Demotivations Anyone?

My friend J, sent me the latest offering from Dispair.com... thier take on those cute little Valentine candies. You know,"BE MINE!", but with a Dispair twist. I thought that I could make up my own, but nope, you have to use the ones that they picked.

After my sterling performance in the computrainer races last night I know that I can come up with something bettter than, "BE MINE!" Just a quick little reminder candy to make me know that I'd better be suffering now, so that I can suffer with style later on this spring. Later as we all know, is rapidly approaching. So I have a whole season of suffering to look forward to.

How about

*YOU SUCK!

*NO CAKE 4 U!

*SLACKER!

*POKEY!

Yeah, yeah, its the end of January and I'm already beating myself up. Someone's got to do it. James stepped up to the plate last night and kept screaming at me to keep my watts/kilogram at 3. I was immeniently about to throw up on him, but I did it. I don't care what he does, he's never going to be as bad as J yelling at me. She's just itching for that job!

Operation Smile

Well, for one, it's my goal of the day... to smile more. It's glorious outside, and even if it is freezing inside due to the fact that everyone down here keeps the a/c cranked up all the time, I'm going to smile about it. I have my Gore-tex jacket with me, and if it gets too bad I'll take off the suit jacket and put on the Gore-tex. And I'll smile about it, too.

The other goal for the day is to collect stuff for Operation Smile. You know, the important one. James' wife Susan teaches and one of her classes is collecting stuff for this great organization. What is Operation Smile? They are that fabulous bunch of plastic surgeons and dentists who fly to 3rd world countries to perform surgeries like cleft pallet, etc... on poor kids so that they can hope to lead a more normal life. How does Susan's class play in? They collect things that you and I take for granted... like those little hotel soaps, shampoos, child size tooth brushes and tooth paste... and make take home care kits for the kids after their surgery.

Do you have any idea how much of that stuff I take from hotels and then never use? Lots. It's sickening.

So if you are a frequent traveler like I am, how about collecting this stuff and saving it up for a race to give to me. Or better yet, give it to James' daughter, Kristin. She's the beautiful jr on our team who will be proudly wearing her State Champion jersey this year. We'll be everywhere, we're not hard to find.

Ok, I'm off to my meditation, and no besides eating out last night and seeing Thomas Edison's house I haven't been to or seen, anything. It's a glorious 56 degrees right now and the local weather is calling it freezing. High for today, 76 degrees, which I'll get to experience vicariously by looking out the window. I'm smiling about it though!

If this is Monday...

Then this must be Ft Meyers, Fl. I'm feeling pretty blue because its incredibly warm and sunny, and here I am, without a bike, and still not able to run. Tomorrow I'll be in a mediation all day and won't be able to enjoy the Vit. D, either. If I'm going to go to Fl for a mediation it really ought to be over something a whole lot more fun than a tomato patch flooding.

Saturday James talked me into going out to Orange (think the sticks) to watch a new movie "The Road to Roubaix." It didn't take much talking to get me to go, he pulled up the trailer and I was ready. I love that race, watching other people suffer like dogs just does something warm and fuzzy to my soul.

Wanna watch? Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bErQJ01-Uc8
I'd put the video up for you, but I was born blond and still can't figure that stuff out yet. Maybe someday. Probably not...

So off we trooped to the wilds of Orange to find the Cultural Arts Center where I got a wee bit more details on what we were seeing. Turns out, it wasn't to watch the movie, but the sales pitch to get me to donate money to help them finish the movie. Sorry dudes, cyclist here. Any money I have goes into bikes and stuff. I did drink a few glasses of wine which had James casting a hairy eyeball in my direction, but when it came to the sales pitch, it was exit, stage left.

Now if he had offered to pre-sell the movie, I would have been in line. I think that movie is going to be just gnarly. I want it, and I want it now. James is going to email the guys and see if maybe we can opt for something like that. If so, I'll let everyone know. This one is going to be great.

