Sunday, July 28, 2013

No Excuses

I've got nothing...no good reason that I've been gone from the blog for so long.  I'd like it say it's because I am so busy I just don't have time.  And while I have been a very busy person, it's not like I can't blog from my iPad which I generally have with me all of the time.  So really, I don't have a reason.  I know I keep saying I'm going to be better about it and I really do mean it every time I say it.  So if I've lost all my readers, the few that I have, it's really my own stinking fault.  But I will keep blogging and who knows, maybe one of these months I will have more than one post.  Fingers crossed!

Since we last checked in with the crazy adventures of MK, there have certainly been some adventures.  I really have been gone a lot which I wasn't anticipating this summer.  I knew I had trips here and there but they all seem to run together.  Ahhh, running.  How I miss you so.  But we'll get to that in a minute.  My birthday this year extended into July which was fabulous because July meant it was John Mayer month!  For those of you who have been around a minute or two know that John Mayer really is and always has been my boyfriend.  When he first hit the scene, I even had a playlist on my iPod called "My boyfriend John Mayer."  Now, I will admit that when he went off the deep end, I was a little more than disappointed.  But, he seems to have found the right path again and is back blessing us all with his music.  My BFITWWW (best friend in the whole wide world) got us two tickets to see John in Kansas City this month and it was such a great concert.  I don't remember how many times I've seen him (at least 5 or 6) and he never disappoints. 


But what was even better, is that his keyboardist on this tour is the same one I met in Denver all those years ago when I may or may not have been stalking John Mayer at his hotel.  If I've never told you that story, well then, remind me to tell you sometime.  It's a doozie of a story!  It was so great to hang out with Janet!  We hadn't seen each other since we got back from Europe last July.  A WHOLE ENTIRE YEAR!! That is just way to long for besties to go without seeing each other.  So she's coming here in September and I can't wait!  She hasn't been here since April 2012 when she helped me move so it's long overdue.  Watch out Iron Mountain is all I will say!

The week of John Mayer was a very busy week for this ole gal.  I flew out of Iron Mountain on a Tuesday afternoon to KC.  Concert was on Wed then flew back to Mount Fun (JB that's for you!) on Thursday, ran home, dropped off one suitcase, picked up the other and hopped in the car to go to Chicago for the weekend and the Ride for AIDS Chicago.  Of course, I had to work on Friday which meant getting up early and making the commute from Andersonville to Westchester.  Yeah...I've been living in a small town way too long because that drive really gets to me.  An hour out and an hour and a half back.  BLECH! 

Saturday morning we were up at the crack of dawn.  So here's my thing...every time I visit my brother for one of his sporting events I seem to be getting up on a weekend at 5am.  WTH?  Runners don't even start that early.  Well, okay, except for the Disney race in February (sorry MOM!) But seriously?  For those of you who I didn't already educate about Ride for AIDS Chicago (RFAC), it's what is known as a "double century" bike ride.  200 miles in 2 days.  Don't worry.  I'm not the crazy one who was actually riding in it.  I was riding in the support/cheerleader car with my Chicago bestie Lauren (that's a funny story too.  Drives my brother crazy that we call each other bestie and she refers to him as her bestie's brother!) We had so much fun, if you couldn't tell by the Facebook posts and the pics here and below.  We basically drove along the route cheering out the window and squirting them with squirt guns and blowing bubbles on them.  We even set up camp along side of a back road in Wisconsin with a cooler of beer and everything.  Of course, it wasn't so funny when the local patrol car came by and slowed down right in front of us.  Either he didn't see our beers or he thought we were too cute to say anything about it. You decide...makes for a great story, though!  So it was a great weekend but boy was I tired and I didn't even ride the 200 miles. 




And then I fell...yep.  You read that right.  I fell.  5 blocks from the car after the closing ceremony of the RFAC.  Seriously????  What is the freaking matter with me?  And I knew in mid-air that it was going to f&^% up my hip and boy did it hurt like a bleepidy bleep bleep bleep.  Luckily two guys were walking in front of me and they came to help me.  I told them to call my brother (who had ridden his bike up ahead of me) and tell him I fell and hurt my hip.  And then the Evanston police showed up...and a series of random cars stopped to see if I was okay.  Yeah.  My ego was bruised almost as much as my hip.  The good news, though, I didn't really do any damage beyond aggravating it a little, which is about right because I was aggravated too.  And, of course I tried to hide it from my PT which lasted about 3 minutes on the elliptical and then I had to come clean.  He was a little frustrated that I didn't fess up right away but, c'mon now, are we surprised in anyway that I didn't fess up?  I was going on the theory that if I don't tell him, it won't hurt.  Yeah, yeah..i know.  Anyway, it's much better these days.

