Sundae, my cat, gets her 2nd Acupunture Treatment

Back in December when my cat Sundae quit eating, I wrote how acupuncture helped Sundae start eating again.  I knew from appointments with my vet, Dr. Jacquie, that Sundae could have arthritis due to what she believed was a botched declaw done on Sundae. So when Sundae started fighting more with my younger cat, sleeping next to my head and being more lovey with me, I thought maybe she's in pain and should get another acupuncture treatment.  Plus, in May I'm going to Peru to hike Machu Pichhu and wanted to proactive in making sure Sundae was in good health and eating well.

From the Alta Vista website, accupuncture helps with

•Musculoskeletal problems, such as osteoarthritis, sprains, or disc disease 
•Dermatological problems, such as lick granulomas 
•Respiratory problems, such as feline asthma 
•Gastrointestinal problems, such as inflammatory bowel disease or inappetance 
•Cardiovascular, renal disease and epilepsy as well as certain behavioral problems 

I would love it if Sundae would quit hissing at my younger cat who I adopted 1.5 years ago but accupuncture hasn't resolved that yet.

This treatment I brought my camera and while I waited with Sundae for the 20 minutes while she "cooked", I took a couple pictures.  This was challenging because I knew I needed to hold Sundae's head so she wouldn't shake the needles loose but I couldn't backup far enough with my camera lens to take great pictures. The lighting was also dark so the pictures are a little grainy.

 At the end of the 20 minutes Sundae was laying on her side, ready to roll over...she was so relaxed an comfortable. Dr. Jacquie also gave Sundae an adjustment cracking her back at L4/L5.  Maybe she's so comfortable she'll cuddle up to the younger cat.  It doesn't hurt to hope.

Bob and the Spirit Stick

When I ran Hood to Coast in August 2012,  I discovered Spirit Sticks and how awesome they were in locating team members in a mass of people.A Spirit Stick is a decorated stick with stuff on it and a light for the night time.  In a crowd of people, you can easily find your group because the stick waves above the crowd and at night, unlike the Gremlins, you look toward the light and easily find your team. It was my search for spirit stick parts for the Del Sol Ragnar that I met Bob.

Bob works at Home Depot in Phoenix in the plumbing department.  After showing me clamps for a sink I sprung on him my next request.  I need a cheap piece of wood or stick.  Ok he nods and starts to walk towards the main aisle.

Two steps later he stops and with a perplexed look asks if its to go between french doors.

See Bob does his job and does it well.  He is quite serious, wants to do an excellent job and needs to understand the goal and my very generic request for a piece of wood wasn't enough information.  I explain the race and what I'll be doing with the stick.  Oh, and I don't want to spend much money either.

Trotting down the aisles we go heading towards the wood dowels.  Being in a playful mood I try unsuccessfully to crack jokes with this very serious, on a mission Bob. I also tell him we're exploring his creative side.  We choose a dowel, thick enough to be sturdy but still cheap and I hand him one and tell him to hold the stick up as we walk through the store with the soon to be spirit stick.

In lighting we grab a Home Depot employee from the lighting department and tell what we want.  The lighting guy wants to talk me out of battery operated because it won't last long.  By this point with my non-stop jabbering, Bob has a complete understanding of the race and how long the light needs to last and my cheap price point. Bob locates the rectangle lights I ended up with and even comments how I can tape them to the stick. Next stop is colored duct tape.

Bob's customer service was amazing and what was fun is how this gruff, serious guy with the long beard tromped throughout Home Depot holding a stick in search of stuff for my spirit stick with me.

After the race I had to show Bob the finished product even though by that time I had broke it in two places but it was still head together with the neon green duct tape. His face broke out in a smile when he saw me and the spirit stick.

Bob and the Spirit Stick

To get a picture of me and Bob together I had to grab someone who happened to be a customer walking by.

My infamous way of holding the spirit stick during the race...over someone's head.

