Don’t Worry…I’ll Be Back Soon!

Hi all!

I have a HUGE deadline at work coming up and alas, I find myself with barely time to shower.  As a result of this deadline, I’m working long hours and weekends (plus we’ve had three weddings in the past month that we were invited to, making my “free” weekends still quite busy), which means that the little spare time I do have has been dedicated to my husband, dog, and–of course–running.  I’m not getting as much sleep as I would like, but I find that regular exercise and keeping my diet clean (rich in fruits and veggies and low on processed foods and meat) is giving me more energy than I would otherwise expect.  So, I’m continuing to make exercise a non-negotiable priority–I’ll be flexible about when it gets done, but it’s going to get done.  Anyways, I’ll be back in a week or so…thanks for your patience!

 

Frick!

Holy crow.  Another week GONE.  It’s Labor Day weekend, and summer is over.  And I forgot my weekly wrap-up last week.  Dang it!

I have good reason for being MIA, though.  My in-laws were here from Sunday until Wednesday.  I took Monday and Tuesday off from work to entertain them, and then I worked my tail off Wednesday through Friday.  Very little free time this week!

However, I did have a good time on Monday and Tuesday.  On Monday, we took my in-laws to the great New York State Fair, where wine was drank, junk was eaten, and we walked til our feet ached.  I forgot how much I love the Fair–where else can you see hot tubs, firearms demonstrations, livestock, and a giant sculpture made out of butter, all while stuffing yourself with curly fries, taffy and cotton candy?  (I passed on the fried dough.  My stomach had taken enough abuse by halfway through the day.)  They also had a “Pride of New York” marketplace featuring all sorts of foods from the different regions of the state.  More on my finds there later!

On Tuesday we went sightseeing in the swanky little town of Skaneatles.  My high school tennis team used to call it something not very nice before matches, but now that I’m (a little) more adult I can appreciate how nice of a town it really is.  We went on a boat tour of the lake and checked out some of the fancy houses, had lunch at the historic Sherwood Inn, and then shopped around for a bit.

Now this is where it gets exciting, my foodie friends.

First, we came across the Vermont Green Mountain Specialty Store.  Now, I haven’t alluded too much to this yet, but…I love my coffee.  So does Mark.  We either buy our coffee from a local coffeeshop, or we buy fair trade Green Mountain coffee at the grocery store.  Here was a shop that featured several different kinds of Green Mountain coffee.  And it turned out that it was a candy store, too.  And if there’s one thing I love more than coffee, it’s candy.  I was nearly jumping up and down with excitement.  I couldn’t resist buying a half pound of specialty chocolates…

Little pieces of heaven on earth.

Just when I thought that my life couldn’t get much better, we came across a little kitchen and specialty foods store called Rhubarb.  I was like a kid in a candy store (oh wait…).  Long story short, after checking out all the goods and chatting with the owner, I came outside, quite a bit poorer, to my husband and in-laws who had been standing out front waiting for me for about 10 minutes after they had finished looking around.

Here is my accumulated loot from the day at the Fair and in Skankycatsass Skaneatles:

• Wild blueberry preserves (from Rhubarb)
• Raspberry honey mustard pretzel dip (from Rhubarb)
• White chocolate peanut butter (Rhubarb again)
• Salt water taffy (from the State Fair…we sent half of it home with Mark’s parents to give to his grandmother)
• CHOCOLATES!!! (Vermont Green Mountain Specialty Co)
• Maple Balsamic Vinagrette (Pride of NY Marketplace at the State Fair)
• Dried cinnamon apples (Pride of NY Marketplace)
• Wild Mountain Blueberry Coffee (VGMSC)
• Southern Pecan Coffee (VGMSC–quite possibly the most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted in my life)

I got a rude jolt back to reality on Wednesday when I had to return to work, but at least I’ve got some delectable foods to enjoy.  I felt horribly drained all three days, but somehow, a little bit of chocolate or a good cup of coffee always seems to make things seem better.

