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It's another beautiful day for surgery - sunny, bright blue skies, cool but not cold. A near carbon copy of the day of Joe's last surgery on May 24th. No heroic final run before surgery this time though, as Joe's hip remains a bit jammed up following his insane performance in our trail half marathon 2 weeks ago. The surgical staff remembered us both - even the details of our lives from May, which makes one feel like a human being and not just another number, though Joe was assigned a tracking number: 75410. This is a number that is posted on a smart board (see picture above) in the waiting room that provides continual updates on where a patient is in the surgical process, such as pre-procedure, in procedure, recovery, phase II and complete (meaning you've gone home). By watching this board, I knew Joe was taken to the operating room at least 30 minutes earlier than scheduled. As he did the last time, Joe accepted a nerve block, which will last 12-24 hours to address the most immediate and intense pain that could follow. No reason to think there will be much pain, as he didn't have a lot the last time, using his pain meds for less than 3 days. As I bade my time in the bright and airy waiting area, I frequently glanced up to the smart board. I couldn't read the numbers from where I sat, but I knew which line was Joe's, watching for the magenta "procedure" line to turn to purple for "recovery". As expected, surgery went swimmingly. The tedious recovery process will begin again tomorrow when Joe gets into the passive motion chair. PT for the left shoulder will begin next Thursday after his follow up with Dr. Vetter. By Christmas, Joe's right shoulder will be fully healed, strengthend and mobile, while the left shoulder will be well on it's way, leading him to a fresh start for 2014.

Dia de los Muertos

Dia de los Muertos. Day of the Dead. The Mexican cultural holiday spanning November 1st & 2nd in which families celebrate and honor their dead through prayer, create altars using sugar skulls (calavera) brightly decorated with marigolds, paints, etc, and bring meals and possessions of the deceased to their grave sites or shrines. This is a celebratory time, not a macabre endeavor, in which families hope to receive visits from their dead loved ones. I love this concept, as well as the beautiful unique skulls that emerge in their celebrations (if you want to see what I mean, simply do a Google image search for Dia de los Muertos).

Inspired by these images, I did a harmless (or so I thought) little search for Day of the Dead designs, thinking maybe one day I would get a Day of the Dead tattoo. When I stumbled upon the picture above, that "maybe one day", became "how soon can I get this?" Everything about this design speaks to me. The skull has amazing details, while the owl sealed the deal. I am a huge fan of owls, but I also like their connection to my Native American interests in which the owl represents death, carrying the departed soul to the West.

You're now wondering where the hell I would get this tattoo, right? This would be tattoo #11, my body is filling up. The obvious spot would be the upper back, BUT that's not for me - I'd never see it and no one else would ever see it, so it will go on my right thigh. It will be off center, just as Tomas the Snake is on my left thigh. The body of the tattoo would be on the outside of my upper right leg, while the wings would span the front and back of my thigh (thought they won't wrap around and touch). I consulted with George, my tattoo artist, today, and he says this can be done. He'll need to make adjustments to some of the details, but nothing drastic. And get this, I am now entering the world of hardcore tatting as I will need 2 sessions to complete this piece of art - one to outline it all, another to fill in shading and color (I will have some colors, though most of it will be shades of grey and black). The next step is for me to examine my calendar and training schedule to find the optimal time to have my right leg swollen, sore and out of commission for 1-3 days. Stay tuned for more!

TNF Half Marathon

Cold rain (low 50') and mud couldn't stop us from achieving our race goals. For me, it meant coming in under 2 hours, 30 minutes, and for Joe it meant coming in under 2 hours. REMINDER: Trail running is more challenging and takes more time than road racing - especially when it's muddy and you're navigating a course of slick tree roots, slippery rocks and goopy mud that weighs your feet down. Based on my summer trail runs, I expected to finish with an average 11:30 pace, which would have me finishing in 2:30. I finished 13.1 miles in 2:27:41 with an 11:16 pace - meeting and exceeding my goal! Perhaps more impressive are Joe's results after only 4 weeks of training. Joe ran 13.1 miles through the undulating Kettle Moraine in 1:54:29 with an 8:44 pace!!! And if you like stats, here are some more:

JOE: Overall Finish      = 90 out of  376
        Male Finishers      = 70 out of 197
        40-44 Age Group   = 12 out of  29

JOY: Overall Finish       =  276 out of 376
         Female Finishers  =  103 out of 179
         40-44 Age Group   =   13 out of  24

After finishing, we weren't interested in hanging out in the rain, so we made our way home, turned on the heat for the first time this season, and settled in for a luxurious afternoon movie on the couch with the boys.

