My New Ride

I'm going to take this blog back to its humble beginnings and talk about some of the things got this bog started in the first place...swimming, cycling, and running. After a long layoff and an ITB injury, I've been slowly trying to get back to the triad, but it's been tough with grad school. When push comes to shove, what will win out? A) sleep, B) homework, C) exercise. (This is a multiple guess question.)

The one thing that I have been enjoying is my weekend rides. My big 2009 Christmast present was a new Specialized Dolce with a compact crank. The picture above was from my first spring ride with the new bike. I feared that my feet would get stuck in the clipless pedals and I would fall in a heap and scratch the bike. Didn't happen! Although I spent little time on the trainer, my feet are at peace with the pedals. I'm having a lot of fun with the newfangled bike, playing with the brakes and the shifters on the handlebars.

I enjoy the anticipation of the rides and investigate new cycling routes on www.mapmyride.com. So what if I'm totally out of shape? If I want to dress up like a cycling fashionista and cruise around the block on the weekend, that should be encouraged. The scenery and the stress relief are priceless.

Lost

Is is dark where you are?

Can you count the stars where you are?

Are you lost where you are?

--Howie Day, Longest Night

Do you ever feel like it's dark and you're lost an unable to look up at the stars to navigate a path through life? I feel like this a lot these days.

I can't figure out my assignment. I know not where I'm going with school. Should I follow my head and stay with my current program with its shorter time-to-degree? But is this program really right for me? Or, should I follow my heart? Should I try to transfer to the program that I rejected? The one with the longer time-to-degree that I keep looking back at over my shoulder?

I'll take a break from that puzzling assignment that I'm stuck on to edit this post to be more revealing and less cryptic. And I welcome suggestions for this situation, dear readers (if anyone reads this).

Last fall I entered a 39-credit master's in management program. Although I never said it on my application, I intended to specialize in marketing. Three weeks after entering the program, I found out that my intended specialization was discontinued. I decided to make lemon aide and choose to stay in the program, with a different specialization.

I'm now taking the first online class in that specialization and I love it a little too much. My advisor warned, "these classes are condensed...the material is taught at a higher level." I find that the higher-level material is stimulating, the condensed time period is manageable, and the students are more mature. While I like the class, but I'm still unsure whether the specialization is right for me. My goal in this journey is to gain knowledge that will be marketable in the workforce. And if the specialization is not right, then the degree looses its value and my time, money, and effort are not well invested.

I made a decision and I take responsibility for that, but I also feel that I am not entirely to blame as I got caught up in a circumstance I never anticipated. Of course I wonder whether I should have faced my fears gone into the MBA program that I turned down with much reluctance. Of course I feel that I should have made different decisions at different junctures.

I've tried very hard to make lemon aide, but it's not tasting good. As I complete 9 credits, I know that I'm crossing the Rubicon, that point of no return. If I go further, I will have too many credits to transfer---and I may very well be at that point now.

What are the options?

• Remain in my current program: Choose between my current specialization ... or the "individualized specialization" (read = just choose 4 classes of interest)
• Choose an MBA program. Choose between a program that will allow me to transfer some credits ... or no credits. Choose between an online program ...or a traditional program.

Maybe some day I'll look to the heavens and see a constellation that will guide me. For now, I'll get back to that homework that's puzzling me.

And here's a truely corny conclusion to this post, my fortune cookie: "You have an important new business development shaping up."

Howie Day 2010 tour

So many things have been influenced by a single vacation.

When I was in Colorado, I rented a Ford Escape (which may be our next car!!) and Ryan and I spent a lot of time driving to places that he liked or that he'd been camping the summer before. Naturally, Ryan needed some tunes to listen to while driving and he put in a CD by Howie Day called "Stop All the World Now." I'd look at the mountains all around and listen to the music of Howie Day.

Immediately after I came home, I went out and bought all the Howie Day's CDs I could find. I went back to the grind of my hour-long commute, listening to Howie's music...visualizing the Colorado mountains and thinking about Ryan.

Not too long after that, I learned that Howie Day was coming to the Birchmere in Alexandria, Va. Watching him play and create the music is just as interesting as listening to his music. It's fascinating to see him hit the electric guitar to create a percussion sound, then use the effects pedals to loop the sound, while playing the guitar. He'll layer the looped sections for a complex and interwoven sound. And his live concerts give him the opportunity to jam and experiment with songs.

