I love Mondays!

No I don't. Please. But its a short week. Yay!

Running update: 10 miles on Saturday morning; 8.26 was the official count with Houston Fit, plus a couple extra running to and from my house and the meeting location. I had a good run despite some minor neck/shoulder issues. I really had to focus on relaxing my shoulders during this run. Stupid neck problems. I'm tired of them. This seems muscular though. I think the herniated disc issues are allieviated. Knock on wood, in this case, my desk.

Saw that Zohan movie on Saturday. Funny if you like Adam Sandler-type funny, which I do. I'm laughing just thinking about it now. A stupid, funny, mindless movie. Everyone needs to see one of those every now and then. Oh, and I finally went to see the great bat exodus at the Waugh "bat bridge" on Saturday evening. What seemed like millions of bats swarmed out from under the bridge at dusk taking off to who knows where. It was a pretty cool thing to watch and drew quite a crowd. Apparently, the show happens every night. Now that's dependable entertainment! (I'm just glad one didn't go all spastic and fly into the crowd, namely me. I really don't have time to deal with rabies treatments.) And to think, just a mere few years ago, I would never have thought that watching bats fly out from under a bridge, on a Saturday night no less, would be a fun idea. Age has mellowed me...

My BFF Angela informed me that she has now joined the long list of people who read my blog. By long list, I mean like five. Angela and her husband just moved from DC to Baton Rouge and are expecting their first baby at the end of November. I really miss Angela. She is the one person who really understands me and thinks I'm super-funny, which I am. Some day when she moves back to Houston, Angela and I will have mansions right next to each other, and while our husbands are working and making a ton of money, we will be enjoying the enormous resort-style pool that will spread across our two properties, while Angela's hot manny takes care of her kids. What? Its possible!

I'm not crazy from running, I'm crazy because of my cat.

I am pretty sure the end of days is near and that my sweet Millie is the Anti-Christ, waiting to rise to power after living a life fooling everyone that she is sweet and innocent and just wants some loving. How can there be an ounce of evil in that sweet kitty, you ask. I'm mean, look at that face, those loving eyes.

Well let me tell you... I was looking forward to a relaxing evening last night, no running, no elliptical, no phone calls, no boyfriend (not that I don't like his company, I just need some evenings to myself). Anyway, I had a few things around the house that I wanted to get done and one was to clean the kitchen. In a corner of the kitchen is Millie's litter box (this box would ideally be on the first floor, but she snowed me with an exaggerated limp from having to go up and down the stairs, so I moved it to the second floor...sucker, I know), so I decided to clean the box, change all of the litter and put in a new box liner. No big deal right? Any cat would appreciate a clean litter box, right?

I would do anything for this kitty...She gets plenty of water, dry food, canned food, and kitty treats, which seem to be the food of choice now. I let her have control of about 75% of my house (or as she would put it, she lets me use 25% of my own home). I have provided nice sitting areas throughout for her to lounge, nap and look at the birds out the windows. I pet her and watch TV with her and even made sure my house had a nice covered patio because I know she likes to be outside. I told my realtor that no covered patio was a deal-breaker, just for Millie. I have had nothing but love for this sweet cat for the 10+ years I've owned her, thinking she was loving me in return. It turns out I'm just there to serve her while she mocks me. But I digress. Back to the litter box...

After I cleaned the box and put it back, I watched as she went up to the box, looked inside, sniffed around, and walked away. Then about a minute later, she did the same thing, turned around, and got in her "I'm going to pee now" stance on the rug outside of the litter box next to my wine/bar credenza. I quickly grabbed her and shoved her in the box, which she bolted from immediately. A few minutes later though, she came back and used the box as intended. Good kitty. However, something told me to check the rug. The rug is actually a piece of carpet with a mat underneath that also overlaps the very nice decorative rug that is under my bar cabinet. To my utter dismay, I discovered that not only were all three rug/mats damp, it was obvious that this has been a favorite peeing location of Millie's for several weeks. I moved the bar cabinet, yanked all of the rugs to the washing machine and threw away the piece of carpet. Millie watched all of this from a distance, as if she knew she had been busted. You see, I don't really have a sense of smell anymore... I probably couldn't smell a rotting corpse, so I certainly can't detect cat pee where it should not be. I am mortified to think that I've had guests over and they were too polite to comment that my whole house smelled like urine. I scrubbed and disinfected, and scrubbed and disinfected some more, all while giving my cat the evil eye, not that it does any good. A relaxing evening wasted. I missed So You Think You Can Dance, and I didn't even have time to paint my toenails, which was on my to-do list. Grrr.

Running update: Hills on Tuesday were good. Pretty decent crowd showed up. I took it kind of easy because of my neck, but I felt like I got a good workout. Did a stint on the elliptical this morning. Now I'm ready for our first running group social tonight.

