HL/WWSG - Week of Jan 22nd

[Leslie Ferguson]

Greetings all, visitor and regular alike! What a wild month we’ve all been having, not only on this thread but across the country and around the globe. I hope that as Winter finally decides to unfold everyone continues to keep warm and dry. And I hope that those who read our words and gather “at the screen” will find a place of sanity in a soon to be insane season - but I digress so without further ado here are some things that stand out over the past weeks:

Family life - Karen finally rid of Girl Scout Cookies, DS#1 and DS#2 having fun in their before-school fitness group, her father making acceptable progress following his heart surgery, and working as a team to get the kiddos to all their classes and activities with DH; Lisa continuing to find strength in her “at-work” family and accepting their offers of assistance; generic having fun with her adopted father and working with her mother as she prepares to go back for more tests in early Feb; my trying to convince my LW to go to the doctor to check out her upper respiratory infection/sinusitis (she‘s had it for over a week).
SUCCESSES! - generic walking with renewed vigor and getting two walks in on a few days each week and dealing with her 14 year old neighbors and shaved eyebrows w/o issue; Karen listening to herself to rest and take a nap when she needs it (not like she doesn‘t go a million miles an hour anyway); my having a good time in my first week in my new job and getting good news about my ordination process - I get to continue into the first phase of the process!
Stressful living - Lisa medical conditions and the daunting procedures and treatments to come, still waiting on word about her needle biopsy; :( Karen and her father’s post-operative recovery from heart bypass and valve replacement surgery; generic getting ready for a 5.5 hour battery of medical tests on 3 Feb; my preparation for returning to the gastroenterologist on 1 Feb about my chronic medical conditions (TMI but something that’s been hanging on for probably 10 months now without apparent cause) and not being a good boy regarding adequate sleep now that I’m back at work.
Healthful living - positive weight management where necessary (going up in some cases and maintaining or going down in others); generic getting back to her walking routine; Karen listening to her knee (although she still needs to get pictures taken of it); Lisa getting some of the assistance she needs from her extended family and friends.
Missing in Action - Laura K’s been gone for a while - I hope that she’s healthy and her family medical conditions are shaping up. Who else???

My workouts will be impacted by how well I recover from tweaking my ankle on Thursday last week. If everything works correctly I’ll Try to back up the past couple good weeks of exercise and do:
Sun - Cross train with weights
Mon - run
Tue - spin/ride (have to adjust my bike seat height though)
Wed - run
Thu - elliptical or run
Fri - rest
Sat - run ~12-14 miles

Healthful living - (1) go back to good sleeping habits - I‘m starting to feel a week of less sleep since I got a lot (for me) while on vacation. (2) Do all the dental work that I need - starting with cleaning on Tuesday. (3) Figure out how to get LW to the doctor since she needs it.

Need to fly because weights and my coach are calling - greetings to any new comers and lurkers out there. I hope all our regulars are doing well and that I haven’t excluded or slighted anyone. Until this evening friends and visitors

Peace,
Les

[lisalee]

Les. congratulations on continuing the process of ordination. It sounds like it will be somewhat intense however a good thing. I hope your ankle is getting better too. And that Kathy is feeling better soon.

Generic, I've never considered shaving off my eyebrows even when I was 14! I assume that they grow back quickly? Again the offer stands that if the NW would like to share some of their rain, Arizona would be happy to help out. Darn that jet stream anyway!

Karen, I hope your knee is also feeling better and that your week goes smoothly.

This weekend has been a good one. Yesterday two teachers from school came by and cleaned my house. It is amazing how much gets left undone when it is hard to move and bend! They did an excellent job and it lifts my spirits to have a clean house. While they were here cleaning I was talking with one, Janet, whose husband is a chaplain over in Iraq. He was asking about her plans for the day and was suprised she was going to clean a house. She explained a little about my condition, and he said something that meant a great deal to me. Instead of saying well tell her I hope she feels better soon or something along those lines, he said "tell her that there are people in Iraq praying for her now too." That touched my heart! Now I feel like I have people praying for me all over the world! Things have to improve with so many voices being lifted up. Another friend came over and brought me a wheelchair to borrow. I don't need it at home but like when I go shopping or go up to school. And someone else is working on perhaps finding me a motorized scooter to borrow. I tell you these people are AMAZING! And I thank GOD every day that they are in my life.
Today I started the day off with a panic attack, which I realized was because my oncologist appointment is on Tuesday. I think between the two offices the needle biopsy didn't get scheduled and I would really rather that it didn't. I'm a bit nervous about what is going to go on at that appt.

