The Body Beautiful

Four weeks ago tomorrow, my gall bladder was removed after years of being told that I had acid reflux. While this is probably true to a certain extent, the removal of this offending organ has caused me such great relief as can only be known by those who have suffered from the same problem . . . of course, while bringing about a whole new set of problems due to the removal. Let's just say that the ole bod is having to learn new ways of dealing with such things as French onion flavored Sun Chips. Alas, those have been added to the "Do Not Ingest" list, at least for the time being. The problem - great waves of nausea. And while I admit that I gave it the ole college try (are these really what's making me sick?) and ate them no less than 3 times within a 2-week period, each time I had the same unfortunate reaction.

Other foods have caused similar problems, but I can only hope that, with time, things will get back to some semblance of normality, but without the awful crap I was went through for 7 weeks before the doctors agreed that, yes, Leslie! It IS your gall bladder! (7 weeks of health hell, thousands of dollars, and at least 3 unnecessary tests - well, at least to me unnecessary - later, they finally agreed with me.)

I believe that being in such good shape helped me bounce back quickly. However, the muscles around my poor belly button area have not bounced back quite as quickly as the rest of me. When one looks at oneself in the mirror and sees 3 small incision and one a little bigger than small, and one has no more gall bladder-induced pain, one has a tendency to say with great gusto, "I am back!" And then one goes out and does too much too soon and ends up having to console oneself with Vicodin (which is a really nice way to console oneself, if I do say so myself . . . and I do.)

So what's the crux of all this babbling? My belly button hurts, that's what. I'm having to get back into running at a slower pace than I anticipated, and that sucks. My first day of trail running in a month this past Saturday, followed by an evening of consuming an unfortunate amount of alcohol (something rarely done by me), which forced me to shake my booty - and thereby my tummy - on the dance floor of Steve and Dave's Bar, has put my belly button area out of sorts and set me back probably a good 3-4 days in recovery. I'm not looking for sympathy as I have single handedly caused my own misery. I just needed to vent for a moment.

As Albert Einstein once said: Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.

Opening a Can of Worms

I've thought long and hard about whether or not to put my personal political opinions in print here as my blog is 99% about running and "light" subjects. However, for once I feel that I cannot keep my mouth shut. Some of you who read my blog will mostly certainly disagree with me, but I hope we can agree to disagree and still respect one another.

To throw some numbers out there and put things into perspective, consider the following:

If you deposited $1 million into a pot every day since the birth of Jesus (whose birth is a fact, whether or not you believe he is the son of God and I do), you would still not have enough to pay for the stimulus package:

2,009 years x 365 days x $1 mill = $733.3 billion (give or take a hundred thou).

I'm guessing that when you get to a certain point, the word "trillion" is just that, a word, and not one that is too awfully important. At least not to those in the seats of power.

In less than 2 months, Mr. Obama and the Democratic Congress have managed to double the national debt. Where is the money coming from? How will be repaid? How can he justify his desire to take from those who have worked damn hard for what they have and give to those who haven't? Ever hear of a little thing called a Ponzi Scheme? Sounds suspiciously like what Mr. Obama is doing. For those of you who have children and grandchildren, the burden he has created will rest squarely on their heads, as well as their children's heads, and I am so very sorry for them.

A quote by the late Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931–2005

"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by
legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one
person receives without working for, another
person must work for without receiving.

The government cannot give to anybody anything
that the government does not first take from somebody else.

When half of the people get the idea that they
do not have to work because the other half is
going to take care of them, and when the other
half gets the idea that it does no good to work
because somebody else is going to get what they
work for, that my dear friend, is about the end
of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."

Furthermore, a quote by Gerald Ford (14 July 1913 – 26 December 2006) , the 38th President of the United States, in his Presidential address to a joint session of Congress (12 August 1974) : "A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have."

Mr. Obama is fast moving our country toward a socialist society. One need only look at the history of Russia to understand, with extreme clarity, that socialism doesn't work.

I am truly afraid of the direction our country is headed and can only hope that the eyes of whose who have the power to make change are opened wide before it's too late.

Wasting Time

At Conference this weekend, the motivational speaker on Sunday was a Life Counselor. One of the things she talked about was organizing your time and reflecting on how much time is wasted in a day. How much time do you spend looking at personal emails at work? How much time do you spend on emails period at work? How much time is spending doing personal work as opposed to REAL work?

That being said, I'm writing this at 4:30 in the afternoon at work whilst reflecting on those questions. I'll get back to ya with some answers . . . after I check my emails.

For Those Crappy Times on the Trails . . . .

On Saturday, Karen and I hit the trails for the first time together in what seemed like forever, and it was the first time I'd run in almost two weeks due to an ankle problem. I did much better than I anticipated, although my HR got up there pretty good a few times. The ankle was definitely sore after the run, but the rest of me felt great. It was absolutely gorgeous - suppose to have been a high of 68 . . . somewhere, which is a nicer temp than we get during the summer months. Just goes to show that Mother Nature does have a warped sense of humor.

