10 Years and 6.2 Miles

Today I celebrate 10 years working for Waukesha County! (as a reward I now get 5 extra vacation days, bringing me to 22 days/year) My previous jobs never lasted more than 2-3 years before I was bored, restless, and seeking new challenges. I never imagined I’d work for one employer this long. I can say that the years have flown by quickly and have been mostly enjoyable. I have been fortunate to work with excellent clinicians who fuel my growth in this field and prevent me from stagnation. Yes, I’ve had disappointing moments when a hoped for transfer into a new job classification that would allow me more freedom to roam the multitude of County programs did not occur, but in general, I’m content and still mastering what I do in my current capacity.

In February, my supervisor Joan climbed into her promotion, and Danielle, a new hire from outside of Waukesha County, took her position. We were all nervous about this transition. Our outgoing boss was/is a genius – sees the big picture, has excellent clinical skills, knows how to manipulate people for the best outcomes, etc., but she was also a mercurial alpha dog who nipped you when you least expected it. Danielle is smart, funny and most importantly, an even keel collaborator who does not nip. She also shares my love of fitness and pushing herself beyond what she thinks she can do (she backpacked the Grand Canyon with a 60-pound pack in 90°temps). While she is not a runner, she does other crazy things, such as wearing a 40 pound pack while trudging up the revolving staircase (a piece of cardio gym equipment) for 4 miles, so I challenged her and some of my adventurous co-workers to join Joe and me in the insane Bergkönig race on November 3^rd.  We will be running our final half marathon of the year a week before this 10k (6.2 miles), so the 10k may not be pretty! Danielle and Julie (and maybe Martha!) are on board, so there will be company on this grueling journey (after running 9 miles on Lapham Peak’s black trail this past weekend, I know just how grueling this will be).  I’m thinking that the supervisor and co-worker’s that run together stay together J  And what say you is the Bergkönig? Here’s the description (and if you’re interested let me know, I’ll send you the link and you can be part of the misery-loves-company gang).

“5K or 10K Trail Run/Walk/Nordic Walk - This exciting event at Lapham Peak State Park in Delafield, Wisconsin will be run from the Evergreen Shelter to the top of the Lapham Peak tower and back down. Bergkönig means, “Mountain King,” in German. For those of you who are not familiar with the park, the course involves numerous hill climbs, technical sections, and flights of stairs. The race should be very challenging for the veteran trail racer, yet fun and exciting for the recreational trail runner.”

This is a Chatty Month

Wow, here I am blogging again! Some months I can barely squeak out one weekly update and here I am on my 5^th! I don’t have a huge entry to deliver, just wanted to share that I got my Celtic Cats tattoo “fixed” yesterday by wise George. I initially made the appointment with the plan to have the cats colored in. The purpose of this endeavor would be to distract from the mistakes that were made on this original tattoo, dating back 17-18 years… my pre-George years. The original tattoo didn’t end up quite as circular as it should have, there were some lines that had teeny blank spaces with no ink, and the cats never seemed to pop. Of course, George saw all of this immediately without me having to point it out. He indicated adding color would make the tattoo an indistinguishable blob. He said he could do his best to augment and correct some of the problems by sticking with black. I’d say he achieved this quite well! I also had him touch up some spots in my runner tattoo that didn’t take earlier this year.

Today we celebrate 13 years in our house. This is the longest I’ve ever lived in any one structure, and I’ve never tired of it. Saturday 9/18/99 was a perfect day for moving – sunny, warm, but not humid. Three trips between Milwaukee and Waukesha and we were done (didn’t own much). I can still recall the excitement of having our own home, knowing that the entire space was ours to do with as we wanted. Fast forward to 9/18/12. I still feel excited and blessed each time I walk in the door. It’s the perfect comfort at the end of day.

Late breaking news: After 39 days at Froedtert, Shirley is transferring to a specialty wound care center this evening.

TNF

Today we ran the annual TNF (The North Face) Endurance Challenge Trail 10k. It's not in our nature to do the same races year after year, but this is the one exception. TNF began this trail running series 5 years ago in 4 locations across the country (NY, WA, WI & CA), and we felt lucky that Wisconsin was chosen as one of those spots (since then they have added GA & KS). The series offers race distances of 5k, 10k, half marathon, full marathon, marathon relay, 50k, and 50 miles. We always do the 10k, as it fits perfectly into our training schedule for October half marathons. We ran the inaugural Endurance Challenge in 2008, took a keen liking to trail running and this race in particular, so we come back every year. The race course, located in the Southern Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest, provides rolling hills through scenic woods. That first race was held in late October, which coincides with the hunting season. Hunters, angered by the intrusions of runners in their woods, removed some of the race signs leading runners to get lost, so the next year the race dates were changed to the third weekend of September. The weather is better in September anyways, so screw those mean spirited hunters (probably fat smokers to boot).

