As you might have seen from the dailymile widget over there on the side, I went to the gym last night to do the four miles I had skipped that morning. Stupid motivation.
The run felt fairly ragged, although I wasn't all that much slower than normal. It may have been from the extra-added bonus/reward I got from the run: watching a group of hot Portland firefighters playing basketball. I may have unconsciously slowed down each time I passed the basketball courts. Yummy! (Also cracked me up that over the span of about 15 minutes three fire engines went past the gym with all their lights on. Guys kept on playing though. I wanted to stop and ask them if perhaps they might need to be elsewhere?)
Then again, it was probably more to the screaming pain in my lower body I felt throughout most of the run. The hip was actually okay for a change but my low back continued to be very stiff and my legs were just one big cramp. Then, the leg cramps started to fade and my low back began to loosen up -- I'd been hoping the run would help my back to move around a bit and unlock. What I hadn't been hoping was that it would unlock in the worse possible position; right against a nerve. Ouch! Every step on my left leg felt like I was being stabbed with a knife, which then radiated down my leg. After a very short time of that, I had to pull over and sit down to try to get it to slip back into place. Thankfully, it did, and everything feels so much better today. First time I've been able to sit (nearly) pain-free in more than a week.
All of this should have boded well to make my weights workout this morning. But it didn't. No matter how lovely it was to watch the pretty pretty firefighters, I was starving so Burger King it was. Eating that late (nearly 9:00 p.m. by the time I finished) left me with an extremely grumbly tummy around two in the morning and it's still not entirely happy with me. So, no weights for me.
Checking my work schedule, it's time to start coming in on the weekend again for a few hours so I'm thinking I may end up chucking the weights all together from my training. It's been the hardest day for me to make, and mentally that is wearing on me. If I have to work six days a week for several weeks, I will need that extra sleep, particularly as the mileage really starts to climb.
It is beautiful here today in Cilleyland. It's a tad chilly, but sunny with blue skies. I hope the weather holds for Sunday's long run!
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Day 37: Have a Coke and a BAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
What do you think, should Coke change its slogan? Aww, probably not. I rarely drink real Coke because it's just too much sugar and caffeine for me and I get really hyper. BAHHHHHHHHHHH!!! hyper. It's probably time for my lunch.
But first, to check in. I need your help, my cilley readers. I skipped the gym this morning, after making a goal to make all of my workouts this week. I've realized that I need to work on my visualizations, reasons I can draw on at o'dark thirty that will get my bum out of bed and to the gym.
I may actually need to make a vision board.
I do not believe I have ever made a vision board before. Not voluntarily, that is -- i.e., for a class assignment. I know many people swear by them, but they've always to me seemed rather mock-worthy. But I think I need it. I need something RIGHT THERE to get me to where I want to be. I'd rather have Carlos the Hot Pool Boy in bed with me instead. Then again, that probably wouldn't get me to the gym. It would get my heart rate going and there would be some sweating, but I would not be running. Unless sex has changed since I last had it.
Hmmm.
Anyhow, I need ideas as to what I should put on my vision board. This would be a good spot for Carlos the Hot Pool Boy. Because I have decided that as I approach my 40th birthday this fall that I will be embracing my cougardom. So I want to run and lift weights and in general get very hot in order to snag me a gorgeous cub.
Here's what I have so far:
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
But first, to check in. I need your help, my cilley readers. I skipped the gym this morning, after making a goal to make all of my workouts this week. I've realized that I need to work on my visualizations, reasons I can draw on at o'dark thirty that will get my bum out of bed and to the gym.
I may actually need to make a vision board.
I do not believe I have ever made a vision board before. Not voluntarily, that is -- i.e., for a class assignment. I know many people swear by them, but they've always to me seemed rather mock-worthy. But I think I need it. I need something RIGHT THERE to get me to where I want to be. I'd rather have Carlos the Hot Pool Boy in bed with me instead. Then again, that probably wouldn't get me to the gym. It would get my heart rate going and there would be some sweating, but I would not be running. Unless sex has changed since I last had it.