On the docket this weekend: a 13-miler, my friend Lynda’s wedding, and hopefully a little R&R before another jam-packed week.  Happy Labor Day!

 

Music to My Ears

I don’t normally wear headphones while running outside for safety reasons (crazy people who drive 45 through my 30 MPH limited suburban neighborhood, crazy people who sneak up behind you, crazy people in general…).  And in a race, absolutely not–when I’m around that many people, I need to be aware of my surroundings.  There might be a person trying to pass me that I should get out of the way of, or someone yelling directions that I need to hear, or heck, even someone cheering for me when I’m downtrodden and need it most.  Stories like this one reaffirm that belief for me.  I wore headphones during my first marathon three years ago and I regret it to this day. 

I also find a lot of solace in listening to the sounds of my feet on the pavement, my breathing, and the sounds of my neighborhood.  If you haven’t tried it, you should–you’re missing out on a unique and peaceful experience.  It’s one of the few times of day when I can let go of my day and be alone with my thoughts.  I’d compare it to a form of meditation–I’m clearing my head, minding my breath, and my footsteps are my mantra.

But when I’m on the treadmill or cross-training at the gym, all bets are off.  I’m inside a stuffy building, surrounded by sweaty, loud people, and all the while some crazy techno song is blaring from the speakers slowly driving me nuts.  My iPod is my friend in this situation.  I like to mix up my playlist every once in awhile, but here’s what I’m listening to now.  Don’t laugh–I’ve got some funny tastes in music.

• Say It Right, Nelly Furtado – warm up song
• Eminence Front, The Who
• Rock the Casbah, The Clash
• Mercy (Remix), Duffy feat. The Game
• Give It to Me, Timbaland feat. Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado
• Girlfriend, Avril Lavigne
• Crazy, Gnarls Barkley (this song was playing EVERYWHERE when we were in Italy on our honeymoon, and it always brings me back there)
• Hey Ya, Outkast
• Maneater, Nelly Furtado
• Breathe, Swollen Members feat. Nelly Furtado
• Bombs Over Baghdad, Outkast
• Promiscuous, Nelly Furtado
• Harder to Breathe, Maroon 5
• Under My Thumb, The Rolling Stones – cool down song

Happy Friday!

 

Oh Happy Day!

I got the news I have been waiting over two months for this past Thursday…I can run again!!!

Well, almost…I went back to my sports doctor for a regularly scheduled follow-up, and he was asking me about the pain I was having in my leg (dull, achy, lower than the fracture location and only in the evenings after a strenuous day, not during activity).  He chalked that up to my muscles readapting to activity and said that it should subside as my leg regains some strength.  He had me do a hop test (hopping on the injured leg to test for pain) and I was able to do ten hops with no pain whatsoever.  I then got the green light for ellipticaling and stairclimber exercise, and then we got to the part of the conversation that I liked the most…

Dr. B: I’d even say that it’s probably okay to walk on a treadmill and insert some slow, easy jogs during the course of your walk–but only on the treadmill for now.

Katie: (grinning happily) Really???  YESSSSSSSS!

Dr. B: Don’t be an idiot.  If you go all out, you’re going to be right back here again.

I wonder where would he have ever gotten the idea that I would be all gung-ho about this?  Does my neurotic, type-A personality show through that much?

This is a situation where I am really reigning myself in–and I need to.  As much as I want to be running again, I would be devastated if I fractured my leg again right after going through this.  I actually haven’t tried any of the activities he greenlighted yet, except for walking.  Ike and I took a much needed 1.5 mile walk both yesterday morning and this afternoon.  I am happy to report that I had no pain and Ike seemed thrilled to death that I was able to go with him.  

