Who, what, when, where, why

Yeah, not so creative in the blog title, lol.

So who am I and where have I been?  I am a very grumpy runner who is not supposed to be running right now and James says that I'm impossible to live with.  And you know what? He's completely right, sigh......

Today marked my 3rd DNS (did not show) of the year for the Grand Prix races so I was NOT in Russellville this morning.  Yep, 0/3 for the races, grrrr.  Last week was the 15k and I decided to show up early and cheer for all the racers.  Here's what I learned--the lead and the back of the pack runners kind of get screwed in the cheering department.  I'd never experienced that as a runner because except for one race I've always been squarely or near the front of the middle of the pack group from the time I started participating in races.  So please, anybody that is a spectator at races try and make an effort to cheer/clap/yell for everybody!!!!!!!!!  Some of the runners at the back of the pack just lit up at hearing somebody tell them they were doing awesome.  And guess what, they did do awesome no matter their time, they just completed 9.3 miles, that is a hella long distance especially as windy and cold as it was that day.

Why have I not been running (or rather not supposed to have been running)--that goes back to the sprained ankle from last month's trail run.  During the work week, I'm stuck behind the wheel of the truck for up to 11 hours a day and that's causing my ankle to stay swollen up around the knuckle bone :-(.  Once I come home after 36-48 hours the swelling goes down dramatically but that only lasts until I go back to work, then up it balloons again, sigh......  The ankle is still a bit stiff and achy but there's no dramatic pain, I have zero problems putting weight on it and I've even gone for 3-4 easy runs on very flat surfaces. However, I've had 3 online friends convince me that I needed to step back and take another 2 weeks off to see if I can get the swelling to go completely away.  I am soooooooo not happy because running quite simply is my stress reliever.

One quick PSA--if you have a canister of pepper spray that's at least a year old, BUY A NEW ONE ASAP!!!!  I had a bit of a run-in with a dog on Tuesday that I tried to use my pepper spray on only to find out it had completely gummed up.  Fortunately it turned out ok but it was a close call.

Details on the dog incident--I was running in an area new to me in Louisiana and had turned into a residential area where I was greeted by this very friendly chow-retriever mix dog.  All went well except the dog kept following me and when I tried to turn onto another street, she immediately became aggressive.  Literally jumping up on me nearly knocking me down several times then started "grabbing" at my hands with her mouth. Not hard enough to draw blood but it certainly wasn't comfortable.  Finally got away from her enough to backtrack and she immediately calmed down.  Not only did the dog calm down, she followed me for over 3 miles, couldn't get rid of her no matter what I tried. Dog even followed me back to my truck.  I guess she decided we had bonded......very, very weird.  I got cleaned up, went in for coffee and food & she's still waiting for me at my truck.  Not only did she wait,  she followed my truck out of the parking lot when I tried to leave out.  Heart-breaking really even after she nearly scared the crap out of me.  Irresponsible dog owners need to "enjoy" some jail or community service time, no reason for this kind of behavior.

Workout recap--I'm managing to get in at least 2 core workouts a week with the SPS Trifecta and it's visibly paying off. My upper body is starting to get some definition again instead of just being plain skinny :-).  I've also worked my way back up to 4 pullups in a set, that's not quite the 15 I could get consecutively last summer but the strength and muscle memory is returning. Hiked on Monday with 2 treks up water tower trail at Pulaski and my mileage is increasing on the trainer, yay!!!!!!!  So no more runs for at least 2 weeks and I think I will go get an xray/mri on Thursday if the ankle is still swollen.

Shoes or the lack thereof

For the past 3 years it seems like I've only purchased running shoes and the odd pair of work boots........well last summer I did buy a couple pair of Fit-Flops due to the plantar fasciitis but they are gawd-awful ugly so they don't count.  The problem is that this winter I decided I needed dresses for the off time but I have been having a heckuva time finding dressier shoes that I like or that my feet can tolerate.