Hmmm.
Anyhow, I need ideas as to what I should put on my vision board. This would be a good spot for Carlos the Hot Pool Boy. Because I have decided that as I approach my 40th birthday this fall that I will be embracing my cougardom. So I want to run and lift weights and in general get very hot in order to snag me a gorgeous cub.
Here's what I have so far:
- Carlos the Hot Pool Boy, with various variations on the theme.
- Various hot women, preferably of a certain age, in whose image I will be sculpting myself.
- Strong women running.
- Strong women finishing a marathon.
- Various inspiring phrases. I really have no idea on this last one.
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
Monday, February 15, 2010
Week 6 recap
Let's see where were ended up for Week 6, shall we?
Mon/Day 29 - Rest. SUCCESS! Always a challenge to rest, but I rose up and met it head on.
Tue/Day 30 - 3 miles. SUCCESS! Logged 3.01 miles.
Wed/Day 31 - Weights. FAIL! This is turning out to be the most difficult day for me to make it to the gym. I guess the weights seem less important than either running or sleep. My goal for Week 7 is to do this workout.
Thu/Day 32 - 5 miles. SUCCESS! Mentally this was a challenge. It wasn't the distance, but rather doing it before work. I was worried I would end up running late (no pun intended), or that if I woke up late I wouldn't do the workout at all. But I did get up extra early and I logged 5.0 miles. Almost finished in under an hour.
Fri/Day 33 - 3 miles and weights. FAIL! I had been having a major allergy attack for several days courtesy of the new HVAC system installed in the office. Friday was the worst, and I decided I needed a little extra rest instead.
Sat/Day 34 - Rest. SUCCESS! Friday's rest continued to Saturday. After a mostly poor night of sleep, I ran some errands including picking up my race packet for Sunday, loading up on Gu, and getting a new Nathan fuel belt with a larger pocket than my current one.
Sun/Day 35 - 10 miles. SUCCESS! I logged ten miles exactly, and let me tell you, ten miles is LONG. My goal for the 8K race was to finish in under an hour. I'm not sure if I really did or not; my iPod told me I had done 8K before I got to the finish line. I didn't check the iPod time when Chip said 8K, but I did cross the finish line at around 1:08, about 0.54 miles later. So, I just don't know. But, I did beat the woman with the cane and I am VERY proud of that.
Total mileage for the week: 18.01.
It was a good turnout for the race. While it was raining, it was not 20 degrees like last year. It was around 50 degrees this time. I walked a lot, and I'm not sure why. The mental aspect, I guess. (I did run more once I spotted lady with the cane!). Some people did the Valentine's theme, and it was fun to run past the hotels and restaurants with people in them for Valentine's Day. Like we were all, LOSERS! All inside and dry with food and liquor and your honeys. Pathetic! ;) The weirdest thing in this race was a woman who was pushing a jogging stroller with her son inside. I'm bad with kids' ages but I'm guessing he was between one and two, closer to two. Anyhow, she kept up a conversation with the kid -- a one-sided conversation, completely hers along -- for the entire freakin 8K. Now, I had on headphones so I'm not positive what the whole conversation was about, but the parts I heard were less "when we get home, you'll have your binky" and more "the situation in Iraq is really becoming untenable, Billy." Seriously. She chattered at this kid before the race and after the race, too. I hope he was wearing headphones too.
Anyhow, on to Week 7. I can't believe it is Week 7! Almost halfway through the training. Yikes!!
Week 7:
Mon/Day 36 - Rest.
Tue/Day 37 - 4 miles.
Wed/Day 38 - Weights.
Thu/Day 39 - 5 miles.
Fri/Day 40 - 4 miles.
Sat/Day 41 - Rest.
Sun/Day 42 - 12 miles.
I'm doing this from memory, but I know the weekly ones are correct. It's the long run that might be only 11 miles, but I'm pretty sure it's 12. I don't even know where to go to run six miles in one direction, except maybe along the freeway!
