Tri-Dogmom

Shane, the kids & I are off for our LONG vacation in Rocky Point....No email, no blog reading, a leetle cell service, lots of tequila.... Doesn't it just sound fabulous? Just wanted to share some Holiday cheer with you all..... Here are a few of our past year Holiday cards... Enjoy!!! I scanned the cards, and didn't ' have time to size them, so they look a little funny! Enjoy.... 2002... we were just getting started 2002.... "save the date" for our wedding reception.... OH, how Sara HATED us. Baxter was proud! Unfortunately, I can't find 2004 - we did a "beach scene" with things from our wedding & reception 2005 - Welcome, Baby Abigail.... 2006 - Holiday Greetings from Mexico!!! Again, I hope you ALL have a FABULOUS Holiday and New Year!!!

As I mentioned before, I'm turning 30. Very soon. And, apparently, it is supposed to be a BIG deal. But, I really don't see it as that. I see it as another day... another number, and I still think I'm 25. So, I decided to reflect some and take note of some of the things I've done, seen and accomplished in the past 10 years, all before the age of 30.... In no particular order, here are a few of them! Met the love of my life and got married him on an island far away... and alone.. well besides the random other vacationers... Learned there is more to life than a savvy career of climbing the corporate ladder, and most importantly, that it was NOT for me I've been lucky enough to find a job that is perfect for me. I am happy and content, and most of all blessed Raised 2 crazy breed puppies from 7 weeks old. They are my babies, my pride and joy First in my family (immediate) to graduate with a bachelors degree Completed 4 Stand Alone Marathons, several half marathons, tri...

Proof. This is what I wore this morning on a bike ride. Top half.... 1. Long Sport top 2. Zensah Arm Warmers 3. Long Sleeve Zensah Compression Top 4. Sugoi Wind Vest 5. Sugoi Cycling Coat 6. Ear Warmers 7. Fleece Goves Bottom Half: 1. Tri Shorts 2. Long Tights 3. Cycling Socks 4. Toe Warmers. I kid you NOT, I was not hot. My core was comfortable, but my toes and face were FREEZING. It was 36 degrees. Yah, I know... some of you are in the minus whatever... but this is why I live in Arizona.... cause it's the desert. I like it warm. I like it HOT. I like the damn sun. We only lasted 20miles... with an avg speed of like 15mph. Oh well.. at least we were out there, right?

Well, I AM surviving. Who would have thought? If you ask most people that know me, particular S , it will be noted that I am not good at resting. Or sitting still. Or being told that I CAN'T. This time, I made the decision ON MY OWN, to take 4 weeks off of running. The last time I did any running was Nov 25 th at the Seattle Half Marathon. It was painful.... but, I did it for my friend. My # 1 fan :-) Since then I've done what I could to keep my self pre -occupied. 2 times per week of Daniel torture. 3 times per week swimming, and 3 times per week spinning/cycling. The first couple weeks I was still in pain. I was icing and rolling on my foam roll 3-4 times per day. I would lie down on the couch with a bag of peas on both knees and one on my hip (taking turns on which side). Finally, week 3 is here, and my knees feel great. I haven't felt any weird catching, or soreness during any of my workouts, or just walking around... and the early morning pain in particular...

Remember this post? Well, I pretty much thought THAT was my birthday. I know it's supposed to be a 'monumental' year, you know the big 30 and all, but I just didn't really care. Or, maybe deep down, I did... but the LaPan's, S, in particular is having quite the year. Big changes, big lifetime changes going on right now, and honestly, I just didn't think it was possible for him to have the time or energy to be planning anything. Plus, I'm smart. Sometimes too smart for my own good and I figure stuff out. Not much can get past me, but thist time, it SO did. I think some of the biggest kept secrets were from momo. I mean, really. How is it possible for her to keep a surprise party from me. We talk EVERY day. Not once, not twice, but like 10 times. Phone, Email, IM. We talk about the exact same things all the time, yet somehow never seem to run out of things to say. Let me digress a bit. Last year a group of us starting some wine tasting parties. They were a h...

This is what you get when you have the bestest husband, bestest friends in the whole world, and turn 30!!!! More to come tomorrow, but just had to post the picture ;-)

I decided this post would NOT be about training. Because, well... I'm just frustrated with it. I hate not being able to run. I officially backed out of the Ragnar Relay, and it all just makes me plain old GRUMPY. But, I'm doing my best. I'm doing everything else, swimming, biking, weights & walks with the dogs on the days Shane does not run them.... So, my dogs always make me happy. And I just love to talk about them. And brag, and SHARE pictures. I have to first appologize for the crappy images, they were taken with my phone and indoors (with the exception of the "other" dog) so the quality sucks. We have a tradition in this house that whenever we go away to a race before we hang up our finisher medals, we tell Baxter that we "won" him a medal. He sits very nicely and lets us put the medal around his neck. He proud. SO proud. Like, he won the Gold medal at the Olympics or something. He runs around the house PRANCING with his beautiful new medal... ...