Bonus Note: Driving through the country to the race, a large fox ran across the road (this seemed like a good omen), and some homely turkeys were walking along the route as well (we won't ascribe any meaning to them ☺).

Looking ahead ...Joy will run the Colorama 10k at Lapham Peak on 10/5, the Lakefront Discovery Run 15k on 10/26 and the Schaumburg (IL) Half Marathon (held in an elk nature preserve) on 11/30. Joe will get 19 more miles in before his 9/27 Rotator Cuff surgery, so he can reach 550 miles (not bad at all considering he'll only have about 6 months of running to claim for 2013.

Health Coach

For several years now at work we've (employee and spouse) had to participate in "Biometric Screenings" if we want a reduced health insurance premium. This means an outside contract agency does fasting blood work on us and takes various body measurements. When this is done, we move on to Step 2 - completion of an in-depth on-line health assessment and then we're green lighted for Step 3 - scheduling a call with a "health coach" to review our results. Today was my day to speak with the health coach.

 

I preface the correspondence below with noting that all of my blood work looked great, as did my measurements. However, the measurements (height, weight, waist, wrist) are inaccurate as the people wielding the measuring tape and scale have random approaches and faulty equipment. Despite holding steady in my weight and body size, their numbers fluctuate. For example, one year I was 5'5", the next year 5'4", and back to 5'5" the third time. My right wrist has measured anywhere from 5.25 to 5.75, my waist from 25" - 27", and the digital scale is always miscalibrated and off by 4-7 pounds (this confirmed by co-workers who report weighing much more on this scale then their home scales). A body fat percentage is assigned based on height and weight, which is crude and inaccurate. A more accurate way to measure body fat is with calipers pinching fat. I've had that done at the gym in recent years and came in at 22.7%. The healthy range for women in their 40's is 21-33%. 

 

This is what transpired during my health coach call today. She notes the only thing I didn’t score perfectly on was body fat (they came up with 27%) – “we’d like to see that at 25% or less  - what I would suggest is weight training”. Once she said that, I lost my mind.

 

Me: “No, I don’t think so. I already do 3 hours of Olympic weight lifting per week and I run 20-30 miles per week, which is also weight bearing. The measurements in this screening are not accurate, the screeners are widely random in how tight or loose they pull that tape measure, the scale is considerably off and I can assure you that when I’ve had accurate body fat measurements done I’m below 25%. And even if my body fat was 27% that is well within the normal healthy limits, which range from 21%-33%. “

 

She later annoyed me when asking about my sleep. I admitted I only get 6-7 hours/night, but that I sleep well. She asked if I could try getting more, and I told her, “no, because I need to be up in order to exercise so I can have these great biometrics.” She kinda laughed, and asked when I get up. I told her, “I get up at 4a.m., which means I should be in bed by 8p.m., but I don’t usually make it there until closer to 8:30 and then I like to read a bit for some down time, so I’m not usually asleep until 9:00 or later.” Well, she can’t leave that alone – she launches into how I can go to their website to get tips on how to fall asleep more easily, how to reduce stress, etc. Irritated, I replied, “You know, I am familiar with sleep hygiene – I teach it to my client’s all the time. I have no problem falling asleep, I choose to read as a pleasurable way to end my day. Falling asleep is not an issue. I could hang up from you right now, close my eyes, and fall asleep.”  And can you guess what she launched into next? “Well, if you could fall asleep just like that in the middle of the day, you’re not getting enough sleep and are at risk for changes in your health …” blah, blah, blah. I finally kept my mouth shut, rather than telling her she was a big dummy missing my exaggerated point about sleep (of course I couldn’t literally fall asleep this second if I closed my eyes!). I guess I just loathe this process and the people involved in it - that I have to jump through hoops for my health care. That said, I have great health insurance and will continue to do whatever they ask, even if it aggravates me to no end!