Friday, October 7, 2011

Friday Mishmash - (Amazing) Race Edition

Ankle surgery update:  Boy howdy, I was really sick on Wednesday.  Well, from Tuesday night on...the combination of the aftereffects of general anesthesia plus the side effects of the pain meds gave me the worse nausea - being upright made me feel awful.  My ankle pain seemed to be moving all over, and I slept very little.  By midday on Wednesday, I was running a slight fever, sweaty, clammy, and nauseous like you wouldn't believe.  Not fun.  I ended up calling my doctor, who prescribed some phenergan pills for the nausea.  My friend Erica (she of running coach fame) picked up the medicine for me (thank you!!!) and by late evening I was feeling much better.  Whew!  I expected ankle pain, but not the nausea to that extent.  Anyway, things are looking up...I'm trying to stay off of it as much as possible because I'm not great on the crutches yet and I've had a couple of instances where I felt like I came down on the ankle wrong - don't want to do any more damage to it, you know?  Once more, thank you for all the emails and well-wishes - it really means a lot to me! :) :) :)

I wrote the rest of this post last Sunday - general recap of the craziness that passes for my life! 

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Last Saturday morning, members of our running club provided support for the Buffalo Stampede half marathon - last year I ran this race when it was (only) a 10 miler.  This year they expanded the course to make it a half.  Many of the people training for a full marathon ran the half, and the halfs, including Jeff, got up extra early to run their nine miles before the race.  Part of our group manned a water station, while Coach Dale, Jeff and I worked the turn-around point.  We made signs to encourage the runners:
 
 Our homage to the movie Anchorman...
Coach Dale trying to slow down the drivers that were doing 60 MPH in the lane right next to the runners.  This was a bad course - I didn't like it last year and it was worse this year as the runners were on the access road for an even longer distance.
 
 Jeff and I wore our pineapple hats - and funny thing, we were recognized by my former trainer Linda, who was driving by (and honked!) on the freeway!
The green shirt is coach AJ - he was so fast that I didn't end up getting a picture as he approached.  He placed 4th in his age group - so close to taking home a trophy!  He's trying to qualify for Boston with our December marathon, and I bet he'll make it.

Being on this side of a race is fun - we high-fived many of the runners as they rounded the cone, and got quite a lot of "thank you's" from them...plus they gave us thumbs up on the signs,which we had posted so they could read them coming and going.  After the last runner came through, we went to the finish line and got to see most of our running group come in (speedy AJ was already done).  It was a good day, but I am itching to get back out there and run a race!

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Last Saturday afternoon, I got a text from (running club coach) Joni, saying that TJ Maxx had four pairs of men's Thorlo Experia socks for $5.99 each - less than half price!  Jeff and I hopped in the car and texted Joni that we were on our way.  Then she texted that she'd sent the info to both us and (running club coach) AJ - and the race was on!  The store was a mere 1.1 mile from our house - surely we would beat AJ.  But we hit a red light!  Arghhh!  Just like in the Amazing Race!!  Longest.Red Light.Ever.  As the light finally turned green, we made plans - Jeff would drop me at the door so I could run in and snag the socks.  Now, AJ is fast, but he'd run a half marathon that morning and I was pretty confident I could beat him in a foot race, bum ankle and all.  We made it there first only because AJ mistakenly went to Steinmart first (classic Amazing Race mistake, going to the wrong location).  We got the socks, but had planned on splitting the bounty with him all along.  When AJ and his wife Brandi walked in the store, we waved them over and had a good laugh at our craziness.  I took a picture of Jeff and AJ to send to Joni, but of course I have to share it here...and also, in another example of what the teams in the Amazing Race do, we were all in matching shirts - Jeff and I in our running club shirts, and AJ and Brandi in their race shirts from the Buffalo Stampede.  Yes, I'm sure we looked quite nerdy to everyone else in the store...or MAYBE they thought we really were on the Amazing Race!  Nah...
Sock victory!!!

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Oh, I also wanted to tell you about the snake in my house - yes, the snake that I apparently walked past, three times, BAREFOOTED, one morning last week (before I had the surgery).  Ack and eek!  Paco alerted me to it by barking a different bark than he normally does - I was in the kitchen, getting the cat food ready, when I heard the "there's a bad thing happening here!" bark.  I peeked around the doorway to see him facing a greenish/brown snake!!!  It wasn't huge, but it wasn't exactly small, either.  And?  It was getting close to my bedroom!  Believe me, if that had happened, I would have been outside, calling animal control on my cell phone, to come find it.  I grabbed the pair of barbeque tongs (since they are longer than our regular tongs) and stretching my arm as far away from my body as I could, picked up the snake, which then turned its head toward me - EEEEEK!  Paco was barking, I was (slightly) screaming, the cats were completely useless, as I carried the snake to the front door, walked out a few steps, and threw the snake and the tongs onto the lawn.  EEEK!  I had the heebie-jeebies for the rest of the day!  No idea how it got into my house, but we had a thunderstorm during the night, and maybe it got freaked out when rain actually fell?  Any case, that was quite the exciting start to my morning, and, as I told my pool buddy Nancy, I got my cardio in waaay before I started swimming!

