Almost a year

Where I have been? To be honest, I haven't been training AT ALL this year. I am a total bum. I have had injury after injury which has kept me from training..or running I guess I should say.

I signed up for the CMM half and my hip went out again during the 10 mile run. I hobbled home the last 2 miles and that was back in March. It's STILL screwed up. I am convinced it's a stress fracture but who knows. (The doctor if I would go)

SOOOO..my newest mission is bike riding. And I don't mean road bikes, although I have been doing that with my husband 3 days a week. (He's lost 20 lbs) I am running any errand in a 3 mile radius by bike if at all possible. Yesterday I ordered a FreeRadical to attach to my Trek which will make it even more of a beast. It should be built up by September hopefully and I will even be able to haul a weeks worth of groceries home.

I started back to school last semester and that took up a HUGE portion of my free time. For the first time ever I can say I am a nerd. I have a 4.0 gpa. Woo-Hoo!! Although I will be 80 before I ever graduate, I will chip away at it and hopefully get into nursing school. It is so competitive, though so my other options would be economics or urban planning. But I think nursing would be an easier job to obtain, and it has always been an interest so I have my heart set on that.

I would really like to start training again, soon. It drives me crazy to read the other blogs and see what ya'll have all been up to and I have nothing spectacular to report. I had hoped to pursue a half-ironman this year and maybe I would have if my hip had cooperated. Not only that, but my neck and back kept going out, too. I haven't had an issue with those for a month and I started walking again. My hip aches towards the end of my 4 mile loop, but it's almost immediate ( like 1/4 th of a mile) when I try to run. The biking/ walking is keeping my weight in check somewhat. I've gained 6 pounds, but compared to last year I needed the extra cushion because I got too skinny according to Doug. I don't like how my clothes fit but I guess it's Ok. They are tighter around the butt and thighs. I am blaming that on biking. (At least that's what I am saying anyway. LOL! Of course It could also be the chocolate malt balls from Fresh Market I am addicted to. It's like a chocolate bomb in your mouth. Heaven. )

Now for your entertainment... a pic of me at 19 years old when I was in the Navy. Miramar, San Diego, CA 1992..Grunge was cool...



I did my first 5 k around this time, The Carlsbad 5000, and I had a bike I rode EVERYWHERE. I went to the beach every weekend by bike. It was faster than taking the bus. I fell in love with the vibe there..everyone running and biking and just loving life. VERY different from the place I grew up. (Small town where I mostly got made fun of and crap thrown at me when I was out biking or running. WTF?? LOL.)

No responsibility..no worries. My friend took it. We were hiking around in the desert-like region of the base taking photos of the landscape and posing. I remember posing for this pic like it was two weeks ago. What was I thinking about? Not bills! I can tell ya that right now. I was probably thinking about the F-14 pilot I was obsessed with at the time. I was not "allowed" to date the pilot because I was enlisted and he was an officer. Did it stop me? (Did it stop anybody? Heeeeccckkkk NO!) Or maybe I was smiling because it was taken in a place I knew was "Off Limits". Oooooooooooooo..... We never could figure out why and of course that was the place we would all hang out. We never got caught either..lol! I think that was part of the charm...seeing what we could get away with in the military. So many rules... It was a good thing and a bad thing for me. I tended to "walk the line" a bit back then when it came to rules; sometimes crossing it, and I don't know why. My theory with the military was that the rules were there to keep us in line, and they knew we would break some. But if they had tons and tons of them maybe it would help to keep some kind of order. And some of them...eh..... The chick who took the photo was my partner in crime. It's like we were on a mission to see what we could get away with on a daily basis. What was under that concrete thing I was sitting on? A tunnel? A tunnel to what?? Is that why the area was "Off Limits"?

These days a flash of that girl shows up from time to time..esp when I go home. I don't know what happens to me, but when I get around my old friends...there she is. It happened this past weekend at a party in my hometown. I am no longer 35 year old married mother of two/ business owner bogged down with worry and responsibility. I'm the chick in the photo. Of course, those who really know me don't take me seriously. And those who don't know me...I apologize. I realize how I came off. And I would like to take this opportunity to blame the antics of Saturday night on my Best guy friend of all time...Timmy. I can't even look at him with a straight face and he just has this way of making mischief pure joy. Look at him...You can just tell there's gonna be trouble before the night is over and he brings that side of me out like no one else and he always has! Timmy, I love you more than I can say!