Howie Day is in his 20s and I worried that he'd attract a younger crowd and I'd be a middle-aged standout among a crowd of teens and twenties. But I needn't have worried. When we got to the Birchmere I found people of all ages wearing anything and everything. There were the cute twentysomething couples who sat next to us that I envied and the white-haired gentleman a few tables over. The Birchmere features a bar with a sculpture of a gentleman playing a harmonica, and the main room has a chandelier.

In listenig to the concert, I decided to try the hearing aid along with the cochlear implant. I'll come out and say it...This year marks my seventh year with the CI and I'm no longer a hearing aid user. But I dug it out and bought some batteries. At first, I was reminded of everything I dislike about the hearing aid: the feedback and the ill-fitting earmold that didn't bother me nearly so much as when I was wearing it all the time. I decided to wear the hearing aid turned off for a few hours to get used to wearing it, and then turned it on. The acoustic sound gives me a nice bass boost, mainly because that's all I can hear with a hearing aid. The devices have very different and imabalanced sound, but by the end of the concert, I was enjoying the two devices together, and this may be the best (and only) opportunity I have in this life for binaural hearing. Music is best enjoyed in stereo. Of course, you knew that all along...but I'm a late bloomer.

The most surprising thing was that I could understand the lyrics better live than on the CD, even though I'd listed to it many times. The stage lighting made the microphone cast a shadow on his mouth, so lipreading was impossible. My mind kept telling me that I shouldn't be able to understand the lyrics--lyrics were always someting that were nice, but that I counldn't make out unless I memorized the song. But I realized that I was understandng much more of the lyrics and I told my mind to just enjoy them, and so I did. And when Howie Day sang our favorite song, my husband reached over for my hand.

I now have every CD made by Howie Day. I listen to the music and visualize the mountains of Colorado.

I miss you Ryan.

I love you.

Crested Butte 2010

Crested Butte luxury homes.


Ryan skiing along Slate River Road near Crested Butte. In the summer he camps in the valley below. We went for sushi afterward and Ryan said it was a perfect day.


Ryan and Josh at the Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce bust stop on the way to the mountain. There is a free bus that travels from Gunnison to Crested Butte and hitchhiking is allowed.



Ryan goes of a jump at DC Park and Pipe at the top of Painter Boy.

Ryan skiing down the mountain. He was teaching himself to ski backwards as I was learning how to ski forward.

I am afraid of everything.

I was terrified of the prospect of skiing. I didn't know how I would get down the bunny hill. I couldn't fathom skiing for five days. I worried that I would be too cold. I worried that I wouldn't have enough to do during the nine-day vacation. This must be the reason most of my outdoor adventures do not go any further than the pages of Outdoor magazine, which I subscribe to in order to have an active fantasy life. Every year, I have a strong urge to cross country ski around the end of December. Then, I add up the cost of the trip on an Excel spreadsheet and worry that the drive might be hazardous, and quietly wait for the urge to pass. But this year, I was going to have the ski vacation of a lifetime.

I got some $150 ski pants on sale for $75 online in the middle of summer. Then I bought some inexpensive ski gloves, socks and sock liners and a balaclava while Christmas shopping. I took along my winter running gear. I was all set.

It was a wonderful, relaxing time and I can totally understand why Ryan goes to school at Western State College of Colorado. The streets are wide and cars drive slowly, and there's a bike lane. In between Gunnison and Crested Butte, there's a sign that says "bicycles for the next 26 miles." And wherever you look off into the distance around the town--north, south, east, west--there are mountains all around. He took me to all of his favorite camping and fishing spots during the summer. We went cross country skiing on Slate River road near Crested Butte. The scenery was breathtaking. I kept thinking that I would pay big bucks to go to a fancy cross country ski resort to see this view--but it was free. No trail fee was required because this was a dirt road through a state forest that was a cross country ski trail in the winter. People and their dogs cross country skied, and backcountry snowmobilers passed us. We must have skied about 10 miles that day. The trip back was hard and I was tired, but I kept quiet because I didn't want to complain about anything. We topped off the first day of the year by eating at a fancy sushi place.