My workouts this week were:

• 6/1: 45 minutes swimming
• 6/2: 30 minute speed workout on an exercise bike + 20 minutes weights
• 6/3: 55 minutes biking (11.32 miles)
• 6/4: 30 minutes pool running + 30 minutes swimming
• 6/5: Rest
• 6/6: 30 minutes pool running + 30 minutes swimming
• 6/7: 71 minutes biking (15.36 miles)

For this upcoming week, I’m planning on sticking with my swimming, pool running and biking routine, and adding in some walks with Ike and some elliptical action.  Truth be told, I’m a little scared about starting to run before my leg is fully healed.

I plan on continuing these cross-training activities well into my recovery.  I plan on doing some more detailed posts on each of them later, but I feel like I have gained strength that I didn’t have before I got injured.  And as my doctor also said, cross-training is going to be the key to successfully getting back to running.  My leg will not be able to handle 40 mile weeks again for awhile, so I’m going to need to depend on cross training to get back to peak cardiovascular shape.

I want to make sure that I do this right, so I’m currently working out a return to running plan.  Thanks to some good people on the Runner’s World forums, I found this website with a lot of information, including a seven-week plan for returning to running after a stress fracture.

Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
1	Walk 10 min, Run 5 min, Walk 5 min, Run 5 min	Run in water or other training	Run in water or other training	Walk 5 min,Run 5 min,Walk 5 min,Run 5 min,Walk 5 min,Run 5 min	Run in water or other training	Run in water or other training	Walk 3 min, Run 7 min, Walk 3 min, Run 7 min, Walk 3 min, Run 7 min
2	Run in water or other training	Walk 2 min, Run 8 min, Walk 2 min, Run 8 min, Walk 2 min, Run 8 min	Run in water or other training	Run 10 min, Walk 2 min,Run 10 min, Walk 2 min,Run 10 min	Run in water or other training	Run 12 min, Walk 2 min, Run 12 min, Walk 2 min, Run 10 min	Run in water or other training
3	Run 15 min, Walk 2 min, Run 15 min	Run in water or other training	Run 20 min, Walk 2 min, Run 10 min	Run in water or other training	Run 25 min	Run in water or other training	Run 30 min
4	Run in water or other training	Run 25 min	Run 30 min	Run in water or other training	Run 25 min	Run 35 min	Run in water or other training
5	Run 30 min	Run 35 min	Run in water or other training	Run 30 min plus 6 x 100 meter stridouts	Run 30 min	Run 40 min	Run in water or other training
6	Tempo Run (15 min warm-up, 15 min @ 15 km race pace)	Run 30 min	Run 45 min	Run in water or other training	Run 40 min plus 6 x 100 meter strideouts	Run 30 min	Run 50 min
7	Run in water or other training	Run 35 min	Tempo Run (15 min warm-up, 20 min @ 15 km race pace)	Run 35 min	Run in water or other training	Run 40 min plus 6 x 100 meter strideouts	Run 55 min

It looks like a pretty solid plan, so I’m planning on customizing it to meet my needs.  First though, I want to spend this week gaining confidence in my leg and its ability to handle the impact of running.

I also came across this article this weekend written by one of my running idols, Amby Burfoot.  The takeaway of this article is that all runners get injured at some point in their running careers.  This is my first serious running injury.  I’ve had Achilles tendonitis and some IT band issues from running, not to mention a prior stress fracture from lacrosse and a torn hamstring from tennis, but this is my first major injury that is directly attributable to running.  I’m probably lucky that it took this long.

My sports doctor has told me several times in the last few months that the human body is not designed to run for 26 miles at a time, my body is unusually susceptible to fractures, I’m going to keep him in business, yadda yadda yadda.  When we said goodbye the other morning, he said “I’ll see you when you get your next stress fracture.”  I was a little offended, but, truth be told, he’s probably right.  I’m going to do my darndest to make him wrong, though.  I’ve learned from this experience that it is absolutely critical to listen to my body, give it adequate rest, and not push it when I know that it’s not ready for what I want it to do.

If that’s all I take away from this, I think it’s been a worthwhile experience, no matter how painful and frustrating it was.