The customer was Magnus from Norway and wanted to understand how the spirit stick attracted spirits. I don't know if he ever quite understood it wasn't for finding or warding off ghosts.  Magnus also wanted his picture taken with me and the spirit stick.

I know Bob made my day when he helped me find all my spirit sticks parts and hopefully he'll remember me and my goofy spirit stick.

Happy Running

R.O.U.S. Runners of Unusual Speed-Ragnar Del Sol

Ever since I started running Ragnar's I wanted to be on a team named R.O.U.S. Runners of Unusual Speed.  I love the Princess Bride movie and the play on words R.O.U.S is hilarious.  After working 3 SWAT volunteer positions with Ragnar I earned a free team and became Princess Buttercup.

Van 2 hanging out in front of our van while Jacquie runs the longest leg

Putting together a team means patience as the team changes form like your pace changes during a 5K race. After having a full team, losing three runners in a 24 hour period, accomadating for injuries and those sandbaggers padding their times you never know what to expect.  Even my boyfriend John caused me anxiety. He never wanted to run Ragnar but was guilted into it by his friends (and I'm so glad they did) and I knowing his endurance running ability gave him the top miles of 23.  The funny thing about John's training is as we got closer to the race, he trained less and less where his long run was 6 miles and he was running 1, 2 or NO days a week.  I had to remind myself he's a big boy and their van would figure it out. The end result was awesome runners having great laughs and being wonderful friends.

Van 2 at exchange 6. Note the bull riding pen behind the picture. That was the real reason I got bruises on my knuckles on both hands. But it made for a better story that I picked fights with runners tagging our van.

I got van one out the door at 5:30am off to Wickenburg and had a couple hours to kill before my van left at 10:30am. Within 20 minutes Jeff received a text from his wife saying she was taking their 5 year old son to the doctor because he had a rock stuck up his nose. I can't even type that without laughing.  He was "holding' it for a girl he had a crush on. I believe that is what pockets are for but maybe putting it in the nose is better because of the polishing features of the nose. It turned out to be a plastic glitter bead which is far better than an ordinary rock and it can still be strung on a string for the gal to wear. This rock became one of the many jokes throughout the 28ish hours.

Jeff and Glen discuss how elevation charts were drawn by 5 year olds with rocks up their noses.

The race isn't about the running but the stories that come out of the race.  I heard van 1 had people taking pictures of their van and we had runners spouting off quotes after seeing all our character names and quotes all over our van. At one exchange I had a guy call me a witch.  I yelled back at him.  "I'm not a witch, I'm your wife" at which he instantly replied with "and after what you just said I don't think I want to be that anymore".

Jacquie and Jan at our start-exchange 6

Jan finishes her first leg

Jan hands off to Glen and is glad to stop running

Glen shows Jacquie (who is challenged with working slap bracelets) another way to hand off the bracelet

Is my butt blinking?

Michael is ready for his night run

Having run the Lost Dutchman marathon the week before I gave myself the shortest distance of 11 miles and the coveted spot of running in the team, runner 12. My boyfriend got the top miles of 23 and Jacquie had 21 miles.  The 21 miles, while extraordinary,  wasn't the highlight of her legs.  She ran the longest leg in Ragnar history of 13.5 miles in an astonishing 2:07 and wore her special bling metal proudly the rest of the race.  We were worried the medal bouncing up and hitting her in the eye (you should see the bruise on my hand from her medal as she was swinging and dancing around waving it) and we talked her out of wearing it the last two legs. I think she probably slept with it that night though.

Jacquie looking strong on her 13.5 mile run

When I ran Hood to Coast in 2012 I learned about Spirit Sticks and thought the were the best invention ever. A long decorated stick with a light on the end made finding your team so much easier especially at night.  We had a pom pom on ours and it also became the device to brush someones head with and turn around quickly as they brushed off what was touching their head. It also doubled as a kilt lifter and skirt lifter used on the men wearing dresses.