As mentioned above, my goal this week is to not miss any training days. Because I am bumping up Friday's run to four miles, my plan is to do a complete weights circuit on Wednesday instead of breaking it up between upper body on Wednesday and lower body on Friday. Sounds like I will be going to bed shortly after 8:00 p.m. all week. Good thing I can catch the Olympics on the 'net!
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
Mon/Day 29 - Rest. SUCCESS! Always a challenge to rest, but I rose up and met it head on.
Tue/Day 30 - 3 miles. SUCCESS! Logged 3.01 miles.
Wed/Day 31 - Weights. FAIL! This is turning out to be the most difficult day for me to make it to the gym. I guess the weights seem less important than either running or sleep. My goal for Week 7 is to do this workout.
Thu/Day 32 - 5 miles. SUCCESS! Mentally this was a challenge. It wasn't the distance, but rather doing it before work. I was worried I would end up running late (no pun intended), or that if I woke up late I wouldn't do the workout at all. But I did get up extra early and I logged 5.0 miles. Almost finished in under an hour.
Fri/Day 33 - 3 miles and weights. FAIL! I had been having a major allergy attack for several days courtesy of the new HVAC system installed in the office. Friday was the worst, and I decided I needed a little extra rest instead.
Sat/Day 34 - Rest. SUCCESS! Friday's rest continued to Saturday. After a mostly poor night of sleep, I ran some errands including picking up my race packet for Sunday, loading up on Gu, and getting a new Nathan fuel belt with a larger pocket than my current one.
Sun/Day 35 - 10 miles. SUCCESS! I logged ten miles exactly, and let me tell you, ten miles is LONG. My goal for the 8K race was to finish in under an hour. I'm not sure if I really did or not; my iPod told me I had done 8K before I got to the finish line. I didn't check the iPod time when Chip said 8K, but I did cross the finish line at around 1:08, about 0.54 miles later. So, I just don't know. But, I did beat the woman with the cane and I am VERY proud of that.
Total mileage for the week: 18.01.
It was a good turnout for the race. While it was raining, it was not 20 degrees like last year. It was around 50 degrees this time. I walked a lot, and I'm not sure why. The mental aspect, I guess. (I did run more once I spotted lady with the cane!). Some people did the Valentine's theme, and it was fun to run past the hotels and restaurants with people in them for Valentine's Day. Like we were all, LOSERS! All inside and dry with food and liquor and your honeys. Pathetic! ;) The weirdest thing in this race was a woman who was pushing a jogging stroller with her son inside. I'm bad with kids' ages but I'm guessing he was between one and two, closer to two. Anyhow, she kept up a conversation with the kid -- a one-sided conversation, completely hers along -- for the entire freakin 8K. Now, I had on headphones so I'm not positive what the whole conversation was about, but the parts I heard were less "when we get home, you'll have your binky" and more "the situation in Iraq is really becoming untenable, Billy." Seriously. She chattered at this kid before the race and after the race, too. I hope he was wearing headphones too.
Anyhow, on to Week 7. I can't believe it is Week 7! Almost halfway through the training. Yikes!!
Week 7:
Mon/Day 36 - Rest.
Tue/Day 37 - 4 miles.
Wed/Day 38 - Weights.
Thu/Day 39 - 5 miles.
Fri/Day 40 - 4 miles.
Sat/Day 41 - Rest.
Sun/Day 42 - 12 miles.
I'm doing this from memory, but I know the weekly ones are correct. It's the long run that might be only 11 miles, but I'm pretty sure it's 12. I don't even know where to go to run six miles in one direction, except maybe along the freeway!
As mentioned above, my goal this week is to not miss any training days. Because I am bumping up Friday's run to four miles, my plan is to do a complete weights circuit on Wednesday instead of breaking it up between upper body on Wednesday and lower body on Friday. Sounds like I will be going to bed shortly after 8:00 p.m. all week. Good thing I can catch the Olympics on the 'net!
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Day 35: Beating a woman with a cane!
