Don't Faint Laura, No More Fluid Bags!

I had an appointment with Dr, Nataranjan this morning at the Running Institute to inquire about how I can get up and running again. I took all winter off from running and after only 2 weeks of moderately getting back at it, I'm back at square one with my CCS (chronic compartment syndrome) symptoms. Since a 4th procedure isn't an option, I figured I should at least see a new sports med guy.  Poor Dr. N, he had no idea what he was dealing with when he stepped into his first appointment of the day. He said, "Dr. Ganter always sends me doosies," in reference to my primary who referred me to him. Thanks dude. He then put me through the same song and dance all the other sports med guys had me go through: walk to the end of the hall and back, rise up on your toes, your calves are really tight blah blah. Except this guy ran a few more PT-like tests and decided that I'm completely calf dominant and suffer from a Gastroc-Soleus Strain (technical term for tight calf muscles due to CCS).  Essentially, I use my calves like most people would use their glutes, hamis, quads. I put all the strain on my calves when I walk, run, do anything really.
Translation: back to more PT, but this time not only the crazy painful active release therapy (the technique with the dull blade that scraps across your skin to release muscle fibers), but also with a zero gravity treadmill (I've heard stories about these but have never seen one in person). Anyway, I'll try it out for a month and see how it goes. I have 1-hour sessions twice per week for the next 3 weeks (at 7:30am, yuck) so hopefully I'll be up and running like normal again in a month.
Just interesting...and beneficial to everyone reading this blog so you don't have to listen to me whine about my calf problems every day :-) I'm doing everything I can to avoid that 4th procedure and everything gross (fluid bags that gross out Laura) and horrible (ugly scars and bulging muscles that Katie makes fun of) that comes along with it.

Hibernation: Part II

I’m making a stand against hibernation today. It’s going to be lovely in Chicago the rest of the week (we're talking sunny and almost 70) and we have to absorb of every bit of vitamin D we can. This past weekend, Dave and I spent the whole 2nd half of Sunday in a Southport Grocery-brunch-educed-coma after a few brief trips to West Elm, Crate & Barrel, etc, and could only muster up the strength to order Beer Bistro take out and watch the whole first disc of Mad Men season III. Well guess what late fall/winter/early spring hibernation??? It’s on! I’m launching a full scale attack against your seductive powers of laziness. The pic below is of Dave in my favorite hat (swim cap?) with my favorite headphones (he stole them from 1999 high school track meet Anna), but the jist of the pic well-represents the full-fledged, balls to the wall revolt against hibernation. Now all we need is some ammo… (warmth?)

I Didn’t Know Dad Was in Advertising!

24 and Dana Walsh's Facial Expressions

There's entirely too much happening on 24 right now for me to handle. Chloe is all the sudden a pistol toting computer engineering genius and Milton Waddams is a probation officer. Right when I reached the point to where I was ready to take a Swingline to his cranium, leave it to good ol' Dana Walsh to clean up the mess with another murder. Thanks Dana, not only did you off this annoying character, but you're working for the terrorists? Kick. Ass. That was SUCH a fantastic moment during last night’s episode because now we can truly hate Dana properly. It's official: she's a bad girl and she's perched atop the jerkface list. And not just because she makes facial expressions which rival the awkwardness of “Orgasm Man” on SNL.

The Madness...It's Spreading

I have to say I'm not a huge fan of basketball.  There's too much shuffle jogging and far too many guys running around in gauchos.  But I am, however, a huge March Madness fan and get a littttttle bit too obsessed with checking scores and stats.  Every year I pick Wisco to make it to at least the Final 4 (because you never know with those Badgers), but this year I finally thoughtfully picked teams.  I didn't just pick the teams with sassy uniforms who weren't a state school.  I took the time to sit down and rummage through all the stats to create the greatest Anna Bracket of all time.  A half day into the madness, this strategy is not working out well (thanks Notre Dame & Florida). I think I'll stick to picking teams with cute mascots from now on...

Good Ol' Irish Flu

In honor of St. Patty's Day, here's some useful information from cnn.com (an oxymoron don't you think) >> http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/03/17/alcohol.hangover.cures/index.html?hpt=C1

Slainte!

