Running Chick

Cats!

Another trip to the vet, another $150+ spent. It seems like every time I make a trip to the vet's office, I end up spending anywhere from $150-$200. This time it was Simon, who has been sneezing up a storm the last two weeks. When he blew yellow/green snot all over himself the other day, I figured it was time to call the doc.

The appointment evolved from just a ear, nose, throat check to a T4 (thyroid) and kidney recheck. Those two tests plus the lab handling fee was $100. Add on $32 for the antibiotic injection, $23 for the anti-inflammatory injection and $40 for the exam, and we're sitting close to $200. But wait! I get a $17.50 multi-injection discount! That brings my total for the day to around $177. Monthly, I spend close to $150 between Simon's thyroid medicine and Spencer's special kidney food and his arthritis medicine.

My cats never really cost me all that much during their early years, so I think they're making up for it in their old age!

Shoes!

Last week while we were in Appleton, I got re-fitted for new shoes. I tested out a bunch of different shoes, probably 8 in total - Nike, New Balance, Adidas, Saucony, Brooks - and ended up with the Brooks Ghost 3. So far I'm really liking them. They're comfortable and responsive with some nice cushioining in the heel and forefoot. The only thing that I didn't like was that my high arches didn't feel like they were being supported enough in the stock insoles. No biggie, I slipped in some arch supporting insoles and all is well.

I've been primarily sticking to pavement, but tonight I decided to take the G3's for a spin on the Tech Trails. Let's just say that they're not really that great of a trail shoe (duh). They did the job, but I was doing a lot more slipping and sliding around on the leaf covered, muddy trails than I would have expected. Oh well, it was just what I needed to get my new oh-so-white shoes looking like respectable running shoes.

You've met Spencer before. He's darn cute, but he's 16 and doesn't get around as well as he used to. He spends most of his time in this position - This morning, as I was heading out the door to work, I heard a noise that can only be described as a car with a squeaky belt. My initial thought was that I had to get my dryer looked at because it has been making that same sort of squealing/speaky noise recently. Just as it occurred to me that I wasn't doing any laundry, Spencer came banging through through the basement cat door with the source of the squealing in his mouth. He caught a mole! Holy crap! Chaos ensued as I dumped my bags and jacket and freaked out because Spencer was in attack mode and the poor thing was still alive and bleeding all over my carpet. But then I got my wits about me and I realized that this would make a great blog post, so I got out my camera and started snapping pictures. Good Kitty! click! Show Mommy your mouse! click! click! Now put your paw on it! Now pick it up in your mouth! click! click! click! click!....... I was like some insane stage mother or something. Anyway, this is probably the tamest of the photos - The rest are pretty icky, if you so desire (and don't have a weak stomach), check them out in the gallery. Let's just say I didn't realize those little critters had so much blood in them (gross). Anyway, I picked up the poor thing, which was by now dead (I think), and put him outside. I came back inside and found Spencer staring at the blood on the carpet and looking at me all dejected. I gave him many treats as a reward. And spend the next 45 minutes cleaning all the blood out of my carpet. I feel strangely proud of my old man kitty. He's developed this "eh, been there done" that attitude toward bugs, toys, and birds, which I suppose comes with old age, but it's nice to know that he's still got it! ** 9/27/2010 1:30 pm update. There as been discussion about what type of rodent Spencer caught. It's definitely not a mole, as I originally referred. We've narrowed it down to two possibilities: shrew or vole. I'm thinking it was a Northern Short-tailed Shrew. Not that it matters. **

And just like that summer is over. I swear, the last time I remember, it was June and I was scratching around in Josh’s garden. Now, it’s cold & rainy, school is back in session and I’m wondering when I can mow my lawn for the last time this year.

What happened this summer? Let’s see, went camping a couple of times, was all HamSexy and did radio communications at the Kuparisaari Triathlon, took a trip to VA for Josh’s sister’s wedding, had a sick cat that almost gave me an emotional breakdown and rode my bike a lot.

I really didn’t run much between June & August. A few short ones here & there, nothing over 3 miles, most around 1 or 2. The myofascial release therapy seemed to be working, and then it just wasn’t. I was left with this mild to sharp pain behind my knee that just wouldn’t go away. Neither I nor the therapist could figure out if it was IT band or hamstring related because it seemed to keep on moving around in both areas. He worked on both, but nothing ever made it better. So, I basically stopped running for a few weeks and got on my bike.  I needed to get some miles in to prepare for my annual Ride Around Lake Gogebic, anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal.

A couple of weeks ago on a nice warm evening, I got the itch to do some trail running. I did 3.5 miles out on the trails in my old stomping grounds of Oskar Bay. I felt surprisingly fit and was pain-free. A few days later, I did six on the trails at High Cliff State Park in Sherwood, WI, still pain-free.  BTW, They have some seriously nice trails in that park, if you’re ever down there, check it out.

This week, I did a three and a five miler and had no issues. I have this crazy idea that it was the biking that helped me out. I’m sorta thinking that maybe I had a muscle imbalance and that biking ended up strengthening whatever weaker muscles I had and brought everything back into balance. Or, it could be because stopped using corrective devices (custom orthotics & stability shoes) and went back to neutral shoes (another post for another time). Or, maybe the Running Gods finally decided to take mercy on me.

Well, whatever it is that worked, I’m not going to take it for granted. I’m running and I’m happy to be doing so.