I'm pretty wiped after today's long runs totalling ten miles, so this will be short for now and hopefully longer tomorrow. But I just had to share -- I beat the woman with the cane! Remember last year, that race I had that sucked so bad I was beaten by this woman with a cane? She was at the 8K this morning! And I kicked her caney ass!! Muwahahahahahahaha!!
I also got my first running blister today, between my first and second toes, how weird is that?. I'm guessing it was a combo of damp socks and the distance. Guess it's time to get some body glide! Funny, I had been pondering that just yesterday as I picked up some more Gu.
I'm going to go get horizontal and watch the Olympics, but first, a poem:
the CilleyGirl
I also got my first running blister today, between my first and second toes, how weird is that?. I'm guessing it was a combo of damp socks and the distance. Guess it's time to get some body glide! Funny, I had been pondering that just yesterday as I picked up some more Gu.
I'm going to go get horizontal and watch the Olympics, but first, a poem:
I never thought that I would seeCheers,
Something as lovely as a tree.
Especially if I were a dog
And I really, really had to pee.
the CilleyGirl
Friday, February 12, 2010
A little actual running content for the day (if you insist).
Or perhaps I just want a place to whine ;)
Skipped my three miler this morning because when the alarm went off at o'dark thirty I was feeling pretty ragged. We had our HVAC system at the office revamped this week, and since they turned it all back on two days ago it's been blowing out all sort of dust and dirt and mildew and mold and probably mouse droppings for all we know. So now I probably have the hantavirus. Or just a pretty good allergy flare up. For the past couple of days I needed to use my inhaler in the evenings (usually I only need it before running in the cold) and have been coughing. This morning my nose was all red and puffy and my eyes were itchy and sticky. I looked like a zombie W.C. Fields (pinkeye!!). I also sneezed all over the inside of my refrigerator. Luckily I'm the only one at home exposed to my germs.
Tomorrow I'm planning to make up the weights workouts I missed this week, and hopefully throw in my three miler as well. Then Sunday it's the 8K race plus five more miles somewhere. The Sunday long run is stressing me out just a tad. Not the ten miles of it all, but trying to get the extra five miles in. It is supposed to rain this weekend. Maybe I'll just head to the gym after my race and do the last five miles indoors and dry.
That may just be a plan. In the interim, I think pizza for dinner followed by a NyQuil night seems called for. Never let them tell you that clean air is overrated!
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
Skipped my three miler this morning because when the alarm went off at o'dark thirty I was feeling pretty ragged. We had our HVAC system at the office revamped this week, and since they turned it all back on two days ago it's been blowing out all sort of dust and dirt and mildew and mold and probably mouse droppings for all we know. So now I probably have the hantavirus. Or just a pretty good allergy flare up. For the past couple of days I needed to use my inhaler in the evenings (usually I only need it before running in the cold) and have been coughing. This morning my nose was all red and puffy and my eyes were itchy and sticky. I looked like a zombie W.C. Fields (pinkeye!!). I also sneezed all over the inside of my refrigerator. Luckily I'm the only one at home exposed to my germs.
Tomorrow I'm planning to make up the weights workouts I missed this week, and hopefully throw in my three miler as well. Then Sunday it's the 8K race plus five more miles somewhere. The Sunday long run is stressing me out just a tad. Not the ten miles of it all, but trying to get the extra five miles in. It is supposed to rain this weekend. Maybe I'll just head to the gym after my race and do the last five miles indoors and dry.
That may just be a plan. In the interim, I think pizza for dinner followed by a NyQuil night seems called for. Never let them tell you that clean air is overrated!
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
Day 33: The Olympics are here!
But first, let me give a warm welcome to the new Cilley followers. Welcome! If you have blogs I will go check them out. If you don't, what's wrong with you? Having a blog where you can blather on about anything to a captive audience and they just have to take it? They're there for YOUR amusement? It's awesome! Like a hot dog!*
Seriously, welcome :)
So, the Olympics start tonight and I am very excited. I LOVE the Olympics, and I even have a touching story as to why that is. I always thought the Olympics were awesome (like a hot dog), but I only watched the figure skating in the winter games and the gymnastics in the summer games and that was it.
