30 Days of Gratitude - Day 15

I have this nifty app on my iPhone called Nike+GPS which keeps track of my walks and tracks my progress.  It tells me how many calories I'm burning, my pace, maps my route and even encourages me when I am finished.  I'm not kidding, this voice who calls himself Dirk Lewinsky (very silly name) shouts at the end of my workout various motivators.  "Good job, you ran more miles this week than last", "Good job, you ran the fastest pace yet", "Good job, you ran 3 days in a row".  When I hear his voice, it makes me laugh because I have an image of this guy in my head and then wonder what he looks like but then I realize it's just a computer voice which makes me laugh some more!

This app has different options -  to listen to music, run against the clock or run for miles or a basic run, which is what I select.  I turn it on and head out the door and after each mile it gives me a recap of pace, time and distance.  When I am finished, it takes me back to the main screen and recalculates my total distance.  This is a snap shot of where I am at as of this morning.  130.4 miles in 45 runs walks.  I can look at the history and see all the different routes and details of each one.  I love knowing that I have burned 16739 calories and walked for 37 hours 17 minutes and 35 seconds in these 45 difference walks.  Pretty nifty, huh?  I am grateful for this app, it's motivating and a fun way to log my workouts.

What are you thankful for?

anyone have an axe?

We arrived in Portland last night.  I didn't sleep well, mainly due to a late night, crunchy pillows, queen sized bed, etc.  Despite the poor sleep, I woke up eager and excited to start my day.  Jim and I headed out at 7:15 am, him to his meeting and me for a walk.  I asked for map and some guidance at the concierge desk.  I was very excited for the great walk ahead of me.

The sun was coming up and the weather was warm.  I had a wonderful 3+ miles walk.   It was a little hairy navigating the bikers.  I've never seen so many bikers before.  And it wasn't a race.  They were coming and going in every direction.  People had on work clothes, work out gear, kids strapped to special seats, big messenger bags to hold all their work stuff...my oh my...never seen so many bikers on a Thursday before.  This picture doesn't really show ALL the bikers I saw, but they came whizzing by every few seconds.  Thankfully they were nice and rang their bell, said 'on your left' and let me have my space.  Portland has to have the most bikers per capita of any city. 

The weather was grand and the scenery beautiful.  I encountered some homeless people sleeping, people heading to work, people exercising, boats heading out on the river, people just living and doing.  I loved that I had no agenda.  Here are a few pictures from my walk.

I got back to the hotel and realized I was HUNGRY.   Other than a cup of coffee in the room (from some really bad packet supplied by the hotel) I hadn't had anything to eat.  I stopped at the restaurant and passed on the buffet, opting instead for 2 eggs baked with tomatoes and spinach topped with pecarino cheese.  It was DELICIOUS!  I went up to the room, showered and set out to explore Portland.  First stop - VOODOO Donuts.  This place was first rate.  I  had seen it on food network.  Thankfully I found it with ease (got to LOVE Portland's rapid transit system - tri met, bus, max - it's so easy to get around).  After a 5 minute wait I selected 3 donuts, a maple/bacon bar, vodoo donut and a raspberry filled glazed donut.  I brought them back to the room.  Jim's timing was perfect - he came back for 5 minutes at the break.  We gobbled up these delicious donuts!  They may look ordinary, but I assure you the they are not.  Delicious goodness for $5.45.  Sadly, my foot started hurting and I decided to put my boot on (to help my plantar fasciitis) for about 30 minutes to give it a good stretch and ease the pain.

Here are two more pictures of the donut shop. As you can see in the case, very unusual donuts filled with all sorts of delicious goodies.  The menu on the right helps decifer all the choices.  The place smelled wonderful as they make all the donuts in house.
 





After fueling up with the donuts and resting my foot, I set out to the bead shop in the Nob Hill district.  It was fun walking through the neighborhoods, the quaint charming houses, the shops etc.  I didn't find what I was looking for at the bead shop but I sure enjoyed looking at all they had to offer.

By this time my foot was causing a great amount of pain.  It took me about 30 minutes to walk 1/2 a mile.  (about half my normal speed).  I could barely contain my frustration.  The pain was getting worse and I didn't know what to do.  I googled 'foot massage' and found a great place nearby that specialized in feet.  It was ridiculously relaxing.   In the 2nd picture my feet were soaking with hot stone massages between the tones and a mud mask on my calves. 

