Ugliest Feet Ever

This morning, a podiatrist told me I needed to stop biking for two weeks because of a painful and inflamed toe.

I stared at him.

He said not to worry, I could still run and could get my exercise fix that way.

I continued to stare at him.

But in another two weeks if it hasn't healed, I would need to stop running for two weeks.

I blinked.

It's okay! He says, you can just hit the pool if that happens and you can swim for exercise!

He has no idea.

I am still planning on biking and running and swimming. But I'll buy new bike shoes that will hopefully take the pressure off of my angry red swollen toe.

I hate my feet.

Where Did The Thorpedo Go?

Before Michael Phelps there was The Thorpedo - a hot* little Aussie who swam faster than a fish. I think he might want to get back in that pool! Yikes!

THEN:

NOW:

*nice looking but not as good as my marty

To Ride or Run

The debate at the end of the week revolved around riding or running on Saturday morning. It was going to be much warmer on Saturday than Sunday, but there was a chance of showers -- 30% which grew to 40%. Running can be done in almost anything, but riding in the rain isn't too much fun. Buuuut, I would rather ride in warm than cold (high on Sunday only 39 degrees).

I turned the weather on Saturday morning and the weather lady assured me that there would only be a few very light sprinkles over the area, but only in some spots. That sounded pretty promising to me so off we rode.

Weather lady sucks. There was no light sprinkle, it was light rain, which becomes annoying quickly while on your bike. And few isn't exactly the word I would've used when it lasted the better part of two hours. With the melted snow, grime, dirt and salt everywhere, we came off the bike dirtier than ever. Bikes were immediately cleaned and lubed up. A couple of bright spots were the fact that I was dressed appropriately so never got cold, and I felt like my bike fitness has finally decided to make an appearance.

In the afternoon I hit Old Navy where they were having awesome sales (everything I got was $5!). Then Marty and I had date night :)

Off to run in a bit now.

Wasting Time on the Internet

Marty and I Obamacized ourselves. Be careful if you do this - it is a time-suck, and before you know it an hour has gone by.







The snow is still here but I won't bore you with anymore pictures or video (oh yeah, I have a ton more). Tomorrow it will be 50 or something so it will all melt away, and close to 60 on Saturday so that will be a good day for a bike ride. It really is pretty to see everything blanketed in white, but I can see how after awhile it would get really annoying. Work was on a two hour delay this morning, so Marty and I went for a run. First thing walking down our steep driveway I slip on ice. We had to be real careful and our workout turned out to be not as good as it should've been but at least we got something in.

I waited until the last possible minute to drive into work, but it turned out our neighborhood was the worst for ice and once I got on the main roads everything was fine. The pool was also delayed so no Master's for us this morning. Tassie ran in to wake us up at 5:30 anyways, I swear she thought we were late or something. The two additional hours of sleep was nice, but I really would've rather a good hard swim workout.

Snow, snow and more snow!

I was a little premature in posting the last video of it snowing, but don't you worry because I have TONS of video now! Yesterday they were predicting possibly 4-6" of snow for today, but everyone is always a bit wary because it happens a lot that the weather people will say it's going to snow and then it never does. And by 10:00 pm last night I was starting to get mighty disappointed when it was just raining and the temperature was still 40-something degrees. I even dreamt that it didn't snow and I had to go into work and I was VERY bummed about it (ah, it is a normal workday so I don't know why I was so upset in my dream). But when I got up it had snowed a lot over night and it was still coming down. And even now at 1:30 it's still snowing! I measured the amount on my car around 11 this morning and it was already at 4"!

Alisha and Joe drove to our house for a run because there was no way Marty or I were going to attempt to drive (and they grew up in the mountains so they're fine with it). I know people up north wonder why we shut down at a little snow, but the city is not really equipped with everything you need and people don't know how to drive in it (like me!) Anyways, we ran to Bond Park where there were approximately 400 families sledding down the big hill. It was very fun to run out there and see the kids racing down the hill - this is such a rare thing for us here. I'm really sorry to some of you who are like, my god these people in the south are SO ANNOYING when a little snow comes, we have snow all the time, get over yourself!...I really can't help it, please forgive me :) Below are a bunch of pictures and videos!

Marty and Tassie out front in the morning:

We smartly kept one car down in the street since our driveway is so steep. Not that we're planning on using it, but you never know.

Woops, hope I don't need to pump my tires today!

Alisha and I before the run. Plastic bags around my socks inside the shoes helped keep the feet nice and dry and warm.

One of the trails we usually run on in Bond Park:

"Working from home" :)

Marty and Alisha trudging through the snow:

It came out blurry, but it says 4 inches!

Here's a little video of Tassie having fun with her ball (the same one she won't give to me):

Sledding action at Bond Park during our run:

A little bit more sledding (and wipeouts):

Weekend Update - Our Coldest Yet!

Yesterday afternoon Marty and I took Tassie for a walk around our neighborhood lake. We were so surprised to see that part of it had frozen over! Of the 2 years we have lived in NC, I think this has been the coldest weekend. I don't know if Marty and I are ever going to get used to things like frozen lakes and the occasional snowfall - we have too much Florida in us. So we proceeded to take all sorts of pictures of the lake with various objects on the frozen ice (our feet, rocks and pine cones, a glass of beer - don't ask). This was after stopping earlier in the day mid-run to inspect the frozen mud...frozen mud!!

This morning we had about 1 minute of snowfall, so I ran and grabbed the camera to document it. The video also displays Tassie proving that just because she may be half retriever, does not necessarily mean she will give you the ball she just brought back. For your viewing enjoyment :)

I just got off the trainer because it's been a cold light drizzle all morning. I rented Baby Mama on the tv - funny movie and great one to pass the time (meaning not much thinking going on during this).

Cold Day

It is cold here in NC, much like the rest of the country. We're colder than some and not even close to as cold as others - and we would never willingly live in those colder places! I'm very glad our car doesn't tell us the temperature because I'm not sure I would have wanted to know this morning as we drove to Masters. We had a great group there and a lot of people joined us for breakfast afterwards.

I'm working from home today which is nice, and I can get a lot of things done without anyone bothering me. I'm huddled upstairs since our downstairs is quite chilly and probably won't warm up too much over the course of the day. Blame it on old doors and cheap windows - it is quite drafty down there. Doesn't seem to bother Tassie, who now has her full winter coat on. She's even sleeping downstairs now which tells me it's a tad bit too warm for her upstairs with us at night.

Training has been light this week, and thanks to Marit for the comment reassuring me that I wasn't being too wimpy after my spill on the bike, also known as "Jerry ran me off the road and no it had nothing to do with the fact I was talking too much and not paying attention" ;) I still can't sleep on my left side because of the hip, but I think I might get lucky tonight. I'm very much a side sleeper so this has been problematic for me getting good sleep (not to mention my predisposition for not being able to fall asleep very easily. Marty says I worry too much. I know!)

Tomorrow we'll probably get a run in at Umstead but I'm not committing to riding outdoors just yet this weekend. Beth runs when it's 2 degrees so I don't know what I'm complaining about.