With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams...

45-50 min elliptical.  I was reading an awesome article referred to me by a friend about a truly inspirational young athelete who was always positive, even when cancer took hold of her and shook her like a rag-doll.   My 45 min workout ended, but I hadn't finished the article, so I put the resistance back on and kept moving while I finished the story and shed a tear or two. 

My knee will heal.  I'll get to run again.  I have been given so much, and other than a nasty little attitude I keep in my back pocket for special occasions, my life is very, very good. 

There are little miracles every day, and angles that lift us & give us strength when we're down.  Thanks to all you angels wearing running shoes who are pulling me along right now.

Happy Hanukkah everyone.  A nice night to remember another little miracle.

30 minutes elliptical

physical therapy exercises

went to PT & tried to learn how to apply the tape to my knee.  There will be a learning curve, but I got the ok to run on it as long as there isn't pain. 

Now I just have to "take er easy" and not over due anything.

I was going to wear my just above the knee-length skirt today, but after looking at my black taped up knees (they did both for the training)  I put the skirt back on the hanger and wore pants.  Short skirt Thursdays are going to be put on hold for a while :-(

Hoping for a nice, slow, short jog in the morning.  :-)

Had to go to walmart at 5 am to get milk since we'd been out for 3 days and my kids were going on strike.  Of course while I was there in my sleepy stupor, I managed to find $80 worth of other things I just really needed (not).

So after putting the groceries away, it was time to get ready, but I went out for a quick loop around the block.  did a long warm up walk, then ran 1.2 miles.  Felt good, and I went slow & easy.  I think the KT could be a little better, but it was junior's first try & he did a pretty good job for  his first time.

Wyatt & I decided to do our errands & cleaning in the morning and ren/bike later on when it was warmer.

I was all ready and pulled the car out of the garage & put the bike on top when it started to rain/sleet.  Oh well.  I left the bike in the garage & drove to Wyatt's house thinking it would be great to try out my new rain jacket for a short run.   A thought also occured to me that it would be a great day for sitting around & drinking hot cocoa.

When I got to Wyatt's house, she was coming out of the barn and said "shouldn't we just have some hot cocoa and make cookies?"  Well, duh.

We drank hot cocoa and made pecan bars.  It was wonderful.  Simply wonderful.

Sometimes it's good not to run :-)

slow and easy, but I got some miles in and felt great.  1/2 mile warm up, 3 mile run (around 10mm pace), and 1/4 mile cool down.

No soreness after the run :-)

20 minute warm up on the elliptical. I was reading Nat Geo & realized the time was up & I'd just been going on & on..not sure how long I was really on there.

Went out to run, and my garmin was dead.  So I took the same route I took yesterday.  I'm not sure of my time or pace.  Things were great.  Around mile 2, I felt a twinge of pain, so I slowed down & shortened my stride.  It was smooth sailing from there on out. 

It's been a few hours since I ran, and now my knee is sore & feeling some pain.  Darn it! 

It did feel great to get out & run in the crisp cold air.  I got to see the sky lighten up in the east and the beautiful spread of colors in the sky.  Simply Marvelous!!!!! 

walked/ran 5/5 knee was a little sore.  i had the tape (5 days old) and my knee strap the last 2 days, but I think it's time for new tape.

Epic 4 am morning of fun with well pump spraying water everywhere the night before, so no water all night or morning, extension cords not working because the circuit had tripped.  Then the light popped out as soon as I got power to the  cord, so I had to replace the light.  Went to well house to put the heat lamp on, and had to replace the light because it was burned out too.

Then I went on my walk/run and came back home.  did my physical therapy and when the kids came home from seminary, they asked if we could turn the heat up.  I checked the temp, and the house was 58*.  The furnace had stopped working as well.  Turned it off & on, went outside to check the circuit, and I'm not going to question how or why, but it magically  started working.

Then when we were trying to leave the house, the garage door opener/closer wouldn't work. 

I was glad when that morning ended.