Healthy Living goals are:
1. To keep trying to go one day at a time
2. To get myself moving-I feel like my life is on hold and I'm not sure what to do.
3. keep eating- the first of the food deliveries have begun and last night's dinner was wonderful!
4. keep remembering to take people up on their offers of help

I didn't say it in the beginning, but thanks Les for getting us started as usual. Hope everyone has a nice Monday.

Lisa

[karen w]

Lisa-You sound like you have an amazing bunch of friends. Just remember that someone with friends that are that warm and kind, has to be a very special person themselves. Cheers for a great weekend and a clean house!

Les-Thanks for a very nice start to our week once again. And as long as Lisa brought up "people praying for her all over the world" I must tell you that I mentioned to Mom some people on this BB were/are praying for Dad, and she was quite touched. Most importantly, congratulations on the advancement in the ordination process.

As long as I mentioned Dad, I'll give an update. Things seem to be looking up. He is still in the hospital, but will probably go home later this week. And it looks like he will be able to go directly home now instead of a rehab. facility. He is eating better,a bit stronger, and more upbeat in spirit. The only setback is he will have to go home with a urinary catheter in place and followup in a few weeks with a urologist. That is what he gets for ignoring "that problem" over the last decade!!!! Now maybe he'll get it taken care of, and to quote Mom..."maybe he won't pee in Morse Code anymore!!"

My little brother e-mailed me last week. It seems some family members of mine are/were upset that neither myself or my brother in San Francisco flew into to see Dad. I spoke to Mom about this today. I wanted to know how she felt. Seems she agrees with me...our families flying in would have just meant more work/stress for her...driving to the airport, cooking meals, playing host etc... The other part of the picture is that both my brother in SF and I are physicians....we understand what was/is going about Dad's condition. Whereas my 2 brothers at home are "clueless" and thus have had a harder time dealing with the situation. As it turns out, Mom said this morning that she would call me when she needed reassurance/support instead of relying on my 2 brothers who were right there. And I think she understands that it is hard to drop everything with a family and just "go." We are planning on flying out to visit in spring when the kids are off from school. By that time, Dad will be able to enjoy a visit from the grandchildren etc...

Sorry to ramble on...back to healthy living.

Tomorrow I will swim and go kicking. Wednesday I will be able to test for my brown belt(DH's b-day that day, too!! :) ). And I have a new schedule dilemma to try to figure out...starting this week DS#1 has to be at band practice every Wed. morning before school at 8:15 am which is approx. the same time DD's bus comes. This may mean I drop DS#1 at his school, drive DD to her school and drop her since she would have missed the bus, and then go back to school #1 to drop DS#2 who can't be dropped off early with DS#1(school won't allow that) and by the time I could get home after dropping DD, his bus would have already come and gone. OH JOY!!! :(

On that note...Have a good week everyone! :)

Karen

[Leslie Ferguson]

Greetings ladies - it's good to hear your voices and know that you are doing well. It sounds like you both had busy weekends and have lots of things scheduled for the coming week so I hope that you have some sanity as the week progresses.

Lisa - I know the awesome feeling to know that people around the world are praying for me. I'm glad that your friend's husband added you to his prayer list in Iraq and let you know that they're praying for you - that is really awesome. Being a believer in the power of prayer and the power of community I thank you for sharing a tangible example of prayer and community in action. I bet something more will materialize with the motorized scooter too. One day at a time is a great way to live. I saw something that reminded me of that - and it was brought up in a picture of of all people Johnny Depp (in this morning's Parade Magazine) - the jist is that we need to be happy about today because it is a gift for us to share with others. I pray that your anxiety subsides and that your oncology appointment on Tuesday isn't too stressful. Thank you for writing and tell your friends thank you from me for being true friends and for taking care of you.