 

The Underdog

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve spent a lot of my life feeling like an underdog.  Whether real or imagined, I’ve always had something to prove.  I had to prove that I could run a marathon, I had to prove that I could win a race, I had to prove that I could get an A in this class, etc, etc.  I never figured out who I was trying to prove this to.

I came across this article tonight while checking the news.  Now, I’ll be frank here and give you my honest opinion–Paul Harris has a LOT of potential, but he had a pretty mediocre basketball season this year, and there is no way that he should be going to the NBA right now.  But I said that last year, too.  Is Paul not living up to his potential, or is that potential not there to begin with? 

This line in particular jumped out at me:

“I’ve got a chip on my shoulder,” Harris said. ”I think it’s good being an underdog.  My motto is: I’m going to shock the world.”

Now, if Paul does well in the NBA, I can’t say I’ll be shocked.  I think he is a good basketball player.  So that raises the question: do we put these chips on our shoulders, or do others?  Are we racing to show someone, to beat everyone else, or for our own intrinsic sense of well-being?

 

Light at the End of the Tunnel

Well, it’s been awhile since I last blogged (nearly three weeks to be exact), but trust me, you haven’t missed much.  I was (mostly) faithful to my crutches and stayed off my leg as much as possible.  My games of backyard fetch with Ike have looked mostly like this:

He drops the ball about 4 feet away from me almost every time, so my crutches have become apparati to pull the ball closer.  It works.

I did go to West Palm Beach, Florida for work last week, and I managed to swim and pool run three days in a row while I was down there.  If you are an injured runner, I would highly recommend an aqua jogging belt.  It’s the closest I’ve gotten to running in a long time.  Sure, I looked like a moron, but whatever.  It was nothing compared to how stupid I looked trying to get on and off of a plane on crutches.

I also had an appointment with my sports doctor today.  He ordered another tib/fib x-ray and we were able to see what I had been hoping for–evidence of calcification at the fracture site in my fibula.  I was thrilled, because I’ve had my doubts about how it was really healing.  Then, second slice of good news–I can stop using the crutches as long as I don’t have pain at the fracture site!  I nearly hugged him for that one.  Actually “going for a walk” is still out, as is standing for long periods of time, but I am now clear to walk around the house and work.  I got the OK to continue swimming, and also to start doing seated weights for my legs (leg extensions, hamstring curls, seated leg raises, etc–no squats, leg presses or lunges, though).  Then, things got bittersweet–biking is not allowed for two more weeks, and running is off the list for six more weeks.

I’ve got some serious mixed feelings about that last one.

On one hand, I’m happy to finally have a date in mind.  Six more weeks.  June 25.  On the other hand, this means I can’t do the Corporate Challenge, and probably not the Boilermaker, either (2.5 weeks isn’t exactly an adequate amount of time to train for a 15K when I haven’t been running at all).   Seeing as how I’ve already missed the Mountain Goat, all of the “big” local races are out of the question for this year. 

So what now?

I’m pretty goal-oriented (not to mention Type A to an extreme), so I need something to work towards.  I’ve set my sights on the Marathon of the Palm Beaches.  It will give me an excuse to visit my parents down there and have a decent vacation at the same time.  I’m going to hold off on registering for as long as I can, though.  I need to see what happens when I actually start to run again, and determine if my body will be ready for the stress of a marathon by then.  If I can’t do a marathon, I’ll likely do the associated half marathon.

In the meantime, I’m going to do my best to work on getting back in decent shape so that I won’t be starting over from ground zero in six weeks.  Wait, who am I kidding–I know it’s going to not be pleasant, regardless.  I just want to make it less unpleasant. I do best with a planned out training schedule, so I’ll start posting my planned workouts from now on.

5/14 – 5/17/09:

• Thursday: 60min swim/pool running
• Friday: 60min Pilates
• Saturday: 30min weights
• Sunday: 60min swim/pool running

On that note, you can find me at the local pool…

 

Katie Doesn’t Run for Fun

That’s the new title of my blog.  For the next 6-8 weeks or so, at least.