Wyatt's super-savvy husband came and saved the day by fixing the pipes in the well house.  Thank goodness for friends with mad plumbing skills :-)

45 min elliptical.

wore my big knee brace because the KTape was gone, and my little helper is too busy to put it back on.

The run went really well and I felt great.

Same as yesterday.  It's been cold this week (for me) in the 20's in the morning. 

Went to the orthopedic doc today and he wasn't really concerned with anything on the MRI except my patellar cartilage & some bruising on the patella.  he said strengthen the quads.  Exactly what PT has been telling me & I've been trying to do.

I can run, just gradually increasing my miles, and using whatever I need to help support the patella while I work on strengthening the muscles.  The big brace works great right now.  I'm hoping to get the KTape back on & see if I can use that instead.  I'd rather have less than more, but I'll take what I need to in order to keep running.

Got to run with Wyatt again.  There was a light rain, and if we hadn't taken a hot cocoa break last week, this week would have been a good one.

Warm up walk for .5 miles, then we ran 2 miles.  I had a sharp pain around mile 1.5 and tried running through it, but by mile 2 I walked for a while to give it a break.  After another .5 miles of walking, we started running again and I didn't have any problems for the next 4 miles.

Woo-hoo!!

shred video...haven't done it for over a month, and woo-hoo, it was tough!

I did my pt before I ran.  I think it helped to warm up my muscles & wake me up a little.

Did a .5 mile walk/warm up, and then ran the 4 without any problems.  10 min mile for the first mile, then around 9:30 for the other three.  So nice to be back out in the mornings. No moon today...wonder when he'll be back.

It is cold here.  Cold for me anyway.  it was a 6-10 degree morning (factoring in the wind chill).  I bundled up and did some speed work to try & stay warm.  By the end of the run, I was HOT!  My head felt like it was melting....reminded me of Pedro in the bathtub.

I had that "smoker's hack" laugh all morning from the cold air in my lungs.  I'd forgotten all about that little joy of winter running.  Ah, the little pleasures in life that running brings.

woke up and did the beloved shred video to warm up...I had to hunt it down first.  Someone took it upstairs and had it in the dvd player up there.  I'm not generally a pleasant person in the morning, and having to track down my silly shred dvd really did not help matters.

Finished the shred and bundled up for a run in the 20 degree darkness.  I'm telling you, it was a pirate's delight out there this morning.  The frost on the grass was glimmering off the lights from the street lamps, and it looked like a million diamonds sparkling all over the world.  It was awesome!  I completely forgot that I was in a bad mood :-)

Thank goodness for little miracles in the mornings.

I ate an entire goody bag of cookies!!  Spent some repentant time on the elliptical after work.

I went to bed excited becausei thought I might get to run in a morning snow fall.  We had a 2 hour delay, so I kept looking out the window hoping for some snow.  I miagined myself running in the dark with snow falling and watching it fall in the headlamp & street lights.

After checking the weather every 30 min for 2 hours, I finally gave up and went for my run in the light rain.  The ground was fine when I went out (barely even wet), but when I got home, my driveway had a thin sheet of ice from the rain freezing.  They ended up cancelling school.

I took the day off & cleaned out my rain gutters, or as I more accurately referred to them yesterday as "pine needle, dead leaf, muddy ice gutters."   A few spots had 1/2 inch thick sheets of ice in them with icy mud plugs over the down spouts.  I'm glad I got that mess cleaned out!

By 10 am, the ice on the roads was melted!  The kids enjoyed a day off.  So did I!

Pilates in the evening.

shred level 1.

Hoping for a good long(er) run tomorrow, so I'm going to let my knee rest.  Not sure if it's necessary, because it hasn't bothered me all week.  But it sounds like a good idea & a nice way to justify staying in bed a little longer.

Cold and rainy.  I was just happy to be out running....didn't really notice the cold till the last 2 miles.  Wyatt is home being sick so I went alone today.  Did my PT before I went out. 

wore big knee brace, no problems at all :-)  happy day!!

Avg pace 9:07  

45 min on elliptical.

morning PT and pilates, then a run later on in the day when it was a tad bit warmer.