 

The one hour was heaven.  Kristin called and we chatted about her lab job, school, etc.  Always good to hear her voice and she sounded happy.  I was happy too.  But it was short lived.  The massage felt great, heck all massages feel great.  But when I stood up when done, the pain was still there.  It had never went away, it just seemed like it did because I was relaxed and not putting weight on it. 

At this point, I was over 2 miles away from the hotel, tired and hungry.  It was now 4 pm and the donuts were consumed at 11 (and hardly an adequate lunch).  I used urbanspoon to google a wine bar.  I had read they were plentiful in Portland.  I selected one along the water front (and near me via max train).  Though I only had to walk 2 blocks after getting off the transit it took me 20 minutes.  My foot was on fire at this point.  I ordered a small meat and cheese plate and a flight of pinot noir wines.  Being happy hour, the price was right.  I sat and enjoyed the fabulous view and noursihed my tummy while resting my foot.  Here is a picture of my food, my drink, my view.  Pretty sweet, huh?  Too bad my foot was still hurting.

Getting back to the hotel took 45 minutes.  I should have taken a cab, but the waiter at the restaurant said it would take over 20 minutes and I wanted to save money.  Dumb idea.  Though I didn't have to walk far, I did have to walk.  And any amount of walking triggered pain.  It felt like I was walking on sharp thumb tacks.  No matter how I stepped it hurt.  I finally made it back to the hotel at 6:30 and cried.  Thankfully Jim had some ice in a bag for me so I could ice my foot, and brought me some wine.  I nibbled on the leftover meat and cheese I had brought back.  And took ibuprofen.  3 hours later, I am still in pain.  I want to hit something, I want to cry, I want to AMPUTATE MY FOOT.  Seriously, it hurts that badly.  It's had many flareups before, so I know what to expect, but what bothers me is why.  I didn't walk up and down many hills, it was relatively flat.  But looking back on the past 2 weeks, it's been hurting off and on.  Perhaps I should have seen it coming.  I do have an appointment next Monday with the dr. (follow-up).  He mentioned surgery previously, I am afraid that's what will happen.  And it irks me.  I am doing everything he said to make it heel and it's not heeling.  I roll my foot on a frozen ice bottle, I do the exercises, I wear the boot, I take ibuprofen, I only walk on flat surfaces and it still hurts.  DAMN. The pain is so frustrating, the cost of the surgery makes me ill (we have crappy insurance).  So, this is me now, wearing the boot, while my foot throbs, twinges, shoots pain up my leg and makes me want to scream.

This ranks up there with childbirth pain.  I'm thinking amputation could solve things.  Does anyone have an axe?

almost 6 miles high

I am sitting in 21D en route from Orlando to Seattle approximately 30,000 feet up in the air.   They are offering free wifi through July so I decided to test it out.  Hopefully my aging laptop battery will make it through a few posts before dying.  I am really curious as to how we are connecting the internet so high in the sky.  I understand how it works on land but in the air?  We must be going through a satellite or something.  Oh well, I figure it's like TV, just accept that it works.  Reminds me of when I was a kid, I used to think little people were inside my clock radio singing.  The science behind how things works is really cool and often unimaginable.

I am on the aisle (because I get up to pee frequently) Sarah is in the middle and Jim by the window.  I love that the airplane seats now have adjustable headrests in coach.  First class has had them for years, it's about time us peons in the back get a quality seat!  Nice to be able to sleep without getting a major crick in my neck.  Though with free wi-fi I might be dinking on the internet and not sleeping.  Sarah is engrossed in a book, but I give her 30 minutes and she'll be asleep - she is like a cat, sleeping whenever she has the chance.  We've been calling her kitty or kitty cat of late!

It's nice to be going home, well kind of, I could have stayed on Marco Island for another week.  I want to go back.  I want to go with my sister for a girls getaway.  Yesterday was our 4th day on Marco Island and it was wonderful.  We didn't have anything planned and our beach guy, Ty, saved us 3 chairs/umbrella in the front row close to the beach.  We woke up around 7:30, ate breakfast of yogurt, bananas and ham slices.  I got to have my coffee on the balcony and read the US Today.  We headed to the beach around 9.  The sun was shining and the water warm.  We dozed, we read, we swam until 1:00 when we went up to the room for some lunch.