January Blues

I made it til now avoiding all the winter crud that everyone else seems to have picked up, and that everyone else seems bound and determined to spread around. Shoot, now I have it, and even my computer is sick.

Last week my computer picked up something nasty and just flat ass died. Reboot it, heck I couldn't get that far. My friend Paul has it, and everytime I see him he does this Rabbi rock back and forth thing murmuring, "Geez, Aw Geez! It's bad, it's bad. " In my book, it's bad usually has dollar signs right along side it, so I know exactly where I'll be spending that "tax refund" if there ever is such a beast.

Wednesday I was feeling dopey all day, but decided to head out to Endorphin Fitness to join the boys for another masochistic computrainer race. Yeah, ten mile time trial challenge! Me vs, all the guys! Uh-huh. By mile two, my power was dropping like a rock, and by mile 9 I was so dizzy I couldn't see the screen, and by 9.5, I had to get off the bike and lay down.

The last time I felt that bad was my first crit back after hip surgery. I got dropped in like the first 1/4 mile, caught back on about 4x, and then tt'd it to the end all by my lonesome. Wednesday night, I couldn't catch back on, and couldn't even cool down. I just lay on a bench trying to get everyone to leave me the "F" alone before I died on the spot.

I even blew off dinner with James and Kristin. Blowing off free food is a definite "Aw, geez" signal.

Yesterday I slept all day. I finally got up and went to the dump which made me so tired that I had to take a nap. When I got up to get something to drink, it likewise wore me out so I took another nap.

Lets hope this crap infects someone else quick. I'm not a good sick person. I've been trying to read contracts all morning, and that too isn't going well. If I wasn't sitting on a balance ball, I'd fake it and just take a nap now, but I think that could end very badly.

Taunting the Tiger

There are some things that look like a lot of fun when you are stoned. Face it, thats why the Darwin Awards were created. You know how it goes... Geez man, I'm bored. You bored, I'm bored. Hey, I know, lets get really drunk and stoned and go down to the zoo and jerk off at the tigers! Cool!

And so we have it folks, next year's Darwin Award winner in the bag. Nothing like having one of the better members of our society gleefully take himself out of the gene pool so that the population can evolve in a more productive manner.

I thought of this because I have Netflix and the movie I was watching while I was slogging away on the trainer last night was, The Darwin Awards. It was so bad that I was thinking of all the other brilliant people who have taken themselves out. Of course, our heroes have already had kids they haven't taken themselves out of the gene pool, and are only eligible for an honorary mention.

Some of my favorites from my job: The two kids who decided to have sex in one of those blow up balloons- I guess hearing yourself moan in a high voice is a turn on. Well, maybe until you go into a coma from anoxia. Imagine the grins and giggles when the maintenance staff finds you the next day. Or the guy who decided to take a propane torch to the gas truck hitch when a bolt was stuck. I still have the pictures of that one in my desk as I couldn't have them imaged in to my file as the file girls have sensitive stomachs.

James laughs at me when I tell him that I don't go in the ocean. (play the music from Jaws here. ) I also don't stand on rocks on the edges of cliffs so that I can look down. When you do my job, you see the "oh, shit!" moments that some of the other people experience. Unfortunately the award that most people get is a bonus check from a jury to their families! (That kid with the tiger... yeah,his family is set.)

So as you are thinking about some of the shoots and ladder jumps this icy winter, remember that while some people will look at your sorry tangled body and say, "Gnarly, dude!," someone else will be passing the photos around laughing our butts off at your creative way to improve the gene pool!

Ok, it's cold

Saturday I tried my first run in a week to see how the calf would hold up. So how'd that go? In the immortal words of John Boy and Billy, Not too good. One mile in there was a twinge, and instead of taking the hint, I decided to see if it was really going to go bad. Yep, a half mile later it did.

I still managed to ride 30 miles after that, and got home in time to ice it real good and finally break out the "boot" so that I won't be tempted to do something dumb until the stupid calf actually has time to heal.