And then came the Summer Olympics of 1996.
Let me set the scene. I had just graduated from law school, and I was sitting for my first bar exam. (Not the kind with alcoholic beverages. Those would come later. Not that I wouldn't ace that kind of bar exam.) There was also an extended heat wave in Seattle. And I was losing my mind.
Because after a zillion years and a zillion dollars in school throughout your entire life, it all comes down to this one two and a half day exam. If you pass, you've fulfilled your dream and will go on to great things, probably in a short Ally McBeal kind of skirt. If you fail, your life is over. Might as well slit your wrists with a number two pencil and a scantron sheet right then and there. Not that you know whether you've passed or failed for several MONTHS, but stick with me.
So, all of this amazing pressure that my entire life has come down to this and whether I've studied enough and maybe that week off during the bar review to spend a week in California really wasn't a good idea just like my mother warned me. I'm staying in a hotel maybe two blocks or so away from the testing center, so I don't have to worry about traffic or anything. But that means that to get to the testing center I have to walk outside. Where there's a heat wave. Which maybe wouldn't be so bad except that inside the testing center there is air conditioning. And it's roughly minus five degrees fahrenheit in there. One or the other could be dealt with, but going between the two sucked. I think half of us came down with the flu from the wild and frequent temperature changes.
On to the first testing day. Let me explain how the Washington bar exam works. Unlike many other states where the bulk of it is multiple choice on scantron sheets, Washington's exam -- at least in 1996 -- is all essay. ALL essay. All TWO AND A HALF FREAKIN' DAYS is essay. And, it gets better. You are being tested on the law. ALL of the law. As in, roughly 30 different topics of the law, plus a half day of ethics. You have to know it all, because there is no rhyme or reason to what topics will show up on the exam. You might think there should be, but there is not. I'm guessing they draw topics out of a hat, quite frankly.
Now, also realize that you don't actually get to study all 30 different topics in law school. You can not take a class on each of them; with the required courses, and only three years in which to do it, it is impossible. Well, maybe you could, but at roughly a trillion dollars per credit unless you're a Rockefeller in good with the family you couldn't afford to. What you end up doing is taking a bar review course, with all the possible topics crammed into six weeks. But again, realize that some areas of law are really freakin huge. You're going back hundreds of years and you may have noticed we are a litigious society so also over hundreds of cases.
This may be why I can't remember shit these days. My brain is full.
Anyhow, day one of the exam. One four hour session in the morning, one four hour session in the afternoon. No computers then, by the way. Well, there may have been a typewriter room, but for most of us it is all written by hand. My hand does not fall off, but I do still have permanent nerve damage (I kid you not) in the tip of the middle finger of my right hand.
I get back to the hotel, convinced I've failed and my life is ruined and that I'm coming down with the flu and that I need to cram even more for the second day of the exam. But first, I must eat. I order room service and turn on the TV.
And there are the Olympics. It's the final night of the women's gymnastics team competition. The U.S. has a shot at gold. If you weren't living under a rock at the time, you might remember Kerri Strug. She's the little gal where it all comes down to her and her two final vaults. On her first vault, she lands wrong and injures her ankle. Can barely put any weight on it. Yet she goes and does her second vault, pounding down towards it on both feet (she is small but mighty) and does her vault and sticks the landing ON ONE FOOT. Crowd goes wild, Bela goes wild, carries Kerri off and the women take the team gold for the first time EVER.
Suddenly, it hits me. Me, and my little test, all of it. I am ABSOLUTELY FREAKIN INSIGNIFICANT in the grand scheme of things. Here are people who have likely worked literally their entire lives for this one moment. If something goes wrong, or even if it all goes right and they still do not take the gold, or any medal at all, their next chance will not come for four years, if at all. Remember all those games counties have boycotted? For those athletes, no chance whatsoever.
