Black coffee in bed

Well, I'm not drinking coffee in bed. I just like that song.

Today I begin Day 5 if bed rest. God, this sucks.

Surgery on Wednesday went well. What I can remember of it. I thought I was just getting a spinal for anesthesia but I ended up getting general anesthesia and I don't remember much after going into the operating room. I guess that's a good thing. The anesthesia didn't really agree with me and I was kind of sick after the surgery. I don't really remember coming home and I slept all day. So, at least I slept through the first day of bed rest.

Thursday everything kind of hit me. I was in a lot of pain and still not feeling well from the anesthesia. It wasn't until Friday when that actually wore off.

I really wish I had some wonderful stories or profound thoughts. But bed rest is like my nemesis. I do not do well. I know people mean well when they say I should enjoy the rest and all that. But it's not really restful. When you spend all day laying down (when you really don't want to), it's hard to relax. It's hard to sleep at night when you are laying down all day. It's hard to tell Keller I can't play with him. One can only read for so long, watch so many movies, and watch so much really bad TV.

Speaking of bad TV, I guess I do have a comment about that. Have you seen Bridezillas? These women are crazy. I don't know how much of it is staged but these women are awful. They are rude and bratty. One woman didn't like the centerpiece the florist made for her so she threw it on the ground. She also smashed the cake her baker made for her to taste because it wasn't chocolate. Could you imagine marrying that? Yikes!

Anyway, I go back to the doctor this Wednesday so hopefully I'll get the all clear to resume life. I will at least try to be more upbeat in my next post :)

Footloose

I went to the podiatrist yesterday. It was a good visit and I'm pretty optimistic that my foot problems will be gone before too long.

I have bunions. There, my shame has been revealed. Unfortunately, I've had them all my life as the biomechanics of your feet are inherited. You know, your feet will eventually look a lot like your parents'. Anyway, my right foot has been getting pretty bad and bothering me a lot on my longer runs. And it was my right foot that was killing me during Chicago.

The doctor said I have pretty significant damage on my right foot. Actually, I believe the word he used was "deformity." And my bunion is only mild! But, because I'm only 33, and it's so bad already, I should expect it to only get worse. He said that being a runner has actually helped the situation because the joints in my foot are good, I have really good range of motion and that will help me should I opt for surgery. So all you naysayers and anti-runners telling me it's because I'm a runner that i have these problems: :P

So, that brings me to my next decision. Should I have surgery? It's a 3-month no-running recovery. Three months! Can you believe it? He said I can swim after 2 weeks and bike after a month. I mean, I have to consider my job. I am a running coach! I run with people! But I would hope my clients would understand that, as I'm standing there in a cast, I just can't run with them right now. But it's my expert advice people need anyway ;)

In thinking about it, there is really no perfect time to do something like this. But now is probably the most optimal time. I don't have any races on my calendar for the next year, I'm in good shape right now, which will help with recovery, and it would be good to have this done and me be recovered before we have another baby. So, *gulp* I'm going to have it done. I'm going to call my doctor today to set up the surgical consult and we'll go over all the specifics. Then, next year, depending on the situation, we'll do my left foot.

I feel all right with this decision. I mean, I'm not going to do a cartwheel or anything, but this is something that is going to be needed at some point in my life anyway. There are ways to manage the pain now, but they won't prevent it. Surgery is really the only way to rid myself of the pain. And if I'm diligent in my recovery, my doctor feels I shouldn't have any recurrence for something like 30 years. We'll see.

Now I'm going to puke.

Rock this Town

Let's take it from the top.

I woke up feeling good and ready. We met Amanda, Damon, Lynne, and Betsy. We all headed over to the start and were very excited.

Then we were off. We were feeling good and all that. It was very exciting. We saw our family at miles 1 and 3 and that was great. Everyone, runners, spectators, and volunteers, were all great. Then the heat kicked in. By mile 8 Amanda and I decided to just let it ride. We didn't want to kill ourselves in the heat and we wanted to have fun. We danced to all the music playing. We gave hugs to the singer of a band with a sign offering free hugs. I bet he regretted that. But we had a great time.

We saw our family again at mile 12. Keller was looking ill so that wasn't good. But we still hugged and took pictures and all that. It was fun.

I started having foot pain at some point, I don't remember when. I have foot problems in both feet that will most likely require surgery. They really haven't been an issue until recently. They've been bothering me mainly on my very long runs in the past couple of months. Anyway, that's the reason my race started tanking. Amanda was feeling yucky too so we decided to continue dancing and signing and having a good time.

We saw interesting things. Here is a list of some: a group dressed as Batman, Robyn, Supergirl, Batwoman, and the Joker. We saw a guy in a blow-up Sumo wrestler costume. We saw a sign that said "Poop if you gotta". We saw Elvis and some weird dude in a Frenchman costume with a sign that said, "Make baguette not war!". Gotta love it!

Time-wise this was my worst marathon in history! But Amanda and I had so much fun, the crowd was awesome, the other runners were great and the course was really nice. The things that made this race bad, the weather and my injury, were totally out of our control. I would definitely do this race again.

I met the womens winner as we were heading out for dinner. That was cool. And we saw Deana Kastor (the American woman who won Chicago a few years ago and the bronze medal in the Olympic marathon in Athens). She is a tiny woman.

Unfortunately now, Keller is sick with croup and we'll be heading to the doctor as soon as we get off the plane today. He was up all night and we had to do a steam bath to get him to sleep. My poor baby. UPDATE: went to the doctor and yes, it's croup. Got some meds and he seems to be feeling better.

Thank you to everyone for all your kind words and well wishes. My 7th marathon may not have been my best performance but it was sure the most fun. And you all have a lot to with that.

I don't know when #8 will be. I'm taking a break! Probably having surgery on my feet. But I'll be back. Ready to kick some ass.

BTW, this is my 100th post. Yay!