Today was the best race day weather we've had for this event. Sun, 60's, no dew points. Feeling prepared and hoping to PR, we set off at 9:00a.m., after the iconic Dean Karnazes gave us the go ahead. While the course never felt difficult to me (some years it's been much harder), I finished 2 minutes slower than last year, with a 1:10 (11:15 pace). To prevent an afternoon of feeling bummed, I quickly reminded myself that my knee injury has only been resolved since June, and that my pace on this route was still 15 seconds per mile faster than my summer trail runs have been, so I am making progress, even if I don't have a PR. Heck, next year can (will) be full of PR's and having none this year will make those victories even sweeter.

Where I gained 2 minutes from 2011, Joe shaved 2 minutes from 2011, which was good enough for him to place 3rd in the Men's 36-45 age group!!! Joe finished in 49:24 (7:44 pace), placing 7th overall (out of 255). No medals for age group winners, but he did get a spiffy TNF technical running hat for his notable performance :)

We now devote our attention to the upcoming Skeleton Skamper Half Marathon on 10/27.  We're going to leave Minooka Park behind, and start hitting it hard at Lapham Peak for our remaining long runs, as this will make us even stronger for the October road race, but more importantly, make us stronger (mentally and physically) for the Bergkonig ("Mountain King") 10k we will do the weekend after the half marathon - an all out crazy dash for 3 miles uphill to the top of the Lapham Peak look-out tower and down.

Dodging Death

It’s been exactly one month today since Aunt Shirley was admitted to the MICU at Froedtert with death nipping at her heels. Her blood pressure was falling fast with the Septic Shock coursing through her body. Doctors were amazed that she was even conscious with her 43/16 blood pressure reading. What immediately precipitated her admission was her 911 call for excruciating hip pain. The full story of her medical mayhem would unravel over the course of the next week. To make this easier to follow, I’ll back up to the beginning and tell the story in chronological order, rather than with the messy patchwork of facts that have unfolded since August 10^th. While the critical medical issues were going on, it was just too fatiguing, aggravating and frustrating to blog about it all. You will benefit from my delay in sharing this information as it will now come to you in a neat and comprehensible package.

Prior to Shirley’s August emergency, she’d been living in her apartment (since her May discharge from rehab) with the support of my sister Karen, who was paid through a home health care agency to help Shirley several days per week with household matters (i.e., grocery shopping, laundry, etc.). Without Karen’s help, the unambulatory Shirley could not have lived “independently”. During this time, Shirley did not follow through on her physical therapy, her ability to do anything for herself dwindled, she lived her whole life on the couch, and eventually showed signs of medical distress that she refused medical care for. We believed she had a UTI (urinary tract infection) that was affecting both her physical and mental functioning. And she did. Her bad kidney – a kidney with a “staghorn” shaped stone growing in it – was often infected  frequently causing UTI’s. This kidney only functioned at about 17% of it’s capacity because this staghorn stone was filling it up, however, due to all of her other medical conditions, surgical removal of the kidney was not warranted over the years. Well, at some point, this staghorn ruptured her kidney, which then leaked out infected bloody fluids into her abdominal cavity, leading to septicemia (essentially blood poisoning, which can kill a person). This fluid also broke out of her abdominal cavity, possibly through a herniation in her back, and pooled under the skin of her hip, leading to the terrible pain that forced her to call 911. The septicemia was at a critical level when she arrived, as evidenced by her precipitously low blood pressure.  She was lucky she wasn’t DOA (dead on arrival).

