Anything but Ordinary

I love that song........I'm anything but Ordinary, I think it's by Train, yeah, from the Superman Movie. It's been running through my head this morning. I am not an ordinary person, anyone that knows me well knows that. I don't do things "ordinary" I do things full tilt, and if I don't think I can do them "full tilt" I don't try them. That's why I've never golfed.........I can't hit objects with other objects I'm really bad at that........the girl golf outfits are cute, but I can't hit that little ball! Anyway, tonight is graduation for 28 of our students. I am proud to have been a part of their education, and I know that they will be excellent clinicians! I've put together a slide show of pictures and have set it to music. No one has seen it but me. Everyone else will see it tonight after graduation at a party for our students. I'm nervous about it not coming together since this is not an ordinary thing to do. But I'm proud of myself for taking this on, not giving up, and getting it done. So, ordinary or not....look out it's gonna be a tear-jerker! I wanted to show you my un-ordinary family as well, but blogger is rejecting my desire to upload right now. I will post a picture later, 'cause it's just cute, cute, cute!! These 3 people are amazing. I am so blessed to have them in my life. God's grace led me to Ceito, 'cause Lord knows I was not heading towards an ordinary life with the guys I was choosing! Then, my Winks came into my life..........well, he screamed into my life! Then, The Bug.............what can I say.........I did not expect to have another little one, but God knew that my life was not complete without her! And so it is...........my un-ordinary life! I love it! And, look forward to what this life will bring me next!!

Bad news for my goals!

Well, after my wonderful 18 mile run on the "dreadmill" (Thanks IronJenny for the new term!) I mentioned that my left leg was hurting.........thus, the need to give myself frost-bite remember? Well, I really was struggling with just walking normal for a few days after that run. Going up and down stairs was horrible, and I just felt pretty depressed about the pain I was having. So, I made the decision to not run until my next long weekend run which was to be 14 this past weekend. I iced, ultrasounded, e-stimed and stretched. Didn't even bike, just rested! I felt pretty good by Wednesday of last week, as far as walking went. Didn't try running, just rested. So, on Sunday when I headed out for 14 I was looking forward to a great run. Started out slow, just to ease my leg into it. The first 2 miles were a little sore, but I pressed on. But, by mile 6 I was in a lot of pain. I stopped, walked, stretched and grouched at myself for the next mile. I came to a point in the mapped out run where I could continue on or take a road that lead to home. I did the latter and really felt crappy the remaining 3 miles.

I believe its tendonitis, with a mild possibility of "shin splints". My hamstring in that leg is also very tight, but releases easily with prolonged stretching and massage. It's really one of those crazy runner pains..........no rhyme........no reason..........no regular pattern of pain..........just goofy!

I am so depressed about this, but I've decided to lay off of this leg and just bike the remaining 3 weeks of my marathon training. My plan is to double by run mileage onto the bike with the hopes that the cross training will be enough to pull me through the race. Actually, I've decided not to call it a race anymore. I just want to finish!! I will finish if I have to walk the entire thing! But, my thinking is that it's going to hurt, but I'll run it out, then it will be over with and Ceito can push me around the airport in a wheelchair while I have a big grin on my face with my Mickey Medal around my neck!!

I've talked to my training partners about this, and one of them is also injured and is planning on walking most of the course. The other one, was really looking forward to running the entire course with me, and now feels that she is okay with hanging with me if I have to run/walk. I feel bad about that. I've told her to go ahead if she feels like she can. I want her to experience what she set out to do, and not worry about me. I'm sure it will be a "game-day decision" on that front.

So, I'm pluggin' along with this training. I love training, but I'm so depressed right now that I don't even want to think about the outcome. What ever happens, happens and I'll be grateful for the experience. I kinda have in the back of my delusional brain that this is a pre-cursor for my Ironman goals, and if I can't do this how can I do that????? It's a broken record in my head right now. I'm trying to shut it off, but it keeps playing. Not to get too wacked out about this, but I know that God has a plan for me, and it may not include Ironman. If I focus on His goals for me, my life will be more than an Ironman medal or trophy.

Thanks for listening!


My prayer is first and foremost to glorify God in this, in any way that I can! But, I also pray that I can set out to accomplish my goal of running this whole thing. Maybe the time off of it will help, maybe it will make me weak..........don't know..........I guess I'll find out!!

This is kinda fun!

Just adding a few more pictures so you can have a look at what I do on a day to day basis. These pictures are just a few from a 60 picture slide show I am putting together for our program graduation (this friday). This picture is taken in our lab. I'm teaching seated non-equilibrium coordination tests in this picture.
I'm not sure what I'm doing here. But, this is me with a student who is going to the Disney Marathon with me in January. She is just going to cheer us on!!! How cool is that????
My students were helping with a continuing education program in this picture. The girl looking right at the camera, with the yellow flower in her hair is one of my marathon training partners.
This guy is just crazy. Brilliant, but crazy. He will be named our Master Clinician of The Year (a pretty big honor) on Friday night at graduation.

