Bone Spurs – Heel Pain

About 12 years ago I blew out my left ACL while skiing. I had recently moved to Gunnison, Colorado to attend college and there was this great ski area called Crested Butte just 30 minutes away. Shortly before Thanksgiving , during Free Ski, I rented a pair of skis and a friend of mine took me up there to give it a try. It had been 5 years since I had last skied. After spending a bit of time on the bunny slope I decided it was time for a longer run. Instead of going up the easy Keystone lift, my friend took me up the Silver Queen figuring we could find an easy way down. Needless to say (not on purpose as she is the sweetest girl ever) she took me down one of the harder runs. It was an icy run and if there are no bumps on it the ski resort calls it a blue run, if there are bumps on it is a black run. Well I of course was not ready for that run and I fell big time. My friend wanted to get ski patrol but I figured I could make it down. I eventually made it to the bottom and back to the car. My left knee was swelling and it was getting harder to walk but I was still able to walk.

The next morning, though I could not walk. I managed to crawl from my dorm room, across the hall to a friend’s room and get her out of bed. With her help I was able to get to the car, even after falling down on the ice – boy was that painful. At the hospital they guessed I had torn my ACL and gave me a knee brace that allowed me to get around without crunches and they told me to call an Orthopedic Surgeon on Monday.

Monday came and I did as I was told. The doctor confirmed the torn ACL, possible torn meniscus, and possible torn MCL. Let’s just say I did a number on my knee. I started physical therapy and eventually surgery was scheduled for March. My mom wanted to came out and help me with everything. She is the best.

Eventually I had the knee surgery and now everything is just fine – or so I think. Ever since I started running long distances, 8 plus miles I have been having issues that relate to my left leg. The Neurma that I blogged about here is on my left foot, the back pain I blogged about here is related to the left side of my body and now I am having heel pain on my left foot. The pain in my heal is worse in the morning and today for the first time I felt it during the beginning of my run but it quickly went away. The heel pain is probably related to Plantar Fasciitis which I have had some minor issues (pain in the morning) in the past. I had X-rays on my feet when the Neuorma started acting up (the doctors where thinking it as a stress fracture a first), the X-rays did show a bone spur on my heel.

It seems as if I can’t get past a certain number of miles without having some pain or some issue. Do anyone of you who do double digits have issues with pain? At this point I am just going to keep going and see what happens. I could probably use a new pair of shoes but at this point that is hard because the money is not in the bank for new shoes.

Cloudy, Cold Gloomy Days

One thing that makes winter running difficult is the cold, cloudy days with snow that is too old laying around. If it was snowing outside I would love it because the beautiful white stuff would be coming down, covering up all of the ugly gray snow and, believe it or not, it would be much warmer outside.

We don’t often have days like this but it still brings me down. I managed a run yesterday in this awful weather and today I decided to head home instead of running. I could not bring myself to go outside in the cold cloudy day for a run. It is a good thing I don’t live in the Midwest anymore where you could go for weeks without seeing the sun. I bet depression is more common in the Midwest than here in the sunny Rocky Mountains. I am feeling depressed and it has only been 2 or 3 days of clouds. Another thing is that when I don’t go for a run I eat a whole lot worse than if I had gone for a run. I am hoping the sun comes out tomorrow but I just checked the weather and it looks like snow/cloudy and gray for the next 10 days – Yuck!

Recovery Sock Giveaway

Tall Mom on the Run is hosting a giveaway for Recovery Socks. I have been dealing with sore legs, sore shins and leg cramps so I could really use a pair of these socks.

Pants

Today I set out for a 4 mile run on my lunch hour. I did not have my Garmin so I was going on time alone and estimating how far I ran. It was cold, 10 degrees and no fun. I hated the first few miles. I have noticed that when it is cold outside I have to pee a lot. Will I finished my 4 miles and headed back to the office to change my clothes. As I was in the bathroom I noticed my pants were on backwards! Good thing they were all black but I am surprised that I had no idea – maybe it was because my legs were freezing anyway and not feeling much!