The next day, I went downhill skiing the very first time. It took me a long time to even ski down to the bunny hill. And it takes a long time to get used to the ski lift. But somehow I got down the slope the first time. I skied once when I was a teenager and then watched e-How videos from the folks at Grisham, Oregon, so I had a vague idea of what to do. Ryan was a pretty patient teacher. He gave me pointers going down the hill. When we were at the bottom, he demonstrated specific skills, and after a day or so, I was doing carving turns. I graduated to Houston, and then went on some of the other green runs.

The highlight was going down the Mineral Point run without falling. I loved going back and forth down the little valley, but the top part, with its steep hill winged me out. At last, I mastered the slope going down to the lift.

Not too longer after my trip, my second son went to a local mountain to snowboard with friends. I knew he'd pick it up easily because he also skateboards and surfs, and he came back a "triple board athlete." Now he wants me to go skiing with him. I have the distinct feeling I'm going to be getting into winter sports!!!!!!

But nothing compares to the Colorado Rockies with real snow, blue skies against white aspens, friendly people, and powder days where people take off the morning to ski. There are the late afternoons where the sun shines on the mountains before sunset.

Yin and Yang

This picture is courtesy of Race Pace Bicycles. I just had to post this because it reminds me of all of those summer bike rides. There's a spot on the Iron Girl course that goes past cornfields... but not the cows. Thanks for the memories.

Taco Soup

Every fall as the weather turns cooler and we get busy with sports, school, and work, I bring out the crockpot. I have several cookbooks full of crockpot recipes, but this one apparently is my claim to fame--a crockpot meal my kid actually likes. Combine everything in the crockpot in the morning before work and enjoy when you come home.

Taco Soup
Source: Better Homes and Gardens: Slow Cooker Stews

Prep: 15 min.
Cook: 3 or 6 hours

Makes 8 servings

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 15-oz. can black-eyed peas, undrained
1 15-oz. can black beans, undrained
1 15-oz can chili beans with chili gravy, undrained
1 15-oz. can garbanzo beans, undrained
1 14.5-oz. can Mexican style stewed tomatoes, undrained
1 11-oz. can whole kernel corn with sweet peppers, undrained
1 1 1/4-oz. pkg. taco seasoning mix

Tortilla chips (optional)

1. In large skillet, cook ground beef until brown. Drain off fat. Transfer meat to 3 1/2- to 6-quart slow cooker. Stir in black-eyed peas, black beans, chili beans with chili gravy, garbanzo beans, tomatoes, corn, and taco seasoning mix.

2. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 6 to 8 hours or on high-heat setting for 3 or 4 hours. If desired, serve with sour cream and tortilla chips.



For more recipes, try "Oh What a Tangled Kitchen" by Hobey, a triathlete and knitter, at http://hobeysrecipes.blogspot.com/ I baked the zuchinni bread for several different office events, and got a lot of compliments on the recipe each time.

Baltimore Half-Marathon 2009

This was my second Baltimore Half Marathon. The race went a lot better than I thought it would. I love the big city marathon and the celebration of running, and I love the fact that I can be there to participate in it. The half marathon is great because the marathoners pass the half marathon going down to Fort McHenry at the 9 mile mark, and we get to see the elites run past. Then, by the time we take off, we get to see the runners coming back up at the 13 mile mark, so there are marathon runners going both ways and the half marathoners just getting started, huge crowds and a band playing. Great!

The weather threatened rain, and I was afraid there would be a shower before we took off, leaving everyone soggy. However, the rain came just as the half-marathoners took off and the event organizers assured us that it would "keep us cool." Yeah, right. However, it wasn't too bad because it was a light drizzle and not a hard, soaking rain.

I started out, just trying to get into my groove with running. Last year, I stuck to a 4 min run/1 min walk ratio, but this year I was stronger and was able to run all of the way. I was anxious to get to Patterson Park, where the half and full marathoners merge. I looked at the backs of the marathoners and noticed that I was near the 4:00 and 4:15 pacing groups. This was a lot better than last year, when I was near the 5:00 pace group. Patterson Park also has a big cheering section and a band playing, so this is a very great, uplifiting point.

Then we head up through the East Side of Baltimore. This highlight here was seeing a section of town the looked like it had been revitalized in the past year, which was nice to see. It's weird running through this section of town because there are very few cars, even on roads that allow parking. This is in sharp contrast to the Patterson Park section of town just a few blocks to the south. That section is completely parked up and lined with cars. I see the boarded up houses and realize that is why there are no cars. Even where there are people living in the houses, there a few cars. Police are on every corner in this section of town, but they are absent along the course in other sections, such as the well-to-do neighborhood around Johns Hopkins University.