But let me backtrack to the weekend…

Sunday: I decided it was a grand day to get back into exercise mode, bad leg or not.  I went to the gym and did the recumbent bike for an hour, followed by some abs and 15 minutes or so of upper body lifting.  Simple, yet satisfying.

I spent Sunday afternoon at the dog park with my two favorite guys…

Yes, my dog is very fast and very smart.  No, I’m not biased at all.

Monday: Boston Marathon day, yet I was not in Boston and not able to run.  I did my best to suck up my disappointment all day at work and afterwards, I pedaled my heart out on a stationary bike at the gym for 45 minutes.  I did 1-3 minute intervals of trying to keep my RPMs above 110 and got my heart rate up pretty well.  I did some light stretching afterwards and left the gym feeling good about biking as a substitute for running during my recovery. 

Tuesday: I got a phone call from the bike shop saying that my bike was finally fixed.  Hooray!  I picked it up after work and immediately took it out for a spin.  I forgot my Garmin, so I have no idea how far or how long I biked (I’m guessing around 8 miles based on my knowledge of the route).  It was fantastic, I felt like a little kid again.

Wednesday: My leg was a little sore, so I took the day off.

Thursday: Doctor day again.  When the doctor walked into the examination room, he said “So, I checked the Boston results but I didn’t see your name!”  Funny guy.  He then asked me when my next race was, and I replied that I was signed up for one on May 3 (the Mountain Goat, which I had signed up for back in February).  He replied, “How about the fall?”  My heart sank. 

The doctor confirmed what we had both suspected–the MRI showed a stress fracture in my fibula.  The good news is that the bone is still properly aligned, so I won’t need surgery or a cast.  He didn’t want to put me in a walking boot because the boot would come up short of where the fracture was.  He then told me that he wants me to use the crutches for three more weeks (“ARE YOU NUTS!!?!?”, screamed my sore arms and shoulders) and no physical activity.  “What about biking, or swimming?”, I asked.  He said that swimming was okay, but not biking.  There goes that plan.

After the three weeks are up, I’ll have another X-ray to confirm that the bone is healing properly, then we can talk about a gradual reintroduction to exercise.  Honestly, as much as I miss running, I’d be happy to even just be able to take Ike for a walk at this point.  Oh yeah, and to not have chafed armpits, sore shoulders and swollen palms from using crutches all the time would be a bonus.

So, next steps:

• Research indoor swimming pools in the area (it’s not warm enough for the outdoor pools to be open).
• Stockpile the Aleve for my sore arms and shoulders.
• Find a hobby that doesn’t involve being on my feet.  Any suggestions?

My little piece of sanity and comfort for today:

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Romans 12:12

 

Recovery Plan

As many endurance athletes know, your recovery is just as important as your actual workouts.  That is a fact that I’ve always had a little trouble getting my head around.  If some exercise is good, more is always better, right?  And if I take that day off, I’m almost surely going to lose fitness, correct?  Not necessarily.

Now that I am forced to take some rest, I’m trying to focus on physically and emotionally recovering from this injury so that I can get back to my favorite sport in good shape and ready to hit the ground running (pun intended!).  Both are significant challenges in their own right, so both deserve some attention.

Physical:

A big obstacle right now is that neither I nor my doctor is 100% sure what, exactly, my injury is yet.  I had an MRI this week, but we haven’t yet reviewed it yet.  I’m supposed to be using crutches to aid in staying off of the leg (I use them primarily at work to get around the huge building I work in).  Most of the time, I’m pain-free, but if I’m on the leg too much it will ache the next day, and sometimes one wrong move will surprise me with a shockwave of pain.  After three weeks, this is getting seriously old.