10 Miles

On Sunday I did my 10 mile long run. It was only about 10 degrees outside when I started and it was cloudy so it made it feel much colder. I also kept having to go to the bathroom. I think it was my subconscious telling me to go inside and warm up. For the run instead of doing an out and back I ran into town and did a 3 mile loop. Then I stopped at the local Laundromat to use their bathroom and warm up. Then I did another 3.5 miles and headed home to use the bathroom again and warm up again. I grabbed my running buddy, Sky and we headed out for the last 3.5 miles together. I don’t think I have ever peed so much while running. Finally, for the last two miles the sun came out and it was beautiful.

My average pace was 10:30 until the last 2 miles because I decided to do a big tough hill which really slowed me down so my average pace for the run at the end was 10:50. Even though I was super cold, running in the snow and my mid-run snack froze in my pocket it was a great run. Next week I am going for 12 miles.

January miles – 61.45.

Lunch Run On Snow Packed Roads

It has been a week since my last run. I have been fighting a horrible cold and still am but I thought I could manage a run at lunch today. My goal was to go as long as it still felt good. I was pretty proud of myself and I was able to do 4.5 miles in a little under 50 minutes which was a slow pace but that is what I needed. Also I was running mostly on snowpacked roads. Even though the roads were snowy it was beautiful. 30 degrees, sun shinning and beautiful blue sky. It was great.

Mel over at Tall Mom on the Run started a year long challenge in January that I was too afraid to go for. The goal is to run 1000 miles during 2010. To break that down that means I have to run 2.74 miles per day. Right now for January I am about 1.1 miles per day off of this average but if I hit an average of 2.74 miles by the end of January I am going to go for it.

Lily is 2 Years Old Today

Lily is 2 years old today. It has been a wild ride the last two years because she was not the easiest baby. She was very difficult, moody, crying, at times it seemed and if anything I did would make her mad. But then she would give me the prettiest smile and I would quickly forget why I was so upset with her. Now at 2 years old she is full of laughter, smiles, hugs, kisses and cuddles. She is quick to get angry or mad but at the same time quick to smile and laugh. She loves to cuddle and is great at comforting her big sister. She loves to play mommy and is always putting diapers on her babies, cuddling her babies and putting them to bed. She also loves to read books and will sit in her room and just look at all the pages of the books. I cannot image life without my little Lily. I love you Lily.

Lily has a cold today and therefore she was moody and did not want her picture taken.

Happy Birthday Little One!


Yum Yum!

Lily is turning 2 tomorrow.

Two years ago I was in labor with Lily. I am not one to have short quick labors, mine labors are in the 20 plus hour category. Little did I know how much this little one would change our lives forever. You can read her birth story here.

5 Minutes For Mom

You may have noticed the button on my sidebar called 5 Minutes for Mom. This button takes you to their giveaway site. While I have not won anything yet they have some great giveaways and some things I might even purchase for my family. I recently entered their Ouch Pouch Giveaway and the Build a Bear Giveaway. So take five minutes for yourself and enter some fun giveaways. Some of their sister sites are 5 Minutes for Special Needs, 5 Minutes for Books, 5 Minutes for Going Green, and 5 Minutes for Parenting.

Giving Blood

I have been donating blood since I was 17 years old. It first started out so I could get out of class in high school. I have never had an issue with giving blood and I feel as if it is my way to help others. We don’t have a lot of money so donating money to charities or organizations is very difficult for us but I am more than happy to give blood.

I went to give blood the other day and everything went fine but then a few days later I came down with a bad cold on Friday and ended up going home a half a day. I have been thinking back and I realized that I tend to get sick shortly after giving blood. I guess giving the pint is enough to lower my immunity and so I get sick. I think from now on I am going to avoid giving blood in the winter when more colds and bugs are flying around and stick to summer giving only. We will see if this helps me stay healthier in the winter.

This cold is also throwing a damper in my marathon training. I hope to be back on target but the later part of the this week but right now I have no energy to go for a run so I am going to lay low, get better and try a run in a few days.

I-Pod Nano Anyone

Juliana at A Blond Walks Into a Blog (don't you love that title!) is hosting a giveaway for an I-Pod Nano. Head over there, enter the giveaway and take a few minutes to check out her blog.

