Stressed Out!

After spending five weeks grounded from running with little relief of my left tibia pain, I finally agreed to get some real imaging studies. I got an X-ray last week that showed absolutely nothing, which is somewhat good, but it is impossible to see an early stress fracture. So I finally got an MRI. The good news is, I don't have a stress fracture. The bad news is I still have really bad shin splints despite all of my treatment modalities. I wear a bone stimulator for 10 hours a day, which means I have to take the charger to work with me when I am on call. I also am now wearing a cam boot to take some of the stress off of the leg. I would put myself on crutches, but I walk somewhere between 5 and 10 miles at work on any given day and my arms would give out (not an exaggeration: I used to wear a pedometer at work and logged a 12.5 mile day on Christmas in 2004).

As for the MRI shown, that is me. If you look at the tibia with the R on it, you will see nice normal dark gray signal within the marrow. On the left, it lights up like a Christmas tree. All of that white stuff is water, which is a signal for inflammation. The picture on the right is my tibia looking from the side.

So good news, I will not snap my tibia if I try to run again. The bad news is it will probably still hurt like hell. I have a tri coming up in 4 weeks. If all else fails, I'll walk.

Cutest Kids in the World

I love my nephews. They have shown that my husband and his brothers' genes can overcome any chromosomal challenge to blond hair and fair eyes (three sets of blue, one green). My three older nephews have a half-Italian mom with brown hair and eyes. My youngest nephew is one-half Coptic Egyptian (picture a hieroglyphic, that's her), and you would never know it. We often ask if we're sure who his mother is (just kidding, sis). Here's the proof:

If my husband were cloned and brought back as a 5 or 6 year old...

Yet another miniature...

And the two youngest, the one on the left is Egyptian, I promise

The youngest of all mocking us wives for trying to mess with the Brey gene.

We'll see what happens when they take on the 5/8 English, 1/8 Belgian, and 1/4 Slovenian me. Not anytime soon though, Mom.

On Vegetarianism

I have been vegetarian since October of 1996. I just remember my swim coach ordering sandwiches for an upcoming road meet and I asked for a veggie sandwich. That was it. That was the moment I became an herbivore. I had read books about how awful the meat industry was and how much cholesterol was in eggs and that was pretty much it. I haven't intentionally eaten meat since (every once in a while, I'll take a bite of something innocent-looking and think, "uhh, that's ham"). I don't care if other people eat meat, I try not to be a pain in the ass when choosing restaurants for ortho outings, and I don't want people to worry about what to make me for parties and such. I bring this up after my husband (a card-carrying meat eater) sent me this article. I found it interesting and agree with almost everything in it.
And Happy Birthday to me (5/12)

If you can fix a femur, you can fix a flat

I went on my first group ride today with some other ladies from the SheRox triathlon mentor program. Also with us were Nathan and Steve, an employee and the owner of High Road Cycles. It was a very short ride (4.7 mi) at a very slow pace (12mph). But that wasn't the point, learning how to fix a flat was. So, I am now armed the knowledge of how to fix my front tire (forgot to ask how to do the back, but I'm really mechanically inclined, so I'll figure it out) and $68 worth of flat tire fixing equipment. Back out on the roads tomorrow, trying to get to holding 18mph for more than 5 minutes on flat ground. I have also tried running 100 yards, with awful, painful results, so I'm clearly not ready for that yet. Maybe I'll just go swimming instead.


I couldn't find a relevant pic for today, so here's a cute picture of a pony! (really, not a donkey, pic from www.miniatureponycentre.com)

Bourbon, Big Brown, Backups, Broad Street, and Baseball

Ahhh, Derby weekend was a blast! Things got started yesterday with our third mostly-annual Derby Party. We had our traditional assortment of southern cooking (hot brown, burgoo, Moonlight barbecue, KFC, papa johns), Louisville-ia, and horse racing. About 30 people came, and a good time was had by all. Lots and lots of Bourbon was consumed (cherry coke and Bourbon, diet coke and Bourbon, Bourbon balls, Bourbon soaked Derby pie, straight Bourbon, and of course, mint juleps). Only a few snafus: our kitchen sink is completely clogged, which led to the dishwasher leaking and an inability to clean up after the party. Nothing but eating out and leftovers until a plumber can come (we tried our drain snake to no avail (and we had this same problem last year)). I also am so very sad about the euthanasia of Eight Belles, who ran so well only to break down during cool down. It's the side of horse racing that I absolutely can't handle. I cried the whole Preakness when Barbaro broke down. Here's hoping for a Big Brown Triple Crown.

As for the Broad Street Run, I realized that after still limping on Friday, I was not ready for a ten miler. I went and picked up my $25 t-shirt and bib and toured around the expo they had. I found a booth with Brooks running shoes (which I wear) and asked if they thought my shoes might need replacing (yes, ask a salesperson if I should buy new shoes, duh). We looked at my shoes and it was painfully obvious that they were completely worn down. So I bought new ones. I also looked at booths promoting the Philly marathon and Philly Women's triathlon, and I'll probably sign up for some of those as well (half-marathon anyway). I also realized that biking is the best way to get to the stadiums from my house: 3.8 miles, flat ride, free parking right at the entrance. I was disappointed to miss the race this morning, but it was the right thing to do.

We finished the weekend with plenty of baseball. An attending of mine gave us tickets to the Phillies-Giants game and we biked (again!) to the stadium. It was a perfect day (72, sunny) and the Phanatic was great as ever. As a mother's day special, we were given pink visors and the Phanatic's mom took part in his normal 5th inning act. The Cubs and Cardinals are on Sunday Night Baseball tonight, so we'll be spending the night watching that.

As for the rest of the week, I am on vacation. I'm hoping to get plenty of swimming and biking in, and maybe try to run a little bit later in the week. I also have to fill out my fellowship applications and get some research done (not as much fun).