Dingoes March into Spring...Come and run with us! - Page 2

[MelW]

Lofty, I hope you doc has some answers about your cycles for you. 10 days off is not cool.

I'm glad my salami saga is providing some entertainment. I checked the garbage, compost and recycling. Still missing. At the risk of providing further innuendo, it was several inches of salami. I had a ridiculous argument with hubby about why I hadn't checked to see if it rolled under the frige (too big), but grabbed a flashlight and checked just to make him shut up. I maybe needing Leah Lu's services. It's been 2 1/2 days.

Gaye, I can totally relate to the frustration of being blamed for someone's 3 am decision to give formula. I've always thought that hospitals most need a lactation consultant between 1 and 5 am.

RR- Ran today, 5k again. I'm looking forward to being in better running shape so I don't always need a day off after each run. Maybe a couple more weeks?

NRR- More miscellaneous job indecision- this time about a 7 week clinical teaching contract that is a 90ish minute drive away. They are desperate enough to have offered commute and accommodation costs, but I would likely need to be away from very early Tuesday until Friday afternoon. And drop my Friday class that runs until end of June. I have a call in to the dean to see if they would consider splitting it so I could just teach the Tues-Wed and keep the Friday class. We'll see. Meanwhile, the hospital has called me for both days and nights four days in a row. There seems to be no shortage of work.

[Runningmommy]

RR: drive by of 5 miles (this is cut back week , which is great since dh, and two kids are home sick), 20 minutes yoga, and 14 minutes HIIT work out. Woot!

[MelW]

Good things about today:

1. My daughter's school is excited about my proposal to offer a guerilla gardening workshop during the next "compass week". I pitched seed bombs, moss graffiti and pothole planting.

2. I got the offer of a seat in UVic's master of public health program, social policy stream. Not just any offer, but a very kind, personal email in advance of the official offers because I needed to make a decision about the offer from my second choice program.

3. The dean found someone local to take the clinical course, so I avoided the possible commute while looking good for having offered to help.

4. I found the salami! It was in the freezer, hidden under some strawberries.

[Geofizz]

Sounds like an amazing day! Thanks for reporting on the salami story conclusion.

I didn't know you could grow gorillas, especially in what, zone 6 or 7?

[Realrellim]

Originally Posted by Geofizz 

I didn't know you could grow gorillas, especially in what, zone 6 or 7?

Nice.

[tjsmama]

Yay, Mel! Sounds like a good day all around!

mel38~Can you add the Runnin' of the Green Lucky 7k to the race list for me for this Sunday (the 10th)?

On my fourth shift in five nights, and I am tired. Fortunately, it's going by relatively quickly...it's already 0230 and I have busy stuff to do at 0300 and 0500...

My skis weren't done, so I didn't go up skiing, which was probably a blessing in disguise. Instead, I took massive amounts of recycling to the recycle center, went to my track workout, and took a long nap in preparation for working tonight.

rr~4.5 miles total at track, 2 mile warm-up followed by 4 x 800 with 200 recoveries. It went pretty well, which encourages me for the aforementioned 7k on Sunday...

[Plady]

Morning mamas,

So apparently the last post I wrote never made it, I'm sure due to user error.  Oh well, I hope you could each feel a little love.

I'm still fighting this cough thing and boxing nearly did me in on Tuesday so I'm staying home again.  I may even go back to bed after I get the kids on the bus!  I have lots of things I could do instead but I really really really want to be done with this thing!

NRR: Last night dh and I attended this special performance by a guy who is an aporter and medium that one of the guys from the theatre is doing a documentary on (sorry grammar foul).  Basically he says that the ascendant masters (Buddha, Jesus etc) send messages through him via gemstones and other small objects that appear mysteriously in his mouth.  So he chatted for a while and then went behind a curtain to commune with the guides and then came out on stage and spit gemstones all over the place.  Then he gave them all away to the audience.  I thought it was interesting, dh thought it was hysterical that anyone ever might believe the guy. The documentary is basically about how and when and whether a transition can be made between skepticism and belief and it seems like dh and I are nicely spaced on the continuum.
 