Flood

We live on an island in Colorado. It was created by the Gunnison River and by old ranchers digging irrigation ditches to irrigate the fields. We have high water in the spring but never in January. Well, our property is slowing flooding with water and ice because a little bit further down the river there is an ice dam. Since we have owned this property the water has never flowed this much in January. It might flow a day once in awhile but never for over a week.

Right now the creeks on both sides of the house are flowing and both are above their normal banks. The smaller one and the one closest to our house is about five feet out of its normal banks, more in other places.

In this picture where Mikayla is now is completely under water. Actually of the grass you see is underwater.

Our biggest concern is the bridge. Yesterday the water and ice were touching the bridge and our neighboors put a piece of plywood over the diversion so stop the water which helped for a day. Now everything in front of the tree is underwater. The water has not reached the tree yet but it is only a foot or so away.

This was taken on Friday, the day before the water hit the bridge.

With the plywood over the diversion it has slowed down the small stream but it has also make the bigger steam on the other side of the house rise higher. The only issue with the water on the other side of the house is the garage flooding, which in the history of this house has happened before. Our neighbors also told us that one time in the past 40 or so years the smaller steam shown above jumped its banks, flowed across the yard and went back into the larger stream. I will keep you posted as to what happens. We either need it to get super, super cold and stay cold or we need it to warm up and break up the ice dam on the river.

Long Run

Whenever I go a long run it is on a Sunday. I work Monday through Friday and on Saturdays I clean the house, grocery shop, take the girls to the library, etc... I do not work out at all on Saturdays. On Sunday I wake up 7ish or before, have breakfast, coffee, and eventually a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and then I head out for my long run with my dog Skylar while Joe watches the girls.

This weekend I changed everything around. Mikayla was having a friend over on Sunday from 10am to 2pm so if I wanted to get in a long run (8 miles this weekend) I would have to be home by 10am (which meant being out the door by 8:30am). Also, it has been cold, so I did not really want to leave the house at 8:30 for a long run. I decided to do a run on Saturday instead. First on Friday I did a very fast 5K and then finished my run up at 4.5 miles total. I did not rest on Saturday morning, I did all of my normal running around. I was thinking about going running around 9am but it was still around 5 degrees outside so I did not want to go. Finally in the afternoon after two slices of pizza and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich I headed out. Also, I left Skylar at home because since she got hurt right after Thanksgiving she has not been outside much. At this point I think she has had her stitches out less than a month. That run was one of the very few runs that I hated ever single cotton pickin second of it. I hated the 1/2 mile mark, I hated the 1 mile mark and so on. I forced myself to get to 5.75 miles before I called quits and went inside.

On Sunday I rested and then since today was Martin Luther King day I went for my run instead. I followed my normal routine and I was out the door at 8:50am and yes it was cold. It was about 5 degrees and by the end of my 8 miles it warmed up at 15 but still cold. It was a great run and I loved it. This time Sky joined me as well and she loved every minute of it. I love running with her because she is such a good dog. I don't put a leash on her and by the time we hit the main road she stays right by my side.

I ran the 8 miles at a 10:50 pace. A little bit slower that I have been doing 8 miles but since it has been away I am happy. Next week I will try to tackle 10 miles.

Fastest 5K yet

Today I decided to see how fast I could do a 5K. My time was 28 minutes and 3 seconds, which meant my average pace was 9 minutes and 3 seconds per mile. I know for some this is slow but for me it is fast. A year ago my fastest time for a 5K was a 10 minute mile so I am slowly getting faster.

McDonald's - YUCK

Yesterday I decided not to workout and the really bad part was to have McDonald’s for lunch. Ugg what on earth was I thinking? Yes it tasted good but not oh my goodness good and then afterwards I felt like I had a rock sitting in my stomach and I just did not feel good. How can people eat this stuff on a daily basis in beyond me? Actually, I use to eat McDonald’s everyday when I worked there in high school. We hardly ever have fast food now.

