Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.


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Knee strategy

I’m going into my fourth week of knee issues now.   It seems to be getting better as I rest it, ice it, compress it, elevate it.  You know…the mantra of any sporting person….RICE.  I called my doctor’s office last Friday to see if I could get an appointment this week.  Turns out he’s busy all week, and all they could offer me was to have me call at 8:30 this morning and see if I could get in.  I couldn’t even get past the busy signal.

Meanwhile this morning the knee feels almost 100%.  I even took Katie out for a bit of a walk around the neighborhood to see if I could get it to hurt again.  Nada.  So I went back online to see what I could figure out.  Perhaps I have tendinitis, an overuse injury that just takes time and care to heal.  That makes sense as I can’t pin my knee pain to a specific event, as people with tears in their MCL or meniscus usually can.  If it really is just tendinitis I’m already doing everything there is to do to make it better.  And it is getting better.

So, though I haven’t reached my doctor yet I’m feeling a bit better about the prospects of being able to walk around a grocery store without ending up with ice on the knee.  Maybe someday I’ll even be able to take a walk that is longer than six blocks.  If I’m careful.

I’m registered to do a half marathon in October.  I guess that isn’t going to happen as I’m unable to train, and should already be up to running 10 miles or so.  I can’t even walk one at the moment.

Maybe I’ll just go and cheer everyone else on.

Sigh.


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Knee therapy – not!

Katie was an extra specially wound up Sheltie-girl yesterday.  And if you’ve ever lived with a Sheltie — well — you know that they’re pretty much wound up enough on a normal day.  So even though I knew that I couldn’t walk around on the uneven ground of the park she had me at my wits end by late in the afternoon when I asked her if she wanted to go for a ride.

OF COURSE MOM!  A RIDE?  RIGHT NOW?  REALLY!?!?!?  YES!!!!!  LET’S GO!!!  WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?  COME ON MOM!

So we went into the neighboring village, a small quaint town with expensive homes and a tiny downtown.  Also a very busy town, lots of cars and motorcycles and people and other dogs and stuff.

We parked at the main intersection and sat there awhile getting used to all the weekend traffic.

She did pretty well, but the flat ears belay the fear.

So we moved a bit away from the corner to sit on a park wall.

That was a lot better.  For a moment.

Then we walked through the two blocks of town.  Katie got to check out the old bank and see if she had any money deposited there.  She did not.

Getting away from town was more enjoyable, we walked by old houses…

…and smelled lots of food being grilled in the back yards.

At one point she stopped on the sidewalk as if to say…”carry me Mom!”  Sorry baby, you’re going to have to walk yourself.  Mom’s knees are done!

We had a lot of fun, met some resident pups, smelled some good stuff and got a little less scared of new places.  All good things.   Except for the knee which is now elevated and being iced.  Again.

Hey Mom! Wanna PLAY?


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Training Challenge #5

Since I’ve been sitting most of the week with my leg elevated and iced Katie and I haven’t done much work on anything.  You can tell.  She wants to GO TO THE PARK RIGHT NOW MOM!!!  But I can’t walk that much, and certainly not on the uneven ground at the park.

So we went to a pet supply store and worked on keeping her attention on me rather than all the good sniffing spots.  She’s a bit of a vacuum cleaner and I’m worried about our next Rally trial, which is a week from today!  (OH NOOOO!)

I did a bit of Rally stuff; heeling, sitting, turning, lying down.  It went OK.  Pretty good I guess given all the distractions.  It all seems to depend on what the treats are.  If they’re tasty and special enough a typhoon could go by and she’d continue to stare at me.  If it’s just her regular kibble….well….lots of stuff is more important and more interesting than her regular kibble or her Mom.

Next Sunday is our Rally trial.  I guess that will be our Training Challenge #6!


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As the world turns

I’ve been unemployed since last October.  Looking for work is a sobering experience; it starts to play with your mind; makes you wonder about your worth and causes you to rethink decisions made long ago when the world was a different place.

You go to interviews smiling and hopeful, certain that the interviewers can see the value you’d bring to their libraries.  Your years of experience.  Your motivation and enthusiasm for the work.  Your fresh ideas framed in another life, adapted to fit the world of public libraries.

But after months and months of looking and writing and applying and meeting I still have no library work, and that world has become distant and even somewhat foreign to me.  Unemployment benefits are ending soon, husband is still adjusting to his forced retirement.  Tensions mount.