Karen - It's my pleasure to pray for your mom and dad - no kidding. I'm glad that saner heads are prevailing regarding you going to be with you father and mother right now. I've experienced in my years in the Navy folks rushing home to be with their parents/family members during surgery and realizing that they were "in the way" with the people who were there and worried about the person in surgery. I'm also glad that you mom is understanding and supportive of you and your brother's position. I know everyone will be much happier this spring with a visit as opposed to being there right now. Thank yo ufor the update on your dad, I hope he is released on time and that's great news that he's headed straight home (even if he has his catheter in) as opposed to a rehab facility. Yikes! :eek: Your day's just got immeasurably harder with all the kiddo shuttling. I don't envy your morning travels and I hope you have reasonably peaceful shuttling in the coming days.

I had a good day lifting and my ankle is getting better nearly every day. It helps that aspirin and ice are still effective - if not I'd be in real trouble. :cool:

I'd love to chat but I need to turn in - it's getting late. So until tomorrow... peace,
Les

[karen w]

Good evening,

Well, Mother Nature threw a monkey wrench into our day today. It began snowing early this morning at about 3-4 am and proceeded to turn into sleet and eventually rain. You guessed it....school was canceled. :( We did not even get that much snow...maybe about 2 inches, but the timing of the storm was why school was canceled. The sleet and yuckiness was coming down at school bus time. It turned out not to be such a bad thing as I did not sleep well last night. So since our road had not been plowed yet at 5 am, I decided to stay home for some extra sleep. When I got up later, I did my biking at home.

Kids were well behaved, too. They did some drawing, played with their game boys, watched a bit of TV, and I gave DS#1 his new knitting looms. He is really getting the hang of it, and enjoying it. I need to get him some decent yarn now so he can actually do a project. Unfortunately, it was not a nice snow to play outside since it was so wet and rainy. Oh well.

Les-Glad the ankle is getting better!

Tomorrow...am fitness club for the boys;swimming and boxing for me; ballet for DD; DH at a dinner meeting.

Have a good night,
Karen

[Leslie Ferguson]

Karen - I'm sorry that the snow wasn't cooperative and fell at bus time. I'm also sorry that it wasn't good snow to play in (so the kids could have gone outside). Not sleeping well - I think that's been going around these days, I hope that you shake that tonight. It sounds like you've got the day planned tomorrow - and it sounds like it will keep you quite busy. I hope you have some sanity in all the activity. I think it looks good for Arizona to get some rain. Of course I bet it won't get to all the places it's needed (especially in Surprise - sorry Lisa) or in sufficient quantity to be helpful but it's rain and that's a good thing.

Today's workout... I didn't feel up to risking a run in the mist today - it seems I'm working on a sore throat and cough. I hope I'm not coming down with something because I would like to run in the 25k race this weekend (leg 2 of the distance series in Norfolk). So after adjusting my bike seat I did a little interval work on my bike (60 minutes of 1 minute hard 2 minutes moderate recovery). It felt good and the new seat position is much better - now I think I need to adjust the angle of my shoes to give me a little toe in. :rolleyes:

For now that's about it so I'm off to see if I can knock this cold out before it becomes something unstoppable. Until morning -- may you all have peace and pleasant dreams,
Les

[karen w]

Les-I'm sending you "anti-crud" thoughts. I hope they are not too late, and that nasty sore throat of yours goes "poof" and disappears.

It was nice to get back in the pool this morning. My swim felt good and I think a better night sleep last night also helped. Today was back to the 'ol routine. After breakfast got DD on her bus, drove the boys to fitness club, went to the grocery store, and then to kickboxing. Class was good although I had a slight stitch in my side(drank too much tea at breakfast :rolleyes: ). Fortunately, it did not stop me from giving the bag a good workout(and myself) :p . Oh, and the grocery store I go to finally opened up a new section. MONTHS ago it bought the space next to it that had been occupied by a store which relocated. They gutted the old store and have been refinishing it since that time. They originally planned to open it by Halloween...then it was Thanksgiving....then it became Christmas....you get the picture. Well, it is finally in the process of opening. I say in the process since they still have some work to do to stock the new area, and convert the old area into a different space. The new area is entirely devoted to produce, natural, and organic foods. I'm thrilled as this was a nice store, but it had a pitiful small produce area so they could not stock much and the quality lefto alot to be desired. They have everything in the new space including lots of stuff considered more exotic...baby veggies, purple potatoes etc... So now even in the land of mayo on white bread, I might be able to find some fun stuff! ;) I hope they continue to maintain the quality that I saw today!