So today I am back on the diet and watching every calories that goes into my mouth and heading out for a run at lunch time. Gotta work all of those calories and fat out of my system because my body does not like that crap.

Marathon Training - 13 weeks to go

As I mentioned here I have a marathon to get ready for. What was I thinking agreeing to do a marathon in April?! Normally not a big deal but now I HAVE to train in 10 to 20 degree weather instead of 30 plus. Also, because of how quickly it is coming up there is no time to slack off!

So yesterday in 10 degree weather I headed out with 2 layers of pants on and three shirts (one of which quickly came off) for a 6 mile run on my lunch hour. I finished in 61 minutes with a pace of 10:15 and for me that is great. I was a little cold on my run but not too bad the worst was coming back to work and not being able to warm up.

The Trailhead Children's Discovery Museum - Crested Butte, Colorado *Giveaway*

I recently blogged about the Trailhead Children's Discovery Museum here. My family and I were there again yesterday. The girls had so much fun while Joe was out skiing. The girls played on the indoor playset, had a puppet show, build things with blocks, played in the dig pit, Mikayla painted a picture while Lily painted her shirt, Lily drew a picture, played in the dark room and so much more. They had a blast.

The Trailhead is a great place for kids and families with so many things to do. The girls kept finding new things to do all the time and they did not even play with everything there.

Now to the giveaway. The Trailhead Museum gave me two free passes to giveaway to my readers. They are good until the end of this ski season. If you are a local who has not been to the Trailhead, or a local who is going to have out of town visitors or a someone who will be in Crested Butte this ski season please leave me a comment and I will draw names on January 3st.

Olathe Marathon

My mom’s New Year’s Resolution is to lose 20 pounds. In order to do this I challenge her to participate in a 5k. The kicker is that I would do it with her. Then my sister chimed in and said if all she has to do is a 5K to get me to come home then she is in for it to! (FYI – I don’t even know when the last time my sister has run a mile – she may be skinny but she is not in shape.) I told Sara, my sister, to make it worth my while, she has to run it, not walk it. The she said well who is going to walk with mom and I said I would. Finally my mom chimed in and said that she will walk it, Sara will run it, Josh, Sara’s husband, will run the half marathon and I will do the full marathon, or at least the half marathon.

So I am back to training no matter how cold it is outside. If I move my lunch hour around a bit I can normally head outside when it is above zero. I don’t know if I really have the time to train for the full marathon. (The race we are doing is the Olathe Marathon on April 10^th.) But I am going to give it a try.

I did a 3 mile run earlier this week and today I headed out for a 5 mile run. When I started running is was 3 outside but by the end it had warmed up 10! I did the run in 51 minutes and it did feel good and I kept a good pace the whole time (around 10:15 per mile). I hope to do a 7 mile run this weekend.

Starting tomorrow I have 13 weeks to get ready!

Running in Warm Weather

I know that everyone's idea of warm weather is different, especially when some people live in the South and others live in the North. I have not been running much lately because it has been below zero. My lunch hour is at 11:30 am and normally it is still below zero at that point so no running for me. But yesterday it warmed up to almost 40 by the end of the day. I took a later lunch at 12:30 and it was 32 outside. Here that is a heat wave! I had a great 3 mile run and I can also tell that I have not run in awhile. As long as it stays this warm I will get in some great runs.

Stuck in a Rut

I have been continuing to exercise but with no motivation. I have been doing smaller workouts – 20 to 30 minutes and I have not been running. It is too cold outside. When I go to lunch it is normally still below zero and I like it to be at least zero before I head outside and yes you read that correctly!

I need to find something to train for, something specific or at least put together a training plan to get me motivated. What do you do when you are in a rut?

I would love to be doing long runs on the weekend but it has to warm up quite a bit before I will go for a full 60 minute run outside. I cannot wait for the really cold part of winter to end. Once we get out of the negative degree days and it warms up to 30 or so I will be able to do a lot more outdoor activities.

New Year's Resolutions - 2010

Happy New Year. It is that time when we all have a fresh start. Here are my New Year's Resolutions:

1 - Lose 5 pounds (I would love to lose more but I would be super happy with 5 pounds. Also if I just firmed everything up, no more arm, belly, butt or thigh jiggle, I would be happy.)