I realize that if I don't know this crap by now, I just won't know it. And if I do not pass, I can take the exam again in a few months. So, I sit back and I watch the rest of the Olympics. And I watch the Olympic coverage every night since then when I can. I check in on the website to see how everyone is doing, read their stories, check out the medal count. If they work their whole lives for this one moment, the least I can do is watch them do it. To thank them for putting things into perspective for me. It's a perspective I still rely on to this day. So tune in tonight, even if you just watch the opening ceremonies and the parade of nations. See if it doesn't make all your problems seem manageable. See if you can't medal in your own life. Who better to do it?
By the way, I passed the exam.
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
*Eddie Izzard reference. He's awesome like a hot dog! Like socks!
Seriously, welcome :)
So, the Olympics start tonight and I am very excited. I LOVE the Olympics, and I even have a touching story as to why that is. I always thought the Olympics were awesome (like a hot dog), but I only watched the figure skating in the winter games and the gymnastics in the summer games and that was it.
And then came the Summer Olympics of 1996.
Let me set the scene. I had just graduated from law school, and I was sitting for my first bar exam. (Not the kind with alcoholic beverages. Those would come later. Not that I wouldn't ace that kind of bar exam.) There was also an extended heat wave in Seattle. And I was losing my mind.
Because after a zillion years and a zillion dollars in school throughout your entire life, it all comes down to this one two and a half day exam. If you pass, you've fulfilled your dream and will go on to great things, probably in a short Ally McBeal kind of skirt. If you fail, your life is over. Might as well slit your wrists with a number two pencil and a scantron sheet right then and there. Not that you know whether you've passed or failed for several MONTHS, but stick with me.
So, all of this amazing pressure that my entire life has come down to this and whether I've studied enough and maybe that week off during the bar review to spend a week in California really wasn't a good idea just like my mother warned me. I'm staying in a hotel maybe two blocks or so away from the testing center, so I don't have to worry about traffic or anything. But that means that to get to the testing center I have to walk outside. Where there's a heat wave. Which maybe wouldn't be so bad except that inside the testing center there is air conditioning. And it's roughly minus five degrees fahrenheit in there. One or the other could be dealt with, but going between the two sucked. I think half of us came down with the flu from the wild and frequent temperature changes.
On to the first testing day. Let me explain how the Washington bar exam works. Unlike many other states where the bulk of it is multiple choice on scantron sheets, Washington's exam -- at least in 1996 -- is all essay. ALL essay. All TWO AND A HALF FREAKIN' DAYS is essay. And, it gets better. You are being tested on the law. ALL of the law. As in, roughly 30 different topics of the law, plus a half day of ethics. You have to know it all, because there is no rhyme or reason to what topics will show up on the exam. You might think there should be, but there is not. I'm guessing they draw topics out of a hat, quite frankly.
Now, also realize that you don't actually get to study all 30 different topics in law school. You can not take a class on each of them; with the required courses, and only three years in which to do it, it is impossible. Well, maybe you could, but at roughly a trillion dollars per credit unless you're a Rockefeller in good with the family you couldn't afford to. What you end up doing is taking a bar review course, with all the possible topics crammed into six weeks. But again, realize that some areas of law are really freakin huge. You're going back hundreds of years and you may have noticed we are a litigious society so also over hundreds of cases.
This may be why I can't remember shit these days. My brain is full.
Anyhow, day one of the exam. One four hour session in the morning, one four hour session in the afternoon. No computers then, by the way. Well, there may have been a typewriter room, but for most of us it is all written by hand. My hand does not fall off, but I do still have permanent nerve damage (I kid you not) in the tip of the middle finger of my right hand.
I get back to the hotel, convinced I've failed and my life is ruined and that I'm coming down with the flu and that I need to cram even more for the second day of the exam. But first, I must eat. I order room service and turn on the TV.
And there are the Olympics. It's the final night of the women's gymnastics team competition. The U.S. has a shot at gold. If you weren't living under a rock at the time, you might remember Kerri Strug. She's the little gal where it all comes down to her and her two final vaults. On her first vault, she lands wrong and injures her ankle. Can barely put any weight on it. Yet she goes and does her second vault, pounding down towards it on both feet (she is small but mighty) and does her vault and sticks the landing ON ONE FOOT. Crowd goes wild, Bela goes wild, carries Kerri off and the women take the team gold for the first time EVER.