This of course made me completely cranky and testy. Injuries just suck.

Sunday was not only bitterly cold but wickedly windy as well. Cold I can do, wind, no way. So since I couldn't ride, and couldn't run I sulked. At least I didn't go out and spend money.

The best part of the weekend came in the afternoon when we had a get together at Contes to try on the fit kits for the new team uniforms. Not only did Kat buy a spread for everyone to nibble on, but a few of us more intrepid slackers even brought adult beverages. If its going to be cold, you might as well drink to stay warm! Best of all was having James bring my newly built up - new to me Orbea Orca for me to take home! Yeah, Oscar is in the house! (James calls it the Great Pumpkin.)

So tonight I might (wont) be able to go out for a run, and at 9 degrees will not be riding in West Creek. I will get to be on the trainer in the living room getting Oscar dialed in. If its going to suck outside, at least it can be festive inside at my house! Thanks James. You rock!

Great Video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMzW3LIkNLA

Ok, all you in IT land can do all kinds of gnarly stuff with videos. Not me. So you get the linky thing!

Open it, its worth it if you care about pet over population. Maybe if this goes round and round on everyone's blogs more people will think about the results of not spaying and neutering. (Although I doubt it.)

Do you research your injuries/surgeon?

It's funny, for someone who had never heard of a labral tear before, I think I could almost qualify as an expert now. I researched the hell out of it before having my surgery, and had my surgeon vetted like no one has ever done before. After that, I started getting emails from all over, and I mean other countries from people who were scared to death who couldn't be sure of what to do. Having your hip dislocated to do arthroscopy is not something to do on a whim. Trust me on this.

I'm still getting emails from people and most of the time I have no idea how they got my name. A nice guy emailed me this morning from something that I said on Slowtwitch.com. I wish I had been as thorough as he is on this stuff!

Just in case you ever need to have something done, here is what I would call the blueprint of an athletes questionaire before having surgery... If you are going to ask someone a question do it right!

from my email back to Jay...

Hey Jay. I had the same level of frustration as you. In fact, this surgery scared me so much that I went out of network on my insurance to have it done. I’m going to be paying for awhile (4500 out of network max) but I’m really happy that I did what I did. The problem I think is less about the surgery than dislocating your hip and the damage that that does. My doc told me that the dislocation and positioning took 1 hr 45 minutes and the surgery 15 minutes. He specializes in shoulder tears, but has done a bunch of cyclists hips here. (Why cyclists….)

I would tell you that Runnersworld.com has an injury forum. Its very scary. You’ll see Philpons name come up a lot, and maybe its just because he does a bunch of these surgeries, but he seems to have a lot of problems.

My doc was Geoff Higgs at Advanced Ortho in Richmond, VA. I hear great things about Dr Kelly in Boston or NY.

Oh, and if I had my way (and I always do…) it seems to me that removing the tear results in better healing than repairing the tear.