[MelW]

Originally Posted by Geofizz 

Sounds like an amazing day! Thanks for reporting on the salami story conclusion.

I didn't know you could grow gorillas, especially in what, zone 6 or 7?

Zone 8-9, actually

Plady, the medium sounds fascinating. If only for the conversation with DH on the drive home. I hope the cough resolves soon, whether through magic gemstones or rest and chicken soup.

I ran today and am trying not to get discouraged that I lose steam after about 5k and still feel a bit sore the next day. I'm only two weeks back into running after once a month runs since um....October? so I need to stop beating myself up. My main goal right now is to be able to go for an hour by the end of the March when the weekly trail running group starts again. Since the 5k runs are taking me 35+ minutes right now, it's not like I need to extend so much to do it.

Must finish reading list and syllabus for next week's class. I'm finding every excuse to distract myself right now. My Blackboard site is looking very wonderful and full of helpful links and articles for the students, but they'll still need the reading list.

[1jooj]

Wow, congrats, MelW! That's great news all around! 

Plady, behind the curtain and spitting gems, huh? 

My RR yesterday was swimming from the dhow to the beach in the Gulf of Oman. We drove across the UAE and took a 5-hour cruise along the coast just south of the Strait of Hormuz. Some excitement for the parents. And a little seasickness for everyone. But it was fun.

Today is their final day here. We have lunch plans and I suppose we will probably shop a little before packing them up. It has been a really good visit, and in just 3 months, kids and I will be back for summer. Dh is looking at furnished apartments for us, as there were enough indications over the two weeks that it would be best for us to have our space.

[tjsmama]

I'm so glad you've had such a great visit, Jo. I've really enjoyed your pics on FB.


It's been a interesting and good day around here. I started off with a text from my sister before I woke up telling me to call her (usually not a good sign, we don't talk on the phone much). So I called her, only for her to tell me absolutely nothing at all. Um, ok? I skipped the 9:15 spin class that I usually go to in favor of the noon spin class so that I could be home at 10 to buy New Kids on the Block tickets as soon as they went on sale. I got the tickets and am ridiculously excited about the concert. I had dinner and drinks with a couple of good friends from nursing school, which was great until DS started losing it, so we hightailed it home to get him to bed.

I belong to a FB group for local women who do endurance and triathlon, and one of the members is Dimity McDowell (of Run Like a Mother and Runners World). So, she posted today that she's doing a sports bra review for RW and is looking for some wear testers in certain sizes. One of them was my size, so I emailed her, and next thing you know, I was over at her house picking up three brand new sports bras to try out and the best part of all is that I get to keep them! Way cool, huh?! So, look for my wear testing comments in an upcoming issue of RW...

We're going up skiing tomorrow, and I'm excited and scared because we are supposed to get a major winter storm. Excited for the skiing possibilities, scared for the driving! Hopefully it's not too bad when we need to be on the road. I'm planning on heading out early and staying for dinner. If it comes down to it, I have a place we can stay in the mountains tomorrow night, but that would mean leaving the dog by himself for the night (would not be good) and potentially missing my race on Sunday. Wish us luck!

rr~The usual...30 minute dreadmill hill workout, followed by spin class. Except, since it's Friday and I had to go to the noon class, that means spin/pilates! Hadn't done the pilates thing in a while. Ouch.

[loftmama]

TJSmama, how cool is that! You get to test the bras, keep them, and we get to read about you!

Jooj, nice to hear you had a great visit! Good news on the apt, too. Hope their last day is enjoyable and I'm so happy you have that time with them to look forward, too, as well.

Plady, What?! um, okay.... I can imagine how that conversation went! Did you see the NYT's article on San Miguel. So weird to read over it like it's the new hot spot for "young sophisticates" . I mean... we've all left, right? JK! Andy & Rosemary just sold their place so they are gone but I DO want to go back and visit for about a month! Okay, kickbox that cold, ok??

MEL, great news! Glad you found the salami! Your once a month run sounds like where I am now and I hope in another month or two to be where you are now with the run. So good luck! It'll get easier. Glad you're getting back in the groove!