DH is at his meeting tonight. Just got DD home from ballet a short while ago. Everyone has done reading and homework, so we are all just mellowing out in one way or another.

Tomorrow is DH'S B-DAY!!!!!! He has the day off, too!(that was planned! ;) ). No special plans for the day, though, since it is a school day. DD has brownies, DS#1 has religion, and DS#2 will probably go to Tae Kwon Do. I will go for my early morning swim and kickboxing. I will be testing for my brown belt tomorrow!! :)

Have a good night,
Karen

[Leslie Ferguson]

Not that I think you need luck Karen but I'll wish you good luck on your BROWN BELT tomorrow. I've got a good feeling if you can keep away from the tea at breakfast and... Happy Birthday to DH tomorrow. I hope he enjoys his day off and a day to celebrate. It sounds like that grocery store is making real "progress" in your area. I wish there was a decent store nearby (there's one in Va. Beach but it's a long way to grocery shop for fresh foods). Luckily they're talking about putting in a Whole Foods closer to Norfolk in the near future -- then we'll be in heaven (or at least in the good food world). Have a great day tomorrow!

Thanks for the anti-crud thoughts. My sore throat is just hanging on and I still have a little cough by the end of the day but nothing that shouldn't get knocked out very easily and as long as I get more sleep. :rolleyes:

As for my workout this evening, I had a successful run, albeit hair raising because of my course (I ran the "wrong" direction at rush hour and got stopped at almost every light). I got just over an hour in and my ankle was pretty much ok for the whole thing. Pretty amazing because of the amount of time I spent on the concrete sidewalks. I may pay a little tomorrow but I'll just have to wait and see. I had/made a great dinner this evening - curry after I finished running. Nothing too spicy but a flash-back to my Japan days (they make just about anything into curry). I mixed some corn and packaged chicken strips with sauted onions, garlic, ginger, curry powder, and tumeric with a little thickened chicken broth all over rice - LW loved it (not too spicy but enough of a nip to make it complex). I think I'm going to love this new job -- more time to cook. :cool:

Now is the time to hit the hay - getting late and I feel the need to sleep. Until tomorrow -- may you all have peace and rainy thoughts for Lisa (again).

Peace,
Les

[karen w]

Les-What a day...a nice run(albeit in the wrong direction :p ) and a yummy dinner!! I hope today was just as nice for you and the crud is still behind the scenes, so to speak.

I had a good day, but I'm a bit tired now. My swim was pretty good. After the usual morning household routine, I drove DS#1 to band while DH got the other two on their buses. Weeks when he does not have Wed. as his day off are not going to be so easy. I went to kickboxing and then for my testing afterwards. I AM NOW A BROWN BELT!! Yippee!! Stayed after for BBC class which was a bit shorter than normal since testing took away some time. Unfortunately, my knee continues to be "achy." I fear that it is now degenerative as this is the knee that was operated on 11 years ago. I will still have DH take a picture in the next week, but if my suspicians are correct, I am going to keep on doing what I can tolerate until I can't take it any longer as I am TOO YOUNG. I'd like to get a little more time out of my original parts before I consider replacing them. :eek: I knew this would eventually be my fate, though. :( Anyway, this afternoon went to the Party Store and got "stuff" to put in goody bags for DD's friendship party at school next month(Feb. 14). DD had brownies after school. We turned in all the cookie money. Yeah!

Tomorrow should be a more relaxing day. None of the kids have any scheduled activities after school....HOW DID THAT HAPPEN???? :confused: I will swim and try to box, and I may stop by DH's office in the afternoon to get that picture.

