So now that my fingers have thawed out some, I'll try to add something to my blog before I have surgery on my hand later today :(. (Yes, I KNOW it's Valentine's Day! My Hubby is working today until 1am, too. Happy Valentine's Day to us, right? VERY Romantic!). The surgery will be to release a tendon in a "Trigger Finger" that is a result of my not-so-lucky genetics that make everything "tight"--part of the reason for my early OA in my hands and why I will have to have similar releases done in my wrists for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome soon.
I certainly seem to have developed a bit of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) this winter. I spent the first 30 yrs of my life in Northern CA and never really looked at "winter" as depressing and also never paid much attention to the weather forecasts. Now, the "Weather Channel" has become my "morning coffee," and spending some time in the CA sunshine on visits has become my "Prozac." Speaking of which, I am putting together a CA trip to include a couple of trail runs/races in March. That prospect of seeing a lot more sunshine along with a bunch of my running and cycling friends, some of whom are fellow bloggers, and getting my a$$ kicked by them keeps me slogging away at training. Plus, if I don't get something serious going soon, my Pike's Peak Ascent will become a Descent pretty quickly.
It's been pretty boring around here training/racing-wise--no races or significant running going on--just building a base to work from. I'm on track to make my running/walking goal of 1200 miles minimum for this year. I haven't been able to get out on my bike yet--some of it due to the issues with my hands, but mainly because the roads are crappy with all of the gravel and salt residual and snow melt if/when it gets sunny or warm enough.
Over the years, I've been able to counter any hint of SAD with happy thoughts and memories... (admittedly, this winter has been tough). I had planned to put the happy highlights of 2010 into a post at some point, but it will have to be later because of the surgery. I love critters, and I've got quite a collection of photos that I have taken during hiking, cycling, and other adventures. Although I am not very good at distance running, I AM a decent photographer. Chosen in the spirit of Valentine's Day, here are 3 of my favorites (I plan to do a whole post on "critters" later on)--[First 2 taken with Nikon D70S SLR; third with an older Konica-Minolta Compact Point-and-Shoot with a shutter delay that made it difficult to shoot moving objects and get them in the frame--and I did this without any cropping!]:
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| Golden Mantle Squirrels--"Will you be My Valentine?" Lake Agnes Tea House, Plain of Six Glaciers Loop, Lake Louise area, Banff Nat'l Park, Alberta, Canada  Linda Lakes Trail, Lake O'Hara Area, Yoho Nat'l Park, Alberta, Canada |
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| My Valentine and Favorite Critter of All Gary cycling up to the top of Mt. Diablo with Golden Poppies at peak (April 2005) Mt. Diablo State Park, California |
I ran out of time earlier, so I put these pictures in AFTER my surgery, which seems to have gone well...only time will tell if I can start cycling again without my hand being a safety issue. I'll stop now; I've done more than I should already.
So, all things considered, today was a good one. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!
Let's celebrate life every day, Ann
The Bay Area misses you Ann!!
ReplyDeleteCome home :-)
Ron
you are a great photog.
ReplyDeletegreat pics
Well, you left comments on my blog yesterday and today so I will take that as a sign that the surgery went well. Congratulations, sister.
ReplyDeleteAlso, thank you for the kind words on my blog.
Winter tends to depress me a bit, too; I have to say that one thing that makes the snow and lack of sun not merely tolerable, but marginally enjoyable is the fact that my 11-year-old, Ian, just absolutely LOVES the snow. It gets him out of school and on weekends he incessantly asks for me to take him - ironically enough - to his school, where the really good sledding hills are. I posted videos of him snowboarding and sledding down those hills not too long ago.
But it's a tonic to me, too, because it reminds me of the days when I felt that way about snow and those unscheduled days off from school due to snow.
Days are getting longer now, and there has actually been some sun ... sometimes accompanied by warm temps - Spring and baseball season are just around the corner! (Ian also loves the Phillies.)
So I take that long view, too. The winter won't last forever.
But enough about me.
Now about your pix:
Very nice! (See? And people say I can't be pithy!)
Heal well! Good luck with the other surgeries, when they happen.
O, and also: If you DO get together with RBR to ride or whatever, smack her @$$ and tell her, "Glaven sez: 'Hi, you tranny!'"
Hope the hand heals well!
ReplyDeleteThanks, everyone, for all of your supportive comments.
ReplyDeleteIt's 4 days out, and the surgery seems to have gone very well.
And maybe "someone" is listening, because we are in Philly today for work and family, and it's supposed to get to near 70 degrees F today (no, that isn't a typo). They say NYC may break a record by approaching 70 also!
So, Spring is here--thank you, Punxatawny Phill! Going out to relearn how to run outside :)))...to be continued in the next post....
Hi Ann,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your awesome comment! Very nice and I appreciate the kind words. I spent the first 19 years of my life in Marin and feel that No Cal is very special too.
I hope to see you at S2S. Unfortunately, Kovas cannot make it, but Patrick, Jill, Kate and I are still going.
Great pictures and I like how you post them nice and big. Did you hear? We actually got snow on Mt. Tam, you know how rare that is. Probably all melted by now though and I was not one of the lucky ones who got to run in it Saturday.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment on my blog today, and very awesome pictures. We have loads of trapped nature where we live, but it's about an hours drive to get to a more untrapped place!
ReplyDeleteAnd yes I'm a numbers guy. But I'm in running for the feeling.
@ChrisK - thanks for stopping by, "Marin Manly Runner!" I did my first trail run in the Marin Headlands and now prefer to run "on dirt." Hope you have a great time "learning" how to run trails with your speedy legs :). Hope to meet you later this year, if not at S2S, then when we visit SD.
ReplyDelete@Rick - WOW, Mt. Tam with snow! What a sight it must have been, even if fleeting :).
Oh, Andrew...doing my reply comment while you were posting yours. THANK YOU for taking the time to write something. And GLAD you like thst "running feeling!" I'll be checking on your continued progress :))) Ann
ReplyDelete