2 - Particiatpe in 1 marathon (I WILL run a marathon this year.)

3 - Participate in 1 triathlon (It I ever want to participate in the Ironman I have to start somewhere!)

4 - Be more financially secure by the end of 2010 (Money has and is always tight in our house - we are paying a mortgage that we cannot afford. I am currently working 3 jobs to help make ends meat and I am determined to be financially more secure by the end of 2010. My measure for this is that we are able to pay all of the bills and have a little bit left over at the end of the month.)

5 - Check point, I plan on checkin in with myself in June to see if I am on track or not.

What are your resolutions for 2010?

Shred - Jillian Michaels

I had Joe buy this for me for Christmas. It was only $9.00 at Wal-mart so I figured why not! I was thinking 30 days of workouts, great. I went home to do it on my lunch hour today and saw that it is 3 levels of workouts, no 30 days of workouts and each workout is only 20 minutes. I thought to myself I will have to do the workouts twice to get in a really good workout. Boy was I wrong. Jillian kicked my butt in only 20 minutes. It was a tough workout but quick enough that as soon as I though ahhhh I can't do this any longer we moved onto the next move. This DVD is awesome.

Since I have not been running as much lately (it is too cold outside - see my post from yesterday!) I have been trying to do other indoor things. I think this DVD will get quite a bit of use over the next few weeks.

Warmth

I am dreaming about moving away from Gunnison to someplace warm - Florida, Hawaii, Costa Rica anyone??? It is only the end of December and it has only been super cold for less than a month now, but I am sick and tired of it. Maybe it is because I have been experiencing these winters for the last 12 years, or maybe it is because I ride my bike to and from work every day so I am in it that much more. Whatever it is I want to move! Joe and Mikayla are both with me. I would love to send Mikayla outside to play but it is too cold. I dream of snow because in order for it to snow it has to warm up. I dream of running outside in one layer of clothes instead of 3! I just dream of it being warm enough to run outside. I have at least one more month of the cold but boy I am ready to move. Anyone in a warmer client need a legal assistant and a real estate agent/property manager?

New Year's Resolution

This is the time of year to re-visit our New Year's Resolutions. Actually it is probably better to do this half way through the year than at the end of the year but let's take a look.

I blogged about my New Year's Resolutions for 2009 here.

I had planned on running a total of 3 marathons in 2009. What was I thinking??? I should have just tried to run one marathon. These did not happen due to injuries in the Spring and Summer. I did through participate in the Mountain Air Marathon events and I ran a 10 mile race. I loved it and had a blast.

The Olympic Triathon did not happen as well but I still want to do that.

I did not participate in the 4th of July Race due to the injuries I was fighting as mentioned above.

This final one was not really listed as a goal but I mentioned it. I did get down to my pre-baby weight of 133.

Stay tuned when I decided what I am going to focus on for 2010!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you. I hope you are enjoying your day with your family. Now get off of the computer and go have some family time!!!

Run Every Day

I have heard of the people who run every day. They belong to the United States Running Streak Association, Inc. Here is there website: http://runeveryday.com/. In order to join you have to run at least one mile everyday for one year. It just sounds cool to me - I would love to be on that list, they even have people on the list that have been doing this for over 40 years!

I thought I would just try to run everyday for one week. Well day three came and I decided that money is tight (like always) and I should go and spend my lunch hour cleaning and making some extra money instead of running. I am trying to get back into running but it has been slow. Maybe that will be my New Year's Resolution, run every day for one year.

Back to Running - Finally

I have taken about the last two weeks off from running. I had a cold one week and then I got busy with using my lunch hour to make extra money cleaning rentals. The weather has not made me want to go for a run either.

Today I finally got in a run. I felt like cancelling it because it was only 7 degrees outside but I said to just go do it since I had layers and I really needed to get some exercise. The run was great. I think I really enjoyed it because I was just going for a run, I had no have to run at least X number of miles, no I have to do sprint intervals, I have to run at X pace. I just ran to ran and I enjoyed it. I even shed my hat and one of my three shirts!

