Can I Do This??

So Physical Therapy is going pretty well.  I can stand and walk around without much difficulty now, thank goodness, I was going a little stir crazy there.  But I am getting really nervous about being able to do the marathon.  I haven't run in almost two weeks and my doctor and marathon veteran friends are saying I can still do it.  But I am not sure how.  I realize that it might not be the same race I would have run before the injury, but I still want to do this, I have been training and putting so much effort into everything I don't want to lose this dream.  I may not be able to start running until the middle of next week leaving only about 17 days before the marathon, any ideas for a training plan in that short of time?? Asking for help in the great big blogosphere, hopping to get some answers from anyone.

Running Fashionista

Yes I am a runner, yes I will be running a marathon in Eugene in a few weeks, but yes I am also a work out clothes fashionista!  I need to be comfortable, but I need to look good while running too.  As I was on bed rest last week and running rest this week I have become obsessed with figuring out all the little details of the day.  Is there a microwave/refrigerator in the room, should I get a SPIbelt or  just use pockets, how do I carry enough water, and of course, what should I wear??  This obsession with running fashion is nothing new...

As you can see here Amy, Hillary and I felt the need to get matching running fashion many years ago.

So I needed something to build my outfit from.  I REALLY wanted to wear purple and gold and really represent University of Washington and The Huskies as I ran around Eugene and put it in those Ducks faces.  But I was also mildly afraid that I may be attacked for doing so, but since purple is my favorite color I end up with a lot of purple running clothes so I need to build from something else...

The inspiration.. the shoes a blue and aqua theme

So on Friday I felt like I could probably make a trip to the mecca of running/workout fashion... Lululemon with my friend/running buddy and coach Chrissie.  We really took the aqua and blue to heart and luckily those colors are in the Lulu spring color palate.  This is the adorable outfit we chose...

A super cute and comfy top in lovely aqua with an adorable skirt, the side crunch up to show another pleated skirt underneath, adorable!!! I will probably also wear some arm warmers made by Chrissie too, stay tuned for a picture of the final outfit.

The next day I went out with my friend Karen (another amazing friend running buddy/coach - did I mention both of these AMAZING women have completed IronMan triathlons!!!!!) to shop for "throw away" clothes for the starting line.  These are clothes to have on at the starting line to keep warm and throw away once the race begins (these clothes are then donated to a local Goodwill) so it was off to a thrift shop.  We found some great sweats for the starting line but we also found this "Winner" I couldn't resist for the finish line...

Ummm, need I say more, this is awesome!

How do you strain your Rectus Abdominus?

So this is a little story about how I strained my rectus abdomens aka my six pack.  Yes I am aware this sounds very very odd and in fact it took 2 days to correctly diagnose me but the verdict is in and I have a strained rectus.  Now, let me tell you the story of how this all happened.  

We have to go back week to last Monday afternoon, as a side note (or so I thought) I took Hercules for a bath around noon and he decided to be a little stubborn about getting down into the tub so it took a lot of maneuvering (read pushing, shoving, pulling a 90 lb dead weight dog) on my part. But look at this happy face once he gets in the tub.

Happy Herc!

Anyhow...so I had returned home with my clean dog and rushed around to get ready to go with Ryan to a doctor appointment.  At 1pm as I was running down the stairs to put the dogs away I noticed a very sharp stabbing pain in my RLQ (right lower abdomen for my non nursing peeps out there) I immediately thought appendicitis vs ovarian cyst rupture but I knew I had to go to Ryan's appointment so I let it go.  I could only let it go for so long, once home the vomiting started.  I had to call Ryan to come home from practice to take care of me.  I very begrudgingly went to the ER.  They too were pretty worried and immediately thought of appendicitis or ovarian cyst. So I got an IV, Dilaudid, and Zofran (i.e. major narcotics and anti-nausea medicines) then at this point once I was quite loopy they did a pelvic exam, LOVELY!  I was pretty loopy but they ruled out ovarian torsion and cyst.  (Yippee!!) So... I went off to CT to look at that appendix.  It was negative but I was still in crazy amount of pain and the nausea was OUT of this WORLD!! So more pain meds, more nausea meds and more IV fluids (apparently Ryan, Sue and I all watched Dancing with the Stars but I don't have much memory of this) Ryan and Sue were both amazing, rubbing my back my feet and then itching me everywhere when the pain meds side effects starting kicking in.  They sent me home thinking it might be early appendicitis and a follow up the next day with my primary doctor.

Which brings us to Tuesday... trip to the doctor, still thinking it's early appendicitis, more blood drawn, sent home to lay around and wait.  By 8pm I have a massive headache and completely dehydrated, vomiting and nauseous like I can't explain and the pain is still there.  So back to the ER we went.  I really thought for sure it was the appendix and they were going to just whisk me off to surgery for an open procedure, which would mean no marathon and no work for a while.  I was not happy I cried the whole way there.  But I saw a new doctor who listened to me as they started another IV (more fluids, Dilaudid and Zofran) and then examined me but he had a different thought.  Then he asked me if anything else happened before the pain started.  I told him about the dog bath, but nothing hurt when I was there.  He said he had a very similar case when he was a resident and it was a strained rectus abdomens (aka - six pack).  So they gave me a muscle relaxer (10mg Valium), pain med (1mg Dilaudid) and nausea medicine (8mg Zofran) and sent me HOME  20 minutes later, they dared to ask if I needed  a wheelchair, UMMM yes please!!!

So on the good side, no surgery! But I am banned from running for about 2 weeks.  I have started PT, Kinetics to be exact and they are doing some amazing work.  They are doing graston therapy, KT taping, and stretches and exercises.  I am allowed to get on a bike tomorrow and hoping to be aqua running or on an elliptical at the end of the week and still running Eugene Marathon!  Which really is saying a lot considering I was on bed rest and in the fetal position all of last week.  I was pretty much going out of my mind with boredom when I was sleeping.  Thank you for all my friends and family who have kept me sane over the last week through this injury I know I have been a horrible patient.  Before I go here is a picture of my tape job, please excuse the mess in the background. 

More Spring Springing!

It seems like everyday there are more and more signs of Spring!  Although it is true it has been quite rainy here in the late winter and early Spring (more so than normal) it also seems like we are starting to have more sunny days.  Nothing like my friends and family have been experiencing in the midwest and east coast... sunny and 75 on St. Patrick's Day??? No fair, it snowed here that day!!  But alas, we are enjoying the weather now!!! And here are some pictures with the proof.

Hercules and Roscoe posing by some daffodils after a walk around the lake

Local crew team practicing on GreenLake

Beautiful azalea tree in a neighbors yard 

Plum blossoms on my street!!!

Our tree (magnolia??) getting ready to bloom, I know it's going to burst open any day now

Other pretty green plants in our yard

Daffodils on the side yard

What I think will be tulips next to where our crocuses lived before someone ruined them

We also have high hopes of planting a garden in our yard in a few weeks with peas, squash, zucchini, carrots and who knows what else, I am hoping for a dahlia or two!!  I will of course be blogging about this adventure in the coming weeks.  Ryan's mom says that perfect planting time is Mother's Day weekend here so we still have a little bit to decide what and where to plant, or where we can put a garden the dogs won't eat/pee on ;)