1.) Your age: 42
2.) Was your tear a result of an acute traumatic incident, or did symptoms appear gradually? Appeared gradually and then became acute. I had problems running that happened about age 35 that I thought was an si joint problem or psoas and my hip would rotate. I’m not sure if this led to the tear, or if the tear led to this.
3.) What were your primary symptoms? Weakness in the left leg, leg would go numb while climbing on the bike, and go completely numb running up hill. At the end sitting was so painful that I could only sit 15 min +- before having to get up and stretch.
4.) How severe were your symptoms (1-10, 1 being mild discomfort, 10 being the worst imaginable pain)? I’m a cyclist so that’s not a fair question. Sitting was intolerable, so I’d rate that a 7. The rest I could ignore if I chose to.
5.) How long did you have symptoms before you decided upon surgery? Years, but once it got really bad I needed to get it done quickly.
6.) What made you sure your symptoms were a result of a labral tear and/or FAI?
7.) How long ago was your surgery? April 2007
8.) Why did you decide upon surgery? After my diagnosis I did research and determined that what I had been doing was not working. I’m getting to old to pussy foot around!
9.) What alternatives to surgery did you consider or had you heard about? I did a LOT of Active Isolated Stretching. It would help for a day or two, but I can honestly say that it was not going to be a long term solution. That said, I think all that pre-surgery work that I did payed off big time in how quickly I recovered! AIS is GREAT
10.) What alternatives to surgery did you try, and what were the outcomes? See above
11.) Did you have a cortisone injection into the joint and what was the result? I had lidocane with the MRI which helped for about a week.
12.) Doctor who did the surgery: Geoff Higgs, Advanced Ortho.
13.) What was the success rate your primary doctor indicated to you? He told me that all the surgeries that he had done had been well received by the patient, and he had had no adverse problems to date, but that he knew that many doctors did. (we discussed this in great detail.)
14.) What was the success rate you surgeon indicated to you? No numbers
15.) Did surgery remove or reattach the tear? Remove I insisted
16.) Were you diagnosed with Femoral Acetabular Impingement (FAI)? NO
17.) If so, was it cam- or pincer-impingement? n/a
18.) If so, did you have a procedure to fix the FAI as well?n/a
19.) Any other physical complications involved (FAI, cysts, osteophytes, arthritis, etc)? no
20.) Any complications during the surgery? Yes, I had a spinal as I do not like the affects of general anesthesia. I was unable to feel my crotch for about 2 weeks, had lingering numbness there for two months, and some generalized numbness in my hip and quad (intermittent and more disagreeable than bad) for about 5 months.
21.) Any complications after the surgery? No just the numbness
22.) What was your rehab like? 10 days post surgery I was able to get back on the bike and ride in an easy gear, was up to 7 miles within 4 days and back to riding 30 miles in a month easy. I did go to pt, mostly to get pelvic stability back as I felt that my pelvis would “rock”. Did 4 weeks of pt, 2x a week and had very good results. (mostly on hands and knees and would rock back and forth retraining the pelvis to track properly and some hip flexor strengthening.
23.) How long before any s/b/r? bike in 10 days. Did my first time trial 2 months later. I started running again the end of September as I was cautioned strongly that running was probably not going to be possible. I am running 5 miles easily. (used to be a marathon runner.)
24.) % of normal (pre-injury) you currently are: Probably 80%, and working on the other 20%. This is a long term thing.
25.) % of pre-surgery (with injury) you currently are: light years ahead power wise. I can ride up hill again! Easily a huge improvement
26.) What type of ongoing PT, exercises, management, rehab, etc do you currently do? I really need to do some more AIS to strengthen the area even more and will as soon as I get the bills in order. Other than that I’m just doing normal stretching, and switched my office chair to a balance ball to further strengthen my core muscles.

27.) Are you on pain medication as a result of the injury and/or surgery? No and in fact besides taking 800 mg of motrin, I never took the narcotics that they gave me post surgery. Intense pain is bad, but Id rather have my wits about me.
28.) Would you recommend having surgery to someone in a similar position as you? Yes, with the right surgeon. I think the choice of surgeon is the MOST IMPORTANT THING HERE.
29.) Would you recommend your surgeon? Yes, Geoff Higgs was wonderful and St Francis Hospital was great, clean and well staffed. Went home the same day.
30.) Anything else you want to note about the injury and/or the surgery: I never used my crutches. My doc said to use them as I needed them, but it looked to me that people had problems with adhesion because they did not move their legs enough. So I was walking that day without crutches, went to the US Open bike race the next day and walked 3 blocks. I had the surgery on Friday, and went back to work on Monday. That may have been a bit much, but worked thru lunch and left early the first few days. I also thought the Ice Machine was a waste. They leak. I just had rotating ice packs that I used.
I will tell you that if you run, patience is key. Its not the tear so much it’s the instability in the hip that will get you. I’d really give it 6 mos to get stable before running again. I think that cycling really helped getting everything back in place. Even with that, when I started running again, my forward movement was initially grossly restricted, and I had a “Fred Flintstone” gait. (running in circles w/o forward movement like when they were in the car on the cartoons.) It gets better. I had pelvic pain as well, but I think that was bits of scar tissue breaking up, vs. anything “bone.”