RM, :vibe Be well.

NRR: Bid on septic tank, $2700 - $7000. So we dug out pipe ourselves. Siphoned off sewage, sacrificed shop vac plus other gear and finally have an empty tank for company next week. That's the good news! 15 minutes ago, another dead tree fell, this time on the power line, cutting off our electricity while I'm cleaning for said company and dh is sawing logs (heh, just had to say that) um, cutting dead trees away from the driveway so company can get down the road okay. Plady, does this sound a little bit like the country roads in SMA?)

Health related: Low estrogen, normal progesterone, no testosterone. => no libido, no energy, 10 hours or so of sleep per night. Recommendation: a testosterone patch. But will wait and see how the hormones fluctuate in the next few months. Down side to patch: facial hair, male balding. Right now, I think we can cope. My family is super understanding. DH has been a bit of a butt lately, but given the situation, is coming around, and working extra hard at being supportive emotionally and kind, etc. At least, that's his only motivation since the libido has exited the stage.

RR: No run yet to report. Did some yoga today and hope to keep lifting some weights if not my usual program. Okay, battery about to die and no electricity - have more to say but have a great day, y'all.

[MelW]

jo, I'm glad you had a good visit with your parents, and some ideas about how the summer will go for you.

gaye, so cool about the sports bra trial! (I think NKOTB is less cool, but promise not to tease too much )

lofty, I'm glad you have some answers and hope that you can find a way to increase levels without the side effects of the patch- whether through other means or by letting your body "reset" on it's own. Thanks for the run encouragement- I'm feeling less sore this week than last, so it's something.

NRR- I co-taught prenatal today. Next time I'm on my own. It's a pretty fun contract and I'm glad to have it.

RR- My shoulders are a bit achy after bootcamp last night, but nothing like the totally beat up feeling after last week's session. Probably rock climbing with the kids tomorrow, unless I get a call for work.

[1jooj]

Gaye, I have to admit, I am no fan of NKOTB. But have fun.

lofty, did the doc have any ideas about non-patch approaches? Or what causes the switch to flip? I hope you guys get things all worked out before company comes. Septic issues suck.

We spent yesterday morning just hanging around feeling our feelings after Mom and Dad left, and then the whole family pitched in and spring-cleaned the apartment. It is clean. And still feeling incredibly cluttered. But then, we just have to get through the next three months.

Back to school got off to an inauspicious start this morning, with dh hanging around the house until 10 or so (never a good thing), internet connectivity issues (major problem for online school) and attitude problems a la 9yo dd.  We seem to have resolved most of the issues for now.

RR: I wanted to get up early, until my alarm went off, so I took the day to sleep well. We have a routine to get back into and as much as I know I need the exercise, I also need to not stress myself out over every little thing. So I stayed in bed. I am also back to a hard-core dietary change, having eaten piles of super-sweet fruits while the parents were here. So, eliminating everything once again.

Will probably take the kids to the gym and pool this afternoon, and will be trying to do that daily as long as weather stays reasonable. I think I have a good month or so before it starts cooking again.

[tjsmama]

lofty~My head spins when you post about your septic/treeclearing/life in the country trials. For a girl who grew up in a very small town, I sure have morphed into a city slicker. I find it interesting that your estrogen and testosterone are both low, I always kind of thought they went opposite ways. Hmm. At least you have some information to help you formulate a plan, now.

jo~ As I sit here trying to warm up after my run, I fantasize about getting to go lay by the pool with you. That sounds so fabulous right now.


Skiing yesterday was awesome. We ended up leaving a little later than I had planned because it didn't look like it was bad yet, which I regretted before we even got to the mountains. Traffic was sloooooow, and I almost turned around about 8 times, but we ended up making it up there in time for DS's lesson, although the 1 1/2 hour trip took us 2 1/2 hours. The friend that I was supposed to ski with decided not to risk the drive (she absolutely had to make it back to town last night), so I thought I was going to ski on my own, but it turned out that another friend had been ditched by HER friends, so she came and met me. We had a great day! It wasn't the fabulous powder day I thought it was going to be, but there was plenty of fresh snow and we got some great runs in. I got to test out my new skis, and I love them. They are fabulous. And they're super pretty, too. DS wanted to ski a little more after his lesson, so we took a couple of night skiing runs, which completely wiped him out. A quick dinner later, and he was asleep before we hit the tunnel (20 minutes from where we were). It was a good day.