Don't know exactly what the problem is but it seems like I can find nothing but stripper heels, shoes that look like a grade school craft project, old lady shoes, or they just look & feel plain old cheap..........I've been shoe-shopping so many times for the past 3 weeks and have come home with NOTHING.  Ok, so that's not completely true, today I did come home with a pair of hiking boots and a pair of work boots--things that would lace up and be snug around my right ankle since I'm still kind of nursing it.  BUT they're not what I was shopping for!! I'm starting to feel like my girl card needs to be revoked, grrrrr.

Searcy has been scoured, likewise for Conway. Next week when I come back home I'm going to make a stop at Dillard's to see if they have anything that will meet my evidently way too picky standards.  I'm hesitant to order online because you never know how they're going to fit or what the leather quality is like.  Any suggestions will be greatly welcomed :-).

dull, dull, dull

Just a quick update to let anybody who reads the blog know I'm alive, lol. Not much to say 'cause I'm just not in the mood to blog. However, I did find out the cause this morning of my ever so constant companion of jaw achiness.

This little baby right here was left in after my jaw surgery last month & had been slowly working its way out. yuck, gross, ewww. But now hopefully I will be in a better mood within a few days.

Ankle update--still a bit swollen but I have no problems walking. It's a kind of stiff but I've been stretching it as much as possible & hope to resume running sometime this week.  Here's what it looked like last Monday.

We did get snow & I made my first ever snowman--don't laugh!!! well maybe just a little, lol

Is that supposed to pop like that?

Nothing new here work wise :), which is a good thing I suppose, lol.  The only thing half-way interesting this week was when the guy in shipping at Gadsden asked what the company said about my bumper. When I told him that they were ok with it but I would lose my safety bonus for the next year, his reaction was "But you couldn't even see that rack, that's not fair."  The good news is that the plant is actually making an effort to keep the area in front of the docks cleared out now.

Workout recap

Monday--1 mile walk with Elsie, 15 minutes stretching & core test = 31 pushups, 36 squats, & 71 situps consecutively. Not bad considering it was at the end of a VERY long day

Tuesday--4.07 mile run in 37:59 at Breaux Bridge, LA. Still tired & it was windy

Wednesday--3 mile run in 27:43 at Pearsall, TX. Very windy & humid. Core workout was done immediately after run
pushups 75 (14/18/14/14/15) last setup should've been 20 but was tired & face planted at 15 :(
situps 120 (21/27/21/21/30)
squats 97 (16/22/17/17/25)

Thursday--7.64 mile 30 minute spin on trainer (turbo!). 10 minutes easy, 20 minutes all out effort

And that brings me to today (Friday).  I'd decided that I wanted some miles in on the trails so we headed out to Riverside Park mountain bike trails (James rode his mountain bike while I ran).  I have complained before that our trails are very technical and I hadn't taken into account the heavy rains we've had all winter.  Quite a bit of the trail system has been washed out or is completely blocked off by debris, yuck.......

Despite that I was still having a great run up and down the hills, through the creeks, and over the rocks.......until mile 4.91..........I came down on an unstable rock that was covered by leaves and as that stupid rock shifted, so did my right foot. Problem is the ankle tried to go an opposite direction of the toes along with this very ugly pop. 

OUCH. 

Instantly sat down and was just sitting there with my right knee pulled up to my chest trying to catch my breath.  In the meantime, James has caught up to me and is trying to hand me the bottle of water because he thinks I'm just sitting there admiring the view of the quarry, LOL.  I know I've mentioned it elsewhere but can't remember if I have here, but when I hurt myself severely, I might utter one curse word but then go immediately quiet. No tears, no nothing--just quiet. If I'm talking then I'm not injured too terribly, lol.

Once I can talk enough to let James know what's wrong, he of course wants to carry my fat arse out of there.  Not happening if I can help it though, lol......Once I decided nothing was broken, got up found a stout branch to use as a walking stick & we hiked back to the pickup that thank gawd was only .56 miles away :).

Anyhoo, I am now using RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) and hoping that the swelling will be down by morning, if it's not then I'll head to the doctor's office.  What really pisses me off is that Sunday is the first race of the state RRCA Grand Prix season so if I don't make it then there goes any chance of iron person status in 2010.