That's it....HAPPY HUMP DAY!

Karen

[lisalee]

Ooh, Karen a day without any extra activities! What will you do?! Congratulations on the brown belt, but sorry to hear about your knee. A picture may not be a bad idea. Hope DH's birthday was great for him.

Les, your dinner did sound good. Why were you running against traffic? I thought that was suppose to be a bad thing? Glad to hear that your ankle held up.

Today was a kind of off day because Penny kept me up all night last night. We had a storm move through the state, brought snow, sleet and freezing rain to the north but nothing to the deserts, and she was constantly going in and out and up and down off the bed. Today she has spent just about the whole day barking. I'm ready to give her away to the first band of gypsies that come to the door! ;) Tomorrow I am suppose to go up to school for a while, we see if that happens. Once again there isn't anything specifically planned, which I really need. I didn't go to the doctor's on Tuesday because I haven't had the needle biopsy yet. They called me on Monday to go in but I had a complete meltdown so it didn't happen.

Hope everyone has a great Thursday.

Lisa

[lisalee]

Sorry there are two posts, I got impatient waiting for the message to record! :rolleyes: Any way they have called me from the hospital telling me they have a bed for me. This means the needle biopsy will either take place tonight or tomorrow morning. Please send me words of strength and peace.

Thanks
Lisa

[Leslie Ferguson]

Les, your dinner did sound good. Why were you running against traffic? I thought that was suppose to be a bad thing? Glad to hear that your ankle held up.
It wasn't so much that I was running against traffic because I always run facing traffic (I'm not going to let a car sneak up on me and hit me because I didn't hear it). What I meant was the road I was running on was a lot busier and had more stop lights than my "normal" route from my house. My normal only has 2 stop lights that I might have to stop for and the way I ran yesterday there's 7 lights in the first (and last because the course is an out and back) 2.5 miles and at least than many more in the loop. So with all the traffic and lights I spent a lot of time standing at red lights because I'm not fast enough to make the timing on the lights. So I've just got to remember to not run that direction during rush hour when the traffic kills the light cycles.
Today was a kind of off day because Penny kept me up all night last night. We had a storm move through the state, brought snow, sleet and freezing rain to the north but nothing to the deserts, and she was constantly going in and out and up and down off the bed... I didn't go to the doctor's on Tuesday because I haven't had the needle biopsy yet. They called me on Monday to go in but I had a complete meltdown so it didn't happen...
Sorry there are two posts, I got impatient waiting for the message to record! :rolleyes: Any way they have called me from the hospital telling me they have a bed for me. This means the needle biopsy will either take place tonight or tomorrow morning. Please send me words of strength and peace.
I'm sorry you didn't get any of the good rain/snow but at least there was something. I'm also sorry that Penny had such problems with the storms and hopefully there are no gypsies in the area... ;) Luckily for me the only person who would wake me for stomrs knows better (LW that is). I'm sending thoughts and prayers for strength and peace for your needle biopsy when ever it happens. May there be good news or at least no really bad news. Please let us know what comes of the biopsy ok?

Karen - Congratulations on earning your brown belt - you deserved it. How did you not have anything scheduled this evening? ;) :confused: If you keep that up you'll get spoiled. ;) I'm with you - you're too young to have to think about replacement so take it easy on that thing ok? And yes, you should get DH to get a picture of it just to prove what's going on in there. Hope your day tomorrow goes as smoothly as today did.

I had an ok workout tonight - I didn't get out for my run but it was windy and cool so discretion is the better part of valor and I didn't need to risk not getting over this cold/sinusitis. To top it off I did have to go to church this evening (I'm the lead guitar player at our contemporary worship service on Wednesdays) so I only got ~52 minutes of spinning in but that's better than 0.

I think the increased rest I've been getting has been helpful in licking the cold and also helping my ankle to recover so I'll sign out now and see you tomorrow. Until then...

Peace,
Les

[karen w]

Les-I think 52 min. of spinning qualifies for a darn good workout in my book. And so you play guitar, too. What other secrets are you keeping from your virtual friends???? :D A man of many talents, eh!?