Although....probably not the best preparation for racing today. My legs were tired. I foamrolled them last night, but they were still tired and sore. Oops.

race report~Today's race was the Runnin' of the Green Lucky 7k. I did this race two or three years in a row, but it had been a few years since I had run it. It's always fun, everybody dresses up, it's a big crowd, and usually great weather. Which it kind of was today, except it was COLD. If you were in the sun, not too terrible, but otherwise, freezing. A girl from work was also running it, so I met up with her and her sister to hang out a little while we waited for the race to start. They've made some changes since the last time I ran the race...a corral start (good) and a new course (umm...hmm....). The old course used to have a couple of small hills (underpasses/overpasses) and one decent-ish hill up into a neighborhood. This new course? SUPER hilly. Ugh. The one decent-ish hill turned into a basically mile-long hill. That hurt. That was mile 2, after which I (and especially my legs) were ready to be done! The thing that sucks about a 7k is that you fool yourself into thinking that it's really not much more than a 5k, but that extra 2k is a lot! Oh, and they also changed the finish line to be right after the last little uphill out of an underpass...who thought that was a good idea? Otherwise, it really is a pretty good race. The after-race food distribution was kind of a cluster, but they had a ton of options; the post-race water comes in a commemorative cup; and they give you two free beer tickets (which I gave away since I don't like beer), so really, it all balances out. My official time was 41:58, which I'm satisfied with, considering lack of training and fried legs from skiing all day yesterday!

[loftmama]

Gaye, I live vicariously through you, y'know. Great report especially for having skiied all day. And those are too many hills, methinks! I'm glad you said that about estrogen/testosterone not both being low. The doc was so vague, too. He only gave me information based on my specific questions. Thank goodness I had read most of Wisdom of Menopause because I finally had the capacity to think about it and wrap my head around it. When I asked him about specific levels, he said something like this, "You've got some estradiol. That's good. Progesterone is okay. Out of testosterone." I guess I interpreted that as low estrogen, but then don't they all get low at some point? Once you've hit menopause, the hormones don't keep trying to balance themselves, right?

Jo, love that you had a nice visit. Ditto to dh sticking around the house and loss of productivity. That's exactly the way it is here. The doc also mentioned testosterone cream. Not sure I want the side effects, though, if I can find a way to manage too much sleep and low energy. If I can get a break with normal energy, I think I'll be okay. But geez, this has been a ride these last 2 months! Good luck getting back on schedule.

No weights yet, or running. Simply because all my energy is going into work around the house prepping for company. We have 2 sets of families coming to see us and we are over the moon. On Wed night, both families will be here at the same time, so I'm planning a big hot dog, s'mores bonfire party on the creek. It's quite a hike through the dark woods which sets just the mood for spooky, moonlit fun. Then I think all the kids (7) will camp out in 3 different tents.

I've noticed that ever since I moved my hand-weights out of my bedroom to our school space, I've barely touched them. So tonight I'm going to move them back. I found it so much easier to do even a few weights if they were in my room before taking a bath, starting my day, etc. But downstairs in the school space, surrounded with umpteen other things to do, I just keep forgetting about them. So maybe this will help. Of all the exercises I should be doing, it's probably weights that are the most important.

Got electricity on yesterday, lost it again this morning. Got to church late. DH embarrassed me by announcing our upcoming wedding anniversary. Priest did a blessing ceremony, beautifully wrapping our hands in this purple sash, and said the loveliest prayer, ending it with, "now you may kiss your bride." I turned beet red and away from my dh who was already leaning in toward me. He just got my cheek and I was mortified! Funny thing is since we got married in our home and by a judge, this was more of a wedding ceremony than the one we actually had! Dh smirked later, maybe that was our problem and the next 16 will be smooth sailing. It was hard not to laugh throughout the rest of church. And it helped that, not counting our family, there were only 10 people in church. There was an enormous lemon pie in the fridge from last week's priestly visit, so they made me "cut the cake." It was all I could do to not rub in his no sugar-eatin' face. Because, of course, I wanted to eat it.