This is scary stuff. But being inactive is NOT an option. Any questions you have just shoot me an email, and I bet Geoff would talk to you. His phone is 804 270 1305.

Best wishes!

Karen

And this little piggie...

You know that you have good buddies when one of them will ride laps around a business park with you, at night, in the cold. Steve met me at Luck Stone and we headed out to do laps of West Creek. As soon as we got on the road, I looked down and noticed no booties on Steve's feet. Youch. No booties and just knee warmers and shorts!

I gotta tell you, I had insulated booties, insulated tights, a fleece lined jersey and a Goretex jacket and Goretex Windstopper gloves. I did decide to be brave (stupid) and didn't wear the helmet liner as it gives me Medusa locks. Yep, the only thing on my body that actually got cold was my head and ears.

Poor Steve. After a lap, he was having trouble feeling his feet. To keep us occupied we had the usual cycling banter going about the joys of frostbite, how not to die of hypothermia, how to keep water bottles from freezing and why plastic wrap really isn't a good idea to use as a foot warmer. All that while his little piggies were screaming at him to stop the insanity...

When I finally couldn't take the monotony of going round and round any longer, poor Steve couldn't walk. Geez, I know what that's like.

For tonight's ride, which is predicted to be even colder, he has promised me to be better equipped foot wise. It's amazing how proficient I've become at on the road doctoring, but I have issues with amputating some one's toes in the parking lot!

And by the way, you gotta check out Steve's new bike... SWEET!

The Rise and Fall

Saturday I raced to catch up to James and his training group after my old friends from Baltimore cleared out. Of course James didn't exactly give me the "where" of where I could probably meet them, so I had to make a guess and go with it. Yes, I was wrong. Jumping on a bike and hitting speeds that I have no business hitting at this time of year to ride to catch someone was DUMB. I did make it though, and was glad for it.

James is going to make an excellent coach. I've been trying to teach the girls how to do a clockwise pace line for awhile, James had his group doing it on the first try. (helps that he brought chalk and drew diagrams on the ground.) I have to say it, I was impressed.

After we dropped them back at the real start point I got to ride the 10 miles back home by myself. Yep, shoulda ate breakfast as I bonked and then thought that the buzzards were going to have to eat me. Whammo, I haven't felt that bad on a bike since my first crits back racing Tour du Port and Peake over the summer. I was dizzy, legs turned to goo, and if I could have caught a cab, I would have.

Sunday came and I was dreading going for my 44 mile hill ride. Good thing for me, everyone called to cancel. Bad thing for me, I decided to try to run. 1/2 mile in, and the calf went again. I ended up spending the rest of the day on the couch feeling sorry for myself. Whaaaaahhhhh!

As I was feeling sorry for myself, the fabulous Ms J headed up to Fredericksburg to collect her booty for being the overall winner of the Fredericksburg Area Run Club's race series. Way to go J, beat everyone up on the bike and on the run! (Now to convince her to buy a tt bike with her winnings...)

Riding to Nowhere

If you are going to have to ride on the trainer, it certainly helps to have company to making the suffering go by faster. So from now until ? every Thursday night is trainer hell night at Contes in Richmond. Everyone is welcome to come, bring their bike and trainer as we do Spinervals workouts on the big screen tv.

Last night riding to nowhere in the store sure beat running to somewhere outside in the rain. Not that I can run right now with the calf tear, but riding seems to be ok. Even if sitting on the trainer is a pain in the ass. With J cracking dirty jokes, and Mark Pye taking the bait every time, well... you just had to be there. James even brought out his new/old tt bike, Pokey. (I'm sure that when Dan King owned it it was called Speedy... ) Brad was out on his mountain bike, and even Kat got to ride for once instead of managing the store.

