Mucho Better

I am making up a lot of Spanish these days. I am doing my final clinical rotation at a pediatric clinic, and I have one great kid that knows mostly Spanish and sign language plus some English. She is smarter than me- not even close to being old enough to go to kindergarten, but smarter than me. So, I spend my day making up Spanish by adding an -o to random words I know in French and seeing if she understands. I follow that up by attempting to do some sign language, and since I really only know play, more, done, out, mom, horse, dog, and cat...well, you can see the limitations to our communicationo. :)

Here is a fun picture from Bekah and Jon's engagement party this Saturday.
Can you pick out the poor student in this picture? She would be the one that is too broke to have highlights. My sister and mom don't seem to have missed an appointment in years.....

After taking a morning off from work on Monday, I arrived today feeling mucho better. I am bueno. I am glad the bug or whatever it was that I had over the weekend finally passed. Dave is happy too...our house really, really smelled and I couldn't keep blaming it on Cayenne. My disappointment in missing the race Sunday has passed with the bug. I was really excited to race after a few months of good, quality training. But, you know, some things just don't come to pass and you move on. My season may get a late start, and if I have to delay some racing until then- that is what I will do.

I did run 2 blocks today with Dave before giving in to the knee. He was really amazed at how fast I was for those 2 blocks. I acted like that is the pace I do all of my runs in, no matter what the distance. ( I was really just running super fast since I knew it wouldn't last more than a minute before I had to stop). Then I reminded him that I am an Ironman and of course I am really fast.

Don't feel sorry for him- he has spent years exerting his athletic prowess over me. It is only fair that I knock him down a notch every now and then.

I have a doc appt. next week....more mucho bueno. Onward to healing the knee!!!

And I am listening to Chaka Khan- Through the Fire. I felt it deserved a little shout out on the blog.

Rebelman RR?

So, the plan was to drive to Oxford Sunday and do one of the following:

a. Swim like a shark then ride like a maniac. Maggi was going to be stationed at T2 ready to tackle me if I had some stupid idea like trying to run (because I can't run....so trying would have been silly). She was going to walk me to turn in my chip, and voila- a training day. This would be a PDNF or planned DNF.

b. Swim like a shark then ride like a maniac. Forget the PDNF, no one likes those. Leave T2 and walk the entire 5k so I could wear the t-shirt in the goody bag.

Neither one of these happened. I have been sick for the past 2.5 days, and I am sure this will be normal for a while as I am doing a pediatric rotation and don't have my immunity built up quite yet. Saturday night I knew things weren't too good when I couldn't stand at Bekah and Jon's engagement party without getting sick to my stomach.

Sunday morning, at 4am, I had to make a game time decision since I was still feeling sick. I am not good at sitting out or choosing to stay home. I woke Dave up, which he loves at 4am, to get his advice. He decided that if I needed to get an opinion then I definitely needed to stay home, because if I was ready to go, there is no way I would be sitting around asking him for advice. I took some more medicine and went back to sleep, content with my smart decision to heal my body.

Needless to say, the cry fest began when I woke up.  I cried because I couldn't do the race. I cried when I saw the results- knowing I would have done well were I healthy. I cried when I talked to my friend on the phone. I cried when I saw a friend in the gym and they asked about my knee.  

I realize that this is part of the injury process, and I am going to have days where I do not feel in control.  I am sure being sick on top of being injured didn't help me feel too great either.  This morning my boss asked me to please stay home so I would not come to the NICU sick.  She was absolutely right, because even though I thought I might be okay, 14 hours of sleep later and I still had a body ache (that is not remotely exercise related :)....hopefully I am on the up and up from here.   

Huge thanks to the following friends that were there for me this weekend:

• Dave- I don't need to explain this one.
  
• Alyson- for listening, understanding, and just being there for me.  As busy as you have been, I know you understand the frustrations of training sabotage. :)  
• Gina- for giving me permission to expect more from medical care without feeling like a whiner.
  
• Nancy- for giving me a hug when I start crying randomly in the locker room and reminding me that it seriously could be worse.
  
• Marit- aka: BTCY (blogger triathlete counselor of the year)- for being an empathetic listener, reminding me to be kind to myself and my injury, subjecting her family to an hour of our injury conversation in the car, and helping me think about the bike equation in this mess. 
  

31

I turned 31 yesterday. From my birthday pics, I definitely look older than I did on my birthday last year. I think I spent too many years looking younger than my age, and now I am aging rapidly to catch up. But, since I have always thought the 30s would be my decade, I enjoy the birthdays that just keep on coming.

Of course for my birthday I got Twilight the book AND the movie from Bookie. I usually don't buy books unless I love them. So, I borrowed the Twilight series, but I think it deserves a place in my personal library. I love books- the perfect gift always. Oh, and I made Dave watch the movie late last night, bossing him around and saying it was MY birthday and we had to do what I wanted to do. ha ha!!

My Papa, Nami, Bekah, Jon, Dave, and I went to eat sushi for my birthday. Yum Yum! It was a wonderful dinner with everyone. We picked sushi since it is lent (and we are Catholic except for Dave and Jon). Dave ordered a surf-n-turf roll and no one realized it, so it was funny when my sister and papa realized they were eating steak. They are on the path to hell for sure... or is Dave for tricking them?

Dave, Jon, and Nami leaning back and relaxing on the pillows after a very good meal. Oh, and let me congratulate my mom for getting the whole birthday thing right after 31 years. I asked for bike or running stuff as always, and I got a gift card to Outdoors Inc for bike stuff. Yea!!!!! Normally she would ask me what I want, then get me what she thinks I should want. (example: mom, can I have a soccer ball? here Damie, I got you a Barbie).

and then I wanted to share this t-shirt with you that a soccer teamie of mine was wearing last night. Hilarious. If this doesn't make you laugh....

I have been wrestling with the decision to retire from soccer for good with the emergence of the injury. Dave thinks it would be best for my body if I let the sport go and focus on triathlon. Last night I went to watch Dave play indoor and I saw my friend with this t-shirt on. It was a sign- I mean, I laughed so hard I thought- I love this sport! I have to find a way back on the field! Why is the t-shirt a sign? Because it reminded me of the personality and the energy that I love in the game of soccer. It is not like triathlon, which I love too, but soccer players are special :) I love my teammates and I love the dynamics of the personality and the game.

God granted me some grace for one week as our first game of the season got delayed for a week. So I have another week to think on things and keep pursing the medical attention I need. Ufortunately, he couldn't give me any more time between now and my first triathlon of the season, which is tomorrow.

Yes, for those who have asked if I am racing. I have a plan. No, for those of you who have asked if I can run. It is a physical impossibility at this point- unless I somehow become uninjured today.

I will post a RR tomorrow. Till then.....