Pics of the ankle and briar scratches, lol. Oh and what happened to me today is a very good example of why you don't go trail running solo....

HTFU

So yeah, I need to htfu & get back into gear with my life.  Made a bit of progress with it this week, although it's been a struggle and I haven't picked up the guitar to practice in 2 weeks. That's going to change with the next one though.  As a friend pointed out I need to quit moping around and just do something, lol......

Work week was ok, nothing spectacularly bad to write home about thankfully. No major trailer issues, a couple of run of the mill traffic jams, just the same old-same old.  The only weird thing was one of my co-workers sitting in his truck blowing his air horn at me and yelling out the window for me to come over to his truck before dawn. Not ever, ever going to happen, I don't care if we do work for the same company and it was on our Laredo drop yard. I am not walking over to some strange guy's truck........If he wants to talk, he can get his lazy ass out of the truck and walk over to where I'm standing with the security guard. 

Oh!!! It was warmer!! About darn time, our temps were running approx. 30F below normal, brrrr.  Even with the warmer temps there was still ice in shaded areas though on Thursday, very unusual for us in central Arkansas.

I seem to have a bit of a streak going with my workouts, the 6th has been the only day that I haven't done any kind of workout so far this month. Let's see if I can keep it going :)

Monday
1.08 mile walk with Elsie & core--SPS Trifecta (63 pushups, 112 situps, 89 squats)

Tuesday
4.21 mile run in 38:54. Hills!!!

Wednesday

4.39 miles in 39:09. 10 mph winds. New route for me at Salado, TX. Not a good one, too many dogs (I was almost bit by a small one) and the motorists don't believe in giving you any room :(

Thursday
Core--74 Pushups, 127 situps, 103 squats

Friday

3.27 miles at home in 28:43. Very tired

Saturday

Core--87 pushups, 141 situps, 112 squats

Sunday

10.02 run in 1:36:30. Tired, my socks wouldn't stay up so took them off after 2 miles. Roads & trails were wet so I now have blisters on my right foot. Stomach issues = 2 bathroom stops. 9 mph wind gusts. One of those runs where you just survive it, lol.

Finally remembered to make an appt to have my hair trimmed Friday and while I was there asked my stylist to straighten it for a change. Top pic shows the color I put in Saturday before last and bottom pic shows how long my hair is getting :). It's going to be tough the next few months in the growing out process because it's the length I absolutely detest.....Like my stylist said this is the point where my hair goes out instead of down, lol. Curly hair is funny that way.

Slumpy

I have found myself in a funk that I just can't seem to shake this year.......Not sure if it's the weather, the impending 41st birthday, just general mid-winter blues or a combination of it all.  No enthusiasism for anything including running, although once I get my rear out the door I feel great & thoroughly enjoy it. It's just the process of trying to get moving that seems to be the problem.  On the other hand most of my other friends, online and in real life, seem to be enjoying phenomenally good moods.  Leave it to me to have to do the exact opposite of everybody else, LOL.

Work-related news--our new CEO seems to think moving away from a major customer is the best direction for the company to go and quite a few of my co-workers are cheering that decision.  All I can think is "dumb-asses". Do they not realize that the if the 20-25% of us that are pulling dedicated loads for this major customer is thrown into the mix of the otr drivers that their miles will continue to decrease?  Specializing may lead to occasional slumps but competing for the same general freight loads as every other company out there is not a good thing either.  There needs to be a mix of the two if it's a larger company like the one I work for.  Sigh, but what do I know? After all, I'm JUST A DRIVER.  Never mind that it's by choice and that if I truly wanted a desk job I could have one. I'm not limited by a lack of education, just a lack of interest in office politics.

