Splish Splash

There was a massive water main break this morning in Bethesda, not too far away from my office. How does this affect me? The bathrooms aren't working. You know, not flushing... It's disgusting and I'm disgruntled that they're actually making us stay here without proper functioning toilets. For someone that drinks a lot of water, such as myself, it is not fun. NOT FUN, people.

So...onto other topics. I saw my podiatrist yesterday. He's not really my podiatrist, but the one that saw me when I broke my toe and he's been the one following up with me. On a side note, his name is Dr. Footer. Isn't that funny? And appropriate? I wonder if he went into podiatry because of his name. Anyway, he's very nice and I like him a lot. Any doctor that tells me straight up that I'm clumsy is OK in my book. And, he also said....drumroll....I can start moving my behind! I can start "fast walking" with running mixed in. There really isn't a chance I will dislocate it again, unless my clumsy self does something to it, as he politely mentioned.

I am going to try running today! On the treadmill, it should be all right. I'll be sure to give you an update!

Going Under

Why do people feel the need to tell you that you look tired? Really? I hadn't noticed. But THANKS.

Seriously. Don't you think I already know I look tired? It's not like I don't see myself in the mirror.

Anyway, that's what's going on here. Apparently I look very tired and people feel the need to tell me. It's not like there isn't anything going on. It is the holiday season, after all. So the usual ugly stresses of life are multiplied by 800 due to the holiday stress. And I'm still inactive, so I'm not sleeping well. I haven't been able to swim because it's been busy. But I was also having some pain in my shoulders. I couldn't lift my arms up over my head!

I go back to the doctor on Monday. That is the 4-week mark of breaking my toe. I really hope he tells me I can run. I am going out of my mind here. But even if I can't run, I wore running shoes for the first time yesterday. It felt all right. So, I can at least take a spinning class now. I can't very well take a spinning class in Crocs, you know.

I'm currently watching my little 3-year old son spelling and writing. He just wrote 'slide.' He is a spelling guru and we think he'll be reading pretty early. It's kind of freaky how good he is with spelling and letters. He'll ask me to spell something for him and he remembers it from only hearing it once. He's going to be too smart for us before too long.

We're heading down to Williamsburg tomorrow for early Christmas with the Gills. We haven't seen them since John's race in September, so it should be nice. Then next week is a short week and Christmas, so perhaps I'll have a chance to sleep. You know, so I won't look so tired.

Happy Friday, people.

I'm So Excited (And I Just Can't Hide It!)

Today is an important Monday for many reasons.

The January 2009 issue of Runner's World hit the shelf over the weekend and guess who happens to be in it? That's right, me! I have known about this for some time and it's been killing me not to say anything (unless it didn't happen) and to wait to see if it did.

There is a section of the magazine that's a Q & A with experts. And I'm one of the experts this month. It's pretty cool and something on my life list that I can cross off (being in Runner's World). In case you happen to pick up the issue, it's page 38. :)

Also exciting news is that this past Saturday morning was the goal race for my Beginning 5K group. They were all there with bells on (it was the Jingle Bell 5K after all). It was so cold (20 degrees). But everyone finished in great time and I couldn't be more proud.

Today also happens to be the 28th anniversary of the death of John Lennon. While this isn't really a very happy thing, it is something that should be acknowledged (in my opinion). John Lennon was such a visionary and so ahead of his time. His unfortunate and tragic death really robbed the world of true greatness. There are times when I have gotten upset that the coming generations of people will never know music genius like Lennon and the Beatles. I know, I'm getting crazy, but the Beatles were more than just a band and it's important that their influence is still felt.

Anyhoo, the last item of interest today is that I am wearing a real shoe on my left foot. Yay! I am not wearing that hideous shoe anymore. Well, I'm not wearing it right now, anyway. My toe/foot has been feeling better, so I thought I'd give a real shoe a try. It seems to be all right at the moment but I did bring my ugly shoe with me today in case my foot starts hurting badly.

So, that's the news this fine, yet extremely cold, Monday morning. Have a good one!

Bad Mood Mom

I am currently home with a pink eyed kid. Again.

I had a feeling when I picked up Keller from school yesterday that he'd be home with me today. There are several things that are annoying about pink eye. Let's go over them:

1. It's highly contagious so I'm washing everything he touches, all day long.
2. It's insidious. Keller had pink eye last week. We got the drops, it went away, and now it's back.
   