So those who missed it this week, come on out next week. Dinner at Da Lat (Vietnamese) afterwards!

A Funny Blog

Ok, I'm bad. I admit it Yesterday I found one of those new guilty pleasures that will certainly have me burning in hell. www.trifathlete.blogspot.com.

Yes, yes, I know that it's not politically correct. Certainly not like The Daily Show where Jon Stewart skewers political pundants right and left. No, this guy gives it to the tri folk. And, I know that as someone who could use to drop a few of those pesky lbs that I have no room to laugh. I can't help it. That site is just plain funny.

Face it, if you can't laugh at a bunch of trifolks who can you laugh at... cyclists?

The part about people riding their Cervelos at 14.3 mph was priceless. J and I have made numerous comments about this phenomenon as well. Except, I swear those riders are snoring as we pass them. Those Cervelos made so comfortable you can get all your zzzz's for the day....

So if you need a new reason to surf while at work, this site is for you.

Have I Got A Deal For You

Since I wasn't able to run or ride last night due to my latest calf tear, all thoughts have been on what else... FOOD! Being the bargain slut that I am, and since I have nothing of note to write about except for the whinings of a person who can't do squat, I thought I'd share a few of my "secrets."

In the Richmond region, you can get 1/2 price restaurant gift certificates through these websites... There is a trick though, you have to want what they are selling that week, and the good ones go fast. This morning I got 1/2 price to Brios, but my finger was on "Buy Now" as soon as it came up.

www.wmxb.coxradiodeals.com
www.wklr.coxradiodeals.com
www.dyl.coxradiodeals.com
www.richmondforless.com
www.halfoffrichmond.com

and for anywhere, a good go to place is www.restaurant.com

Since Cox Radio owns stations EVERYWHERE I'm sure the DC area has deals like this as well. Sometimes letting the old fingers do the walking can save you a lot of money. Give it a try!

Riiiiiiiip!

Yesterday was amazing. How many 74 degree days can you get in January!! Geez, I was pumped. Unfortunately, I was at work and of course by the time I get off work it's dark.

So after work I headed off to do a 5 mile run to beat the cobwebs out. I swear, everyone in Richmond must have been out pounding the pavement. It didn't take long before the competitive juices started coming out, and I had to start running people down. Pick that one off, yeah. Guy with headphones , gone... It was great!

And then... riiiip! Another calf muscle bites the dust. That's one of those instantaneous things that you know it's bad, and there is nothing you can do about it but get back. By the time I got home, I couldn't walk. Criminy. Speed kills.

So it's going to be a cranky-testy day today. I didn't bring out the "boot" yet to immobilize my leg in the crazy hope that maybe it will get better walking on it. Yeah, I know, that's not going to happen. Isn't it funny how just when you feel really great that stuff like this happens!

All Kinds of Fun

Saturday I got to introduce new member Sonya to the team. I met Sonya at our tt when she came up after her ride and offered to help clean up the trash that other riders had left behind. I love workers, who couldn't help but love a fast chick who will help clean up! Sonya brought Tom, who used to race at the beach. Amy came out dispite her knee injury, which got Katie to come out. J couldn't be left behind with a group like that, and we even got my buddy Paul to come out for the pre-ride run. All in all, a close to perfect outing.

To make it better, we didn't scare Sonya off after the ride when the usual off the cuff weird discussions started. At least I hope we didn't!

We proabaly didn't as she showed up at Cliff's on Sunday for our mountain bike ride. She was a bit hesitant on Saturday as she didn't want to be left behind with Paula and crew coming out.
I told her there was no way she was getting left behind as I was actually going to ride. I haven't been on Boo Boo since before my hip surgery, and in my save the hip state I was certainly not taking any chances. Yep, it was Sonya who left me behind.