My truck still has the warn engine light on, it actually came back on within 25 miles of leaving the International dealership, sigh......seems to be running ok, although a bit less power than what it had before leaving it there. They still need to figure out what the problem is though before this turns into something big.  Took my truck in Friday morning to have the steer tires balanced--for some reason the powers-that-be decided that Frank couldn't have the tire supplier balance the tires before putting them on trucks, geez--and they found a small bent place on the inside of the left rim.  This would have never been an issue if they'd let Frank do his job properly.  Anyhoo, I should have new steer tires again when I leave out tonight.

This brings me to another work-related issue, I love, love, love the fact that the shop foreman we have now at my home terminal listens to ME, instead of staring at my boobs (or lack thereof, lol) and necessitating James having to tell them what I need to have done to MY truck. 

Good news is that my mouth finally went from downright hurting to aching to yay my jaw doesn't hurt on the 11th day after the gingival graft.  Dreading the next round of that this coming spring since he will do the remainder all at once.  We just did the one before Christmas because my dental insurance was almost maxed out for the year.

Weekly workout recap
Monday--Core workout (SPS Trifecta)

Tuesday--1.25 mile hike up the Pulaski, TN water tower hill (near the end of which I slipped on some ice and fell in a creek. Temperature was 11F, not a good thing, LOL
3.06 mile run at Gadsden, AL in 26:48--bit of spare time before 2nd pickup

Wednesday--rest (very long driving day though)

Thursday--5.07 miles in 45:29 at Pearsall, TX. chilly and very, very windy. 13 mph winds with gusts up to 28mph.

Friday--Core (SPS Trifecta)

Saturday--spin on the trainer. 8.17 miles in 35:17. 10 minutes easy, 20 hard, 5 minutes cooldown

Sunday--9.17 mile run in 1:24:11 at home. 20f when I left out midmorning. The bicycle trail still had snow and ice in spots and judging from the shoe prints, there had only been 3-4 of us out there since last Wednesday night (when the snow fell).  Today I met one of the Kenyan runners from Harding, he was the same one I saw last Sunday too.  We seemed to have been the lone rangers for running outside today, lol.

Running mileage is still just under 20 miles a week although that should change with the coming one :). It's been a bit disenheartening to be doing less miles in the whole month than what I did in a week's time this past fall.

2010 Off and Running

So I started the New Year off right!! Went to a party at a friend's house that was close enough to walk to and from so James & I were both able to have some alcoholic libations :). No having to worry about who was going to be a designated driver, yay!!

Great time was had and this is the first time I was up and awake to see the new year in for ages.....

We left out around 0130 so it was a bit after 0200 before I was in bed.......The problem was that I had to be back up at 0600 to get ready to meet at Cabot for our club New Year's Day Run at 8 am. eeep.........

Had a great run though, I ended up with 5.8 miles and so enjoyed getting to talk with my friends in person. I have missed that immensely. Sometimes I wish we could move to Cabot but then I'd be away from my cycling friends :(. And I really do enjoy living in Searcy.

After a bit of breakfast, the night prior finally caught up to me and I ended up going back to bed for another couple of hours sleep. Needed to be prepared for Kelownagurl's 100km trainer ride challenge, lol

Oh the challenge.........James asked me afterwards didn't I know better than to accept a challenge from a Canadian? LMAO!!!!! Except for a couple of trainer sessions, I have not been on a road bike since the first weekend or so of September. And I forgot the chamois butter for the first half of the ride. Yep, I have some welps today on my ass......will not make the mistake again, OUCH..

I was very, very slow by the way :(. Excuses--yeah, I have excuses, lol!! I did run that morning, I was still a bit hungover, and I had dental surgery earlier in the week. So that's my story about why it took me almost 5 hours to ride 62 miles on the trainer :). Oh and I forgot to clear out all my screens on the bike computer so the time does include the eleven miler from September. Yeah, the last road bike ride was only 11 miles.

Advantages to riding the trainer--you can lay your head on your arms when it's unbearable and still keep spinning, you can tweet......umm that's about it.

Disadvantages to riding the trainer--it's hellaciously boring!!!!!! I watched a couple of movies and that helped a bit but still.....No coasting and no downhills to rest. You either spin or you don't get any mileage in.