As most of you probably saw via Facebook, I went camping last weekend with Tania and Lynea.  It was so much fun being out in the woods again.  And kayaking all day Saturday.  Yep.  I absolutely love my kayak.  Just need to get a better rack for my car because the one I have it too labor intense and doesn't really do much good anyway.  We had a great time, though.  That is truly one of the things I love about living in the U.P.  I don't always enjoy small town living but being able to go camping so close to home or taking my kayak out on Cowboy lake which is like 5 minutes from me is just amazing. 

I'm up to 5 minute power-walking intervals and as you can see by my "Daily Mile" update to your left, I'm doing a pretty quick pace too.  I'm getting so close to jogging I can hardly stand it.  I go to the surgeon this week for my 3 month follow up and I am confident he will let me jog.  Okay, maybe I'm not confident.  Maybe hopeful is the better word.  I don't even care if I can only jog short intervals.  The point is I WANT TO JOG!!  I think I've been a pretty good patient the past three months.  I have not worn heels at all (which is also driving me cray cray) and to not be able to run or wear heels is like taking my identity away! 


So my brother started a blog (yeah, I think he's a copy cat but again, he doesn't read my blog so he won't even know I'm calling him out) about his journey to become a published author.  Unlike him, I do read his blog on a regular basis and recently it got me thinking.  Not about anything serious, of course.  That's actually what I was thinking, though. His posts are full of deep thought, reflection and the meaning of life and it made me question my posts and why mine are not like that.  And then I remembered why I started this blog.  I started it to share my life adventures as I started in a new place with a new job and new people.  Not that there is anything wrong with either of our blogs or the purpose behind them.  I'm just not a serious person, really.  I mean, I am at work and when I really have to be.  But I also really try not to have deep thought and reflection.  Does that make me a shallow person?  I'm not sure that it does.  I think it's who I am and it would sound forced, I think, if I were to have deep and meaningful posts.  Plus, he is on a different journey than I am and I think his blog is helping him figure out his journey where as mine (again mine came first ;)) is just to catch everyone up on what's going on in my life.  Because apparently Facebook doesn't do that. 

Wow...that was kind of deep and reflective...I gotta stop that! 

This week starts another busy time but I am excited because in less than a month, I will be in Key West for a few days.  So excited!  One of my favorite keys ever is the West key.  Hahahaha.  Yep, I'm a dork!

I don't have any new music artists to recommend to you but I just bought the new Sarah Bareilles album last week.  It's great, as all her albums are.  She is such an amazing, emotional singer/songwriter.  Love love love her stuff! 

I'm sitting here wracking my brain to come up with a piece of trivia for you, because I know how much you love to learn new things when you read my posts.  Since I couldn't come up with anything, I went to Google.  BTW...have I told you I created a new word?  I actually created it about a year ago.  "Googleable"  def. if you can look something up on Google it's Googleable.  Anyway, I digress.  I turned to Google and typed in Random Facts and found a Twitter feed that I now follow.  (Yep, I'm a tweeter now.  Good lord.)  Most of the random facts are a bit too risqué for me to share, mostly because Moms and Pops read this and I don't want them to blush.  So here is your PG trivia for today...

  • For every human killed by a shark, humans kill two million sharks.

Blows your mind, huh?  Okay, maybe not but I did find it interesting.  And with that, have a great week, dear reader(s), and I promise I will try to do better. 

Monday, July 1, 2013

Living the Dream

Holy cannoli!  It's been a month since I posted anything.  Wow...I am not a good blogger.  I have thought about posting many times and just never seemed to get around to it.  You know how it is.  Life just gets in the way sometimes.  So here's where we are with all things MK.

Hip progress is slow but steady.  It's been incredibly frustrating some days with the great weather FINALLY!  I've been cleared to "power walk" in intervals.  Yeah, I was not designed to power walk.  But it's all I've got at this point so I guess I will suck it up.  The first time I went for a power walk was last Tuesday.  I didn't make it .8 miles before the pain started.  Boy oh boy was I frustrated.  So I was talking with the PT Assistant at the clinic I go to and she asked me if I had been stretching.  Of course I hadn't been because no one told me it was okay for me to do.  So yesterday, I did some stretching and what a difference that made.  I was able to go 2 miles before the pain.  It was WONDERFUL!!  Oh the simple joys in life sometimes. 