Have a great weekend!

22 comments:

  1. Thanks for the update! That snake story totally freaked me out.

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  2. You are just awesome all the way around!
    Truly, Shelly!

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  3. Glad to hear you're feeling better!

    The sock race made me smile, you guys are crazy but in a good way.

    And that snake? Seriously? I would have picked up Bella and ran outside (hopefully with my Blackberry) and call R.
    I'm so scared of snakes (which is kind of stupid because we don't have them here much, at least I've never seen one in the wild).
    So you're definitely my hero this week for catching it yourself.

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  4. I don't know if I could have done that snake trick, you are a REAL woman.
    I was thinking Coach AJ went to the wrong store because he is a guy :)
    I was shopping w/ LB the other day for her first pair of running/walking shoes and she needed socks and I told her to get Thorlo b/c of you.

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  5. The whole snake thing just gives me the heebie jeebies! I think I would have been afraid to get up in the night and walk anywhere in my house.

    Hope you're continuing to feel better as each day passes. Try to stay off that ankle as much as possible so you get the quickest healing time!

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  6. Wow, I thought Snakes on a Plane was a bad idea. Snakes in a House is worse.

    (((Ankle)))

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  7. Wow. I am not scared of snakes in a controlled situation (like pets, knowing what they are etc. But finding one I'm not sure what it is? You can imagine me mostly screaming at the dogs "GET AWAY GO AWAY" while Noah is barking at the snake, Sophie is barking at Noah, and Monk comes over and tries to do his crowd control thing. Weren't you worried the snake would come back in the house? Did Paco get extra special biscuits for saving your life?

    Loved the story of the race and the Amazing Race. How fun.

    And I'm glad you're doing better, but sorry you had that terrible nausea.

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  8. Glad you are feeling better Shelley - being sick is no fun at all. :(

    You are too funny about the Amazing race sock story!! Love it!

    Rest up my friend and have a great weekend!

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  9. Your snake story cracked me up. I hate hate hate snakes. HATE. I'm glad your nausea is better! Stay off that ankle!

    I think running in Texas anywhere NEAR an interstate is bad news. People here drive like they are trying to kill someone. They are very nice people until they get in the car.

    I love those socks! I would've joined you in the race. Take care!

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  10. Glad you are doing better - and yay for taking care of the snake yourself! Take *that* nature!!

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  11. I'm so glad you have Paco to alert you to Mother Nature's surprises! LOL

    Remember to take time to recover! Don't rush things and overexert yourself!

    Rose in SV

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  12. A snake, I hate snakes! Reminds me of Raiders of the Lost Ark :) At least you weren't crippled up when that happened. Good dog, Paco!

    Pain pills make me sick too. Lucky us!

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  13. Love the Amazing Race story!!!

    Glad you're doing better. I really wish we lived closer together! :)

    Have a good weekend. Give Paco a hug for me!

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  14. omg I hope you feel better soon.
    Funny Amazing Race story!
    And yes cats are useless ;)

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  15. I love amazing race -glad you made it there first Shelley! Ha!

    I don't think I would have gotten ANY kind of tongs to pick up the snake - you are a brave woman??

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  16. LOVE the signs. And the pineapple hats. Not so sure about the snake though! Urgh! Have snake phobia. I can't believe you picked it up (even with tongs!).

    Deb

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  17. Wishing you a continued speedy recovery Shelley. EWWWWW....a snake???? You were brave to grab it with the tongs. Thank goodness for Paco! Have a great Saturday.

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  18. Glad you are feeling better! And what? No picture of the snake? ;-)

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  19. Glad you are feeling better! Surgery is no picnic that is for sure! I'm sure you will feel better every day. OMG about the snake!!! I would DIE! You were very brave with the whole snake thing. Steve Irwin would be looking down on your with pride.

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  20. Love this post! I think I was smiling the whole time I was reading!!!

    Jennifer

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  21. I too have had an encounter with a snake in the house. We couldn't find it. found a snake skin years later in a cupboard we never used. He was a good roommate.

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