3. Pink eye doesn't make you feel bad, so my normally crazy active child is still crazy active and I can't bring him anywhere to to release his energy.
   
4. Giving eye drops to a 3-year old is not my idea of a fun thing.
   

So, there are my preliminary thoughts on pink eye. It's awful and I hate it!

Now my previously annoyed state is just agitated by the pink eye. Why am I annoyed? Well, I've been on my own this week because John is out of town. I'm exhausted. My broken foot is killing me from running around all over the place. And I miss being able to run for real. I met with a friend yesterday for lunch and she asked me what races I have lined up. Um, none. I just don't know what's happening between my current broken state and then if and when I'm having surgery on my other foot. I can't commit to anything and I feel completely aimless.

On a more uplifting note, my Beginning 5K group has their race tomorrow. I know it will be cold, but I can't wait to see them. This group has been outstanding and fun. They are incredibly motivated and it has been a lot of fun to coach them. They just want to know everything about running and are excited to learn. I will miss them and I hope they all come back for the 10K program I'll be coaching beginning in February.

Anyway, that's my rant for the day. Happy Friday!

One Week

It was one week ago today that I broke my toe. It feels like a lifetime ago.

I went back to the doctor today. He said my toe is still in place and things seem to be healing nicely. I still can't put a lot of weight on it, and certainly can't run on it. But I can start to swim. My toes are still wrapped so I'd have to either swim with the wrap and look like an idiot, or take it off and be really careful. I think I'll just wait until next week and give it a try.

Keller's pink eye has cleared up nicely. It actually cleared up after the first day of giving him the eye drops. He was weird about the drops. Sometimes he'd hate them and cry. Then other times he would be fine. It was weird. But the pink eye is gone and that's really all that matters. He went back to school this morning. John took him in, and while Keller didn't really want to go in, he ultimately had a good day. I'm so glad things are going well for him at school!

I guess that's all from this front. John is going out of town on Wednesday and will be gone until Saturday. It will be a long week, but I'm sure everything will be fine. My beginning 5K group's 5K is Saturday morning and that is very exciting. Keller and I will be there cheering them on!

I'll Be Back Upon My Feet

Well, not too long after I wrote my blog post yesterday, I began the ultimate adventure.

John and I were getting ready for work in the bathroom and we were discussing Thanksgiving. I was completely distracted as I walking in and out of the bathroom. Well, on my way back in, I slammed my foot into the door. Not just into the door, but it hit between the door jamb and the door itself. My tiny baby toe was pulled so hard by the force that it broke, and I tore a ligament which dislocated the entire toe bone from the joint.

It was horrible! I broke another toe back when I was a kid, so I knew the pain and I knew I had broken my toe again. In fact, I could see the bone in the wrong place. I didn't know it was dislocated, but I knew that wasn't right!

I went to the doctor (the podiatrist) right away. They took X-rays and told me it was broken, I had torn a ligament, and it was dislocated. He had to reset the bone. Now, this really worried me because you see on all the doctor shows how painful it is to reset a bone. It is, but what's the painful part is the numbing. The doctor had to give me two shots of Novocain into my foot. One right below my toe joint and the other in the back of my foot. I screamed out, it was so painful. I made the doctor feel bad, he actually apologized. Once it was numb, he reset the bone. I didn't really feel pain at that point. I have this weird problem with bones. They completely gross me out. I can't have bones touching, like when I sleep on my side, the blanket has to be between my knees. When someone touches a bone, even if it's my elbow, I want to puke. So, I thought I was going to puke all over the place when he was resetting the bone. Thankfully, I didn't.

The doctor then put a plaster splint on my foot and I have to wear one of those gorgeous shoes. It's really sexy. And I can't run for a month. A month! I can't do anything for the next week. Then I get the splint off, and maybe I can swim then. After 2 weeks I can ride the recumbent bike (no weight on the foot). The doctor said because of the dislocation and torn ligament, the toe joint is very unstable and I have to be careful to let it heal correctly.

This would be all fine and good except I A) am a pretty avid runner and B) coach runners for a living. So, last night was the meeting of my 8K group. I followed them in my car. Well, I'd go ahead to show them where to go, then they'd catch up, then I'd go ahead, etc. It actually worked out very well. My runners now have their very own pace car, just like the professionals.

So, that's that. This was just perfect timing with the holidays coming. It was funny, one of my runners said last night that it wasn't all bad: the holidays on pain medication could be a good thing. I haven't gotten my prescription filled yet....