I made a trip to sunny San Francisco to go to my 20th MLB ball park with mom and pop.  It was a great trip despite the travel delays and having a terrible head cold. 







I won't go into the boring details of the travel problems.  Let's just say that I decided to fly out of Iron Mountain for the first time in about 6 months and that was a mistake.  It's worth it to drive to Green Bay.  Delta is quickly becoming my least favorite airline.  UGH...

In other news, my business is starting to take off.  I have two full time clients (2 times a week each) and one client that is paying as she goes so I'm not sure how often she will be training.  It's a pretty cool feeling knowing that I am actually doing this and that people are signing up.  I can only imagine what will happen when I advertise.  I'm currently working on that and hope to have some kind of add in the newspaper or on the radio by the end of July, if not sooner.  I keep telling people that if I could make the same amount training that I do at the VA, I would quit my job tomorrow and just train full time.  I love it that much!! 

I have a new music recommendation for you.  Her name is Ivy Levan and she's sings what she calls "Swamp Hop."  It sounds kind of 50s/60s-ish with a modern twist.  She just released her first EP and it's very good.  All four songs are very catchy and I think she will be a big hit soon. 

I think that's about it for now.  You would think I would have more since it's been so long.  And I probably do but it's escaping me right now. 

Monday, June 3, 2013

What Step Am I On?

So since we last checked in, I have had a minor meltdown.  Mind you, it was the first one since all of this hip business started so that's not too bad.  Just a few tears while listening to my favorite band's new album and realizing that I can't listen to it while running for what already feels like an eternity.  Besides that?  No big deal, right?  It actually didn't last that long.  Mostly because I was in a government car returning from Chicago and was about 20 minutes from the hospital and didn't want to have to return the keys with red, puffy eyes.  But hey, it worked right?  Got me to calm myself down. 

Life has been pretty crazy lately what with starting a new business and all.  For those of you who haven't checked out the website, it's www.beckleyfitness.com and our Facebook page is www.facebook.com/beckleyfitness.  I change the website on an almost regular basis right now until I get one I'm happy with.  I had taken some pictures with a friend who is very in shape and his turned out well but mine?  Well I just looked incredibly pissed off in all of them!  So needless to say, they are not on the website.  We are taking new pictures this week in a photo studio with a much nicer camera than my iphone so hopefully there will be some new, more personal pictures on the site soon.  Keep an eye on it.

In other news, the hip is healing well.  At least that's what my PT tells me.  I'm no longer in the lovely brace or on crutches which is very liberating.  And he told me at PT this morning that my range of motion is good and had started increasing the amount of weights I use with my exercises.  And this morning, we bumped the treadmill up to a whopping 1.8 mph.  As a frame of reference, normal pace is 2.2 mph.  I'm not complaining though.  It's better than where I was a few weeks ago (read: 0.4 mph).  Slow and steady wins the race is what they tell me.  Of course, I'm a slow and steady runner and have yet to win a race so I'm not sure I believe that anymore. 

My brother was in town this past weekend and we had fun as we always do.  Well, that is except for the disagreement we had with the grill.  I decided last week that it would be fun to have people over for a BBQ while he was in town.  Mind you, I did not own a grill at the time I decided to have said BBQ.  I was going to buy one of those "some assembly required" grills and a friend suggested that I find a pre-assembled one a one of those large retailers in town.  What the heck.  It would save me time and frustration.  Or so I thought.  Fast forward to Saturday afternoon as my brother and I are preparing for the BBQ and we decide we should make sure the grill works.  Hmmm...something doesn't seem right.  The grill does not want to stay lit.  So we read the instructions (each of us, several times) and still can't get the stupid thing to light.  So we wait (as suggested in the instructions) and then try again.  No luck.  Fast forward AN HOUR AND A HALF and the stupid thing is still not lit.  So now we are thinking that the genius that put it together might have missed something.  So I call for backup who arrives and tries with no luck.  More back up arrives and tries with no luck.  Hmmm...how many grown adults does it take to light a grill??  "Hey, I don't think there's any propane in this tank."  "Are you freaking kidding me?" (That was censored for the faint of heart).  Yep.  The store sold us an empty tank of gas.  Fantastic.  So needless to say, by the time everyone else arrived, we were all starving with no grill while the aforementioned back up went to return the empty tank and get a new one. 

And then there was the rain.  I have a single car garage so you can imagine how crowded it was with about 12 adults, chairs, grill, motorcycle and two tables.  But we had fun and didn't let the rain spoil our evening.  I have a few pictures but haven't uploaded them yet so I will post that once I do. 