Back on track

Running update: I ran for about 30 minutes last night, then did 20 minutes on my elliptical before settling in for the Bachelorette. Got up this morning and did another 40 minutes on the elliptical, and hope to do the hill workout tonight if the storms don't roll back in. My run felt good. Neck feels pretty good. The inflammation of the herniated disc is definitely not as bad as last week, in my unprofessional opinion. Really not taking meds regularly, unless I just want that nice loopy feeling for no reason...

Did I mention that I love my elliptical machine? Its a Sole E35 and well worth the money. So much better than going to a gym. I've never worked out in the mornings (except Saturday morning runs) because of the hassle of driving somewhere super-early, but now I don't have that excuse. Not that I plan to workout every morning...

Speaking of the Bachelorette, high drama at the end of the episode last night when she said good-bye to the basketball player. So now she has an orphaned lawyer, a single dad, and a ski bum to choose from. That show makes me laugh. Can't wait to see the reunion show. However, the funniest part of the evening was the extended commercial for the new "game show" called Wipeout. You better believe I'll be watching this every week. I was crying from laughing so hard, just at the previews!

Picture of the day: Me and my Goddaughter and her brother. My precious Goddaughter is at camp this week. I hope she is having a great time!

Woe is me...

So, I have a herniated disc in my neck (C6-7). Couldn't run over the weekend, and was pretty drugged up the entire time. I'm tired of the pain meds, muscle relaxants, and anti-inflammatories, so I've stopped taking them. My neck is still sore but not as bad a last week. A weekend of rest seemed to help, though it was very difficult for me not to do work around my house. Seems like there is always something that needs to be done. That's the OCD in me. Now I must focus on my job, because I didn't get a whole lot done last week. I'm going to try an easy run after work today, then settle in to watch the Bachelorette.

Picture of the day: My twin nephews! I love them to pieces!!

Running is cheaper than therapy

I have a t-shirt that says this. I believe it 100%. Life, work and personal, can be hectic and stressful, and might cause one to go crazy, hence the title of my blog. I'm very Type A and let alot of things get to me. Internalizing stress is not good. Running is one great way to relieve that stress. That's why I enjoy it so much. I might not enjoy the actual runs themselves, especially when its so hot and humid, but when I'm done, I feel such a sense of accomplishment, no matter the distance. Its nice to still feel a sense of accomplishment after every run even though I've been running many distances for many years. Running has changed and improved my life in so many ways, more ways than I care to share on the internet. Just take my word for it... I'm a better person because of running.

My running group, Houston Fit, starts hill workouts today. I've been looking forward to it, because not only does running relieve stress, it also burns alot of calories! Unfortunately, I'm not sure I'll be able to participate... I am having terrible neck pain and have little mobility this morning. Its never a good sign when muscle relaxants and pain medication have no effect. Some history - I have degenerative disc disease in my neck, and had surgery in 2003 to fuse my 5-6 vertebrae after that disc ruptured into my spinal cord. Talk about pain! My neurosurgeon told me I could never run or do impact aerobic activity again. Okay. No big deal since I wasn't a runner in 2003. I hadn't ever run more than 3 miles in a row at the time. But as I was healing from my surgery and weaning myself off of all the medication I was on, sitting around doing nothing for 9 months, I couldn't get it out of my head that he said I could never run. It suddenly became a challenge for me... never say never, right? So in 2004, I signed up for Houston Fit to train for the Houston half marathon. I promised myself that if my neck bothered me in any way, I'd stop. Pretty soon, every Saturday morning, I was reaching new running milestones... 6, 7, 8 miles... and I felt great. It was so exciting, and my family was very supportive and excited for me. I decided to forget about the half marathon and go for the full Houston Marathon in January of 2005. I achieved that goal (there is nothing like crossing the finish line of your first marathon) and have never looked back (you can check out my marathons to the right). My neck really hasn't given me any issues since then, until now. I'm very concerned. I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't run. I'd miss the exercise, and most of all, the friends I've made in the training group. That's what really gets me up at 5 am on Saturdays. Plus, I might go crazy and actually have to pay for therapy!

My doctor is actually stopping by my office this morning while he is in my building (its great working for a medical school!). My guess is he'll order some scans. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is just an "episode" and not another disc issue.

Told you there would be some drama and venting in my blogs...I'm just getting started :)

Really? I'm blogging?

Why I think anyone will be interested in my blog is a mystery, but here it goes. I have no idea what I'm doing. I read that of the majority of the millions of blogs out there, most go unread, by anyone. How sad and ego-deflating. Then again, alot of blogs are idiotic. I hope mine is not classified as that. Maybe one day my twin nephews and soon-to-arrive neice or nephew will read this and think Auntie Kiki is cool. Maybe my friends will find this a fun way to keep up with me. Maybe my family will be secretly praying that I don't post anything stupid or incriminating. Maybe my running friends will find my adventures interesting and relatable. Maybe no one will care. Stay tuned...