Catching up

I sure love 3-day weekends - I get a chance to (try to) catch up on everything.  So, here's what's been happening. 

Last weekend was the Beach to Bay Marathon Relay from North Padre Island to Corpus Christi.  It was a hot one - I ran/limped the 2nd leg of 6 and the Brak Pak Chiks finished in under 5 hours.

Here I am at the start of the leg on the beach - on my bad knee, thinking "man, this is going to hurt."  It did. 

But I made it and rested my knee on the beach. 

Then, this weekend, I ran the Witte Museum Boot Scoot 5k fun run - it also hurt, but was fun.

 Awards - I did not win any of those - because I do not own a pair of cowboy boots in which to boot scoot.

Then I tried to tackle the jungle that is my back yard and tried to nurse my cardiac cat, Vaca, back to health.  In my jungle-tackling, I was really looking for a heart transplant donor wildcat (not really).

Thanks to Ceci, IAAP, Scottydog, and Brightroom for the pics

Physical torture-apy

I really, really don't like doctors or any type of medical personnel.  And I really, really don't like knee pain.  But, the latter requires the former - and I was off to physical therapy today.  But I'm still counting on the coyote cream my buddy, Victor, gave me - I believe in curandero therapy.

But back to physical torture-apy.  So, my right quads are atrophied (2 cm smaller than my non-dominant left - because I'm limping and accommodating). I don't think she believed me when I told her I ran a half marathon on the hurting knee (damn Trinity hills).  Anyway, due to my cruddy/cheap health insurance, I have 4 more visits there and this to do at home - at least twice a day.  Seems simple, but it hurts.  As she said "simple, but EFFECTIVE."

and now on order - foam roller (I've meant to get one for a long time), smallish rubber ball, and a kickball.  After this heals, I'm going to invent an awesome game that combines cricket with a foam roller, kickball, and dodgeball - with a rugby-esque drink up.  It's going to be epic, and nobody should sustain any subluxed patellae.  As long as they don't fall down on concrete.

Catching up

Wow, volunteering to direct the Women's 5k has taken up more time than I anticipated, so I've been remiss in updating everyone.  That said, go register -- I need about 680 more participants!

So, last Saturday, I ran the Fiesta Fandango run - in front of the Fiesta night parade (largest night parade in the US, so I hear).  It was a hot 2.6ish miles - especially dressed as Santa Claus. (to encourage the masses to also register for the Santa Antonio 5k - DO THAT TOO!)

Here's the scene during the run.  Fortunately, EVERYONE loves Santa Claus (did I mention that it was around 90 degrees, with no air among all of those people and buildings?).

And here's the finish .... here I am, lurking behind cereal (killers?) - on the far left

and bam - finished.  With a very sore knee

Speaking of the knee, I put my big girl pants on again and went to the orthobutcher. Dislocated patella, then sublaxed patella, and a really slow-healing injury. Not a great prognosis - eventual partial knee replacement surgery down the road (distinct lack of cartilage under the patella below) - until then, PT and he said "I'm not going to tell you not to run."  I heard: go ahead and run until your knees blow out.  Works for me.

Thanks to Ceci, Scottydog, Tom Lake, and South Texas Radiology for the pics!

"not running"

Doctor to Sally translation - "not running" = "not so much running"

So, I've been keeping it under 20 miles per week and flat.  I'm pretty sure that's close to not running.  This weekend's "not running" race was the Providence 5k.  I ran slowly, so I'm pretty sure that's close to not running.

We started off with a prayer (please don't let my knee bust loose)

And then a little stretch

And then we were off - I did not run a hillier race that morning, opting for this flat race, but concrete can hurt

and here's the frame by frame finish shots of the crazy, hurt-knee, running chicken

yep, it hurt.  So, I continue to try to eat anti-inflammatory foods, run less, and wait for the orthobutcher referral (I am so changing insurance provider next year).  In the meantime, I get reminded of what I used to look like.  I knew I was heavier - but wow. 

I need to rehab this knee and get back on the road.

Thanks to Ceci, IAAP, and Tim for the pics

No race weekend

After an expensive week or so (limping Gwen's vet visit, my knee MRI, tire damage...), I did not race this weekend and instead did fun stuff like working overtime and cleaning the house.  On Sunday, I planned on getting some yardwork done, working on correspondence for the Women's run, and walking/running the Women's run course.  Unfortunately, as I sat down for my pre-productive day bowl of fruit, I noticed that Vaca the cat was panting.  Panting is NEVER a good thing for felines.  So, instead, I spent most of the day at the vet's - and Vaca spent the night.  And then I spent enough on diagnostic testing to melt my credit card and put my vet's future child through a year of online courses.

All told, Vaca got this crappy furcut

and a diagnosis of cardiomyopathy.  Not great news and incurable, but manageable.  My giant orange cat, Rojito (RIP), was diagnosed with the same during treatment for hepatic lipidosis, and he lived large for 3 more years (and did not succomb to heart disease).  So, now the critters are on more medications than me (so far - MRI is pending), but we are chillaxing --

Next up: Providence to Pearl 5k, more OT (vet bills, remember?!), and maybe a Sunday race

Mas mal de ojo

So, next up - no races (this weekend).  Really, it's true.  I am not running any races this weekend.  Really.

Tomorrow, I go in for a knee MRI, which I am not happy about. So, instead of running, let's talk about my poor podcar.

Awhile back, the podcar was cursed with the mal de ojo on the driver's side.  So, I rubbed an egg on it, which seemed to do the trick (along with Cavender Toyota and Caliber body shop).

Now, it seems, the Ojo is back - but it's afflicting my tires.  Late last year, I had a flat and had to replace the tire.  After driving to Big Bend solo, I found this in my driveway.

So, I broke down and replaced the rest of the (5.3 y/o) tires, and my podcar was STYLING (well, kind of).

Then, today, on the highway on the way home from work,I felt that terrible 'sway.'  I made it off the highway, but this is what I had:

(yep, the pretty new tire/wheel - flat.)  REALLY?  These tires are so new, they still have that "fur" (nubs/nibs/whatever those things are?).  So, I guess I take time out tomorrow and MRI the knee, fix the tire, and then rub an egg on each of them?

More back to back and more owww

So, what's a girl with a bum knee to do?  Well, if you are Sally, you remain in denial and run back-to-back races for another weekend.  First up was the Scallywompus Tapatio Springs 5k.  I was registered for the 10k, but let my denial slip a bit, and I dropped down to the 5k.  OH THANK GOODNESS I DID.  Man, this was a challenging course - especially when my knee throbbed uphill and just stabbed with pain downhill.  Don't believe me?  Check it out here (elevation profile is below the map - but looks like this:)

Which made me look like this:

Yep, owwww.  But, I remained in denial, and the next morning, I ran the April Fools 5k.  Fortunately, it was relatively flat.  Unfortunately, it was about .3 miles long (April Fool on me, I guess).  But I laugh at the pain - here's me laughing:

and not laughing so much after the run:

And I definitely was not laughing by the time I got home and found my icepacks.  So, I temporarily set my denial (and fear of doctors aside) - and x-rays showed displaced patella (realigned, but riding high).  MRI is set for Friday.  At least the doc knows me well enough not to say "don't run," instead telling me "I don't advise you do anything that causes pain."  Considering that 'anything' currently includes sleeping, it seems that I am limited to drinking a cold beer.

Thanks to Scottydog and DL Morrison for the pics