With my IT bands such a mess, I chose to run this race with my friend Carrie to help her. It ended up being a great decision. Had I been healthy, I think I could have done really well. The course was beautiful. Some hills, but they were all short, and some great downhill at the end.... which is NOT a good thing when your IT bands are hurting, but more on that in a bit. Oh, and it was a beautiful SUNNY, yet cool day in Seattle. Much better than last year's snow and rain. We planned on being to the race start at about 6:30, with the run starting at 7:15. This is quite unusual for me - I like to get there at LEAST an hour before the race. Carrie didn't seem to worried about it, so since I didn't really care we planned a little less time. Not knowing what the race start would be like, my friend Marcy drove with us down there, so we could park Carrie's car (thinking it would be far from the start), then hop in with her & she'd drive us to the start. Somehow we got SO...

What a week. It was fun, and exhausting and as always, I am so happy to be home. Turkey day went great. We had family over to our house for dinner, so I was busy cleaning, packing, baking, and then entertaining until about 9pm when I finally zipped up my suitcase. The flight to Seattle went great. I actually landed 30mins early. When does that happen? Apparently not too often, but more on that later. My friend Shelby's finance' picked me up and I was in their apartment hugging my friend by noon. Her mom was in town, so we all walked thru Green Lake over to a bar & grill for lunch and a couple of beers. Jeez, I forgot what COLD was like. On the walk back I could see my breath and my nose was cold and rosy.... A couple hours later we heard from my other college friend and roomy, Erin. She was in town for Thanksgiving so of course we had to meet up with her as well. Erin & her husband Vince rented a hotel in downtown Seattle so they could meet up with us & not have ...

It's been 85 degrees at home.... and you are traveling somewhere where the race forecast is: Believe it or not, I actually do own some cold weather running stuff. Before I lived the fabulous work from home life, I used to get up in the dark, cold winter and run before work when it was sometimes, rare as they were, in the 30's. I even did a race in Tucson that was the day after a SNOW storm in Arizona. Race start temp was 39 degs . Finish 45 degs . I started the race in tights, long sport top, long sleeve top, coat, hat, gloves, and ear wrap. I ended in tights & long sport top.... BUT, I was running HARD. My HR was in the 170s-180... So, what I'm not sure about this Sunday is 1. It's been SO warm here the coolest I have run in is maybe 55 degs ? 2. The humidity - when it's cold, doesn't that make it COLDER vs the heat/humidity? 3. I plan on sherpa - ing for Carrie, so I'm not "racing" - I don't expect my HR to be super high? ...

As I mentioned before, I'm turning 30. Very soon. And, apparently, it is supposed to be a BIG deal. But, I really don't see it as that. I see it as another day... another number, and I still think I'm 25. So, I decided to reflect some and take note of some of the things I've done, seen and accomplished in the past 10 years, all before the age of 30.... In no particular order, here are a few of them! Met the love of my life and got married him on an island far away... and alone.. well besides the random other vacationers... Learned there is more to life than a savvy career of climbing the corporate ladder, and most importantly, that it was NOT for me I've been lucky enough to find a job that is perfect for me. I am happy and content, and most of all blessed Raised 2 crazy breed puppies from 7 weeks old. They are my babies, my pride and joy First in my family (immediate) to graduate with a bachelors degree Completed 4 Stand Alone Marathons, several half marathons, tri...

Is everyone noticing the Christmas decorations all over? Is it really almost December? Is it REALLY almost the end of the year? Where on earth did this year go. I swear, it has been the fastest, craziest, most exciting year yet..... This weekend S & I spent most of our time moving my stuff into my new office.... It's ALMOST there, just a couple cables to finish moving around, and then attaching my book shelf to the wall. The kids have decided they think the new futon is the COOLEST dog bed ever. Abby & Baxter are sound asleep next to each other on it. I so need to get some REAL dog beds. I wish they weren't so damn cute. My "GET OFF" "YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED UP THERE" lasted, oh, about 2 minutes.... I have no control in this house. It's a quick short week for me. Thursday we are having my family over for Thanksgiving, then Friday early morning I am on a plane to Seattle. It's going to be a mini-reunion with some friends. Carrie will be there ...

I'm thinking my "road to recovery" post was a little premature.. Unfortunately. While, my neck is still healing fantastically , my IT band is still well, the same. I've had little to NO pain in my neck and arms. Some Saturday, but I slept funny and we were running around all day long and picking up boxes, etc. I actually felt great again in the am. Now, my IT band is another story. Saturday I was able to do 45 mins with Shane & the dogs. It was great. Not 100%, I could still feel some tugging, but no stopping me pain. I stopped and stretched a couple of times and it was fine. Later that night my knee started catching a bit more... I took Sunday off, well from normal exercises, Shane & I were busy building my new office (A.K.A. the spare bedroom) and normal weekend cleaning. I'll share pictures of that when it's actually finished. Which includes another trip to IKEA to exchange the futon cover because I decided it's not going to work out...

