More recent adventure in the Windy City!

Guess where I'm at.....

Well, if you've been following my blog with any semblance of consistency, you might be able to gather that I love me some Chi-town! I bonded early with the city of Chicago because the weekend I turned 13 my Mom wisked me away and we conquered all that Chicago had to offer in a weekend's time! We stayed in an older hotel downtown, shopped at Bloomingdales, Macy's, the Magnificient Mile, etc..I got my makeup done, we saw Cabaret at the Shubert, went on a river tour and walked everywhere! It was awesome, and made quite an impression on the young Shelby.

Well, my love affair just continued with the city as we visited cousin's and saw the brutal windy, cold version on my perfect city. And finally, October 11, 2009 sealed the deal. I ran the streets for 26.2 miles in the Chicago Marathon. If I could live anywhere, I'd love to live in an apartment/loft downtown and have TONS of money to spend...:) Having prefaced with all that, allow me to share my most recent tour de Chicago...

Our first night, just walking around....love that river!

I took 2 students and 1 parent to the Windy City to attend FCCLA's (Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America) National Leadership Conference. We spend 5 nights at the Hyatt Regency with about 6,000 other youth from around the country which translates to: impossibly packed elevators, ridiculous lines and mass hysteria (at times..).

View from the top of the Hancock building, beautiful, clear morning!
Gold Coast...could be my favorite part ;)
The girls listening to the Audio Tour atop the Hancock. David Schwimmer gave the guidance and entertainment of the tour.
Looking back from the beach, you can see The Drake! I didn't know my phone camera was set on black and white, but I kinda like it.
All these pictures were taken from my new phone: MyTouch 3G Slide from T-mobile.

Pretty sweet little guy, GREAT Camera! 5 megapixels, 1.4x zoom.
I'M ON A BOAT! with a helicopter on the back..this was just one of the many wonders of Navy Pier on 4th of July night as FCCLA owned the Pier and had our own private party off the back of it! There were entertainers, a huge dance, yummy food, lots of popcorn and cotton candy, and ofcourse, fireworks!
This pic barely reveals the MASSIVE amounts of people cramming into McCormick Place for the main sessions!
We HAD to eat at Gino's East! soo great!

Did a little tour of the Field Museum..saw some mummies...got a little bored...

I was in charge of all places to eat, not a huge surprise to anyone, but Carnivale was a MUST because.....
TA DA!!! Delicious, and don't worry, I shared;)

The final night was the Gala, where we celebrated FCCLA's 65th Anniversary and danced the night away:)
We had to pose like the Blues Brother's...
This was a life-sized cut out of a mobster that I really liked. I took a picture of this and sent this quote to friends, "I believe ya, but my Tommy-gun don't!" name that movie?! _____________

That ends the adventure...I hope you could enjoy Chicago, my way;)

What an adventure...

Hello friends!

I'm sorry I'm such a spastic blogger, but I'm back--and have quite a story for you!

The Characters:

Meet Jenny...
Looks outdoorsy, adventurous, capable of holding her own in a tough situation...

Meet me (more recent pic:)
Smiley, goofy, brings humor to any situation:) Or makes light of sticky situations..

Together, we look like we know a little bit of what we're doing in the Great Outdoors:

Well friends, looks can be deceiving....