On a whim I applied for an underwriting job on Monster.com, never thinking that anyone would be interested in me, a person who has been out of the business for over four years.  Turns out that though that particular job didn’t work for me it did lead me to call my previous employer who has offered me a full time job and the opportunity to get my head back into the mortgage underwriting world.

It was a difficult decision to give up the dream of working in a place I feel I’m meant to be.
And to give up the freedom these last few months have afforded me.  But it’s an opportunity I can’t ignore, so the week after next I’ll be putting on grownup clothes again and heading into work with the other rush hour commuters.

I know I’m lucky.  I’ve seen what it’s like out there for the unemployed and it is not pretty.  I also know I am lucky that someone is willing to take a chance on me and let me relearn the industry.  And I’m grateful for all of that, and will give back to them more than their money’s worth.  I always did.

But I’m going to miss the way the light falls on the trees in early afternoon.  I’m going to miss long walks with Katie.  I’m going to miss staying up late reading all night if I want to.  I’m just going to miss the possibilities that hover around each morning when I get up.  The possibilities to do anything or nothing at all.

I’m gonna miss this.


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Mystery bird

The past couple of weeks I’ve noticed a mystery bird in my back yard.  In fact it’s out there now.  It sits on Katie’s kennel (but not when she’s in it!) then flies off catches a bug and returns to it’s perch.  It’s an elegant but small brown bird with cream markings on the wings and a gray underside.  I have never seen it before these past couple of weeks and it is intriguing.

I emailed a friend of mine who is pretty good identifying birds, but she couldn’t tell me what it was from my description.   I’ve spent a good amount of time googling “small brown bird MI” and finally narrowed it down to the Eastern Phoebe.

Here’s a link to a great photo of the bird.  I think, given that I’ve noticed it here at least three different times this week, that it’s likely been around all summer and I just didn’t see it.   The first time I noticed it I thought it was a junco and the voice inside my head said “NOOOOO!”  because juncos are only here during the winter and it was way too early for me to believe winter was around the corner.  When I noticed it flying up and catching bugs I was relieved because juncos don’t do that.

I’m really excited to see a new bird around…even if it isn’t really “new.”

Katie, on the other hand, doesn’t care.


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Still summer

Even though it’s cooler now, especially at night, I want to remind myself that it’s still summer.  At least for a few more days.

I was out weeding last week and noticed all the bee action on a couple of sunflowers.  It never ceases to amaze me that this giant plant can come up out of a single little seed.  I planted quite a line of these, but only a few grew this year. Still, those that did are beautiful.

See all the yellow on the leaves below the flower head on the photo above?  That’s pollen knocked off by the bees who are themselves covered in the yellow stuff.  Fascinating to watch.

Way more fun to watch then weeding.


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The end of the race

Eventually I did get to the finish line of my 8K run/walk Saturday at the Crim Festival of Races.  What a relief!  But still, I felt pretty good other than my knee.  It takes a LOT of people and a lot of work to put these races on for us.  Just at the finish line alone there was an orchestrated effort to keep us comfortable.

There was the woman with the towels that had been soaking in ice water…

…and the volunteers handing out medals for the ten mile finishers.

The tables loaded down with fruit…

…and water….

….and sports drinks.

Volunteers were handing out popsicles which were just the ticket.  I got the orange one, my favorite!

People were all around talking about their race, and these little girls were being interviewed about their Teddy Bear Trot for the local TV station.

But eventually most of us ended up like this:

And probably most of us, at least those of us that are not elite runners have spent today sitting around with our feet up.

I certainly have!


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Training Challenge (4)

All this lunging and chasing cars while barking hysterically is a really big problem.  When Katie and I are out and about she generally behaves, probably because she’s out of her element and doesn’t feel a need to defend her place.  But back at home she reverts to her crazy self.  Especially when it’s the mail lady’s diesel truck.  That starts and stops, revving up that noisy engine at each mailbox.

So I’ve been trying to get her out to the driveway whenever we hear the mail truck approaching.  We have three times each day that she goes by; the first time is on the side road as she approaches the subdivision.  It’s our first notice that she’s on her way.  Then she comes back our way, putting mail in the boxes across the street.  And finally, once she gets way up to the end of our road she comes back down our side of the street and puts mail in our box!  That’s just the WORST!  I can often get Katie to sit quietly and wait when she goes by on the side street, but it’s just about impossible to keep her in a sit when she’s on our street Mom! The crazy dangerous mail lady is  ON OUR STREET!