Shirley has literally dodged death on many occasions (an exploded ovary, two episodes of pulmonary embolisms, pneumonia and septicemia earlier this year, I’m sure there are more times that I’m not recalling) and came close to death 3 times this past month. The septicemia, raging through her system, did not respond to the first line of treatments. Doctors felt that she would die unless she had drain tubes surgical implanted in 3 locations to begin draining the toxic fluids inside her body. The infection continued to keep her blood pressure dangerously low, and her heart was pounding as fast as mine does when running, but she was just lying in a bed! Shirley refused to have the tubes placed for nearly 5 days, eventually relenting only if she talked to me about it first. Of course, I told her to do it, and she did. Several days after that, her persistently high heart rate needed to be addressed before the strain on her body became too much and caused her death. A special medication needed to be administered to reset her heart rhythms. She refused this until she could speak to me, and eventually agreed. 

I was growing more and more frustrated with the situation. Shirley, through her volitional refusal of medical help and in-home care in recent months (not to mention a series of bad life choices) led her to this point. If she had done all she could for herself and still landed in this position my feelings would have been different. As Shirley’s primary contact, I resented the constant phone calls from hospital staff intruding into my busy workdays (as I prepared for vacation no less), taking hours out of my day to communicate not only with Shirley, and hospital staff, but with my mom, Uncle Jim and my sister, Karen. I felt Shirley’s refusals to have emergency medical care done without talking to me were manipulative, as each time I spoke to her she’d already internally decided to do whatever procedure, and just wanted me to reinforce it. I took off for vacation 8/24, leaving my mom in charge. And it seems I got out of Dodge just in time.

The day we left for vacation, yet another critical life or death situation arose. The site of one of the drain tubes had become infected, and the flesh around it was necrotic (dead). This could quickly kill her if not stopped from spreading. Emergency surgery to remove the dead flesh from her hip was needed, and if possible, they would remove the bad kidney at the same time. Shirley refused this surgery until she could speak to me. She was told, “Joy is on vacation until 9/1, this cannot wait”, and so she relented. On 8/27, Shirley had a massive amount of dead tissue, along with her sickly kidney removed. The surgery went well. So much skin was removed that closing the surgical wound was not possible. Along her left side, lower back/hip area, there is a wound 4” wide and 8-10” long, and DEEP,  that will have to heal from the inside out. This will take a loooooooooong time.

Shirley is very weak, has basically had little food (by choice and in part due to a sore mouth) in the past month, cannot stand, use a bedpan or even raise her arms to the handrails of her bed without pain and exhaustion setting in. The septicemia is still present, she still has drain tubes, and is on oxygen to help her breathe more easily as there is an extra 6-7 gallons of fluid in her body with her systemic infection. She has been medically stable for the past week, and there is talk now of transferring her to a wound care facility soon. Where she goes, months down the line when/if her wound heals more and her other threatening conditions subside, is yet to be determined. Stay tuned….

September Scoop

After 6 weeks off serious training, it’s time for us to begin ramping up for our fall half marathon, the Skeleton Skamper near Racine, on 10/27.  September 1^st, the morning after our return from Isle Royale, we headed to Minooka Park for an 8-miler. I hadn’t run in 8 days and wasn’t sure how the run would go. It ended up being one of those infrequent, but grand experiences I’ve had a few times in the past, wherein something shifts, and I’m suddenly capable of running faster with ease. I ran those 8 miles at a pace 30-seconds per mile faster than I’d been running all summer. This is the kind of breakthrough I’d been fantasizing about for the past 10 months since my troubles first began with the hamstring strain, and then the IT Band Syndrome. I feared my results were a fluke, but additional runs this week still found me running 20-30 seconds per mile faster.  Did the break from running while cross-training with backpacking make the difference? Did my body finally absorb the speed work I’ve been doing since July? Did 4-hour hikes with a 30-pound pack improve my cardio endurance, allowing me to now run faster without ill effects with a higher heart rate? It’s likely a combination of those things and more. I just hope it sticks. I have a 9-mile run tomorrow … we shall see! Next weekend we have our annual North Face Challenge Trail 10k – if my bolstered VO2 max is sustained, I could PR or break even with last year.

Post vacation, we not only returned to running, we returned to school. You heard correct. School. We registered for a 4-week course at UW-Waukesha on Paranormal Investigation. This class covers the history of the paranormal movement, which dates back to the mid-1800’s, and delves into the technical instruments used to investigate sites with unexplained activity. The course is taught by the founder of Paranormal Investigations of Milwaukee (PIM), who happens to be a researcher with 2 masters degrees in science. PIM services are free upon request, using both a scientific and sentient approach to maximize an understanding of what may be going on. This course will explain how spooky things could be caused by natural phenomena, such as the effect of solar flares on electronics. The course, and PIM, do not aim to debunk or promote paranormal activity, only to better explain and understand it. A second course offered in October, which we are not taking, teaches students how to use investigative instruments, and culminates in a Halloween weekend investigation of an alleged haunted site. I’ve always loved hearing about paranormal activities and have had several paranormal experiences of my own, so this class will be a fun and indulgent Wednesday evening activity for the next few weeks. 