It's been a while since I've shared a piece of trivia with you or made any recommendations on new music.  In light of that, I am going to do both!! 

Music recommendations: yes there are TWO recommendations this time.  The first is the newest album from a band called Imagine Dragons.  If you watch ABC's Good Morning America and have heard the song "On Top of the World" that they played when Robin Roberts was sick, that's the band.  I recently bought their deluxe album for two songs I heard on the radio not knowing they also sing "On Top of the World" and it is a fantastic album.  Highly recommend it!

The second album is the new album by my favorite band Thirty Seconds to Mars (formerly 30 Seconds to Mars).  Now I have to admit that when I heard their first single "Up in the Air" I wasn't entirely blown away like I have been in the past with thier songs.  And then when the album came out (yes I pre-ordered it and downloaded it at 12:01am the day it was released), my immediate reaction was not great.  The first few songs, especially Conquistador, I loved but the rest kind of left me blah.  But, because they are my favorite band, I decided to give it more time and you know what?  I really love the album.  Is it my favorite of thiers?  That remains to be seen but I will say that everytime I listen to it (which is almost all the time), I find another song that I loved more than the last time I listened to it.  So if you are Echelon (and if you don't know what that means then you are not Echelon), YOU MUST HAVE THIS ALBUM.  If you are not Echelon but enjoy alternative/rock/electronic, then I recommend listening to it on iTunes first.  And if you are not an alternative/rock person, I don't recommend it. 

Trivia:  One of the things I love about Thirty Seconds to Mars is that they are intelligent and thought-provoking not just "rock stars."  So your trivia for today comes from a song on thier new album called "Pyres of Varanasi."  Now some of you may know what pyres are but I had absolutely no idea until I saw an interview with the band.  So I did a little research and it turns out that pyres (or funeral pyres as they are better known) are piles of wood where bodies are burned/cremated after death, primarily in Hinduism, as it is believed to release the soul/spirit from the human flesh.  So there you go.  If it wasn't for my favorite band, I wouldn't know anything about pyres and neither would you (unless you already knew, in which case, never mind). 

Until next time, dear readers...Keep Calm and Run On!

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

All By Myself

Mom's gone :( And it took me less than an hour to appreciate even more having her here. It's kinda difficult to carry anything when you are using crutches. Hopefully, my PT will take me down to one crutch tomorrow. Especially since I go back to work tomorrow and I really don't want to be on two crutches. We shall see. 

My Grizz are currently having issues remembering who they are and how to play. It's very frustrating to watch. 

Beckley Fitness has a Facebook page now. Please like it if you haven't already.  www.facebook.com/BeckleyFitness

More to come...

Monday, May 13, 2013

12 Steps continued

Step 8:  progress made at physical torture, I mean therapy. Well, that was after my PT and I had a minor incident that resulted I me almost in tears from the pain. Once we got past that, it was on the bike for me. Not complete revolutions yet but it was ice to be "active."  

Step 9: trip to Escanaba (finally) to the "mall" to the fabric store. Got lots of good scrapbooking supplies but man did it wear me out. Made it one in time for game 3 of the series. Started the game on the couch and it didn't work. Rey well. They played like garbage. So moved to my bed for the second half. If you remember, dear reader, the previous wins came when I was in bed recovering and barely conscious. Well, I was fully conscious and they pulled off the win!!  Next game is tonight and is an 8:30 start time. Good thing I'm still on sick leave so I can sleep in tomorrow. 

Step 10: I'm running out of steps and still have a week of being at home so I might be on the 15 step recovery plan :)  However, the 10th step was a HUGE step!!  Not only did I manage to shower, dress, do my hair and put one shoe and sock on all by myself while mom was at church, I was able to pull my leg up to almost 90 degrees without using the machine or my hands!! SUCCESS!!  

Friday, May 10, 2013

12 Step Program

Step 1: surgery to repair the cartilage that I knew was torn but couldn't convince surgeon was there. Oh he also lengthened my tendon. Yeah, that part is the worst to recover from. 

Step 2: return home and with the aid of wonderful nurse friends made it up the long flight of stairs to my apartment and bed and crawl in to bed and doze until Game 6 of the Grizzlies-Clippers game starts. Watch first half and try desperately to stay awake until the end. Find out next morning they won!! Next stop, OKC. 

Step 3: sleep as much as I feel like without anyone thinking twice about it. :) there is a positive side to this :) 

Step 4: watch first game of Grizz-Thunder series in a somewhat stupor. Grizz lose. Sad day. 

Step 5: watch game two of series and start to fall asleep and wake up in time to see Grizz pull off win. Hmmmm...I may be on to something. 