In the morning Sarah and I did take a long walk down the beach - we were gone for over an hour.  We saw lots of interesting things.  Diving pelicans, dolphins, lots of little fish and oodles of shells.  We also saw a one footed seagull.  It had two legs but one leg was a stump and the other had a foot.  I wonder what happened to his other foot?  But he managed to get around and fly, walk with the other seagulls.  We saw an old couple walking slowly through the sand.  The woman had a walker and her husband was trying to help her push it.  Rather difficult through the sand!   On our walk I was very intrigued by the people I saw.  People of all ages, shapes and ethnicity.  The common factor was that everyone was having fun.  AND it seemed that most everyone was comfortable in their own skin.  Many folks had cute fashionable swimsuits, but many did not.  And it was okay.  People were having fun, enjoying their families, friends, the warm air and warm water.  People exuded more self confidence in a bathing suit at the beach than I would have thought.  It was very refreshing.  I wonder if it's because most people realize they'll never see each other again?  Whatever the reason it was nice.  People had piercings, saggy skin, wrinkles, lots of jiggly fat and it just didn't matter.  What did matter was that everyone I saw was smiling and enjoying themselves.  And what's not to enjoy about one of the most beautiful beaches in the world?  Especially while enjoying it with people I love.  Sarah and Jim.  Just wish Kristin and Jake could have been with us too.  We miss them.

We were expecting an afternoon thunderstorm, as we'd had them every day so far.  But hardly a cloud in the sky and not as humid as previous days so perhaps no rain was coming our way.   I went back down to the beach at 3, in time for the smoothie handout - smoothie of the day was lemon ice - delicious!.  Every day at 3 pm they pass out smoothies to all guests at the pool and beach, we've had coconut, strawberry and now lemon ice.  Lemon ice was my favorite!  We lingered in the water for the remainder of the afternoon.  It was heavenly.  And the rain never came.  We went up and showered at 6:30 and went to dinner at 7:30.  Snook Inn was our dining destination this evening and it was a perfect night for dinner there.  The restaurant is located at a marina.  Dolphins swam near the boat slips, the sun was setting in a brilliant orange glow.  And the temperature was warm.  Jim and I had the all you can eat seafood buffet.  They had king crab, which was succulent and sweet, shrimp, oysters, tuna, grouper, frog legs...oh my it was delicious.  Reminded me of a place called the Seven Seas in Vancouver that we went to on a trip in the late 70's.   Sarah got a delicious steak sandwich so she was happy too!

The sun is very exhausting and we were in bed asleep by 10 pm.  We packed up after dinner last night so that we could enjoy our last morning at the beach today.  We lounged beach side from 8 until 11 then showered and headed out by 11:45.  We stopped at Crazy Flamingo for lunch, we needed our seafood fill.  I got the blackened grouper sandwich on garlic bread and Jim had the fried grouper basket (fish and chips).  We shared some conch fritters.  Sarah had another steak sandwich, which was even better than last nights.  We were well sated for our 4 hour drive to Orlando airport.  We made it the airport at 4:20, returned the rental car, checked in, waited in a long security line and made it to the gate by 5.  Our flight boarded at 5:50 and we took off at 6:30.  It's been a long day so far, but lots of fun.  Now, I'm sipping a glass of chardonnay while typing this post 30,000 feet in the air.  According to the flight status tracker of flight 19, we are somewhere above Arkansas right now.  Still a long ways to go. ;)

abundance of JOY

Three things that gave me joy today :)

1) pecan pound cake - A delicious cake, made with butter, cream cheese, eggs, sugar...all good things that make heaven in your mouth.  It was my grandmother Gogie's recipe, a definite winner.
2) a hug from Sarah - When she came home from school today she came into the living room where I was reading and promptly gave me a hug and cuddled up in the chair with me - a perfect few minutes!
3) a long walk with Kathy - a 4 mile walk with a dear friend in 34 degree temps - so invigorating

Slide show is done!

Here's the slide show!  I am proud of it, I think I did a nice job.  It really was a wonderful weekend and I am thankful and grateful I had the opportunity to participate.

Breast Cancer 3Day Seattle 2009