes...

Oh, to change the subject just a little. please pop over to Marci's blog site and support her run for Joints in Motion and Reese's Run. Arthritis is a disease that impacts many, so please check it out!

Life's fun if you don't weaken,

Lily

Wordless Wednesday