Merry Christmas to all…

May your day be filled with joy, love, peace and a tiny little piece of something very special.

Christmas Eve

It’s been hard going through the holiday season with my dad gone.  He so loved Christmas with all it’s joy, church going and giving.  He was very generous, not so much with money and things but with kindness of spirit, thoughtfulness and love.

Last year he wrote everyone a letter as part of their gift.  I will pull mine out and read it again, I actually keep it in my camera bag.  I wonder how long I will do that for?

My mom has not even read hers.  She couldn’t read it last year.  I told her to look at it as her gift from him this year. Then the tears rolled down our cheeks as they seems to have been on and off this past month.

To see his handwriting, he was here just not so long ago but it feels like forever since we’ve embraced.

Last week, Jen and I ran in the wee hours of the morning and then went to put a few Christmas ornaments up on his tree at Lake Calhoun.

I know he would love that, although, I know he would think that I should have put up more than three, he likes lots of lights and ornaments ; )

While I was kissing Santa

Who says Christmas shopping at insane toy stores isn’t any fun?

We now have to set another plate for Christmas dinner.  He doesn’t like sitting much but he doesn’t eat or say much either…perfect company.

And BTW, anyone have any idea what shade of lip gloss Justin wears?

I really like it.

A + M = Furniture

Happy 17th Anniversary baby!

How many days…

does it take to have your French Press broken by one of your small children.

23!

BooHoo.

The skimmer

My kid’s grading system at school looks like this:

E=Exceeding the Standard

A= Achieving the Standard

P= Partially Achieving the Standard

N=Not Achieving the Standard

CT walks in last Friday with his report card an announces, “I got one P…in constipation!”

That would be Computation my friend!  Everyone knows he gets an E in constipation.

Damn Dog

Murphy is one of those dogs that is so awesome, you just can’t help but love him.

On the very first trip home from the vet, I veered off to stop at my dad’s tree and the dog shit in the car.

On the second trip to the vet, I was going to drop off some things at the Goodwill and he barfed all over the front seat.

I think on the third trip to the vet, I will either have Adam take him or I will go straight home.

Think’n that’s a good plan.

How Lucky How Thankful

Betty, my awesome mother-in-law, started this great tradition this year at Thanksgiving.  She left out a pad of paper, a pen and a basket.  Each of us was to write down what we were thankful for and then we would read them at the dinner table.

At the end of dinner, all the kids crowded around Papa to read the notes.  They were read one by one.  The kids tried to guess who wrote what.  Some of us fessed up, some did not.

It was CT who wrote this:

As it was read, he looked up into my mom’s eyes and gave her the sweetest smile and head nod.  It was as if to say, don’t worry Grandma, we won’t forget him.

Thuy

I have been fighting a bit of knee trouble these days, so I decided to take some time off of running, thinking that would solve my problems.  Since it has not, I starting seeing a Chiropractor, her name is Dr.Thuy Katzenberger and she is the fiercest little woman who inflicts the most amount of pain, I have ever met.

I always love it when you go in and try to get one thing fixed, full well knowing (or maybe not) it is stemming from something else all together.  Here is the email I sent my coach of the rehash (from my perspective of what Thuy (pronounced Twee) said to me.

What is wrong:
1.  My pelvis is the biggest issue.  I actually stand with my pelvis tilted way forward which causes a whole host of alignment problems. Also in the position that I am in all the time, it does not allow for my hamstrings to be used to their full potential.  Instead they sit there contracted and shorted up because they are not allowed to be in their normal state.  This pelvic tilt also has my lower back in a constant contracted state, which is no good.  All of this pelvis stuff is causing my gate to be funky.

PLAN:  I have to retrain my pelvis to live in a different position.  I basically have to stand shoulders back, butt out, then breath and try to relax those muscles.

2.  My feet.  She was appalled at the state of my feet, their wear pattern, how crocked my toes are and the callouses I get.  I have some very strong muscles in my feet and then I have some that have atrophied.  She wants them all in play and wants my foot to strike differently.  Which supposedly it will once the pelvis is fixed.

PLAN:  Straighten my toes out (I’m not exactly sure what kind of Chinese voo doo can help with this, but let me tell you it hurts) and she wants me to walk around in Vibrum 5 fingers 30 minutes a day to get all the muscles in my feet working.  She feels that walking around in these is better than any exercises she could give me.

3.  The knee.  Again an alignment/weakness issue.  I’m asking muscles to do things they should not be doing because the others are not up to the task and I just keep burning through to the next stabilizer muscle.

Thuy said that my pain progression from IT band to other side of the knee is exactly what happens right before you tear your lateral meniscus, which usually happens suddenly due to something stupid like tripping over a sidewalk or rolling over a stone.  The constant ache in the back of the knee is all my muscles just trying to keep their shit together.

PLAN:  Get in alignment, strengthen hamstrings.

4.  Weaknesses:  hamstrings and glute medius.  My glute medius is like jello…I am hoping for a better ass in 2011.

PLAN:  I have hamstring exercises to work on and glute work will come later.

5.  Balance:  I forgot what she said about this besides the fact that when asked to balance on one foot for 10 seconds I begin to shake, which someone in my physical condition should be able to stand there for a good minute before this happens.

PLAN:  Go back to bed and wake up in a different body.

This is what I get for asking my 40 year old body to race hard.  Better get on it, the start of marathon training is just around the corner.

If this new skiing endeavor of mine fails…

There is always a fall back.  Thank you Surly!