Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Mighty Stupid

I am terrified about the Half Iron I foolishly registered for, just 14 short weeks away. Actually slightly less.

Seriously, when I signed up I had 22 weeks to train. And then I blinked.

Also during that time, I helped Scouter move a table. A thick, very heavy wooden table. Which was flipped over with the base on the ground, so we had to lift if from our feet. It was way too heavy for me. When I lifted it, I felt it in my lower back. Then we put it in the truck, took it back out, put it back on the ground to re-attach the legs, and flipped it. I felt every single move in my lower back.

But I didn't stop training. I kept running and biking. And sometimes, if I stretched really really well afterwards, I wasn't miserable.

And then a couple weeks ago, I biked on Saturday in aero the whole time. I stretched really well and felt pretty good afterwards. On Sunday, I woke up feeling a little stiff but not too bad. Until I bent over to put socks on, at which point my back complained loudly and tightened up. Not learning my lesson, I leaned over a few minutes later to pull paper out of the Dutch's mouth. Damn dog. My back really locked up.

Being the brilliant girl I am, I ran anyway thinking maybe it would loosen up.

My run was a death march. It was very hot and humid. I walked a little every half mile and kept thinking I was going to throw up. But on the bright side, my back felt okay.

Until I got home, at which point my back apparently decided that it was going to show me who's boss once and for all. It completely locked. I spent the next few hours on the couch with ice packs, chugging Advil.

That's when I finally realized that perhaps I needed to see a doctor. I made an appointment with Annnnnn and Jenbo's famous Dr. Z, a chiropractor I've been seeing 2-3 times a week since. He told me not to run until I am pain-free.

One would think that I would use this opportunity to swim, which Dr. Z repeatedly tells me is a great activity for back pain.

One would be wrong.
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Mommy of the Year

One other thing to mention about our trip to New York over Memorial Day: Jill is trying to best me at Mommy of the Year.

Consider Exhibit A: her five year old son, Mr. Mischief.

Soon after we arrived at their apartment in NY, he found something to be disapointing. "Dammit," he said.

Scouter and I looked at each other, surpressed laughs, and looked at Jill. She rolled her eyes. "Just wait," she said.

Sure enough, we waited a few minutes and he wandered through the room muttering to himself, "Vagina, vagina, vagina."

Now that's a word my kids don't even know!

She may have the upper hand now... but I'm certain I can take her!

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Awesome Weekend

When I was in college, my roommate Jill and I loved ourselves some Bon Jovi. She came to visit me one summer, and we rode around cranking Bon Jovi, drinking champagne, and looking for Scotter's summer job site. (He was landscaping then and we weren't dating yet.) Even then, he gave love a bad name. HA!

Fast forward to two years ago. We were on vacation with Jill and her family, and Jill and Andy had just seen Bon Jovi at Madison Square Garden. Again, we cranked Bon Jovi music the entire week and she said when they toured again, we would have to go.

And then last October, Jill called me very excited saying that they were touring again this year and would be the first concert at the new Meadowlands in the spring. Sign me up baby!!!! By the time Scouter decided we could go, we had already had tickets for two weeks.

The concert was the Thurs before Memorial Day so we planned a long weekend in NY. We took the train up on Thursday, dropped the kids with Jill's nanny, and headed across the river to the Meadowlands. Andy bought us a "VIP" package - because we so are - which entitled us to super cool Bon Jovi bags (just what every stylish NJite is wearing this summer), calendars, and access to a pre-concert happy hour. We went to check it out, had a drink, checked out the food supply and decided to check options before committing.

Because the forecast called for rain that day, Andy procured four tickets to his company's suite at the Meadowlands. So yes, the four of us had EIGHT tickets. We headed there and it was very nice, so we opted to stay. We had some wine and food and pretty soon, the rain began pouring down. This was not a casual storm - rain was horizontal and there was thunder and lightening. Security cleared the outdoor seats as the first opening act tried to play.

A couple glasses of wine later, the rain let up some and the thunder and lightening stopped. The second opening act, Jason Derulo, took the stage. By then, we were down at the front of the suite and had the bottle of wine with us. The window was open and we were using the ledge to set our glasses down. (Good thing we left the suite soon thereafter or I'm pretty sure either Jill or I - or possibly both - would have fallen out that window). You would have thought Jason was our favorite act EVER by the way we were dancing and singing. Although the fact that we actually didn't know any words MAY have been a tip-off. Scouter and Andy were amused.

Before Bon Jovi took the stage, the skies parted and the moon came out. We headed for our floor seats, ready to ROCK! And my boys did not disappoint. We had a pretty good view of them on the stage and a great view of the large screen.

The next morning, Jill and I caught the jitney to the Hamptons while leaving the boys to drive out with all six kids. We definitely got the better end of that deal as we drank coffee, relaxed and watched a movie the whole trip.

As always, we had a great weekend at their Hamptons house. We spent most of it hanging out by the pool. Tini time was a 4:00 every day. The boys took the kids to the beach but it was cold out there! We had a great weather weekend though.

While we were there, Andy was invited to a swanky Hamptons party and wrangled an invitation for all of us. The house was in a great location near the beach, pretty small but with a huge yard. We had some celeb spottings. The guest of honor was Mariska Hartigay. We also saw one of the guys from Sex in the city (Charlotte's first husband, the mama's boy), Howard Stern's wife who is stunning, and lots of the Housewives of NYC. I didn't know any of them but Jill was all about it. Surprisingly, we also saw another couple we knew!

Alas, even a five day weekend had to come to an end. We can't wait to go back!

(Note: I have great pics but can't get them into Blogger for some reason. Will try again later!)
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Houston, we have a theme for the season

So early in the season I got my ass handed to me on the bike. Twice.

Fast forward a couple months and - you guessed it - the ass handing continues.

On Wednesday morning rides, I absolutely cannot keep up with Patty, Dave and Rob. I'll be hanging onto a tire as best I can, take a second to breathe, and Boom! They're gone.

Then a couple weeks ago, I joined Dave for a Monday night ride. I knew I was in trouble when I showed up and the only other people there were Dave and Rob. They humored me for awhile by making me lead but then at about the half way point they couldn't take it anymore and blew by me. I hung on as long as I could but I swear, whenever I got within two feet of Rob's tire (or was it two miles? i can't remember...), he took off like he had a rocket up his ass. Eventually I gave up. They had their bikes loaded and had showered, changed clothes, and eaten dinner by the time I met them back at our cars.

So yeah. New theme. All suckage.
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