Stress and training

This week was really stressful for my family. My mom got her very first mammogram at 63 years old and was diagnosed with Ductal Cell Carcinoma of the breast. She also has a mass in her lung, which is likely her sarcoidosis, but still worries me since I just have seen way too much in the last few years. So she is scheduled for a full body CT scan Monday and surgery on Tuesday. It really sucks to not be able to take time off to go there for the surgery, but she's one of the strongest ladies I know. She'll be back to being the world's greatest Grandma to my nephews and niece in no time!

In training news, I bagged a ride this week. I had homework that I had to do, so instead of getting on my bike at 4:45 am, I got on my computer and studied about babies. My week was in the newborn nursery. It was a great experience and I learned a ton. Next week is off to the pediatric ICU. I will be on call once per week, so it will be a forced rest day. That will be a little sad because my running consistency has been great. I have run 45 of the last 51 days and it has really become a wonderful habit for me and the Mad Dog. I have run so much that I ran right through the soles of my shoes! I had bought a pair of Newtons, which arrived the day after I broke my kneecap last spring. Great timing... Anyway, the uber expensive shoes didn't last too long and are completely DONE right now. I don't regret buying them since they have been wonderful for my rehab. Any time I tried to swap in one of my other pairs of shoes my knee would start hurting. But NEVER with the Newtons. I have been running in my trail shoes lately because the road shoes were so worn out. Well today I went over to my friends at Second Sole and picked up a brand new pair of shoes. And they are Adidas! I was looking for a cheaper shoe that would approximate the weight and support of the Newtons. So I ended up with basically a racing flat. I can't wait to try them out tomorrow.

This morning I confirmed my entry into the realm of the insane by getting up at 5:30am on my day off to go for a long trail run with my buddies in some SERIOUSLY cold conditions. The only real problem with running in the severe cold is that the trails turn into ice chutes. Many of us ended up looking like this:



My Triple T teammate and I ended up with about 8.5 miles on the trails and it was great. We're getting together for a trainer ride tomorrow morning. I am really looking forward to the race weekend. I think that my parents are going to make the trip down to cheer us on. It will be like a CdA reunion. Maybe I can get Paulo to join us too!

Time for me to go to bed. I'm exhausted. For the past 5 weeks or so I've been having very vivid dreams and nightmares. I'm a very type B laid back person, so my stress is always manifested in weird ways. Lately it has been in my sleep! I'm hoping for a totally dream-free night!

Sorry my posts have been so boring and un-funny lately. Hopefully I find something entertaining and fun to talk about soon!