That’s what the Beej and I looked like when we left for our errands.  Four hours later we returned haggard, hungry and broke.  Voting, The Puddle, watch BJ try on jeans…

Quick aside: the beej in a store trying on clothes = system shutdown. 

...bought a garage door, vacuum, and a mini fridge.

I’d much rather be training.

I’m starting to hate my boot.  I’m 4 weeks and 2 days into it….I’m getting to the end of my rope, my calf has atrophied and my body is completely misaligned.  It’s not just my foot, this freaking boot is wrecking the rest of me.  I’m so pissed at the company that made the stupid boot because they should have recognized that this will give the patient a lateral pelvic tilt and screw up their posture…so give them an insert for their other shoe.  Balance them out a bit.  I mean help a sister out.  Lateral pelvic tilt is a nasty postural anomaly and now I’ve got it.

Not to fret, I can see the light, just had to rant a bit.

Headed to Cape Cod last week for a visit home, originally planned because I was to participate in the Cape Cod marathon.  Sidelined by my stress fracture I ended up volunteering as a course monitor.  My mom, dad and sister joined me at my assigned location on Water St. in Woods Hole, a quintessential Cape Cod town.  Up the hill came 1200 runners towards us amidst the red, orange and yellows from the trees above.  The salt air was thick and the ocean breeze perfectly chilling the runners as they ran into the bright, warm sun.  It was the perfect day for running and a great day to support.

I have to admit there were a few times where I had to breath deep and regroup as I would realize ‘I am supposed to be one of these guys’, I had a few moments where the tears filled my eyes but I was able to refocus my energies and legitimize the smile on my face.  My mom rocks out the support, screaming and yelling, full body gestures and shouts of ‘you can do this man!’, ‘go girl’, ‘21 down, 5 to go!’.  There’s no question where I get my positive outlook and my competiveness - it’s all from her.

I can’t wait to go back and participate, it was as beautiful as I had imagined.  I will run that marathon, it just wasn’t in the stars this year.

So looking at the picture of the Cape above - think of it as an arm, Provincetown (the outter most tip) is the fist and the Cape Cod canal (you can just see the canal cutting off the land to the left and making the Cape an island).  I grew up in the upper bicep, just left of that spit of land you can see before the ‘elbow’.  It was an incredible place to grow up - I’m so lucky to still have roots there so I can go back and visit.  BJ have talked about buying property there someday and spending time there in the summer.  We are very mobile with our jobs…maybe someday.  I can see up splitting time between Colorado and somewhere else equally as beautiful.

Spent time with my handsome nephew, Vincent or Vinny Louis as he’s known on the streets.  As soon as my sis sends the photos, I’ll post some, he’s a cutie.  Back in the swing of things, finishing up my Trauma and the Body class next week and then just 5 weeks of Craniosacral.  Graduation is coming up in December and then my testing certification for Ortho/Sports in May.  Looking forward to finishing this chapter and on to more learning ops.

As always I find myself very busy but having so much fun, learning a ton and truly loving another great stint in life.   The Gumkowski household is full of commitment right now.   BJ and I are totally and completely engrossed in his very attainable Hawaii slot and my complete obsession with getting perfect grades in school.   Even though school is demanding, it doesn’t hold a candle to what BJ’s doing.  He’s putting in the time and  I have plenty of time to support him. Now that I’ve experienced what an Ironman feels like I have way more compassion for his commitment.

Oh yeah, he’s got what it takes.  Watch out 35-39 males, IMAZ 11/23/08.  Oh yeah, I’m starting the trash talk.  My man is such a humble soul, it’s clearly my role to start the intimidation.  My man is a silent competitor and he’s bringing it!

I’m so proud of him.  This is a perfect time in our life to be selfish and live our dream.  Although I feel that we will always live our dream, it’s just something that I can tell about my life with the beej.

I’m addicted to Ironman eating, trouble is…I’m not burning Ironman calories.  Oh well, I’m still looking pretty good at this point so no need to make any rash changes.  Although I will think twice about polishing off a box of Strawberry Fields with BJ after a pasta meal. I am putting some serious time in at the gym and liking my new found x-training workouts.  The boot is just a part of me at this point and I think I’m working it with my outfit choices.

Today I spent about an hour in the gym then to the pool for a 1/2 hour of pool jogging and 500 yards swimming.  I like the freedom of jumping in a swimming continously with no particular goal other than to get zen.  The Tiara Ditcher joined us today so my pool jogging felt more like Frogger as the three of us were in the lane together and I was dodging them.  Swimmers definitely move faster then pool joggers, there were a few close calls.  Made the time fly by.  Kristina and I hit the big slide at the east boulder rec today - pretty damn fun, I’ve been eyeing the slide for years and never hit it.  Today was the day, you get some serious speed coming down, it’s sweet stuff.

Hit Whole Foods for a $17 salad then our grocery shopping for the week.  Home for some serious laundry folding and now I think I’m going to attack the closet in my office.

BJ is kicking ass in his training….he fought through a huge workout yesterday.  I’m so proud of him.

Well actually it’s more like 100 pump chump - that’s me, the Ironman weight lifter.  Not my favorite thing in the world but I’m embracing it.  It’s hard for me to be inside, listening to classic rock on the boom box, lifting weights…1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10…next arm…1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10.  And repeat with all the muscle groups of the body.  A little too mundane for this girl.  All in all, I am so grateful for what I can do.

Life in the Gumkowski household is good stuff…constant shout outs and support to my hubby who’s almost there, 7 weeks to go.  He will do it this time, he will qualify for Kona.  I can feel it.  He has the fitness, he has everything it takes….race day will be mental and if he can overcome mental barriers then he will do it.  I can’t wait - it’s going to be a great day, it’s going to be the race of his life.

Lots of great Skirts will also be in the house for IMAZ and I’m looking forward to meeting some of these cool ladies that I’ve been conversing with for months.  I’ll be volunteering; massage, body marking and my Skirt girl Mary is captaining an aid station on the run course so I”ll be hanging over there to support BJ and the rest of the incredible athletes that will be on their last leg (literally).

Good things to come….

Yeah, I got the boot.   At least for the next 2 weeks and 2 days until I go back to the doc.  Stress fracture, 4th metatarsal = no cape cod marathon, no running, no cycling, no kicking in the pool, no yoga, no weight baring activity.  All boot all the time.

What can I do?  Get back in the gym with the meat heads and pump some iron, swim with the pool buoy  and yes, you guessed it…pool jogging.  I know that some of you might be suspicious and wondering if I took a hammer to my foot just to be sentenced to another 6 weeks of pool jogging.  Well you can stop that crap thought right now.  Believe me, the last thing I want to hear 9 months after injuring this exact freaking spot is it probably never healed fully the first time and it’s fractured, sentencing me to a short term life of low carb, high protein bullshit.

I officially withdrew from the Cape Cod marathon on Friday and signed up to volunteer.  Since I have plenty of family and friends on the Cape my trip is far from a bust, it just means more wine and less suffering (at least the physical kind).    As Tony Soprano would say, ‘whateva the f$#%’.

Came home from work yesterday to find a surprise treat at the door for the kids.  Our friends Tara and Adam, affectionately known as T&A, must have been feeling quite generous and dog deprived when they bought a new polar bear toy for Harry and a pink barbie butterfly for Lhasa.  They got freaky with their new babies and then crashed hard a night of retarded Scrabble and Entourage.