Afterwards, I pretty much collapsed on the couch to watch the Star Trek 2009 movie. Oh, can't rave about it enough, it's a must see, even for non sci-fi fans. C'mon who didn't watch the original Star Trek series in the endless re-runs when when you were kids? I am going to buy the dvd now because it's a definite re-watch :)

New Year's Challenges

In an attempt to get more motivated and kick the new year off right I've decided to tackle a couple of fellow Twitter/Blogger's challenges

First up is Kelownagurl's 100KM (62 miles) New Year's Day Trainer ride challenge from Buckeye Outdoors. This will be sometime after my run with the Cabot Cruisers. Oh, and if you're not listening to KG's podcast, what's wrong with you? Listen to it!!!

Next up is Quadrathon's SPS Trifecta. SPS = squats, pushups, and situps. You can see details and sign up for it here. Quadrathon also has an excellent podcast :).

So I'm all tested up...21 pushups, 45 squats, and 50 situps consecutively and in good form. Let's see if I can stick with it for longer than a month, lol.........

2009 wrapup

Hmm, so trying to make myself get this blog post done and just not quite getting there......

So what were my 2009 highlights (and lowlights)

Well, it was my first full year participating in the Arkansas RRCA Grand Prix race series and I set the goal way back last January that I was going to try and iron the series. And I actually managed it :).

I turned 40--major highlight 'caused that moved me into the master's division for races.

No broken bones or teeth, woo-hoo!! Although I'm still having to undergo dental procedures to fix some of the issues from 2008, yuck.....


Made some awesome running friends and got to know current ones much better. Not going to list them here because it's a HUGE list, LOL....

Twitter friends!!!!

Ran a MARATHON! Although it's also a bit of a low point because it worsened a foot injury and was under some very rough weather conditions. I didn't come as close to the time goal as I wanted but did get to watch Jackie's toughness firsthand. Very happy that my first marathon was with her.

Set personal records in all my race distances this year :).


Was awarded Female Masters Runner of the Year by the Arkansas RRCA. Still in awe that I was nominated much less had enough votes to be awarded this, I didn't realize that many people even knew who I was.























I was Driver of the Month for March 2009--still have mixed feelings about this one. Kinda prefer to keep my head down at work for the most part.


James' mom having a series of mini-strokes, this has thrown all three of us for quite a loop, think we've finally adjusted to some semblance of a schedule so there's at least one of kind of close by in case something else happens. Does mean that James' and I see far less of each other than what we prefer but you do what you have to with family.


Elsie's 2nd year with us :)


James has stuck with me for another year, 2010 will mark our 22nd anniversary. Oh geez, I have been married for over 1/2 my life at this point. That makes me feel old, lol.......


Injured my left foot twice :(


All the training runs with Brenda, Cindy and Lisa. Oh I miss that soooo much.


My Iphone!!! Several months later and I still love it :). How did I ever manage prior to it? lol


Getting to see my friend Alyson evolve into a hard-core cyclist (and yes you are!! no arguing)


My Jamis Xenith Comp Femme road bike--although Buffy's been a bit neglected for the past 3.5 months.


Favorite race of the year--3 way tie. The One Hour Track Run, Capitol City Classic 10k, and the Dam Night Run 5k.


Least favorite race of the year--again a tie--Hogeye 1/2 Marathon and the Brickfest 5k...fueling issues on both


Did I mention all my awesome friends?!?


Anyhoo, just a bit of what was good and bad about 2009. Hope to have a post done sometime this weekend about 2010 goals :)

2009 Races and Events

Feel free to skip this post, nothing interesting here--not that there usually is in my blog anyway, lol. gp = Arkansas RRCA Grand Prix