The difference between mtn bikers and roadies is that everyone waited for me. Some of them had to wait a long time, too! It will take awhile, but that balance stuff on the trail will come back. I just need to actually ride the trails. Confidence will eventually return, too. It's amazing how quickly those skills go!


s

Should your doc be an athlete?

Damn straight. I did my early am check of Letsrun.com and they had posted an article on this topic from The New York Times. It's right beside the articles on the struggle to get the runners out of Eldoret, Kenya. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/03/health/nutrition/03Best.html?ex=1357102800&en=ab0c7b339e565219&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

My favorite quote from the article is, "when it comes to a diagnosis, she regards doctors mainly as a source for a second opinion. The first opinion is her own." Ouch! It was like someone was writing about me. They could also have been writing about J, and a whole host of other smart athletes that I know. Fact is, most of us really know our bodies. Sometimes we don't listen very well, but our bodies are constantly telling us important stuff. As the one who is getting all the feedback, who cares, and has the time to put stuff together, yeah, I do tend to make my own diagnosis.

The other fact is, most docs have very limited time to see you, and they don't really have a vested interest in you performing to the best of your ability. How many times have we heard things like, "running causes arthritis." Or how about, "now that you are getting older, it may be time to start slowing down and taking so many risks. You aren't a kid anymore, you know. "

When I first moved to Richmond, I had a boss from hell. To relieve the pressure I started running massive amounts of miles, lost a whole lot of weight and ended up with the inevitable stress fracture. I went to see Ken Zaslov at Advanced Ortho and here is the difference between a doc who treats people, and one who cares about athletes. Ken looked at me and called for a casting tray. He told me that he KNEW me, and that I would tell him that I wouldn't run, but I would sneak runs in. And he told me that the fracture was in such a place to be career threatening. In fact, he told me if I had been one of his ballerinas that he treats, my career would have been done.

Then he held out his hand and gave me a key... it was the key to the therapy pool. He told me that if I swore on my Mother's life that I wouldn't run on the pavement, he would give me the key and I could run in the pool. He also guaranteed that when I was better, that my fitness level would be the same or better than it was at that point.

I took the key.

When J's knee went bad, she went to an ortho in town who told her that he wouldn't touch her. I sent her to Dr Zaslov, who not only did the surgery, but had her running faster than she ever has before.

When my hip was giving me all kinds of strange symptoms, my pcp told me that it was age. I switched docs, and went to cyclist Matt Marchal (Altius) who had a preliminary diagnosis for me by that afternoon.

Should athletes treat with docs who are athletes. You betcha.

The New Year's Run

My friend Therese hosts a gaggle of us for a New Years morning blow out. Therese won the Richmond Marathon back in the day, and in her mid-fifties is still running and whooping up on her much younger com padres. The run is designed to highlight her strengths, hills, and beat the crap out of the rest of us mortals.

And I mean beat the crap out of us. Therese lives on the bluffs above the James River, and the run is the old Forest Hill Park 10k course. Think long up and downs, with steep sections thrown in to make you cry... Even better when half the really young stud muffins had been out drinking all night and were just rolling in as the gun went off! I think that was Cliff's favorite part, you know, hurting the kids until they barfed.

Me, that was the hilliest run I've done in years, and I did it, but was one of the ones in sufferfest zone. I know this stuff is good for me. Sure they are. Hills are our friends. Which is like saying that you should eat asparagus because its good for you. Uh-huh.

After the run always comes the post ride breakfast and popping for distance contests. That's akin to peeing for distance, but with champagne. All in all, there is just not a better way to bring in the new year than with a lot of suffering, and then champagne to make it all better.

And Therese is going to have a good new year... at the end of the month she sells her gracious old house and moves into a swanky new condo in the bottom right on the river. We sure are going to miss the old place. Plus, she rode my Merlin, Flash, yesterday and is probably going to buy it, and concentrate on doing tri's next year. Its a great bike for a great lady. Knowing that Flash will have such a great person makes the parting a wee bit easier.

So happy New Year everyone. Now get back to work!