[Plady]

Lofty - That is so sweet!  The ceremony too, of course    I can just picture it.  And your Wednesday night sounds so cool!  I wish we could all be there too.  Good luck with the cream/patch debate, I hope there is a third way.  And I thought it was really interesting in that article about SMA I only recognized one business, old (and former) friends who I'd have not suspected would have made it this long together.

Jo - Happy Post-visit Decompression. 

Gaye - Enjoy NKOTB.  I'm not sure I could tell them apart from In Sync but I'm sure it'll be a peppy fun time!

Nothing much to report.  I think 2 hours is about an hour too long for 5 year olds to sit at a cookie booth. 

[MelW]

Lofty, congratulations (despite the embarrassment). Wishing you 16 years of smooth sailing. And have fun with your guests!

Gaye, awesome race and time, especially with the ski day before!

RR- Climbed today with the kids.

NRR- Spring finally feels close. I'm itching to spend the day cleaning up the garden tomorrow. We're still having compost rat problems so have borrowed the trap again and I'm out checking and burying and turning the compost often, giving me more gardening urges. So far I've caught one more rat plus a bird the climbed in for the food.

[loftmama]

Mel, you need my cat. He kills (and eats ) rats as big as he is! This is especially good since he keeps the population of snake food down.

Plady, yeah, I don't think I recognized any of them! Ita about the cookie booth - 2 hours for a 5yo! How's that cold?

Workout Related: Well I moved my weights back to my bedroom and it was just so easy to lift as part of my nightime routine. No thinking, no brainer. Then this morning I did a few sun salutations. I feel about 80% and like there's light at the end of this tunnel. Maybe with the weights back in my life, I will sleep better and get that old jumpy energy to run that weights usually give me.

Hope you have a great day, mamas!

[kerc]

(hack, hack hack).Hi Dingos! I'm back....I spent most of Saturday and Sunday in bed. I took a sick day yesterday. Whew. It's a doozey. Apply your favorite sanitizing routine right after you read this message so that you don't get this illness!

Did I already say this? --> Erin finally did see the dermatologist last week. Who said she thought the fungus had cleared. But that her skin was infected for so long coupled with she had been applying cream/lotiuon for so long that her skin's normal dryness coping mechanisms were reacting. So Erin's got a topical cream to apply a few times a day and some other strict instructions and a follow up appointment the first of April. It's healing. It looks better.

Lofty:  urgh. septic might be the thing that killed me if I lived out of town. Fortunately for now I like my house payment. Hope you figure out the hormone thing.

Melw: your rat stories have me squirming. Although I think there's a skunk living under our compost. Your talk of spring has me thinking of spring. I know there's at least a month of snow left here though. Since we got about 5-6 new inches of snow this weekend when I was sleeping.

Gaye: NKOTB?  LOL. That's *so* like, um, my younger sister. (Who, mind you is only 2.5 yrs younger than me, but it felt a lifetime different when we were kids -- there's one in between us. but I never even considered listening to NKOTB because my sis and her friends were doing it).  I hope you have fun!  I love that you stood in line for tickets.

Jo: I'm glad the visit went well. grandparent hangover?  when does it go away?   I mean our babies aren't preschoolers anymore!

Must run. Student coming in, 13 minutes. Must hit bathroom, water break and then be prepared to talk about a research project.

[sparkletruck]

Hi Dingoes,

I'm reading along, but in the trenches, so not really participating in life (other than the musts, like school and parenting). depression is intense and i dont see a way out other than to get on the ssri trial-and-error train, which i loathe the prospect of almost as much as i loathe feeling this way, especially b/c it's cyclical in conjunction with my cycle, so i feel like ssri's are just cosmetic to the real problem. but i dont think there's a 'real' solution. i dont have any ups anymore, just downs, and lower-downs. but, i'm plugging along, and thinking of you all