The two factors that I can control the most in how quickly and well my leg heals are how much time I spend using my leg and my diet.  I am making a conscious effort to sit whenever I am able, to lean on my crutches if I need to stand, and to give my body more sleep and even time on the couch.  The lack of activity is bothering me, but I’m trying to remember that this is temporary and to gradually introduce activities that my leg can tolerate.  I have used the recumbent bike at my gym on low resistance without too much trouble, and I wanted to do some upper body weights but my shoulders, upper back and triceps are almost constantly tired and sore from using my crutches.  Next week I hope to up my activity a little and work in some swimming and some strength work.

As for my diet, I’m trying to make sure that I get enough calories and adequate nutrition.  I’m eating tons of fruits and veggies, and also more dairy.  Now, I have a disclaimer to make: I don’t really like dairy.  I don’t mind yogurt or cheese, but I hate milk (strangely, I dislike soy milk, almond milk, or hemp milk even more…something about milk-like products I suppose).  However, eating dairy is the easiest and most foolproof way to boost my calcium intake–extremely important when you have a stress fracture.  So, let me introduce to you my bone-building smoothie:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• 1 Stonyfield Farms plain yogurt
• 0.5 cup 1% milk
• 1 No Sugar Added Carnation Instant Breakfast packet

This makes a tasty smoothie that is loaded with protein, calcium, and antioxidants.  It also happens to be my favorite post long-run recovery drink.

The final product in my panda cup

Second disclaimer of this post: I don’t like how artificial Carnation Instant Breakfasts are.  I also don’t like Splenda (or NutraSweet, Sweet and Low, or even Stevia, for that matter).  However, like most things, I think almost anything is fine in moderation and under the right circumstances.  In a situation where your body needs additional nutrients (e.g. after a long run or when recovering from an injury), Carnation Instant Breakfast is an easy way to add these to your diet.

Mental:

The mental part of my recovery feels like a constant two steps forward one step back cycle.  Overall, I think I’m making progress, but I’m having some tough spots.

Right now, my husband and I were supposed to be driving to Boston so that I could run on Monday.  This fact is not lost on me.  It’s a bit of a relief to know that my qualifying time will be accepted for next year’s race, but it’s still tough to think about the months of training that have now been lost.  It’s also tough because the weather in Central New York is finally starting to get nice.  It’s race season, and I’m missing it.  I’m going to miss my favorite local race this year, the Mountain Goat, and have to watch my husband and friends from the sidelines.

2008 Mountain Goat - My 26th Birthday

Distraction is my drug of choice in this battle.  I’m trying to think of other activities to do while still being able to enjoy the improving weather and if possible, get some exercise in while I’m doing it.  Some things I’ve been researching:

Ike saw the camera flash and wanted in on the picture…attention hog.

Hiking is probably still a ways off yet, but biking is probably in the near future.  My bike is currently in the bike shop getting fixed and I should have it in a matter of days.  I’ve researched a bunch of places to bike and am excited about doing some exploring.

I also may be traveling to West Palm Beach, Florida for work in the coming weeks…a beachfront hotel room would probably help me feel better…

 

Crushing the Crutch

Take a marathoner who was three weeks pre-race and running 40 miles a week, give her a major injury and restrict physical activity for two weeks and what do you get?

I saw the my new sports physician yesterday, and after a mere two minutes of speaking with the nurse, I was sent to the X-ray room and promptly had some pretty bone pictures taken.  The doctor came in and asked me a bunch of questions about my running and injury history, my training, and then began poking, prodding, bending, flexing and twisting my leg and foot.  For all the pain he managed to cause me in just ten minutes, I liked him a surprising amount.

As he glanced at my x-rays, he said to me: “Well, you’re a runner, I’m sure you’ve self-diagnosed by now.  What do you think it is?”

<Insert mildly hysterical laughing from my husband here.  I’ve spent at least 48 hours in the past two weeks Googling about lower leg injuries.>

I laughed a little myself and told him that I thought it was peroneal tendonitis.  He said good guess, because that was his second choice.  But his first choice was a fibular stress fracture.  I have to go for an MRI this Thursday, and then see him again next Thursday to review the MRI before he’ll have a definitive diagnosis.  Bah.