Hopefully I will get my rear end in gear tomorrow and go again.

Skylar's Stitches

About three weeks ago I blogged here about Skylar getting hurt and needing to get a lot of stitches. Finally, here are the pictures. She was not too happy about her picture being taken or for that matter she hates it when we put the tee-shirts on here. But at least with the tee-shirts we did not have to put the dreaded cone on her head.

She is slowly getting better. She had some of the stitches removed last Tuesday. We were hoping that they would remove all of them but where her drain (after surgery they placed a drain so all of the gunk to drip out all over the house - hence the tee-shirt) was it was not healing so they left the stitches in around the hole. We have been flushing her drain hole twice a day and she had been on a different round of antibiotics. Hopefully she will get the stitches out this week.

$50 American Express Gift Card

Check out Five Minutes For Moms blog and enter to win a $50 Gift Card from American Express. They are giving away 5 of them. The contest ends December 18th.

Trailhead Discovery Museum

Since we had kids Joe is the one who goes skiing while I stay with the girls. Skiing is much more important to Joe than it is to me. I would rather go cross country skiing, running, hiking or whatever. Also since we both work full time the only time Joe has to go skiing is on the weekends. Some of those weekends I head up with Joe and the girls and while he goes skiing I do my best to keep the girls busy. It is hard because it is so cold outside and I wish Crested Butte Mountain Resort had an indoor play area (like the kind you see in malls now) for the girls to play in. Well my prayers have been answered.

The Trailhead Discovery Museum opened its doors this winter. There is a coloring table, art projects, painting section, puppets, the dark room, indoor play ground and a dig pit. It is perfect for the girls because they can both keep themselves busy for hours while Joe goes skiing. The Trailhead is hoping to open a bigger museum in downtown Crested Butte next year. The only downside is the price. They charge $6.00 per person, adults included. I know that they are trying to raise money and it is a tourist town but it would be nice if local parents would not get charged. Even with the price I plan on spending at least one day a month here with the girls.

Cold Bike Ride

This morning it was and still is -20 outside. Yep and I rode my bike to work in that cold weather. What do I wear? First layer is my normal work clothes, then I add ski pants, heavy winter jacket, stocking hat, my hood from my jacket, two pairs of gloves and finally Sorrell snow boots. I have to say that about 1.5 miles into my ride I start to get hot so the hood comes off and the jacket gets unzipped just a little bit to give me more air. Try me though I can't wait for it to snow so it warms up to say oh 20 degrees instead of -20.

Airlines and Children

I spent the last month blogging about diet and exercise and is primarily the point of this blog but I am also a mom to 2 little girls so I also like to talk about them and parenting in general. This blog post came about after reading Metropolitan Mama's blog post here.

Airlines are not kid friendly what so ever. As a parent you have to pack extra carry ones to hold all of your child's toys, snacks, diapers and extra clothes. Then when you carry all of this stuff on the plane the other people glare at you for taking too much room. Then you do your best to keep the kids quiet and happy for the flight. I think every airline should offer the following:

1 – Kid’s Activity Packet – Paper, crayons, paper dolls, cars, trucks, etc..

2 – Kid Friendly movies and a video player at each seat with kid movies or shows – different age appropriate shows as well (0-5), 5-7, etc…

3 – Larger bathrooms with clean changing table

4 – A place to stretch your legs, move around, with windows to look out of.

5 - Wider aisles.

6 - More leg room in coach - because you know first class (even if you could afford it) is not going to want you and your kid either.

7 - Complementary healthy snacks and drinks - offered more often to the kids. Healthy means yogurt, cheesesticks, 100% juice, whole wheat crackers, fresh fruits and vegetables.

What do you think airlines should offer families? They should realize that happy families make for a smoother, quieter and more relaxed flight for everyone.

Magazine Giveaway - Winner

The winner of my magazine giveaway is Becca from Our Crazy Boys. I used random.org to pick the winner.

Thank you to everyone who entered. I am glad to see so many people who entered because I now have some new blogs to read!