1/25/09 One Hour Track Run--Russellville, AR 6.98 miles/60:00 gp
2/14/09 Valentine's Day 5k--Russellville, AR 24:57 gp
2/21/09 Rivertrail 15k--Little Rock, AR 1:21:36 gp
3/7/09 Chase Race 2 Mile--Conway, AR 15:11 gp
3/7/09 PAWS Race 1 mile--Conway, AR (with Elsie)
3/15/09 Little Rock 1/2 Marathon, Little Rock, AR 2:02:22
3/28/09 Spring Fling 5k--Cabot, AR 25:03 gp
4/4/09 Capitol City Classic 10k--Little Rock, AR 51:50 gp
4/5/09 Hogeye 1/2 Marathon--Fayetteville, AR 2:01:36 gp
4/18/09 Beyond Boundaries Boot Scootin' 5k, Ward, AR 25:12
4/18/09 Move to End Alzheimer's Memory Walk, Little Rock, AR
4/25/09 2CanRide, Searcy, AR (cycling)
5/2/09 Toad Suck Daze 10k, Conway, AR 52:43 gp
5/9/09 Women Run Arkansas 5k, Conway, AR 25:01
5/25/09 Du for the Parks Duathlon, Hot Springs, AR 1:14:15
6/13/09 Carti Tour de Rock, Little Rock, AR (cycling) 62 mile
6/27/09 Brickfest 5k, Malvern, AR 24:44 gp
7/25/09 Dam Night Run 5k, Lake DeGray, AR 23:26 gp
8/1/09 White River 4 Mile Classic, Batesville, AR 33:18 gp
8/8/09 Watermelon 5k, Hope, AR 25:10 gp
9/5/09 ARK Clear Mountain 5k, N. Little Rock, AR 23:25 gp
9/19/09 Arkansas 20k, Benton, AR 1:50:18 gp
9/26/09 Tyler Curtis 5k, Little Rock, AR 24:34 gp
10/17/09 Chile Pepper XC 10k, Fayetteville, AR 49:28 gp
10/24/09 Soaring Wings 1/2 Marathon, Conway, AR 1:55:51 gp
11/7/09 MidSouth Marathon, Wynne, AR 4:40:40 gp
11/21/09 Spa 10k, Hot Springs, AR 53:31 gp
11/28/09 Great Duck Race 10k, Stuttgart, AR 51:11 gp

1 track run, 1 2 miler, 11 5ks, 1 4 miler, 5 10ks, 1 15k, 1 20k, 3 1/2 marathons, and 1 marathon.
1 duathlon and 1 metric century cycling.
Set prs in all distances this year :)
Cycling distance as of 12/30/09 770.47 miles
Running distance as of 12/30/09 1360.73 miles

Intrusiveness

So yeah, it's the next to the last day of 2009 and I should be doing a year-end wrap up post but quite honestly, I'm not in the mood.........Probably has a good bit to do with the gingival graft dental surgery that I had on Monday, yuck. Unfortunately was only able to get one of the grafts done because I have maxed out my dental insurance for the year, so that means sometime in early 2010 I'm going to have to use another weeks vacation to do the remainder.

This brings me to another grumble. The company that employs me is by far the most intrusive company that James and I have ever worked for......Yes, there are regulations that govern what kind of medications you can take when you are a truck driver but this particular company goes above and beyond what the law requires and that's not necessarily a good thing. As a matter of fact they go so far beyond what is required by the law that they now have a lawsuit against them by EEOC for illegally dismissing a driver due to health issues.

It takes so long to clear our medical dept that I was only able to take ONE of the prescribed pain pills after the surgery......I'm due to go back to work on Monday and if this hadn't been a holiday weekend coming up I would have had a little more time to clear the medical dept on Thursday & Friday but in order to get cleared by today (because they would be off for the remainder of the week) I could only take the pain medication on Monday.......so there you go, only ibuprofen for me the past 2 days, lol. Yes, I've been a bit grumpy :).

I'm a grinch

Yeah, not so much a holiday person.....habits and behaviors that you've been exposed to in your formative years are very hard to shake off. Not saying that it can't be done but it is a bit difficult and I find myself in a bit of a funk every year from November thru December......January and February are just gloomy but at least I'm able to shake off the desire to start a fight with the person nearest near to me, lol........This year, I've still been grumpy, moody, and yes, a bit testy but James kind of understands whats going on by now so he cuts me more slack than he used to. Also, I have been able to curb the wanting to argue grinch more than I have in the past.