6 miles- 9:20 avg pace.  Wasn't feeling the love today during my run..... felt more like work

But I was happy to be out running and enjoying some sunshine.  Almost as much as I enjoyed the hot cocoa with gingerbread flavored marshmallows on top after.

Wyatt finally awoke from her viral induced sick bed & came on a run with me.  It was wonderful.  Beautiful outdoors.  Clouds low in the distance- we pretended they were really mountains.  At one point, it was Ayers Rock and we were out sweating in the heat of the outback.  It was like a "Mr Kruger's delusionally inspired daydream."

Our 6 miles grew into 7, and then we had to run to the bottom of the overpass & make it .18 more.  Marvelous, simply marvelous.

Speaking of marvelous, I woke up around 1:30 this morning and went out to see the eclipse.  It was still about an hour away, but I walked around the 'hood and watched the earth's shadow slowly creep across the moon.  There were lots of clouds out, so it was more like a "peek" at the moon for 1 minute, then wait 4 minutes to see it again.  Totally worth it.  When the moon finally was all in the earth's shadow, it turned a magnificient rusy red color.  I laid on the grass in my front yard and just stared at it for as long as I could. I had a good 10 minute window with no clouds at all. 

 Finally, the clouds came rolling in again, and the cold was starting to creep into my bones, so I went in & went to bed.  I am so glad I drug myself out at 1:30 to witness nature "do her thing." 

I had an awesome run this morning with RAD and her local friends from the blog.  We ran along the river/parkway in Lehi.  It was beautiful, and lots of fun to listen to stories & get to know some of the other runners. 

We went out for 5 & back for 5.  Time flew by & it was over before I knew it.  Wish every run could be as easy as this one was.  I even forgot how cold it was outside- but not long enough to want to run in shorts :-)

Enjoyed visiting afterward with the hot cocoa and donuts.  Thanks to everyone who was there & was so nice.

Merry Christmas Y'all!

What a gift- a great run outdoor with the sun shining and the mountains in full view.

Went for a Wasatch Walk... it was beautiful to see the mountains.  Just after I finished walking, it started snowing!  Awesome :-)

Went to the rec center gym today.  While it was warm and I didn't have to navigate the ice/snow, it wasn't as great as running outdoors.

6 miles on the treadmill seemed to last forever.  Then I did 30 min on a recumbent bike, and tried some lap swimming.  I've swam before & done lap swimming before, so I know how to do it, but my body didn't want to.  I was KO'd after just a few laps.  Great exercise.  I had a lot of fun hanging out in the pool with RAD & our families after the workout session. 

The workout was totally worth the trip to Iceberg that night!  Yum :-)

Got up early to meet RAD at Daybreak for a sunrise run around the lake.  It was cold but beautiful.  So beautiful.  I envy those of you who live places where you get to see the sunrise over the mountains as you run on trails/paths without worrying about cars. 

I thought it would get easier to run in the altitude after a few days, but it really seemed like every day it got harder & harder to catch my breath.   Maybe it was just due to my terrific diet of popcorn, milk shakes, and chex mix. 

I got to take RAD's liitle L out for breakfast at Kneaders afterwards.  It was such a treat to sit & have breakfast with her - and a delicious breakfast at that!

I had a great visit to SLC and had a wonderful time running with RAD and the wonderful group of runners that made it out to her hot cocoa and donut run on the 24th. 

Looking forward to heading back home- just in time for the horrid cold weather to come to SLC and I can go back to the south with my not so horrid, "just a little icky" cold weather.

2 hours of sleep & jet lag...running was not on my schedule today.  trying to get home and stay alert long enough to get milk at the store were my workout challenges for the day.

still so tired.. woke up early to take kids to the passport office for their applications & lost the photos on the way.  we back-tracked & looked everywhere.  It's like they disappeared.  Lucky for us, the passport office was happy to charge me $15 for a new set.  STINK!  $255 later, we were on our way home.  

I took a nap & still feel tired.  Hoping I'll get caught up on my sleep and be back in the swing of things tomorrow.

45 min elliptical, physical therapy stuff, then a nice late afternoon run with Wyatt.