I'll continue working on this! I'm having fun!

More attempts at pictures!

This is me with two students in the spring. This picture and another one like it were used on campus for advertising. It was cool to see me with our students in big pictures on campus. Yes, I felt like a star!!
I am blessed to be working with some amazing people. There are 4 of us who run the physical therapy program on a day to day basis. All four of us are Christians...........amazing to be able to talk about life with your co-workers from a faith perspective. I am so blessed to be working with these 2 women. Betsy in the middle was one of my professors during my life as a student. Now we are very close friends and I love working with her. Terri on the left is just crazy! She keeps me in check in the humor department. She is hysterical and still able to keep it all together.
This picture is on my birthday. They gave me a cake, card and an awesome KSU P.T. mug.

I'm continuing to learn about these picture uploads. I'm figuring this part out pretty easily. It's the side-bar posting that has me in fits. I've tried a few things and can't manage to out-smart blogger! Go figure!!

Stepping into new territories!

Okay, I'm really trying to get some pictures on this blog. I have yet to figure out how to get a pic. on my sidebar, or into my profile, but I'm trying this for right now. This is a picture from the Buckeye Lake Triathlon. I loved that race. It was slow for me, but I really enjoyed it. My parents and Ceito were there, and that makes it fun from step one! I'm going to now attempt to put this same picture into my profile. We'll see how that goes! Later today, I'm going to try and get some more recent pictures on here ! Wish me luck!

A new top 10 list

So, I did 18 miles on a treadmill on Saturday! Yep, 18 miles on a conveyor belt,it was a load of fun! So, while I was running I was thinking of how there are some good points to this and some bad points to this. I should enlighten others just in case they ever think about doing this sort of thing in the future. You know you should always try to learn from others! So here are the top 10.............the good, the bad, and the ugly! Top 5 Reasons Why Running 18 miles on a treadmill is a BAD idea! #5 Your beautifully decorated-for-Christmas living room WILL smell like a sweaty locker room after about one and 1/2 hours! No amount of deodorant will help, it is inevitable!! #4 "I can't possibly look at these stupid numbers on this stupid treadmill for another stupid second!", is said after approximately 2 hours...........then you continue saying it throughout the remaining hour on the stupid treadmill!! #3 Your husband/wife/significant other will hound you about your speed, your gait, your water intake, your sweaty smelly down-right nasty stench, and will do it all while standing there SMILING while you suffer along!! "Hummmpphh...........yah, let's see you get up here and do this, and look as cute as I do while doing it..........sweaty, but still cute!!! #2 It hurts to run that far. So after you finish you will want to ice down a calf/lower leg that has been hurting for the past 2 hours. So, you'll put your ice pack right onto the skin because you only have a few minutes to ice before you have to go get the curtain climbers at the in-laws. That ice to the skin thing.............it hurts too...............but, not just because it's cold...............you will get frost-bite/burns from chemical ice packs put right on the skin! Yep, I still have the burns......yep they still hurt....nope I haven't shaved that leg in 6 days!!! The #1 reason running 18 miles on a treadmill is a BAD idea............... Did you ever wonder what happens to the treadmill when the timer reaches 99 minutes and 60 seconds since it doesn't have another space for 100 plus minutes? I did............then I found out! The treadmill stops on a dime!!! Go from 6.0 miles per hour to zero in about 2 seconds........very bad........very, very bad!!! I did not fall but it was not pretty, it was cute, but not pretty!! Being the optimist that I am, I must include some positives. So, the top 5 reasons running 18 miles on a treadmill is a GOOD idea............. #5 Dude, it's 20 degrees outside with 40-50 mph gusts, and snowing............no explaination needed! #4 I got to watch The Santa Clause 1, and The Santa Clause 2, then took Winks and The Bug that afternoon to see The Santa Clause 3! Pretty impressive!! A Trilogy! #3 I put the race course map on the treadmill and took water breaks at the same time they will occur on race day. Yeah, that's just smart! I know, I know my brain-power amazes you!! #2 I burned 2,860 calories!! Wow! I was impressed until Ceito chimed in and said, "that's not even a full pound!" Whatever!!!! So, 3,500 calories to burn one pound! I just wanted to smack him!! The #1 Reason that running 18 miles on a Treadmill is a GOOD idea.............. Did you know that your treadmill makes a great trash organizer? I took in one power gel every 45-60 minutes. I just dropped them on the belt and whoosh they went back behind me into a nice neat little pile I picked up afterward. I should have put a trash can back there, but hey I learned something to make it better next time. OH MY GOSH, I just typed NEXT TIME! That means I will do it again? Probably! Really the best reason that running 18 miles on a treadmill is a GOOD idea is this one............. #1 Because I CAN!! Peace, Love and Doin' it with a SMILE, Crazy Trimama.................OUT!