So I have to share what happened while we were running. Okay - Karen was going to be speaking at a friend's memorial service that afternoon. Wendy was one of her very best friends, and she died the day after Thanksgiving at the age of 47 from lung cancer. Never smoked a day in her life, but grew up in a smoking household. That's the background. So Karen's been nervous as heck about talking, and worrying that she'd start crying. I told her, so what? Gives you a good excuse to inject some humor by saying, "Hold on folks. I need to blow my nose or there'll be snot everywhere." Keep it simple, keep it to the happy memories, and take deep breaths whenever you need to. Don't drink any dairy or caffeine beforehand, wear flats so you're not trying to bawl and balance on heels, wear waterproof mascara.

So at one point in the trail, she has to use the bathroom. No problem, that's why we carry baby wipes and baggies. About an hour later, we bump into to our coach and we're all running together. About half an hour after that, she has to go to the bathroom again. Bill and I walk a little way ahead to give her privacy. We're standing there talking AND we're downwind of her. Yeah, not a good place to be. Dang, girl! What the heck did you eat?? Pretty soon I hear, "Leslie, can you come here." Well, in all her nervousness, she has diarrhea and needs extra wipes. I tell Bill to go on if he wants, we're gonna be awhile, and he leaves. Then she says, "I need help!" She didn't look around her very well before squatting, and consequently there were some fern fronds in the wrong position when she went to the bathroom. While she's trying to clean up, the fronds, which now have poo on them, keep hitting her! She has poo on her shirt, up her backside, and every other way. I'm trying my best not to laugh, but it's impossible. She ends up having to strip her shirt off, and she turns around and I'm having to wipe various places on her backside where the fronds have smacked her, and in the midst of this, Charlie, her dog, decides he's going to walk through where she just went to the bathroom, and the fronds hit him in the face! I swear, there was poo everywhere! It was hilarious, and it provided the laugh she needed.

Luckily, she had a jacket with her that she was able to put on, we got Charlie wiped down, too, stepped back into the trail, and there's some guy standing there with lime green sleeping bag over his head. Just standing there. I had seen him walk toward us, but he stopped just on the other side of the stump we were working behind. Charlie instantly goes into the defensive mode, and the guy's all, "Hi!" O...kay... We hoofed it out of there sort of quickly.

Cripes - what a welcome back to the Arcata Forest!!

Desert High 30k - Ridgecrest, CA, 12/07/2008

I found this race while doing a search on the Internet. A trail running friend of mine, Russ, had also run the course a couple of years previously and highly recommended it. Coincidentally, my aunt and uncle live in Ridgecrest, and visiting with them at the same time would be the perfect excuse to travel 13+ hours to the other end of the state for an 18+ mile run. My dad got time off to go with me, so it would also provide some much needed quality father/daughter time.

We left Thursday afternoon - hitting Santa Rosa and the Bay Area at rush hour (mental eye roll) - and made it more than halfway before I decided enough was enough and we stopped for the night. The next morning was a short 2+ hour drive to Bakersfield for an extremely brief visit with another aunt and uncle, then a 2+ hour drive over the pass to Ridgecrest. The weather, unfortunately, was absolutely beautiful Friday and Saturday, with clear skies and temps in the mid-60s. This is not weather in which I’d like to be running, especially since we were in the desert with no chance of escaping the sun. However, I was quite happy to awaken Sunday morning to overcast skies, cooler temps, and the possibility of rain. (I guess it did rain some later in the day, but I was done by then. Lucky me!)

I saw no reason for my dad to get up at 6:00 a.m. and go with me to the start; however, he and my uncle promised to be waiting for me at the end, camera in hand. With the exception of my husband being with me for my first half marathon over a year ago, this was the first time any one else from my family would be present when I finished a race. Since I had never run this course before, my best guess-timate for a finishing time was somewhere between 4 and 4 ½ hours. Finishing in 4 hours was beyond my expectations, but would thrill me to no end.

Before we started, I kept an eye out for Jennifer, aka Lifesabeach, from RunningAhead. She said she’d be wearing long white compression socks, so it was easy to spot her just outside the women’s restroom. I wasn’t exactly making a positive fashion statement myself, considering I was wearing a red short sleeve tech shirt, bright yellow Moeben sleeves, black shorts, and very pink printed gaiters. But hey, at least you could spot me easily! (At one point early in the run, I would hear comments about “trail runners attire” and how goofy it can be. Hey - I resemble that remark!) Jennifer and I spoke for a few minutes, then she went on to find her friends and I made my way to the back of the pack (about 320 runners/walkers) waiting for the start.

My uncle had gone over the topographic map with me, and we had driven out to the race site the day before. I was very happy that it looked like we would be skirting much of the taller hills as opposed to climbing them. I had done a lot of hill work in preparation for this race, and less climbing meant I should be fresher for a longer period of time. The course ended up being upward rolling, undulating hills with a consistent rise in elevation for well over three-quarters of it.