Yeah, That Makes Sense

Dave and I are headed to Denver this weekend to spend some time with Laura and Joe, ski a little, day drink grey-out in honor of St. Patty’s Day, and hopefully not inflict any physical violence on Joe. You know what I miss about Laura the most? Laura is the type of friend who when you say “ I feel like X happens because of Y and Z,” she responds with a “Yeah, that makes sense,” no matter how ridiculous the idea/thought. Katie responds to some of my insights like this but it’s just not the same as when Laurel and I lived together and she would hang on my pull-up bar while I sat in my desk chair in my room and talked about the world (I know, there’s a lot to take in from that last sentence). Have a great weekend everyone!

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/houseguest_just_going_to_lie_there

Geekfest Wrap-Up / Taramazing Race

 I’ve been seriously slacking on my bloggess duties, but here’s a little rundown of this past week:


Geekfest ’10:

I was able to escape the clutches of Geekfest ’10 for one night last week, when I took the train from Silicon Valley up to San Fran to meet my favorite dynamic duo Heidi and Micah for a fabulous sushi dinner in Sausalito. Heidi was a long-jumper/sprinter extraordinaire UW and tutored me through my first Art History class (which I got an AB in). I never approached art the same way again thanks to her :-). She’s now in law school (complete 180), or as I like to call it “Phase 2 of 3 of her diabolical plan to take over the world…Elle Woods style.” Which leads me to her now husband, Micah, works on developing super secret government projects (was the FBI on our tail last week?). Together, they’re no doubt formulating some plan to rule the entire Bay area, one wine tasting at a time. Anyway, the sushi we had was unreal and I cannot wait to go back to San Fran again sometime this summer (with Laura and JT$ to see JT’s sissy...yes it’s happening) as I find I always contemplate moving there after visiting.

Overall, the conference was a great learning experience and I found I knew much more than I thought I did, which was very comforting. I guess all this BS I’ve been spewing isn’t actually BS, who knew?

Tara’s Bday

I’m sorry Tara, but I’m going to say it to the entire blogosphere: Tara turned 30 this weekend! Yay! My lil big sis who used to chase frogs down the river in her suspenders and giant plastic glasses is now Dr. Clack: 30 year old. I’m so thankful that after all these years our families are still so close and supportive of one another. Both sets of parents even came out for the Taramazing Race on Saturday night, which was coordinated by Katie and complicated by Drew and myself (she was the real brains behind it all). The night started out at Salukis (our fave neighborhood spot) where about 40 of gathered for apps and some pre-race drinks. 5 or so teams were then formed and were given a set of directions for the evening’s 2 hour race around the city. Each team had a list of 30 of Tara’s favorite places/things around Chicago and a camera. The team who was able to make it to the most places on the list and take a picture as evidence won free drinks for the night. You also earned a point for every place you stopped at and took a shot, which my team thought would be our competitive advantage (also we were the only team who actually ran around the city...I was sore yesterday...). There was also a prize for Most Creative Picture; our team had both awards in our sights. My team, the “Reverse Cowgirls,” was comprised of JT$, Luke, Casey, Ben, and Shaker, who comprised the best dressed team in the race (no contest). The dudes all had on matching brown army surplus jumpsuits, JT & I had on spandex and various other pieces of flare. The scariest pic by far to get was in front of the scary Candyman church in Cabrini (T Clack loves the movie) and our team ended up winning Most Creative Pic, but it’s not really PG-rated, nor R-rated for that matter. So instead the pics below are from Cabrini. At the end of the 2 hours, everyone had to promptly meet at Maeve in LP for cupcakes, some za, and even more drinking. We all put in a good 8 hours of drinking that night…all for a great cause!

Love ya Tara!

Geekfest '10 Conference Update I

At the CEO of Microsoft's lecture and none of these search geeks wil sit next to me.  It's like they've seen these things called "girls" before, but are not really sure how to approach these obscure creatures.  There was one exception when some people from ask.com gave me some drink tickets to their event later tonight...not going to help your chances dude.