I wanted to give an update about my Neck Injury/Progress.... Oh, and the IT band seems to be getting better. I babied it like crazy last week, and did a lot more walking than running. I walked 10miles, ran 9.5. On Sunday I was able to do 3.5miles by shortening my stride. It was the best run of the 3, and had no pain after the run. I am hoping to do either 3.5 or 4 tomorrow as well.... I just don't want to lock it up again... On Monday I had my 3rd and final Epidural Injection. My first one was on October 8th, and they are done in a serious of 3 every two weeks. The idea is that the each injection basically works of the last. The steroids are supposed to have more of an effect each time. Fortunately, I think it's working. Although the 3rd one has not had enough time to really change anything yet, the first two have really seemed to help. The first injection was the most painful. It took 3 days before I was not in a LOT of pain. I couldn't turn my neck, or bend it forward or ...

So this whole turning 30 thing hasn't really been a big deal to me. But, it seems like EVERYONE else seems to think it should be. That, or they are just plain old being mean. For instance, the other day I got a nice little letter in the mail from my Health Insurance Provider that basically said, "Thank you for spending God awful amounts of money with us each year to get the very minimal coverage. As a reward for that we have decided to, once again screw you over. We see that you are reaching a new milestone in your life. You are getting old. You are going to start falling apart, therfore, you will pay for it. You have reaching the OLD lady bracket and as of Jan 1, 2008 you will now be giving us your life savings, because, again... You.Are.Old." Thank you." Ok.. so that might not be EXACTLY what the letter said, but it was something like that.... In some ways I don't feel like I'm this age. When I'm asked my age, I swear a lot of times I have to re...

You would think we could actually look at the camera... er... not... Thanks to Nat for the picture! You can't see, but I was sporting one of the over-priced, but adorable tanks from gypsyrunner . "My running partner has four legs" Oh, and of course I HAD to have the one that says "I run for wine."....... It's like these people KNOW me or something....

It's been a while since I have done this. I did it for 3 or so years, not including 2 years after surgery. Always wondering how long the leg would last. How would today go? Would I be hurting the rest of the day? Should I be wearing these shoes? I wonder if I need different insoles? I shouldn't run right here, it's slanted? I can't do that race... it has too much downhill... I'd love to do that race, but I don't know if my leg will hold. I don't think I'll ever do a marathon again. Oh... I wish I could just pick up and go run at anytime. I'll never get back to my 8min/mile race pace, when I can't even run 10 mins without pain. I wonder if I will EVER even run again... Well, I finally got rid of all those thoughts. I carried them with me from June 2002, until about April 2007. 5 years those are the thoughts that went thru my head every day. Every time I ran, or even thought about running. I had some brief moments of thinking I'd never...

Well, first off I just wanted to congratulate all of the athletes that came out to race Soma . Not only did they survive the infamous Tempe Town Lake, but they survived our 90degree temperatures. It was hot, it was stagnant... it was miserable . And, they all ROCKED it. Although Shane & I didn't get to be quite all over the place sherpa - ing with Momo & Stronger, we did get to cheer pretty much everyone on. Hopefully most of you saw us and heard us out there. We were the two fools with the big dogs in 90degrees for 7 hours. I tell ya.... if you want to tire out two crazy energetic dogs. Take them to a race. You would think they participated. We got home about 2:30 and I don't think they opened their eyes until Monday. For reals .... Anyway - Congrats again to you all. It was a blast having so many friends out there to cheer for! You all rock. Just one question.... are you gonna do it again??? ............................................ After this weeken...

Well folks... it worked. I'm living proof that shoe therapy worked. Yesterday, I went out and redeemed myself. I went out Tuesday and made up for my wimping out on Sunday. I rode this course. 69miles 4:30mins. The pace is certainly not impressive, but I did it. It's the furthest I have ridden since IM. It gave me a little more confidence for this. Most importantly it made me feel better about backing out after only 40miles on Sunday. Well, that and I just had my second epidural injection in my spine this am, so I know I won't be able to work out for a few days, including no riding this weekend... You know, I'm not even sure why I'm doing this race. It's not like I enjoy sitting on my road bike for hours on end. I guess it's just one of those things I would like to say that I did. I'm pretty sure you won't see my becoming addicted to it like IM, or running... I certainly won't be as prepared as I am for other races. I've really only done 2 lo...