Lisa-I hope it is not too late, but good thoughts and prayers coming your way for that biopsy whenever it did/will happen.

Some good news for me today(get to that later). I had a much better swim this morning than yesterday. And after getting the kids off to school, I went to kickboxing since the knee was not as achy today. Class really did feel good today, too. This afternoon, I went over to visit DH at the hospital. I brought cookies and got my pic(that is, of my knee) taken. And the good news is....my knee is NOT degenerative! As a matter of fact, aside from one tiny spur, DH said it looked pretty darn good. He showed me the area where I had surgery and the bone was gone(filled in with cartilage). That area looked OK. So no titanium parts in the near future for me anyway. The problem could still be a meniscal tear, ligament or tendon injury which I would need an MRI to visualize or maybe my left knee is just not as strong because of the surgery I've had. For now I picked up a support knee brace which I will try out in my classes, and take it easy when it gets bad. But good news overall! :)

And a little more good news....Dad got home from the hospital this past Tuesday. Spoke to mom today and things seem to be going in the right direction. He still has a long road to complete recovery, but at least he's going in the right direction now.

Tomorrow there is a bit more on the agenda....swim, haircut, kickboxing, DS#1 has Cub scouts, and DD & I are going to a girl scout sing-a-long in the evening.

Happy Friday to all(wherever you all are! :p )

Karen

[Leslie Ferguson]

That's great news about your father and not too bad news about your knee too. :cool: I'm pleased that your dad got home from the hospital a couple days ago and that he's staying at home for his recovery. I'll keep sending prayers for your mom and dad - this will probably be a little trying for both of them. I guess I can "bug" you now about listening to your knee ;) but of course you're better at listening to your body than I am mine. I hope you have fun at the sing along with DD tomorrow and that the day unfolds like it's supposed to. Aren't I a real enigma or at least full of surprises? :D I love "crossing" people up a little. The guitar is just my most "recent" (if you can count 1980 as recent) addition to my musical talents. That was only the third instrument I played with regularity (I don't count playing the violin, viola, and stand-up bass in high school orchestra class after our concerts to break the stress of playing cello). I guess that is a little surprise (without dating myself too much) I started playing the piano in 1968 and took up the cello in 1972. Besides that I was a fairly accomplished vocalist (before my hearing went south). What else "up my sleeve?"... only time will tell. :) But I'm a man of many mysteries.

I'll confess more or less up front - there was no workout in the cards today. I wasn't feeling at all good this afternoon, quite lightheaded (not the norm either), lethargic, and a little sick to my stomach. I'm fighting off the crud/cold/flu but it's not going without a fight. I came home and played "squirrel in the street" in the recliner and I'm headed to bed before 11. :eek: I hope that will help me lick this thing because I don't like being sick (like anybody does).

For now that's it - hoping for good news from Lisa once she gets home from the hospital. Until tomorrow...

Peace,
Les

[karen w]

Les-Sorry the crud got the better of you yesterday. I hope today is a better one than yesterday. I, too, played the piano and violin. But, like you, I don't consider playing an instrument for a couple years in elementary school as any stellar lifelong accomplishment. Especially since I would have no idea what to do with a violin, if I picked one up today. :o

I had a decent day. My swim was good. My lane partner averted us from having to circle swim this morning. I actually felt kinda bad for the third swimmer who tried to join us...it really was not fair/nice to her. She asked me first if I/we would circle swim. I said "yes" but just let the other swimmer in the lane know. When the other swimmer got to our end of the pool, she stopped her to tell her. The woman said that she really did not think it would work out since I was so much faster than her. I said I would either slow up or pass around them, so it should not be a problem. But she continued to whine that it would not work until the third swimmer just went to another lane. It was not right of her, but then again, I was glad not to have to circle with slower swimmers either. Anyway, got my haircut later in the morning;then went off to kickboxing. I wore my knee brace which was not the most comfy at times, but this afternoon my knee feels pretty good so maybe the extra support in class helps. I got about 20 more minutes, and I'm taking DS#1 to his cub scout mtg. and DD and I to the sing-a-long.

TGIF!!

