Bullets

I am not usually a bullet point blogger but since there is no calm and normalcy to my world right now this seems about right. If I didnt have ADD before now I think i have a good case of it:) Still sleeping well, and other than the "Forces of Evil," that have reappeared in our lives ( and no this isnt the cancer) we are doing just fine.

So here we go:

I have been loving making all sorts of squash and root veggie dishes. This is a ginger curry squash soup. I used Butternut squash and its divine. Just enough ginger to give it some tang and some zing.



I added some of this to the soup. Ever since we were in Aspen and i had this on some eggs I have been loving it. Just a touch goes a LONG way. But we have been eating tons of eggs and I love adding in a bit of heat. So good. I saw they have one with lime in it, may have to go searching for that one too.


When at Sam's this weekend buying Lamb I came upon this. Congrats to my fabulous coach (and of course Jerome), and friend Jen . I am proud of her that she HTFU'd, as she deserved a dream race and she got it yesterday. Now I am not sure it was her dream race but on paper to those of us in the snowy tundra, it looked dreamy:)

Ruby looks quite interested in me. I think this was taken when i asked her if she missed Uncle Rich.
She did.

Still figuring this out, but here is the latest cockpit. I have yet to ride a CT wko and not have to get off for some mechanical or likely "user error" issue. I suspect that in 15 years i will figure this out but in the mean time i dont trust this thing and cant figure out how to get the HR alarm to stop beeping. Hence i am using the Power tap. Andtill i have tested that PT wheel is staying on. I used to have to test every other week when i was just riding my bike. So i guess doing 1 test a year isnt that bad. But testing 2 x month broke me.

And what do i swim for?
I swim for Nina's coffee cafe. I am going to put them back on my Race Kit in 2012. They are too good to me and i am really realizing that i may not have a Powerbar/insert fancy big name here/Cyclops/Saucony etc etc...sponsorship but i want to keep giving back to the local people that have supported me, even with great foam, or with just a pat on the back. So for 2012 NINAs and Folske Spine and Rehab are getting a place on my kit.

Other than this stuff you know, its business as usual. Work, snow, hoping snow melts, looking forward to thanksgiving with family, being grateful for all I have, and especially being grateful that no matter what, Rich and I are blessed with friends and family, some of you who we dont even "know," who are pulling for us. No matter what others are thinking we can only control our own attitude, and so during thanksgiving keep your good graces on the front quadrant and remember that even if you think your life isnt ideal you have so much to be thankful for! 

Happy Thanksgiving :)

Recess Is over

Or is it?

Thanks to you all for your support and thoughts. It means alot to me to know i am not alone in some of the feelings I have been having. And despite feeling sad that i missed some fun "events" this past weekend I Really did the right thing. The only thing i did for 5 days was swim. Once, with no workout, no clock, no nothing. It was pretty darn nice. And when i woke up on monday morning i knew it was time to Test the Leg and I sorta had this "Hmm, how do i want this week to go?" thought.

What i mean by that is that I was ready to get back on the horse, but mentally I was not ready to get back on it and GO 100 MPH. So this week has been all about doing some easy stuff, and remembering that I am the one in charge here, I am the one who wants to do this and really really not stressing about workouts AT. ALL. And you know what? It's working.

Today i woke up and it was -5 and -16 windchill. Seriously? IT's March.

I do dumb things when the sun is out. I Wanted to go outside SO BADLY to run.

So I emailed coach just to say " You know I want to go outside but i think i should be smart and stay in, do you agree?" I got a one word reply: TREADMILL.

I laugh that i need to have someone keep me from hurting myself. But sometimes drastic weather causes me to go insane, see previous posts:) The other thing i have been doing is eating a substantially larger breakfast and lunch. I dont need to go into details on that unless you really care, but in looking at what was not helping me, we found that my diet was lower in heme protein than i think i need to add the strength into my SBR. So my old diet of lots of grazing all day long then a bigger meal at night has been altered to include a bigger lunch with more meat and more eggs, and also some supplemental drinks. I Am also drinking milk with dinner wheras in the past i was just drinking water or Kombucha. So far so good. I feel like a Taurus Bull :) Which i am, by the way.

So just wanted to say thanks and that it's nice to be honest on my blog and not have people say HTFU. I say that to myself way too much and in the future i am working on keeping this wonderful sport in perspective and enjoying it. Because I do. Alot. Just want to get this show outside. Sometime before June!