Step 6: start physical therapy where I am told repeatedly that being a good patient for one or two months means a lifetime of running. Okay, he may know me well. :( 

Step 7: try to go to Escanaba for something to do but find out car battery is dead. Call in for backup and have mom help clean room until backup arrives. Back arrives. Don't go to Esky but take mom on nickel tour of Iron Mountain. 

Step 8: well...that's where we are today. More to come. 



Monday, April 29, 2013

I'm Sorry! I'm Sorry!

I am a terrible blogger, I know!  I didn't realize it has been almost a month since I posted anything.  Good thing I don't get paid for blogging or I would be the best dressed homeless person! 

It's been a crazy month, that's for sure.  But the snow is FINALLY gone and it was 60+ degrees this past weekend.  I had forgotten what warm weather felt like!  Here's a short version of what's been going on...

One of my good friends from Memphis met me in Milwaukee a few weekends ago.  Such fun!  We hung out, toured a brewery, went to the Harley museum, had dinner at a Safe House (that's all I can tell you because we are sworn to secrecy) and generally had a fantastic weekend! 





Then the bombings happened.  I actually found out about it while I was driving home from Milwaukee.  I listened to the radio coverage for most of the drive home.  I have to say that of all the recent, horrible events that have occurred, this one impacted me the most.  I'm not sure if it's because I am a runner and can't even fathom experiencing that or because I love Boston so much.  Either way, it really did consume my life for a while.  Every news report. Every photo on line.  One of my co-workers told me a few days after the bombings, that I was no longer allowed to run races in the US.  While I appreciate her concern, I told her that the US is probably the safest place to run a race now.  I just can't even imagine what the victims are going through.  That could have been any one of my loved ones that so graciously come watch me race.  Makes me thankful for them and thankful that no one I know what injured.  The local trail runners group held a "Run for Boston" last week.  It was pretty special. 

If I had been thinking about it, I would have worn all of my Red Sox garb.  But, that's okay.  It was great to run this with Tania.  And I actually ran most of it.  My hip started to hurt after about a mile and a half but we only did 2 1/2 miles so I just toughed it out. 

Speaking of my hip, surgery is this Friday.  It's a different surgery than last year in that he is doing what's called an Iliopsoas Tendon lengthening.  He's also going to see if there is a labral tear (what I had last year).  My money has been on labral tear this whole time so we will see if I am right.  Here's some info on what is going to happen in case you are interested. 

http://arthroscopyofhip.wordpress.com/about/apatientsperspective/surgery/iliopsoastenotomy/

Because this surgery is different/involves more, I get some fun equipment after for post-op.  There's this wonderful machine that basically moves my leg for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc17IXQHm0A

And then there is the "iceman" machine that keeps my hip cold/decreases swelling.  And then there is this beauty...

https://www.google.com/search?q=california+hip+orthosis&hl=en&qscrl=1&rlz=1T4ADRA_enUS481US482&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=2xB_UaKEBsa9ygG8zoHIDA&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1093&bih=490#imgrc=H86kHJGQ3EL3AM%3A%3BWkNcCVuI27CHcM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.doctorcloseout.com%252FThumbnail.aspx%253FImage%253Dca_hip.jpg%2526size%253D285%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.doctorcloseout.com%252FViewProduct%252FOrthomericaCaliforniaHipOrthosis%252F1541.aspx%3B99%3B285

Yep.  I feel old as crap!  They tell me I can wear it under clothes and you would never know.  I'm not sure I believe "them".  So I'm pretty sure I will not be leaving the house as long as I have to wear that. 

But my momma is coming in Thursday night and staying for 2 1/2 weeks.  I have the best momma in the world!  Of course, she's an old pro at this by now.  Let's just hope we don't have any falling accidents like last year after my surgery.  No long hallways this year but a set of stairs which should be interesting. 

So I will probably be blogging more while on recovering.  I mean, what else am I going to do?  Though my blogs might not be very interesting.  Of course, if I right them while on pain killers, they might be the funniest ones I've ever written!! 

One more thing before I go.  I FINALLY came up with a name for my Personal Trainer business and have set up a website.  Check it out!  www.beckleyfitness.com  I haven't really customized it yet with pictures and stuff but I'm working on that.  I had hoped to start seeing clients May 1st but since my surgery is the 3rd and I won't be able to show clients how to do exercises, it will probably be June 1st.  I am happy to do "long-distance" training too so if you are interested let me know.  I can design a program for you and we can video-chat once or twice a week. 

That's all for now, boys and girls!  Have a super week!