It REALLY does work. So, to make myself feel better after my horrible ride yesterday... I bought me some of THESE Last weekend S & I went on a shopping spree. FOR HIM. Yes you heard it right... he got 2 new pairs of shoes, like 10 new shirts & two new jackets... Macy's was having a really good sale. And, while we both LOATH cloths shopping (shoe shopping is an entirely different story), he was in dire need. So we stocked him up with some new duds, and I of course felt compelled to buy me some new shoes... after all, I did spend like 2 hours in the mends department with him. Including the men's shoe department. Which, by the way is so not the same experience as the ladies shoe department. It, in fact was not fun at all. Painful in fact. So much that as soon as we picked his shoes, we ran out of there before the sales guy could get the credit. Not because we are mean, but because he was THAT BAD But, anyway, back to the story of how I scored me the above beautiful shoes....

Ok, that's pretty dramatic, but today.. I hated my bike, I hated my legs, my hips, my knees. And most of all I HATE WIND! I had planned out a great route that had a group of 7 of us meeting at various places and times with those of us training for Tour de Tucson getting in about 65-70miles. A much needed training ride for me. But, lets just say things didn't go as planned... for some of us. As I was checking weather.com yesterday I saw that evil "windy" sign starting at about 12:00. Prior to that the wind showed like 15-18mph. I decided to keep this to myself so no-one tried to bail on the ride. Particularly a certain someone who decided to make this her first ride back since CDA. I knew it was going to be a struggle when I was woken up (not that I'm sleeping much lately anyway) sometime in the middle of the night with the wind smacking our sunshade against the sliding glass door in our bedroom. I have NO idea how Shane slept through all of this. Must.Be.Nice. I ...

Because the LaPan house just wouldn't be the same if we were all healthy at the same. Cause, well... that's just not how things work around here. So, Baxter decided to join me on the "broken" list. Actually... it's all still from that stupid cyst he had on his paw. He had surgery to have it removed the same day I had my epidural injections, last Monday. He was really good with it at first. I think he was still drugged up though. Then, of course he just couldn't leave IT alone. He had to lick it. Constantly. And pull a couple of the stitches out. And STILL not leave it alone. Even when we drugged him... So here he is, on his 3rd re-wrap from the vet (5th if you count the 2 that Shane & I tried to do), with a special little note to him on it. And they told me he was an absolute ANGEL, and that he just sits there and lets them bandage him up. Which is SO not what happens in this house.... when he acts like we are murdering him when we tough his puppy paw. But...

So I actually put a swimsuit on... drove to the gym.... put my swimcap & goggles on... got IN the pool... and swam a few laps! I have not done this for over 3 months. Let me digress..... Since my epidural injections on Monday, I've had an interesting week. As I mentioned in my last post, I hibernated for 5 days. Friday, I finally decided enough was enough. I went out for a 30min easy run. Err... TRIED to go out for a 30min easy run. I started, nice and easy. HR 140. Legs weightless... It was going oh, so well. Then Snap. It happened. My legs turned to ichy firey red hivey mess. It started about 6 mins into it. I kinda just thought maybe they're itchy cause I need to shave. (this is what happens when you are hibernating, no need to shave).... so, I suffered a few more mins . About 10 mins out I could not take it any longer. I found some shade, stopped, scratched the hell out of my legs... and walked and pouted that long mile back home. By the time I got h...

I have not left the house since Monday morning. I know, crazy. It's not that I haven't been doing anything , I've actually been working quite a bit, with momo & the clan out being all "LA" and such (see her future posts for updates). Thing is, I seriously haven't left my house. I haven't driven my car, or run to the store, or run ANYWHERE as a matter of fact. Or biked, or swam..... I've just, well... rested. I think it was time for a Krista burnout. As you read here in my blog, I'm not good at doing nuthing ! I always need to be on the go.... and I don't like to take "time off." I didn't over train for this marathon, I rested when I needed to, and took time off when my body called for it. I think it was a combination of playing in Mexico the week before the race, combined with a severe lack of sleep the entire week leading up to St. George that put me in my current state. Recovering from the marathon, recovering from the epid...

A few weeks back I was contacted by the President of Endurance Market for Zensah Performance Apparel Company, Lia. She came across my blog and wanted to know if I would be interested in trying out some of their performance apparel. Of course I do! Cool new stuff, samples, heck yah ! So, she sent me a couple of products to try and I'm here to share with you what I thought, as well as give you all an opportunity to try their products at a great discount! The first product that I tried was the Women's Arm Sleeve . The other product they sent me was the Women's Compression Shorts . While I did not actually exercise in these shorts, I only tried them on, I found them to be completely comfortable. They were, well, just simply not a style I wear. The length was too long for my body type, and I prefer a more loose fitting body. However, If you like wearing fitted shorts, these are amazing. They feel like you are wearing nothing. Light, soft & non-restricting. I a...