Suddenly, it hits me. Me, and my little test, all of it. I am ABSOLUTELY FREAKIN INSIGNIFICANT in the grand scheme of things. Here are people who have likely worked literally their entire lives for this one moment. If something goes wrong, or even if it all goes right and they still do not take the gold, or any medal at all, their next chance will not come for four years, if at all. Remember all those games counties have boycotted? For those athletes, no chance whatsoever.
I realize that if I don't know this crap by now, I just won't know it. And if I do not pass, I can take the exam again in a few months. So, I sit back and I watch the rest of the Olympics. And I watch the Olympic coverage every night since then when I can. I check in on the website to see how everyone is doing, read their stories, check out the medal count. If they work their whole lives for this one moment, the least I can do is watch them do it. To thank them for putting things into perspective for me. It's a perspective I still rely on to this day. So tune in tonight, even if you just watch the opening ceremonies and the parade of nations. See if it doesn't make all your problems seem manageable. See if you can't medal in your own life. Who better to do it?
By the way, I passed the exam.
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
*Eddie Izzard reference. He's awesome like a hot dog! Like socks!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Day 32: The saga of Freaky Toe and Socky Foot
Pretty much all of you should know that I live with two dogs. They are both concerned about stalkers, so to protect their anonymity their internet names are Schmart Dog and Cute but Stupid, or CBS for short. This is CBS:
I had thought that that was the end of Freaky Toe, seeing as how the vet had removed it (the nail, not the toe), but like a foot zombie Freaky Toe was reborn. And on we went, without incident, until last week.
I got CBS to let me look at the nail. Thankfully, it didn't seem to have snapped like last time. Most likely, she had caught it on the carpet and it started to bleed. Ironically, I had just tried to trim Freaky Toe a few days before and she wouldn't let me. That'll learn you, I told her. I tried then to trim it but it was too sore. I figured it needed to heal a bit and it would be fine. But first, I needed to protect it from incessant licking; last time, she licked it so much she licked away all the hair and had a big sore on the rest of her foot.
And so, the return of Socky Foot.
Yes, that is a crew sock held onto my dog's leg by an old scrunchie. My life is nothing if not entertaining.
Socky Foot requires a lot of maintenance. Mostly it's me yelling "Quit licking your Socky Foot!" "Leave your Socky Foot alone!" and "Come here and let me get your Socky Foot off before you go outside." I also have to change Socky Foot on a regular basis, both to put a little antibiotic ointment on it and because it gets all wet and yucky from her licking it when I'm not around. That is when we assume the position:
Also accompanied by me yelling "Give me your Socky Foot!" "Hold still while I fix your Socky Foot!"
Thankfully, Freaky Toe seems to be healing nicely. After about a day I was able to trim it down some, and then in another day I was able to get it even shorter. (This is also why no pictures of Freaky Toe. I know, you're sad you missed it.) If I can keep her from licking the damn thing, we should be Socky Foot free by the weekend.
Thus concludes the saga of Freaky Toe and Socky Foot. Please remember to tip your waitress and try the veal!
Getting back to your regular programming, I had my five mile run this morning. For running 60 times around a tiny little circle, it went pretty well. I had hoped to finish in under an hour and I missed it by two minutes and change. I did stop several times for water so that probably did it. Under an hour is also my goal for this weekend's 8K run.
When dowloading the Freaky Toe and Socky Foot pictorial, I also downloaded the pics I took on Sunday's long run. So I will close with those. Note there are bridges EVERYWHERE!!
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
This was near the end of a very wet hike. I was taking pictures and looked down to find CBS looking back up at me: "Can we go home NOW?"
CBS will be 15 years old in June. Anyone who has never met my dog thinks I am mean for describing her as Cute but Stupid. Then they meet her. And they understand. It's not totally her fault. English setters as a breed just are not that bright. They are loving and loyal and wholly, entirely devoted to their people. But not that bright. CBS was also abused by her former owner; she has some resulting damage to her throat (choke chain, I'm guessing) so she may also have a smidge of brain damage. Plus now she's getting senile.
