Hello, My Name is Kerry and I am an Idiot

You've all heard me complaining about the cold and snow. A lot. Because it snowed a lot here and also it's cold and I do not find that particular combination of meteorlogical events to be particularly wonderful. You may not know that I have been attempting to improve my attitude about snow--or maybe I mentioned that. I can't remember exactly because I'm on pain killers right now (that was the upside of today--the doctor gave me the good stuff). Why am I on pain killers? Because in an effort to improve my attitude about winter, I went sledding today and broke my back. I thought that if I did enjoyable winter activities, I would enjoy winter more. Yeah. Thankfully, I didn't break my back very badly--I just have mild compression fracture in one of my vertebra. Not bad enough to require a brace or any kind of major medical intervention, just bad enough to hurt like hell. And now that that particular vertebra is compressed, it will never un-compress. This is the kind of fracture that old ladies with osteoporosis get and that make them shorter. So at the ripe old age of 33, I now have my first one and Moses estimates I'm about a millimeter shorter than I was before. All this because I was really trying my darnedest to have fun in winter. From here on out, I'm swearing off down-hill winter sports. If I can ever move again I might, might try snow-shoes on level ground. Otherwise, I'm just hunkering down some good books and few movies for the duration.
If you're wondering about the idiot part: I sustained this injury by sledding down and icy slope with a bump in it. I did my best to avoid the bump by choosing a path well away from the bump. When I noticed that I was heading toward the bump, I tried to steer by leaning away from it which had the effect of shooting me directly toward the bump--which now that I give this some consideration makes sense, but while hurtling down the hill at a million miles per hour didn't occur to me. I then failed to bail out of my sled in time which resulted in my hitting the bump, catching air, and coming down hard on my back. Not my most graceful moment (not that I really have a lot--or maybe any--graceful moments). Another interesting note: I am not the only idiot in town. There were at least five other people in the emergency room with an injury similar to mine and the nurse told me that in winter they average 22 sledding-related accidents per day. I also learned that when sledding you should lay down (back or stomach) and not sit up, and should also wear a helmet (just for the record, I did not hit my head).

TMI

Tonight while Garion was taking his shower:

Garion: "Mom! Mooommmm! MOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!!!"
Me: "Yes, Garion, what do you need?"
Garion: "Can I use the peppermint soap from your bathroom? Because I keep farting and it's really stinky."

I'm Moving South, Who's Got Room?

This is the 7 day forecast for Flagstaff as of this afternoon:

Wind Advisory

This Afternoon: Partly sunny, with a high near 51. South southwest wind around 13 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph.

Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 28. Southwest wind between 8 and 14 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Saturday: A 30 percent chance of snow showers, mainly after 11am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 43. Windy, with a southwest wind 13 to 16 mph increasing to between 28 and 31 mph. Winds could gust as high as 43 mph. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

Saturday Night: Snow, mainly before 11pm. Low around 27. Windy, with a southwest wind between 25 and 32 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%.

Sunday: A 50 percent chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 29. West southwest wind between 16 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph.

Sunday Night: A 40 percent chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 18.

Monday: Snow, mainly after 11am. High near 32. Chance of precipitation is 80%.

Monday Night: Snow likely. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 25.

Tuesday: Snow showers likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 36.

Tuesday Night: Snow showers likely. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 25.

Wednesday: Snow likely. Cloudy, with a high near 37.

Wednesday Night: Snow likely. Cloudy, with a low around 27.

Thursday: Snow likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 34.

People, that is 7 DAYS worth of forecast in which the word "snow" is prominently featured. AND, highs that don't creep out of the mid-30's. I don't think there's enough hot chocolate in the universe to get me through.