Then came the real fun part–crutches!  Apparently, walking on the leg won’t likely cause any further damage, but the more I can stay off of it, the better it will likely heal.  Makes sense, I suppose.

However, neither the doctor nor I took into account the damage to my ego that would occur when I returned to work on crutches.  I took more razzing than I have taken since the Monday after my bachelorette party three years ago, when I showed up at work with road rash down the left side of my face, two black eyes, and a swollen nose (I still maintain that the sidewalk jumped up at me).

It is official now: my underarms, palms of my hands, and shoulders hurt more than my probable stress fractured leg.  Fun!

While I’m making fun of myself almost as much as everyone else at work is making fun of me, I’m finding myself reaching for obscene amounts of junk food.  This is probably a combination of ease of access due to the recent occurrence of Easter as well as some self-pity.  I’ve got to ditch this…I’ve got two crutches already, I don’t need a third.

This may also be a contributing factor for my recent junk food binge…dammit, Jonny!

To end on a positive note, I’ll leave you with another Ike picture…and in a tribute to Jonny and his two fantastic years with the Orangemen I’m wearing my Marathon Men shirt…

 

Easter Hope

As our priest said in his homily this morning, Easter is a day of hope.  For all the suffering of this world, we can take comfort in the hope that something better is coming.  When I realized on Friday that Boston wasn’t going to happen with my bum leg the way it is right now, I kept asking “Why?”.  Now that I am calmer and my emotions aren’t quite so raw, I can ask the more appropriate question of “What now?”.  Changing my mindset has given me hope and the ability to see other opportunities that I was blind to before…quite an appropriate revelation for Easter Sunday.

We spent most of the afternoon at my parents’ house today, enjoying their company as well as that of my two brothers and my parents’ dog, Bruce.  I brought this masterpiece for dessert…

That would be Samantha’s Coconut Butter Rum Pound Cake with Rum Glaze from Jenna’s Blogger Dessert E-Cookbook.  My only deliberate modifications were putting the cake into a Bundt cake pan and adding the shredded coconut for garnish.  However, I accidentally added an extra half stick of butter (so it turned out to be a very rich cake!) and I slightly burned the glaze, but it was amazing.  The cake was so soft and moist and the glaze was almost like caramel or toffee.  My family loved it!  This made that $10 donation completely worth it, so I’d highly recommend buying the cookbook if you haven’t already!

I moved out of my parents’ house about 4.5 years ago, but when I moved out, I first moved into a small apartment without much room for a lot of my junk.  My parents graciously hung onto much of it for a long time.  However, two years ago, my father started a job that required him to work primarily out of Florida, but still with frequent travel back here.  My mom stayed here in New York, but now my parents are beginning to make preparations to move to Florida permanently.  So, they have begun a crusade to get rid of all of my crap (as well as that of my siblings).  Today, I brought home:

• My lacrosse stick
• Two of my tennis racquets
• My bike + helmet
• A handheld saw and sander (thanks, Dad!)

Now, I’ve been meaning to get my bike for the past three years or so.  It was a gift from four of my aunts for my high school graduation nine years ago.  Unfortunately, I kind of accidentally left it outside one winter while I was in college.  Oops.  I may be an engineer, but I never claimed to have common sense.  Needless to say, my bike now needs some work.

So, tomorrow, in addition to my long-awaited doctor’s appointment, I’m going to take my bike to a shop to get an estimate on getting it fixed.  I think I will be able to bike with my leg the way it is, so I’m trying to get excited about it.  It’s more than likely that I will need to take some time off from racing with this injury, so I’m digging out my old bike trail books and planning some outings for the near future.  Diverting my energy from road racing to fun bike outings gives me hope that I will be able to get over this injury without losing my mind.

No matter what happens, I know that I am extremely blessed and fortunate.  After all, I’ve got these guys…

Mark and Ike, Easter 2009