Then, I passed the 6 mile mark and looked at my watch 1:10, a minute faster than my 10K time. I'll take it. I felt that I'd been running leisurely, so that was encouraging. I tried to run the hills "mindfully" slowing down and using the same level of effort and then speeding up a bit on the top of the hills. I made my way up to Clifton Park and Lake Montebello, another favorite section of the race. I followed my race plan and tried to run faster around this flat section.

This year, I noticed the Gel station. I've known about it in the past, but was never able to find the gels. It really didn't matter, however, because I just don't like gels, try as I might. Instead, I came up with a great idea this year. I wore my race number on my shirt so that I was visible. Underneath, I wore my race belt with an expandable pouch loosely around my waist, with the pouch in the back. Inside, I was able to put a few necessities: my keys, money, and pain relievers in a plastic bag, in which I could place my cochlear implant processor if there was a hard rain. I also carried a shot block and even though I wasn't hungry or tired, I decided to take two pieces of the shot block around mile 7. This was one of the the best ideas I had all day.

I went onward. There were a few more hills before the final miles of the race when it goes downhill. These hills were the hardest for me because by this point, I was tired of hills. I could feel myself slowing down and I was just trying to stay on pace. I felt myself rally around mile 10, thanks to the great idea of taking some shot blocks. I tried to go a bit faster. Last year, I crashed and burned around mile 10-11, but this time I was a bit stronger toward the end of the race. At mile 10, I looked at my watch and saw 1:59, just under two hours. I wanted a 2:30 PR, but I knew it might not be possible. In the last few miles, I was more aware of my surroundings than I was last year when I turned inward due to fatigue.

I took a handful of gummy bears at the infamous gummy bear station around mile 11. However, this was not the smartest move for me. At this point, I was breathing harder, and it was difficult to chew the gummy bears. I think it would have helped to take just a few gummy bears and to just focus on my running, since I think it takes about a half-hour for energy to kick in from any food intake.

I headed toward the finish. I had several instances of accidental elbowing. It could be that I was still with the 4:00 to 4:15 or even 4:30 marathon finishers, which is a popular finish time, and there were many runners being crowded into one lane of the road. This was mildly irritating.

Finally....I got near the stadium and tried to rally toward the finish line. And it was all over. I managed to PR by 4 minutes after all and came in with a time of 2:34:37 and an average pace of 11:49. Not what I wanted, but not bad. Last year, I averaged a 12:06 minute mile, most likely due to the slow finish.

My husband finished the marathon in 6:28:39.

Post-Race Letdown
I am now experiencing the post-race letdown. I went into the race injured after fully realizing that I had an ITBS injury the first week of the taper. During my longest run, the supported course run, my entire left leg hurt at mile 10 and I hadn't been able to keep running. I went into the race not knowing if I could even finish. The best idea I had was to get an ITBS strap the day before the race. I credit the strap for keeping me in the race. I could feel the soreness, and there were several moments when it really flared up and I had my doubts. But I was able to keep running relatively comfortably the entire race. But the race produced an ITB flareup and I found that when I removed the strap right after the race, the inflammation prevented me from walking, so I put the strap back on.

For right now, I'm hanging up my spurs for a long layoff due to injury. I envision massage, a visit to an orthopod/physiatrist, and a short course of PT in my future. From what I read, ITBS is an injury that lingers.

While I wished my husband well and made the day as special as possible by asking my son to make a poster for his father, I wished I had done the marathon.

As an aside...I'll be happy to take the credit for training my husband for the marathon, even though I've never done one myself. I talked to him about getting his base up when he signed up for a marathon without one. When he neglected to pick a training plan, I picked one out for him. I solved his sweat issue, his wardrobe issue, and his chafing issue. I got him a massage at a critical juncture and massaged him myself other times. I talked to him about his posture. I talked to him about having three plans for race day: Plan A "blessed by the gods," Plan B "most likely reality," and Plan C "doomsday scenario." When he experienced "marathon taper madness," I helped him understand what he was going through. And then, I wished him a great race, and told him I'd be proud, no matter what. Hubby surpassed everyone's expectations. We never thought he'd make it to the starting line...or the finish line. He surprised us all and came home a champion.