Have a good weekend,
Karen

[Leslie Ferguson]

Ah - I knew there was something else I liked about you Karen - an fellow string player. I used to play the cello quite often but of late I've not been playing because it is so hard to find pitch and to blend/harmonize with other instruments beacuse of my hearing. So I've kind of let those skills go fallow. I'd still love to play and maybe once I get my new hearing aids I may be able to hear well enough to play more cello. But now my guitar is certainly my love but my cello will always be my passion and the thing that I love to play - such a sweet and mellow instrument. (just warms my heart to think about it and brings a tear to my eye when I think about not playing... oh well :( ). I'm glad you had a good swim this morning and that you didn't have to circle - I've never been a fan of circle swimming but will do it if I can get someone who is almost as fast as I am. I hope your sing along went well this evening.

No workout for me today because of the lasting crud. I'm better but still only about 40%. Maybe a little more sleep tonight and I'll be better. I don't think I'm going to race in the morning - enough lungs to hang with it but I pretty much have to go to the course because I'm picking my coach up just outside the Army Base where we're running (his car doesn't have a current state inspection and they won't let him on base without one). I guess I have a couple options tomorrow for running - racing all 25k (not likely), running 25k (kind of likely), or running 10k or 20k (the course is 2 times on a 10k loop and a single 5k loop). But I'm ok with not racing because the group of runners in the back of the pack is more fun back in the front (no anal runners who HAVE to do well).

Turning in - it'll be an early morning even though I don't have to leave the house until about 7:30 - still takes a while to get everything put together.

Until tomorrow and after all the fun... Peace,
Les

[Leslie Ferguson]

For today's exercise (or lack thereof) events. I picked my coach up and drove him to the start. He mentioned that if I felt that bad that I could have bagged totally and not even shown up. But I countered that it would be better for me to show up a little under the weather and not run than to not show up at all. That way I could demonstrate that it's ok to still support the group and take care of yourself and not run when you shouldn't. At first I was a little bummed that I chose to not run but by the end of the day I was happy that I didn't run. But still, the conditions were nearly perfect for a 25k run/race (which makes two races in a row which for this series is unheard of) it was about 39 or 40 degrees and nearly no wind at the start (a little breeze was blowing at the 2:30 point but still nothing to speak of) - almost perfect conditions really. But I listened to my body and didn't run but I did go onto the course to cheer the team on. Which leads to my purturbed part of the day. I positioned myself on the course at about the 3/4 and 4 mile point (the course is kind of a funky shape) of a 10k loop - that way I could cheer folks on at a couple points of their race. I got there and there wasn't a volunteer to direct traffic at that corner (and as I found out later there weren't too many volunteers out on the course) so I ended up being the volunteer to direct traffic even though I hadn't volunteered. When the race director drove around and asked how the volunteers were I said there weren't any (with the exception of two guys sitting in their car smoking cigarettes) at that corner for over 2 hours and that I had stepped in to direct traffic so folks wouldn't be lost on the course (and a couple folks got lost at other places of the course). He was p.o.'d at the volunteers who didn't show and was very appologetic that I got forced to stand there. I think he actually was going to give me an entry into the next part of the series but I had to decline because I am going to be out of town. I'm not too mad about the event really, but it would have been nice to have not been put into the position to direct people without truly knowing the course (I hadn't looked at the 25 k course and it is an odd course believe me). I just normally go with the flow of runners and don't pay attention to the course (I've run the hills for nearly 5 years so I can run them in my sleep). In all, I had a fun time - thank goodness for lined GoreTex pants and sweatshirts and jackets or it would have been a nasty 2+ hours standing in the cold.

I did go to the pool and do 75 mintues of pool running. It felt good at the time and I'll even not get too worked up about no hot water in the Y showers. But I could feel it this evening. I ran out of energy about 6 pm this evening and think if I had run I would have set myself back a bunch. So I guess I was smart (darn it - I'm getting wiser in my old age ;) ).

I think that sums up my day -- kind of mixed but fun none-the-less. I'm off to get my beauty rest and recuperation so until tomorrow. Croaking all the way. :cool:

Peace,
Les