Running Chick

Wow, it’s the last day of 2010 already. Where did the year go?

I was looking back through my blog posts to put my recap together when it because pretty clear that this year was pretty much about Simon. I’d say probably 85% of my posts were about his latest crisis or an update on his health. The last eight months of his life were an emotional rollercoaster for me.  When I left work in the morning, I worried about him all day long. When I’d come home, either from work or being out, I worried that I was going to come home to find him dead. I think that was my biggest fear, coming home (or coming downstairs in the morning) and finding out that he’d died alone.  I don’t think I could have ever forgiven myself if that happened. I’ve known people who have simply dropped their pets of at the vet clinic to be euthanized, which I really don’t understand.  I realize that there are probably circumstances in which that is the only option for the owner, but it’s something I could never do. Simon’s well-being was my responsibility from the day I got him, and it was my responsibility to see that when it was his time, it was done with compassion and love and no suffering on his part.  I made the call to the vet (as incoherent as I probably sounded), I signed the papers, and I was holding him when he died. It was really heartbreaking but I know I made the right decision.

Even though it’s been over a month, I am clearly still grieving for him. I think about him every day and he frequently shows up in my dreams - in the strangest places, too. Last night I dreamt I was on a boat, and he was there with me. The night before, I was out hiking with a backpack on, took it off & opened it, and out he popped. One night last week, I was wrapping presents and he kept on trying to eat the red ribbon I was using. It’s a little bit strange, but I guess as long as I don’t start seeing him when I’m awake, I won’t make an appointment with the psychiatrist just yet.

Moving right along (*puts box of tissues away*), the rest of my 2010 was spent trying to get my running injury/injuries under control. The custom orthotics, which were supposed to solve all of my problems, actually caused me more issues than they solved. After going back to the podiatrist four (or maybe it was five?) times, he finally decided that he couldn’t help me and sent me to specialized therapy. Thanks, pal. I did see improvement after a month or two of myofascial release therapy, and it was enough to get me back running again. But as is typical of me, I went crazy with the running and started to teeter on re-injuring myself, so I decided to back off and rest for a week or two. Well, that turned into two months and I’m just now starting to get back into the swing of things with a few short runs this week and a training plan which will start in February.

This really has nothing to do with 2010, other than I purchased them during the last few weeks of the year, but I got new shoes, the Brooks Cascadia 5.  Everybody together now, “Ooo, pretty.”

I’ve always done my winter running in my road shoes and YakTrax, but this year I wanted to try shoes that were designed to be in the snow, mud and slop, so I went with bonafide trail shoes. So far, I really like them. They do really well in loose snow both up & down hill. I imagine hard packed snow will be a problem, so I am planning to put screws in the bottom of them for extra traction.

Well, enjoy the last day of 2010. See you next year!

Look what FedEx dropped off yesterday - a box of goodies from Larabar! A week or so ago I entered a give-away over at Megan’s blog and lo and behold I won. I never win anything, so I was beyond thrilled. In the box were 16 coconut cream pie Larabars, a water bottle, a bandana and a super-cute t-shirt.

I've had a few of the other flavors, but I haven't had coconut cream pie until now. Hooboy, is it ever good. Sweet and coconutty (is that even a word? probably not, oh well), I had to check the ingredients to make sure I was actually eating something healthy, and I was.  The only thing in this bar are dates, unsweetened coconut, almonds, cashews, and extra virgin coconut oil. That's it. I'll take this bar over a Milky Way any day. Even a Dark Chocolate Milky Way.

The other thing I like about Larabars is that none of their non-peanut flavors have peanuts in them. Being allergic, this is a big score for me because it seems like I can never find a fruit and nut bar that doesn't have peanuts in it. What a serious pain in the butt that is, especially on road trips.

A final bonus is that the company is always coming out with new yummy flavors (carrot cake!), so there’s always something new to try.

My biggest challenge now is to stop myself from eating the entire box of bars in one day. On second thought, maybe it’ll be keeping them away from Josh. Hmm, I think I need to go find a good hiding spot.

Josh is out of town this week visiting his family in Georgia and I’m baby kitty sitting this one:

This is Scout, she belongs to Josh. She’s about 6 years old, the shape of a football and the epitome of a typical aloof cat.  She doesn’t mind being in the same room with you, but don’t bother trying to share a couch with her. She’ll tolerate you petting or holding her for approximately 8 seconds before she turns into a squirming, complaining ball of fur. Precocious.

The first thing she did was eat all of Spencer’s food.

Then she traipsed around on the kitchen counters.

And when Spencer tried to make friends with her

She waved her claws at him.

Spencer: *sigh*

She does tolerate me chasing her around with the camera much better than Spencer does.

So, I guess she's got that going for her.