If I Could Turn Back Time......

A little Cher for you this afternoon. Minus the skimpy hooker outfit and the big hair.

You young whippersnappers out there probably have NO idea of what I’m talking about.

My doctor officially cleared me to run last week. I am starting back slowly, to make sure that my ITB doesn’t have a return flare up, but I am hoping to be back to running on my own and without the guidance of my Physical Therapist by mid-February. It’s been almost four months since my last “real” run, which was just three weeks shy of the 2010 Chicago Marathon. If I could turn back time (there's that Cher reference), I would have been smarter about the injury; had I just STOPPED RUNNING AND RESTED, I might have been at that starting line. Instead I kept pushing on and pushing on, trying to get myself to my marathon. I have beaten myself up about this numerous times, but what's done is done.

Random picture of me mountain biking since I don't have pics of me running....yet.


I have vowed to come back from this injury smarter and stronger. I know I'm not a natural long distance runner; I need a combination of strength work, stretching (what the hell is this?), and cross training to get me to the starting line of a marathon, so that's what I'm going to do. My Coach always put strength work and stretching on my schedule, but I would ignore the stretching and would just focus on the arms for strength work. Who knew my legs needed so many damn squats!!!!

Random pic of Colorado...because it's pretty.



Random pic of a tarantula from our bike ride...because it was scary and ugly.



I have learned so much about my body because of this injury; it's almost a blessing in disguise.

Ok, so my 2011 schedule. Well, right now it's tentative, but since I have been swimming so much, I have a couple of triathlons in sight for the spring and summer. I may or may not do a marathon this year....time will tell on this one. I may have something else in store for the fall. Hmmmm....we'll see.

Anyway, this is by no means final yet, but here it is:


Duathlon May 2011
Tune-Up Tri (indoor swim) June 2011
Boulder Sunrise Century (that's 100 miles people!) Road Ride June 18th 2011
Triathlon (lake swim!) July 2011
Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half-Marathon August 2011
Chicago Marathon-I have unfinished business here. If I don't make it this year, next year is a must. Revenge will be sweet.

So that's a start. I'm sure I'll add more races later on, but for now...it's a fresh start.

BTW-I ran again this morning. NO PAIN.

Bloggie Gift Exhange -Proud Owner an Anus Cup and a Thermajock.

Now don’t fall out of your chair, but yes, you are seeing an actual blog post from me. It’s been so long since I’ve posted, I almost forgot how to use blogger.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas (or whatever you celebrate) and New Years! I just got back from what Jill calls my “trek across the US”. I spent four days visiting my family and friends in Missouri and then four days with my husband’s family in Dallas. I know you are jealous, I mean, who wouldn’t be.

I made a few goals for myself to follow on my trip:
1.) No blogging or reading blogs, so that I could give my full focus to my family.
2.) Drink and be merry, but NO HANGOVERS.
3.) Eat myself into no less then two food comas.

Score on all three. Here are a few photos from our trip:


Me with my brother and sister. My sister surprised me with her red/brown hair. She's normally a blonde like me!

My daughter and me hugging my in-laws two Great Pyrenees dogs. They are beautiful!



My husband and me



My daughter wanted to hold one of my in-laws baby goats. You can tell she's a city slicker.



When I got home, my Christmas gift from Jill's Holiday Gift Exchange was waiting for me!!! Quinton or "Q" as we know him, sent me two Vanilla Gingerbread GU's (to eat by the fireplace), an official Anus Cup to sip my favorite beverage from (wine from an anus mug), and not one, but TWO Christmas Thermajocks (is that REALLY what these are? I think he may be trying to make me look like an idiot, which wouldn't be hard too do).



I was a little baffled at first by the Thermajocks, I had no idea what they were.



Thumb less mittens??



Dog shoes?



Then I read his card and realized that they were the infamous thermajocks. For those who don't know, The Thermajock is used to protect the penis from cold and chafing during cold weather activities. You all didn't realize that I had one of those did you. For your convenience, I linked the website, so you can go read the testimonials from the men who have used them. You can also find them on facebook should you be so inclined.

I was also extremely pleased that he sent me an anus cup. In my previous post, I blogged about how I had found an anus plate on the web (I know!) and that I was going to send one to my blog exchange person. Amanda wanted to know if I actually sent the plate, so I wanted to let her know that no, I didn't end up buying and mailing the plate, it was too expensive and I'm way too cheap and redneckish to spend my money on fancy anus art. I sent Molly, a ponytail headband from TrailHeads instead. Boring....I know.

Anyway, thank you Q for my Christmas gifts!!! I especially loved seeing the fat ass, pleasantly plump snow man again (as well as my own fat ass!). I should have taken a picture of the card, it was so creative.

This post is getting ridiculously long, so I'll go now. Next post, I'll talk about my running (yup, starting this week!) and 2011 goals. For now, Happy New Year!