TGIF

Is it really friday? Wow time flies.

So I was swimming this morning and thinking about all the things I am grateful for:

Rich..I would spend three pages on this so just say RICH.

My wonderful supportive friends and family

Rich's family, soon to be MY family too..legally I mean...so wonderful and supportive as well.

My blogger friends, some of you may think i am stalking you and i dont even know you but I have a bit more time on my hands lately to read all your fun and crazy stories! If I comment about how wimpy you are when it is 45 degrees, dont take it seriously. I just have lost my filter this last week:)

My parents especially who I feel have been so lucky to be in good health for so long. Mom, you had that little run in with Cancer a few years ago but at the ripe age of 77yo you beat that bad boy and are now running strong. Dad, you still amaze me and i think you should still sign up for a 5k and beat all the 50 yo's and win your 80-85 AG. You could SO go to Kona!

My co-workers. I work for a wonderful Non-Profit and my co-workers have just been so wonderful and supportive. I dont go to one site and i pretty much multi-task with different sites and management employees. It is a great job and i appreciate the flexbility it allows me, but i sometimes wonder if i really have a home base since i office from home. I sure found out that I do have a CORE support with my work even if i dont see them from 9-5 everyday.

The staff at Mayo..we call the MD's the three amigos, or the SUITS. This is a teaching hospital so with the lead Surgeon we get the chief resident and the 1st year resident AND the PA. They come in "the suits" and I spend most my time trying to break them and make them laugh. I did try this pre-surgery when i cracked a Steve Carrel 40 YO virgin joke about me waxing Rich's belly. And nobody smiled. But me. Ok save those for POST surgery. Now I have cracked all of them at least once. Gotta have some fun ya know. Everyone here is top notch. I mean that. Nobody wants to be here and from the lead Surgeon to the volunteers that come around to give you hand massages ( yes I am serious) this place is the best. Hands down I would come back here if i had to.

Starbucks versus Caribou. Granted I have cut back and i dont drink alot of coffee to begin with but I have had a direct back to back challenge going on with these two, each is within 1/2 block of the hospital. Now you may have your favorites but to be frank, I would not pick either one of them. Yup I am spoiled by my NINA's coffee and the local indy shops I support.

But that being said I only drink espresso and i dont do the foofy drinks. So head to head on the capps..both places seem to think that a dry capp means "oh just dont fill it up as high"

NO this should mean you actually have to make foam. And this means that you actually have to HOLD the pitcher and not just WEDGE itunder the foam head and let it scald and make a high pitched scream. I did cave and order a pumpkin pie latte the other day when i was feeling a bit like I wanted to shop :) ( hahaha, i dont like to shop) and it was good till i got to the place where the sweetener had settled. BLECK. then it tasted like melted candy corn with HFCS mixed in. I am going back to the Jasmine Tea for now, and then back to my tried and true espresso or cold press from my indy shops at home.

Ok that was a coffee rant, wasnt it. But i guess I am thankful for them, in a sick sorta way:)

Thankful for... continues now:

Sun, it came out today.

Jen, for giving me workouts to help make me feel normal and reminding me that i met all my goals this summer so i need to get my head in THIS game..Rich's game and take care of myself too.

My own bed. The cot in this room was awful.

KO, for the swimsuit and the ongoing support.

My own health. I would be lying if i didnt say that this has been hard. I think you kinda buck up and get thru it and rely on the IAMSTRONG...motto but at some point i think i have had a few little pressure releasing quakes and hope that there isnt THE BIG ONE...waiting to come. ( ok seismic jokes may not be funny to those of you living on a fault line...New Madrid is next to go, so San Andreas can relax)

And I am getting too longwinded so time to sign off.

Rich is having a rough day and we hope that once he is past the 72 hour mark things will be better. ( FYI..inflammation peaks at 72 hours so if you crash your bike or have some sort of acute injury..just know day3 isnt gonna be good, but after that you will be better) He is back on NPO ( no food by mouth) and we have to get him rehydrated bc his insides are kicking out too much fluid. He is walking fine, not resting much bc of all the pokes, but I keep telling him how lucky we are that we came here for a 2nd opinion. Thank GOD!

Thanks for reading my hodge podge and for all you folks that are not wanting to ride outside when it is 45, buck up and get out there for a bit...then finish it off inside...:)