The Best Parts of the Tucson 1/2 Marathon

1. Having a change to visit with my Tucson family and friends. On Saturday, I had lunch with my grandmother and uncles who I have seen since my brother's wedding in May. It was great to catch up with them and made me wish I had some more time to hang in Tucson. Saturday night, I met up with my work buddies Kristine and Stacy for a pre-race, carb loading dinner at Gavi, a fantastic Italian restaurant in Tucson. Saturday morning, I met up with another work buddy, Heather, and Heather's friend Tracy, at the start line (well, actually in the porta-potty line). These people were absolutely the best part of my weekend.
2. Support crew! Kristine came out in the cold at a god-forsaken hour in the morning to stand around at mile 1.5 and take excess clothing when Heather, Tracy, and I came by. This was awesome--I got wear my long sleeve jersey while I was still shivering at the beginning of the race and then ditch it after I got hot without having run the rest of the race with it tied around my waist. Kristine was also at the finish to cheer and then she drove us all back to the parking lot so we didn't have to wait around for the shuttle bus at the end of the race. So nice.
3. I lost two pounds. I'm sure this is mostly water loss, but considering the enormous amount of food I've consumed in the last two days, this is still a shocking number. Let me lay it out for you. Saturday morning, I ate two eggs and a piece of toast for breakfast. I then proceeded to Starbucks and picked up a grande Peppermint Mocha Twist, with whipped cream thank you very much, for the drive to Tucson. For lunch on Saturday, we went to a Vietnamese restaurant where I had a Thai iced tea (you know, the one with real cream and a ridiculous amount of sugar), and some kind of delicious beef and noodle dish that I forgot the name of but tasted delicious. I devoured almost all of it. Saturday night, Stacy had the brilliant idea of sharing our entrees so that we could have a pasta dish and protein dish in preparation for race day (Stacy ran the full marathon--I can't even begin to contemplate adding another 13 miles onto what I did yesterday. Yay, Stacy!) The portions at Gavi are big, so it's not like half of two entrees equals two dinners. It's really more like I had two dinners. And I ate them both. And they were wonderful. Sunday morning was the dreaded half bagel and banana. After the race, I had a subway sandwich, chips (salt tasted soooo good) and root beer. Then, in Casa Grande I stopped at Dairy Queen, where I had a Blizzard with Snickers. THEN. I got home and Moses had made lasagna. mmmmm. So I had two pieces of that, salad, and a piece of pie that was leftover from something last week. See, I told you. A ridiculous amount of food. And I STILL lost two pounds. Awesome.

Tucson 1/2 Marathon Race Report

My first half marathon: done. Woohoo! The race started as I think all races do: stumbling through the dark at 5:00 a.m. to get on an overheated school bus with a bunch of ridiculously and intimidatingly fit people to ride to the starting line, where you stand around outside in frigid temperatures waiting for your turn at the porta-potty. After the national anthem, the herd was off and although I was freezing, I did a very good job of reminding myself not to start too fast. Or what I thought was a good job. I ended up with a side stitch in the first mile, which is extremely annoying because: (1) I usually don't get them; and (2) all I had had to eat was half a bagel and a banana at 4:30 a.m. that I had to force down my throat. I definitely need to figure my pre-race breakfast issues. I usually run in the mornings before I eat. But, you can't run 13.1 miles on an empty stomach. Which requires eating. But, then I get a side stitch. So obviously I need a different breakfast and I will have to do some research on what that might be. Maybe some sort of smoothie type thing? I find it really hard to eat before a race anyway, so maybe not having to chew would work in my favor.
I also decided that for this race I'd trying listening to my ipod, since that seems to be the thing to do now. I had a Doctor Who story, narrated by David Tennant (who plays the Doctor in the TV series) that was 2 and 1/2 long-- just about perfect for the race. Unfortunately, I have no idea if this was a good story or not because I was so focused on running that I barely heard the story. I just had a vague sense of David Tennant yammering in my ear without a clue what he was on about. Which I guess answers the question of whether an ipod does me any good during a race: no.
After recovering from the side stitch issue, miles 2 through about 8 were fantastic. 8 through 10 were a little tougher both because I was starting to get tired and because there were a few long, gentle hills there. Nothing major, but hills nonetheless. And this, folks is where high altitude training totally, completely rocks. I, me, slow-poke Kerry, passed people on the hills. Oh, man that felt good. Miles 8 through 10 were also a little difficult because I had a snargler running behind me. The snargler was a rather large man who seemed to be having some kind of respiratory issue where he was sort of gurgling, sniffing, and groaning evertime he took a breath--he was snargling. And he was snargling right behind me. And snargling is really, really annoying to listen to. I think he was actually trying to pass me. I'm sorry Mr. Snargler, there was just no way I was going to let that happen.
Miles 10 through 13.1 were pretty much just hell even though I managed to ditch the snargler. I sang a little song in my head that was a variation of Dory's song in "Finding Nemo" : "just keep running, just keep running." I felt like miles 10 through 13 took as long as miles 1-10 and I just tried to focus on finishing one mile at a time. I crossed the finished line in 2 hours 21 minutes and my average pace was under 11:00 minutes, so I'm pretty happy with that. Here are my detailed stats:

Overall:	982 out of 1460
Women:	521 out of 889
F 30-34:	71 out of 106
Age/Grade:	46.85% Place: 1043
Finish:	2:21:17 Pace: 10:47
Tag Time:	2:21:17
Gun Time:	2:23:52