Loser Alert

Banditing a race is one thing, partaking of aid station food, asking people to serve you, crossing the finish line, and wearing a non-race bib number is another level of a-hole. This guy did it all at PCTR's Pacifica race this past weekend. And he wasn't the only one apparently, but the only one who went that extra mile and brought his own number. Come on children, you're adults, don't be stupid.


This guy's photo is posted on various forums already, but if you recognize him, tell him he sucks.

Things Are Not So Bad

Figure it's time for a mini back health update and that update is "Grrreat!".

For the first time in months, I am now able to wake up without being in pain. I can lie on my back and it doesn't hurt. I can roll over and get comfy without grimacing. That, by itself, has made a huge difference in my daily life. Huge.

I am currently still going to physical therapy two to three times a week, getting "adjusted" and being put on traction. It seems to be finally taking. For the most part, I do not have any pain during the day. Leaning forwards and twisting at the waist are the only things that seem to induce a small reminder that all is not healed.

I do so much stretching on a daily basis, I am really surprised I cannot just flip my legs over my head. I also have been increasing the core strengthening exercises to strengthen those inner muscles that have atrophied due to underuse and injury. There is still a lot of general instability that needs to be shored up for the long run (literally and figuratively!).

I want to, but I haven't dared yet ask my PT when I might be able to run again. I suspect it's still a long ways out. It will really be interesting to see how all the core work and cross training will affect my running. Meanwhile, I need to stop eating veal, mashed potatoes, chocolate mousse, and wine (that was actually dinner last nite), so I can see the results of all my hard work.

Ringlets

I know, sooo not outdoors related at all. Indulge me. I have often told people that atypical to the norm of sleek, silky, stick straight asian hair, I, in fact, have wavy, big, frizzy hair which takes me hours to control if I even bother to control it. And my brother, has ringlets. It's kind of hard to believe. So, as evidenced by this Thanksgiving photo, taken before the festivities began, my brother...with ringlets. I figure it's from all the inbreeding on the island of Kyushu. The end.

Chris and one of thee cutest babies in the universe, Amalia.

Clyde, the most photogenic dog on the planet belongs to friends of ours. I love him.

I Honestly Never Thought I Would Miss my Face

That allergic seeming reaction that I was talking about? Well, my face has ballooned. It was so bad when I woke up this morning that it looked like Chris had given me 2 fantastic punches to both eyes. I no longer even need lip augmentation as this condition has nicely swollen my upper lip for me. I am completely unrecognizable to myself. I never ever thought in a million years that I would miss my old face, but I do. Desperately.

I went to the ER this morning basically because I was not sure if I should or not. As I said, my eyes are swollen now and the redness still seems to be spreading. They think it is some type of allergic reaction due to some unknown substance. Clothes has been ruled out since the rash is limited to my face and neck. I will be throwing away all lotions and changing (again) the sheets and pillowcases and pillows. Both cats will be receiving a rub down which I know they will love. I am now on Prednisone which the ER doctor kindly told me is nasty stuff and that him and any patient he gives it to hates it. He said I might get "moon face" before the swelling subsides and that I can generally expect to become an agitated and nasty person. Fantastic.

Lately, I never cease but to amaze myself with all the health concerns that I get to throw into Chris' face. The poor guy. On top of that, my face is gone. Not that I ever really liked it, but he seemed to. Now I really really wish I could have the old face back. I promise to treat it with more kindness and respect than ever before now that I know what life is like without it. I've learned my lesson. Now please....deflate.

Help. Nasty Rash.

Contact dermatitis? Poison Oak? Poison Ivy?
I have no freaking idea, but it's driving me nuts and putting a serious dent in my copious social life. It's on the middle of my face and right ear. Yeah, figure that one out. It started last week and parts of it have dried up and healed, but it's also incrementally spreading slowly to the outer parts of my face. The most telling configuration if you could call it that is under my right eye, it is in 2 distinct lines. 2 lines of bumps that is. Indicative of poison oak or ivy from what I read online. However, I am not experiencing that disgusting blistery issue that I have had with poison oak in the past. Just red bumps that itch like hell and make me look like a ghoul. It's so sad. I'm on vacation peoples. I should not be dealing with this.

If it is poison oak of some sort, I do have a theory. Sometimes the effects of urushiol can take up to a week to manifest. I did go hiking at Garlands Ranch 5 days after Xmas. I did pet a lot of dogs with my mittened hands. I did blow my nose. I do play with my right ear. Makes sense right? Meanwhile I am going nuts putting Hydrocortisone and Neosporin on my face constantly. I am going to try Tecnu in a sec. Someone said online that it even helps after you've got it. I thought it was only good for washing the oils off immediately after contact, but apparently not.

I was kidding about the copious social life. Can one even grammatically put the word copious in front of social life? Anyways, my condition did kind of help finalize my decision about not volunteering at PCTR's Angel Island race this Sunday. I just keep on thinking that people are staring at the barf which is my face and not want to talk to me. I'm going hiking instead. Surrounded by strangers.

My life is so sad.

Who Has the Time?

This baffles me. I barely have enough time to blog anything in Short Angry Person (I do now since I'm on break) much less keep up to date with Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin, LiveJournal, Friendster, and on and on and on. I have accounts with multiple places just because my friends do and some of them seem to be current on all of them when I happen to check. Add mindless surfing to the mix, and it's more than a full time job. How do you guys do it? And guess what I've been doing all afternoon. Total time suck.

Hiking & Houses in the Woods

Chris had over a week off for Xmas and here are the places we covered.
Wunderlich County Park
Windy Hill Open Space Preserve
Arastradero Preserve
Almaden Quicksilver County Park
Coal Mine Ridge
Garland Ranch Regional Park

It's so wonderful to be able to at least hike, but in a funny way, I still get a little frustrated that after a couple of hours, we only cover less than 7 miles. Walking is so slow!! But really, I'm not complaining. Really...
I've also done a little more exploring of the neighborhoods around me in the last week. Both Chris and I cannot wait to get away from the freeway, and closer to the hills and open space in the Bay Area. The peninsula is really an amazing area for the outdoors. The trick for us is to move about 20 minutes closer to it, on the 280 side instead of 101. My dream is to live next to trails so I can just step outside the door and run for miles in the woods. Once I graduate and get some income again, along with that lucky lottery ticket, there are a few streets in Portola Valley that are calling my name. I need to do a little more exploring along Hwy 17 near Los Gatos too. Quicksilver gave me some pause the other day. It's such a great park, but I think the area around it is a little too suburban and looks like it's growing mc mansions like crazy. Not sure if I want to end up in that mess. But, it's such a great park, it's hard to discount the neighborhood entirely. These may be all pipe dreams, but it's fun to think about.