So here’s the story, in Katie’s own words:

I’m waiting for that mail truck to come by…

There it goes!!!  Up the other side of street!  GET IT!!! GET IT!!!

Ok.  Mom made me hang out further up the driveway, away from the road in the hopes that putting some space between us will help me concentrate on sitting when that truck comes back.  Yea.  Like that’s gonna work.

NOW she has decided I wasn’t far enough away, so she’s making me sit way over here in the front yard.  Sheesh! This is mortifying.  I can do this, what’s she thinking anyway?  (I hope this involves treats!)

Hey!  I hear the truck coming!

It’s coming, it’s coming!  I see it!

I’m SITTING!  I’m SITTING!  SEE!?!?!?!  SEE!!!!!  And it’s RIGHT HERE!!!  She’s TOUCHING MY MAILBOX!!!!

I did it!!! Yes I DID!  WAIT!!! WAIT!!! The truck is moving AWAY!   I’m trying to sit.  Yes I am.  I’m TRYING!  BUT I CAN’T CONTROL IT ANYMORE!  I HAVE TO BAAAAAAAAAARK!!!!!!!!

Darn.  Sorry Mom.  Sigh.  Hey – Got any cheese?


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The Crim and Special Olympics

Last night I had a pre-race dinner with three running friends.  We all ran the “Crim,” a fundraiser for Special Olympics, this morning.  More on our race later.  As we ate  our pasta dinner yesterday evening we heard cheering out on the street and a high school band playing.  We made it outside in time to see many of the Special Olympians running their races.

You see, the Crim Festival of Races is a big deal here in Southeast Michigan.  It’s been going on for over 30 years and has grown to include the 10 mile road race, an 8K (5 miles), a 5K (3.1 miles) and a family walk as well as a Teddy Bear Trot for the little ones; all on Saturday morning.  Friday evening the Special Olympians run their own races and I have to say it’s hard to keep from crying as you watch them run or walk.  Most of them are grinning from ear to ear, and the crowd cheers for everyone.  It reminds me of a quote I read in some running book years ago.  Something like “how many middle aged folks get to do anything where people line up and cheer you on?”  That’s why we run, and that’s why they run too.  We’re not so different.

Generally I run the 10 mile race.  But these past couple of years I’ve been injured.  This year I had great hopes of being back on the 10 mile course, with it’s unweildy hills, fraternities offering beer, neighborhoods cheering, gospel choirs singing..well…you get the picture.  But two weeks ago while training I did something bad to my knee and even though I’ve stayed off of it, have iced it and heated it and massaged it, it’s still painful.  So I “downsized” to the 8K figuring I could walk 5 miles and I’d still get to see much of the course and enjoy the amazing support from the families, musicians and other runners out there.

The wheelchair racers headed off at 7:30  Then it was time for the over 10,000 runners and walkers doing the 10 miles to start.  Ten thousand runners is an amazing sight and it made me sad not to be out in that massive crowd waiting for the gun to go off.

By the time I saw the 10 milers off and got back to the finish line 3 blocks away the wheel chair racers had already completed their 10 hilly miles!  Talk about speedy!!

Those of us doing the 8K got started at 9:30.  It was a wonderful day for a road race!  Cool and sunny.  Perfect.  We had lots of support along the way, from the preacher type urging us on…

…to the cheerleader girls shouting for us to rally on our way up a hill.

There were the frat boys offering Crispy Creams…

and families with small children providing water.

There were singers and musicians along the way like this saxophone quartet…

…and a family that every year beats a rhythm on buckets for the entire time (hours and hours) that runners and walkers are going by.

I felt pretty good most of the way…

…until the middle of mile 4.  Then the knee started to give me trouble.  But I found that it hurt less if I was running, so I tried to run as much as I could.  Too bad I hadn’t TRAINED to be running!

Here are a couple of amusing photos…first the back of one woman’s shirt that made me laugh…

…and second, a beautiful little old lady, standing alone ringing a cowbell for us as we ran by…

…and a little old man playing his accordion as he walks down the sidewalk!

And then I was at the finish!  This is already too long…so I’m going to post the finish line pictures tomorrow!    Suffice it to say I made it, bad knee and all…and it was a wonderful day.