Turkey Week

I was without internet all week and therefore unable to post anything. We bought a router while we were in town so my mom could finally move out of the 90s and into the 2000s with some wireless. Well after 30 minutes of heaven the whole thing shut down. Apparently comcast does suck as much as people say. I have thankfully been spared until now.
Anyway, since I still havent uploaded any photos, I decided to steal some from facebook to post until i can do more later. So here was our week in photos.
Chris and I celebrating the week of vacation we are about to start with a cuban cigar and some tequila. We are still in Mexico City so those cigars were purchased legally.

On Friday we headed to my favorite city in Texas - Austin. I would love to move there one day as it has (in my opinion) the best lifestyle of any city in Texas. Maybe Chris will pull off a job at Dell one day please please. Since Chris had never visited Austin before I had to show him some of the sites.



Then we headed to the tailgates. Chris is prepared, stache and all.

At the game - everyone with their horns up

And post game - after UT kicked some Kansas ass.

I woke up early sunday to get in a long run on town lake and reminded myself why races in Austin (triathlons and otherwise) are some of the best I have ever done. I will be back in 2010 for some more of them. After the run it was a quick stop at Magnolia Cafe for some amazing blackberry pancakes.

The rest of the week was spent in Houston where Chris earned the nickname porn star. Thankfully this upper lip leech is gone.


We all managed to get up in time to run in and complete the turkey trot. Boys did the 10k and girls did the 5k. I was going to run the 10K, but I was worried about the ankle giving out three miles in, so I did the 5K and got 5th with 21:22. Not too bad considering the night before was a beer filled mess. And here we are at Thanksgiving dinner where, among other things, I am thankful that I didnt need depends in the turkey trot and that we had three turkeys at dinner - 1 fried, 1 smoked and 1 baked. Yes we can put down some food.

Where did you go?

My legs have officially left me today. I have a high mileage week and had a hard 14 miles to do yesterday right after a 12 miler on sunday. I normally dont do two longer runs in a row like that, but Sunday's was really easy and I had to adjust my schedule for Monday's holiday. My legs were feeling it. Today was an easy 4 miler on the treadmill and after 2.5 miles I couldnt go anymore. My legs were killing me. So I switched to some core and arm workouts and will try again tomorrow. I am hoping tonight to get in a 45 minute easy spin to see if that helps and I will be sleeping in the oh so sexy compression tights. I hope they show up tomorrow.

Look alike

We found Chris's celeb look alike, and coincidentally his name is Chris too. Although the famous Chris is way richer, can sing, and his wife looks nothing like me. My mom doesnt think the two look anything alike, but I think they are pretty close.


Today was a 14 mile run, but the store had no grapes, so I had to go back to water and M&Ms. It didnt work. My stomach started acting up at mile 10 and I had to walk the 11th mile home. I am about to head out for round 2 to finish it up. I dont like to divide my long runs up, but I couldnt do the last 3 miles feeling like I was going to throw up.

Another long weekend

This is a photo my friend took of doggie school in our neighborhood. I love the great dane that is posing in the background. Señor (our driver/dog walker/mr fix it) said he is scared of Liko who is about 1/10 of his size. Come to think of it, he was probably looking our way to make sure that Liko was safely on a leash.

Our little terrors are not this advanced yet. I would try and put them in, but last time we were in an obedience class Liko fell in love with one of the other little dogs and barked his way through every class. I think he only graduated because the teacher didnt want to have to deal with him for another 8 weeks.
Every run this week has been on the dreadmill with the trusty brace, but things are starting to feel better. I am going to try my long run outside this weekend and hope to avoid all potholes for the entire 14 miles. The pace is still on the slow side but each day I am able to get closer to where I want to be. I am still debating on the turkey trot distance too. Chris is doing a trial run this weekend to see how far he can go before he decides. He has given more effort to his tequila tasting than his running, but who can blame him. My little brother has committed to the 10K. I am going to wait a few more days and see if the ankle heals. I can do a 5K fast with the ankle now but I dont know if I want to suffer through a 10K. Especially on my favorite holiday of the year.
Since it is our 2nd of 3 long weekends in November, Monday will be filled with a whole lot of nothing. I am starting to feel like a slacker.

Trying to get back

After my failed attempt at a treadmill run, I biked for two days and tried an easy run again on sunday. Since I was going at snail's pace, I had plenty of time to take photos and take in some of the randomness that occurs in Mexico City.

Instead of NYC, it's Mexico City, instead of Macy's it's Palacio de Hierro, and instead of traditional Christmas decorations we have a manger scene made out of Legos. At first glance I thought it was Han Solo and Leia, but I dont remember cows in Star Wars.

Here is one of the better known "buildings" in mexico city- it is shaped to look like a horse, hence the name.


And as I was running the last few miles, I saw this street festival. Random street festivals are not uncommon here, but I have no idea what this man was doing. Sort of like the poor man's Cirque.




I am proud to say I made it 12 miles, albeit very very slow and was able to do a fatigue fighter run on the treadmill today without very much pain. So I am still planning on repeating the turkey trot but I cant promise I will do well. I may hang back and gossip with Polly.
And totally unrelated to running (like about 90% of the blog), a friend posted this website on facebook today. It is now my new favorite.

I have cankles

It actually isnt as bad as I thought. However something is wrong because everytime I take a step I twist it again and wince in pain. Although that could be due to lack of strength since I haven't lifted weights in oh I dont know, 13 years. I will be sure to get on that right away. I do think something is a little off, but I can walk at a normal speed with a brace. My mom always gets on me for not throwing things away, and I am sure she would have recommended me throwing away my ankle brace from highschool, but then what would I do now? It probably needs a run through the wash since I played many a soccer game in this. I just havent had time to do that in the last day, and I think it gives it some character. I hope I am not smelling up my office. Looks professional doesnt it?

Since I am feeling invincible with my newest accessory, I decided to test out the leg on the dreadmill today. Dont worry I did an easy walk at a high incline. I tried to crank it up to a whopping 5.5, but it hurt too much so I backed it down to 4.5. Luckily the workout today was an easy 60 minutes. I am going to try a trainer ride tonight. And hopefully by next week I will be at least able to hold a slow jog. The only bad thing is that I am going to have to stick to running on the treadmill for the time being since apparently I have trouble avoiding large holes in the street.

Dangers of Running

I am the world's biggest clutz. Back in highschool I hurt my ankle pretty badly (doing something really stupid) and was on crutches or in a cast for 9 months. I had a surgery where the doctor, post surgery, told me you better not mess this up - it is the best work I have done. I have been living with rubber and screws in my ankle since then and it has been good as new through years of soccer, track, triathlon, etc. A few years ago I broke my heel bone doing another stupid act (this time alcohol was involved) and went right in to see the same surgeon. He checked the ankle to be sure I didnt mess anything up before he checked my heel. Then he told me I was lucky I didnt break my neck. I was again in a boot for a good three months and out of running for 6. This morning I actually might have messed up the surgery. I was running along and took one step into a hole and heard my ankle pop. I limped across the street and sat down. I was trying to figure out how to get home and 5 men in business suits walked right by me without so much as a peep. Assholes. I realized I couldnt walk so I crawled the three blocks home. I think it hurt more that I only got in two miles before this happened. I am not sure what I did, but I am going to give the same surgeon a call and let him know the ankle might not be perfect anymore. My mom told me not to go to the hospital here since it is full of swine flu. She is right. Swine flu trumps sprained ankle.