A Farewell to The Woods



Huginnin Cove - Isle Royale National Park

We've completed our third and final backpacking adventure to Isle Royale National Park, and to any Mid-West or woodsy hiking destination for that matter. Yes, Isle Royale is beautiful, sitting so majestically in Lake Superior, rising over 1,400 ft. with an interior spine (the Greenstone Ridge) formed by lava, and the unique moose-wolf ecosystem studied by top biologists for 50+ years, but it just doesn't give us the same thrill as the massive mountains out West. Hiking in the woods becomes monotonous, and there is no big pay-off for your efforts - no sweeping vistas of grey talus fields juxtaposed against a bright turquoise tarn, no endless views of shadowed layers of mountains unfolding to the horizon, no slanted fields of bright wild flowers positioned next to lingering snow fields.

What the Isle Royale woods did provide for us was an opportunity for rest and relaxation. On average we hiked a little more than 11 miles per day. The trail certainly had respectable aspects to it - a sharp graded incline here and there, but at sea level, you're never going to walk uphill for more than 10-15 minutes (in the mountains you can walk uphill for hours), which means it never becomes too strenuous. We had no obstacles on the trail to wear us out mentally or physically as we did last year (i.e., dicey raging river crossings, steep and scary snowfields, narrow exposed trails), and no need for hypervigilance with the fauna aspects of the trail (i.e., mountain lions or bears), as moose don't sneak up on you or stalk you, and wolves mind their own business. These factors meant we could "fly" over the terrain (in fact, some other hikers on the trail were referring to us as "the runners" based on the speed with which we hiked), reach our campsite by noon, and have the entire afternoon to complete camp duties (i.e., set up tent, get water), dry out blistered feet and sweat-soaked clothing, to read (we both finished 2 books) and even nap (in contrast, last year we were so pressed for time that we barely made it to our camps before the sun was setting, which became quite stressful). This trip allowed for 10+ hours of sleep each night, a truly restorative kind of vacation.

We had dry skies, warm days AND nights, and several surprising days of humidity. Somehow, one doesn't expect anything but a cool (or cold) dry breeze coming off Lake Superior that close to Canada. Later, we learned that we were likely being affected by Hurricane Isaac.

The big news from this trip is that we (or rather Joe), saw 1 of the 9 wolves living on the island. It was around 9:30a.m., 4.5 miles into an 11-mile hike, that Joe encountered a large male wolf walking down the trail towards him. The wolf, standing at least 3 feet tall, a coat in different shades of brown, took one startled look at Joe and promptly changed course, ducking into the woods. The encounter lasted 2-3 seconds, but will be a gift burned into Joe's memory forever. When we later reported the sighting to a ranger, we learned that the wolf Joe saw was part of the West End Duo - a male/female pair of wolves running the west side of the island.



One of many 'shrooms we saw



We also saw a bull moose within the first hour of the first day on the trail (this was cool, though we note we have seen many, many moose over the years), three snakes slithered across my path only (does this make the wolf Joe's totem animal and the snake mine?), we heard loons and owls calling, saw a billion different kinds of mushrooms/fungus, and experienced the nastiness of sugar maple worms (inch long green caterpillars with a red stripe, attached to spider web-like strings) raining down on us for a 2-mile stretch of trail along the Greenstone Ridge.

The most harrowing aspect of our voyage was the ferry ride from Isle Royale to Minnesota where we traversed a churning Lake Superior with 4ft. waves. That doesn't sound like much, but let me tell you, our little vessel was rocking side to side big time, the bow of the boat was soaked, and frequently waves splashed spray onto those of us standing on the stern deck (so positioned to prevent seasickness). For a time, I feared we'd roll right into the water, but after a while, the waves became fun - you just have to let your body go limp and roll with the ups and downs. On the ferry, people tend to talk about backpacking and backpacking destinations. I got to chatting with a woman who shared some trip ideas for the Canadian Rockies, which is just what Joe and I were contemplating for next year ... it seemed auspicious to get some leads just as we were thinking about getting back to the mountains...