But she's damn cute.
Anyhow, I rescued CBS when she was almost seven, and as long as I have had her she has had this Freaky Toe. It is the pinky toe on one of her back legs and it kind of looks like her toenail got run over at some point in her life. It's flat and it's wide and it's this odd brownish-grayish color with ridges. Did you ever see that episode of House where it turned out this woman had developed scurvy from dieting, which House diagnosed when he saw her nasty looking ridged brownish-grayish fingernails? It kinda looks like that.
Like most dogs, CBS does not like her nails trimmed. In her younger days, we used to go hiking a lot and consequently she got bathed a lot during which time I trimmed her nails. We rarely go hiking together anymore because (a) she's going blind, deaf and senile on top of already not being that bright so she loses me easily and (b) Schmart Dog has a bad hip so she can't go more than a half a mile now. Because of this, baths are less frequent and so are nail trimmings.
And apparently Freaky Toe got a little long. I came home the other night to find blood all over the living room. Big drops of bright, red blood. My first reaction was, this better not have come out of anybody's butt. Because, as you know, bright red blood and bums do not bode well for any species. So, I checked under tails and no blood. Then I started checking paws. I thought it was Schmart Dog as she hangs outside in the yard more frequently (CBS likes her creature comforts) and I had recently trimmed her nails (she twitches and her nails are black, making it more likely that I'll hit the quick) but it wasn't.
It was then I realized that it must be Freaky Toe.
And it was. A few years ago, Freaky Toe started to fall out of its pinky toe home. I don't know how, I don't know why, but it suddenly got exponentially longer and then it partially broke deep down in the quick and there was blood and a vet trip to remove the nail and a vet bill. Not fun for any of us.
I had thought that that was the end of Freaky Toe, seeing as how the vet had removed it (the nail, not the toe), but like a foot zombie Freaky Toe was reborn. And on we went, without incident, until last week.
I got CBS to let me look at the nail. Thankfully, it didn't seem to have snapped like last time. Most likely, she had caught it on the carpet and it started to bleed. Ironically, I had just tried to trim Freaky Toe a few days before and she wouldn't let me. That'll learn you, I told her. I tried then to trim it but it was too sore. I figured it needed to heal a bit and it would be fine. But first, I needed to protect it from incessant licking; last time, she licked it so much she licked away all the hair and had a big sore on the rest of her foot.
And so, the return of Socky Foot.
Yes, that is a crew sock held onto my dog's leg by an old scrunchie. My life is nothing if not entertaining.
Socky Foot requires a lot of maintenance. Mostly it's me yelling "Quit licking your Socky Foot!" "Leave your Socky Foot alone!" and "Come here and let me get your Socky Foot off before you go outside." I also have to change Socky Foot on a regular basis, both to put a little antibiotic ointment on it and because it gets all wet and yucky from her licking it when I'm not around. That is when we assume the position:
Also accompanied by me yelling "Give me your Socky Foot!" "Hold still while I fix your Socky Foot!"
Thankfully, Freaky Toe seems to be healing nicely. After about a day I was able to trim it down some, and then in another day I was able to get it even shorter. (This is also why no pictures of Freaky Toe. I know, you're sad you missed it.) If I can keep her from licking the damn thing, we should be Socky Foot free by the weekend.
Thus concludes the saga of Freaky Toe and Socky Foot. Please remember to tip your waitress and try the veal!
Getting back to your regular programming, I had my five mile run this morning. For running 60 times around a tiny little circle, it went pretty well. I had hoped to finish in under an hour and I missed it by two minutes and change. I did stop several times for water so that probably did it. Under an hour is also my goal for this weekend's 8K run.
When dowloading the Freaky Toe and Socky Foot pictorial, I also downloaded the pics I took on Sunday's long run. So I will close with those. Note there are bridges EVERYWHERE!!
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
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