Anyways, the holidays are practically over now :). I truly hope everybody had a very enjoyable Christmas and are planning their New Year's Eve celebrations and plotting out next year's resolutions. I am off on vacation through the 3rd, will get back to trucking on the 4th. Very much looking forward to this break, have a lot of decompressing and decluttering to do.

Leaving you with a pic of a roadblock I encountered Wednesday on my way home but it was so funny I managed to not get angry, lol.

Not a "real" truck driver

Okay adding a disclaimer to this post because as I noted to Terry in the comments I was going for tongue in cheek humor over actual things that have been told me over the years and instead I came off as a whiny, rabid, humorless person (and yes I can be those things at certain times but that's not the point I was going for here, lol).

one of my many failings is that I tend to allow what other people think bother me.......Kind of a typical type A personality in that. And yeah, don't let other type A's tell you that they don't care what others think, the vast majority of the ones I know do despite their vehement protestations.

A recurring thing that I've had people say to me is that I'm not a "real" truck driver for various reasons many of them contradictory

Why I am not or wasn't a REAL TRUCK DRIVER according to others

1) I went to truck driving school

2) I drove team with my husband therefore I didn't do any city driving or backing up to docks because other guys wouldn't "allow" their wives/girlfriends to do so

3) I don't drive team with my husband (said some of it was contradictory, lol)

4) I currently drive an automatic truck

5) I have only run regional for the past 3-4 years--Middle Tennessee to Laredo, Texas with occasional forays into Alabama, Kentucky, or Missouri

6) I call my husband for advice or if he's around have him assist or do some of the minor repairs on my truck or trailer--not sure how this is different from calling up road rescue, asking on the cb, or going to a shop

7) Occasionally my husband and I actually get to pick up at the same places or close by on the same day, so if I happen to be following him I'm not able to drive by myself (although I have accused James of driving my truck and his simultaneously, it's actually not physically possible for him to do so, lol)

8) I don't like driving overnight

and on and on and on.............I could make arguments about every single point but since I'm trying to work on not allowing others' opinion color my view of myself I will let it pass.......you don't know how hard that is to do though, LOL......

Learning Experience

Yep, two words I absolutely hate to hear because it usually means I have f'ed up royally in some way, lol.........And I had one of those this past Tuesday, grrr.


I have been very, very proud up until this week to have never crunched a bumper on my truck and you know what they say about pride and a fall, sigh......Over 9 years driving a truck and I go and do something like this. No excuses, I just simply lost track of where everything was and caught the corner of a foot high metal rack just under the bumper on the right side and these are plastic bumpers that aren't very sturdy. Like our shop foreman said today after a fair bit of teasing at me, it happens to everybody at some point or another and thankfully I have one of the Prostars instead of a Cascadia so the only damage was to the bumper itself. Oh yeah, and my pride.......still feeling extremely stupid....so stupid as a matter of fact that I allowed a random tweet from last night hurt my feelings when it shouldn't have (yeah, I'm such a girl sometimes cue up "Stupid Girl" from Garbage, lol).


Anyways, no big deal as far as the company is concerned but I will lose next year's safety bonus :-(. Was even thanked by the safety dept. for my honesty and professionalism in reporting the incident instead of trying to hide or lie about what happened. Do have to say thanks to a Rush driver who helped me zip tie and strap the bumper up so it wouldn't shake loose going down the road and who didn't make fun of me. I think the guys in the shipping dept had told him that I'd been in there several times and was usually a good driver so that helped, lol. I also think the shop is going to be able to replace the bumper this weekend, yay!!!





In other news, I've been running 2-3 times a week with 5.5 miles being the longest so far. Still not pushing it, going to wait until after Christmas to decide on my race/event schedule then ramp the training back up. Also have been battling a bit of a head cold this week or I thought it was a cold until James reminded me that they told us after our flu shots earlier in the year that if we did get exposed to the flu it would be cold-like symptoms this time around. Who knows? I just know that my head has been stopped up for the better part of a week, sneezing, and achy. Yuck.........