Michael holds the spirit stick

One of the jokes in our van is we were going to nickname our selves runners of unusual parking.  Our 15 passenger van was LONG and it was just so much easier to take up 2 or even 4 parking spaces.  With our relatively early start time and our fast team, we were towards the front of the race at the end so it was ok to park so horribly.

We did leave Jan stranded at her exchange for about 10 minutes.  We didn't mean to and had plenty of time to get Starbucks but we drove the wrong direction leaving Starbucks and were too busy chatting to realize it and then we passed up the exchange and had to drive another half a mile before the road allowed a U-turn. We kicked Glen out of the van, ignored the evil eyes of the other teams for getting to the exchange late, and apologized profusely to Jan. After all, she was a prized team member because after our first legs we showered at her house, sat in her spa and her husband picked up dinner for us.

Bringing in the team was awesome. Close to the finish line I let out my cheer yell which is comparable in volume to my zombie scream and Jacquie heard it across Tempe Town lake.  The team was waiting for me and we all ran across the finish line together. Many thanks to Megan for capturing this video and being our "official finish line photographer".

Jeff, Tom, John S, Chip, Michael T, Glen, Michael C, Jacquie, Jan
Christina, John C and John H(not pictured)

Lost Dutchman Marathon

One day before the price went up for the Lost Dutchman marathon in Apache Junction, Arizona I signed up to run my 4th marathon.  Last May I trained for Whiskey Row marathon and ended up injured and I've struggled for almost a year with a tight hamstring.  The result has been laying off the running and relaxing my competitive attitude.

When I went for a long run with my friend Jacquie training for a marathon and the 8 mile I thought we were running turned into a tolerable 14 AND I survived I thought I could sneak up on a marathon and see what happens.

The Lost Dutchman starts up in the Superstition Mountains at the Peralta trail head and we were shuttled to the start where fires burned to keep the runners warm. 

The sun came up over the mountains and we lined up for the 7am start. The first 6 miles were downhill on a dirt road and the views were spectacular.

Apache Junction is primarily a retirement community and they showed up in force to cheer us on. The RV Mobilehome community at mile 16.5 was the best. The music was playing and the cutest, retiree was semi-dancing and clapping. The retirees clapped and looked like they were having a great time.

I kept my pace slow at the beginning and felt pretty good even with a port-a-potty stop at mile 11.  On the shuttle bus a fellow runner said at the halfway point there were Krispy Kreme donut holes that were awesome.  The donut holes at mile 13 were welcomed gladly by me but I immediately thought I had a mouthful of cotton balls and briefly considered spitting it out but didn't want to disgust the runners around me.  

Miles 23 to the finish were very slugglish yet I kept running walking through the water stops taking two cups of water...one to drink and another to dump over my head since it had warmed up.

Although this was my slowest marathon time at 4:07, it is my new favorite. The course, the volunteers and crowd support make this a must-run race for anyone looking for a fantastic race.

Happy Running!

Las Vegas Rugby Seven's

Three years ago in an attempt to get good girlfriend points, I sat with John for two days of a Rugby sevens tournament in Vegas.  With nothing better to do, I kept score and became engrossed with the game and surprisingly discovered I loved it.

Last weekend we froze our butts off in Vegas watching three days of Rugby. This year I had a fancy new camera I got for my birthday and took pictures of the game.  On Friday night I was able to sit at the bottom of the stadium steps, dangle my legs into the field area and use the railing to rest and steady the camera.  I practiced capturing pictures with hopes that some would turn out sharp enough.

Rugby is quite brutal and physically tolling on these athletes and I love capturing the expressions and pain from the players when they are being tackled.

I love this picture because the Kenya athlete on the bottom looks surprised to be in that position.

 In this picture there is so much going on.  On the left you have Fiji player hitting the ground so hard he's cringing from the impact, the red headed England player running towards the action with England trying to take the ball from Fiji.

Looking through my pictures I realized I really like the tackle pictures better than the running pictures.  I have hundreds of pictures to look through and I'm sure I'll have many more that show action, emotion and pain.