Our first climb out of the parking lot was very short, and I was pleasantly surprised to find myself quickly on a flat then downhill stretch. The only thing that I could see might be a problem was the sand. While it wasn’t deep, there was a lack of real firm footing, and I hadn’t done any sand running in my training. Nevertheless, with the lack of hills such as I’m used to for trail running, I had decided early I would attack this run with a little more fervor, which would hopefully provide more reward in the end.

The 5.5 mile aid station came around sooner than expected, and this was where the 50k and 30k split. This was also one of the areas that provided some excellent views of the mountain range and valley below. I have always thought the desert to be beautiful, and the day of the run was no exception.

Soon after the first aid station, I started looking for a bathroom. Being the desert, there is, shall we say, lack of convenient cover in this regard, but I soon found a large granite boulder that had no rattlesnakes or cactus in close vicinity. The only problem was I didn’t see a small bulge in the boulder and managed to rake my bare rear end along the bulge when I stood back up. Ouch!! I still have a nice scratch on my right butt cheek.

One of the things I particularly liked about this run was that there were people to run with or near almost the entire time. I played leap frog with 3 or 4, which meant I had a chance to talk to them a bit. One woman, Marcy Bozung, is married to the RD for the Wasatch Front 100 Mile Endurance Run, and he was running the 50k. She had a really nice easy, consistent pace that I envy. She made running looked so effortless, no matter if we were going up, down, or running on flats. I tried to keep up with her, but little by little she pulled out in front of me. However, I am proud to say she only finished 3 min. 15 secs ahead of me.

It was right around Mile 12 that the two front runners for the 50k passed me. I contemplated tripping them, but they were gracious enough to huff out a “Good work!” as they passed me, so I figured I’d go and ahead and let them be on their way. Another 3 or 4 50kers would end up passing me before I crossed the finish line.

At Mile 13, I had an instant and severe bout of nausea that stopped me dead in my tracks. I choked down about a third of a Clif bar and some fluids, and it eventually went away for the most part. Even though I had been eating a third of Clif bar every 20 minutes after the first hour, I didn’t have my usual bagel with peanut butter that morning like I always do before a long run. I think that put me behind in the calories count and was a contributing factor to the nausea. Seriously, though, I have to find something else that is easy to carry that I can eat when I have these episodes (which are more frequent than I like). I am to the point that I detest Clif bars, but continue to eat them because they are very portable and have the right amount of calories in them.

About a quarter mile before the third aid station, I started seeing Christmas ornaments in the bushes along the trail. Soon I came around a corner and what fun! There was a “Christmas tree,” more ornaments, and stuffed animals greeting the runners. This station was run by a bunch of guys who I’d say were in their 50's and 60's, and it was by far the best station. I stopped for a drink of water and one asked where I was from.

Me: “Humboldt County.” Him: “Marijuana country!” Me: “Yep.” And he nudges the guy sitting next to him. “Don’t you own land up there? Aren’t you growing something up there?” (wink, wink, nudge, nudge.) Me: “They just busted two guys with over 1,000 plants growing.” Him to the guy: “Isn’t that your land?” (more wink, wink, nudge, nudge) I thanked them for the great decorations and being out there and continued on my way.

At this point, I could tell we were slowly losing elevation, and there was getting to be more down and flats than up. After leaving the fourth and last aid station, there was a nice downhill section, maybe a quarter of a mile uphill climb, and the last 2+ miles was all downhill to the parking lot and finish line. Thankfully, my coach had me doing extended downhill running at the end of all my long runs, and this enabled me to virtually fly this last part of the race. I popped out around a corner and there ahead was the pavement and the parking lot. I flew right by my dad and uncle, who didn’t recognize me until I flipped them the peace sign, which meant they had to quickly scurry over the finish line. Back at the last aid station, I knew I was going to PR this course (my second 30k), but even when I hit the parking lot, I didn’t slow down (or at least tried not to) until I crossed that finish line . . . . . in 3:51:36!!! I was so happy, I could hardly contain myself. My standings were as follows:

OA: 56/102
Sex: 26/50
Age: 4/9 (actually, 10, but the last two tied)





I absolutely loved this course. If you like the desert, it would be a perfect first time 30k run. I most definitely plan on running it again next year, hopefully the 50k.

Runners' Depends

I seriously need to try and develop this product. For the past month or so, Mother Nature has been a real drag in that department. I barely get through 2-3 miles when, "Uh oh!" I barely made it home today, and the closer I got to the house, the worse things became. I could hardly bend over to get my house key out of my shoe pocket. Then it was, "Get the hell outta my way! Clear a path, I'm comin' through!!" Cats were scattering, various pieces of running attire were being flung hither and yond. I'm going to have to reconfigure my runs so that I'm near Safeway when things start movin' and shakin'.

I'm Starting a Petition to Ban Cell Phones

This article is great! Get Rid of Your Cell Phone

People + Cell Phones = Obnoxious. Very rarely do I ever talk on mine period, let alone in public. As indicated in the article, I do believe they are good to have for emergencies, or, like for me, I carry mine when I'm running by myself, for that "just in case" moment. But for people who live and breath with their cell phones - I think intense therapy is called for.