One more week of work then I'm off until the 4th of January for sure--at least that's the time I put in that I wanted off and since I'm still carrying a week of vacation from last year
I WANT AND NEED this time off. Oh no, I'm not stressed much, lol. Looking like I will have a Monday pickup at another new to me plant in Lewisburg, TN so if that holds up I should be back home Thursday morning :) :) :)



Posting a couple of sunrise shots from this week, the first is over Hubbard Reservoir near Dallas and the second is at the top of a hill I'm determined to run all the way up one of these days in Pulaski, TN

By the Wayside

Yep, that seems to be where my blogging is headed......fallen way off both on actual updates and keeping up with everybody. It's not that I don't want to write something it's that by the time I get home and sit in front of the computer I've completely forgotten whatever it was that had my mind racing to begin with. Ah well, such is the way with stress :(.

So the running this past week has been zilch until yesterday (Sunday) while trying to rest up and give my foot a chance to recover from whatever the problem is. Quick synopsis of the left foot issue

1)plantar fasciitis back in early, early spring-by midsummer this was resolved though

2)caught a rock at the base of my 2nd toe at the Chile Pepper XC 10k 10/17--injured the toe, it was swollen and painful for quite a well

3)the Sunday prior to the Midsouth Marathon, I tripped and fell, bruising and cutting up the inside of the left ankle

4)Foot started hurting during the marathon-achy around mile 20ish, flatout cramping from mile 24 on. Also had a major, major cramp afterwards from the tips of my toes to just behind my knee that refused to release for what seemed like forevah.......

James' and my opinion is that I have a stress fracture on the second toe, I'm one of those people whose 2nd toe is also longer than my big toe so it receives most of the impact first........Now mind you this is our opinion and I haven't gone to the doctor yet and we didn't stay at Holiday Inn last night. Why haven't I gone to the doctor? Well, the company I'm employed by is by far way too aggressive in shutting you down ANYTIME you have a doctor's visit until they review everything little thing that went down. This means no driving and with my dedicated run it would mean an entire week off work. My plan was to take 2 weeks off from running (lasted 1 week, lol) then take it easy on the workouts for a couple more weeks and if I'm still having problems I will go to the doc for x-rays, etc. during our Christmas shutdown. I have been employed by 5 different trucking companies (James=7) but our current one is far more intrusive than any of the others and does in fact go much further than what the law requires.

Anyhoo, my mood for the past couple of months has been up and down. In a major funk after the marathon AND racing season ended. Feel kind of lost and I realize it's silly but it's what's going on.........Also while the mother-in-law is improving, our lives are pretty much revolving around rushing back home from work, etc. James and I aren't getting to see each other near enough and it's wearing on both of us. I do have a couple of friends that are basically saving what little sanity I have left but James is doing the guy thing and refusing to talk about what's going on with anybody but me.

Oh crap, this is turning into a woe is me post, grrrr.

Okay on to other stuff. I did go for an easy 4ish mile (no garmin!) run with Elsie yesterday afternoon with no problems, yay! Will try and ease back into it with no hard-core training until after the first of the year :).

Second on the advice of a friend I am making an attempt at learning to play the guitar........Went to a local music store in town and came home with a very cool starter set :). Yep, just what I need, something else to obsess about, lol.

3rd, I'm actually going out and attempting to buy clothes that actually fit.......Part of my problem is that I try to avoid things made in China and while I realize that quite a few things I have no choice on, clothing is an area where I do have an option. A somewhat limited choice, it turns out but I can find things made elsewhere (oh, there are a few other countries I avoid). But........I'm having a difficult time finding work/casual clothing that I like :(. What I'm having no problem with is dresses, lol! I've purchased 3 in a month's time but while I can get away with wearing a casual dress and sandals while driving in the summer, winter's stuff tends to be a bit too dressy and requires heels to look right. Not exactly practical for a truckdriver, but I am ready for any holiday parties if James and manage to get the same day off when one is scheduled, ha-ha!