Our story begins on Saturday around 11AM. We had discussed earlier, but decided to reschedule, renting canoes from KSU Rec. Services and going from Manhattan to St. George on the Big Blue. Jenny and I asked a group of friends to come and celebrate my birthday (on Wednesday, June 30) early on the muddy waters of the riva! Well, it was a busy weekend, and we decided to go it alone. After swapping cars with a one B. Smoller we raced to the Rec and said, "hey, those red (the color of the DEVIL!) kayaks look fun, and we can each have our own, let's do that!" The strapping young lads at the rec hoisted them on to Beth's car, strapped them in, and we were off. After a bit of car juggling, we put in at the Big Blue. Now, we had seen people put their canoes/boats in this river, but I had never seen which direction they went after that initial put-in. Brace yourself because this next part if going to sound utter ridiculous: we went the wrong way!! I know, I know, RIDICULOUS! But, to our defense, there wasn't a current, so we just happened to end up going UPSTREAM! But again, to our defense, we were going with the wind, so we just put the 2 together (wind +water=stream...) and paddled our happy selves all over that nasty river. Let me say this too, the Big Blue is a lazy guy! It doesn't really flow and in fact felt very swampy, marshlandy at times with cotton floaties, and sticks, debris of all kinds just kinda sitting around on the surface. Ok, so it's been 2 hours and 45 minutes and we start to get into really shallow water and see some dudes hanging out on this river bed area near a bridge. So...as we approach, we are addressed by the first human we've seen in quite some time, "Hey, you girls know you're going upstream?" Jenny responds, "Uh, yeah, hey, is this St. George?"
Dude, "St. George is 9 hours that way (pointing in the direction we had just COME FROM!)"
Us, "What?! and then LOTS of laughter followed...." and then......

Me, "AHhhhhhhh, OH MY GOSH! UGH! DOUBLE UGH! AHAHAHAHAHAHA"
And then, something amazing happened: we actually felt the current, pushing us the OTHER way. Stupid River. Time check: 5:15PM
Important side note: My Birthday Party was scheduled to start at 7PM at my house. And there wasn't any food bought/prepared for the event....yet.

So, we turn around, and are struggling! We both are incredibly tired, and feel incredibly discouraged! Jenny, the IronWoman that she is, did P90X Back, triceps and chest DVD, Mowed the lawn and was now kayaking. I entered our adventure with a really sore back from a weed-pulling related injury..:)
Needless to say, speed wasn't really an option. Oh, I should also mention that the "tail wind" that we thought was awesome on the way to our destination, it was a MOTHER B on the way back to where started! If we paused to take a drink of water or rest, the wind would push us back. Which just led to lots of screaming and moaning/wailing from me and calling for help from the river.
Another important side: we don't have any form of technology with us. No compass, no cell phone, nuthin! We didn't want them to get wet and ruined, and we both have SMART phones...just maybe not SMART operators all the time..

The plan--paddle back to Big Blue put-in. Get out of water with DEVIL kayaks. Stupid things. I stay with them while Jenny runs along Linear to our house, get her car, call male-friends for help with a pick up because there wasn't any way we'd be able to lift those bloody kayaks, come back and get me!

And we're off, DOWNstream, (which is just a word, it was still work) all the while trying to figure out how much longer, and what time it was-I did have my watch, when we had a stroke of genius! We thought we were close enough for Jenny to get on Linear closer to our house, hook her kayak to mine, I paddle to boat ramp, she gets a running head start, I stay with the devil boats. We pull over, use the life jacket for it's intended purpose-NOT SAFE! and hook it to my boat, she scales a dirt cliff whilst trying not to fall, and I'm trying not to laugh and get's to the top and I hear: "uh oh."
I call up to her: "what do you see?" Jenny: "a big field"
Me: what kind of crop?
Her: "a green one."
me: "How big is it?"
Her: "Up to here" (holds her hand to her chest)
me: "That's corn!"
Her: "I can't run through that...I have NO idea where we are..."
Me: "Welp, let's just keep going"
She comes down without falling, me again, trying not to laugh. TIME CHECK: 6:30PM We start to wonder who's worried yet...

We continue DOWNSTREAM..hooked together. I'm going to spare you the details, but let's just saw an "odd couple" type dispute took place as we spat back and forth at each other to "UNDO it, no you undo it, just reach behind you, no you come forward and do it. AH Jenny! pull over..."
It went like that.
TIME CHECK: 6:40PM
Silence.
Moaning, panting, ugh!

We start to throw around ideas for a plan: maybe we'll hitch-hike home, it's just Manhattan, it's not that far...maybe we can borrow someone's cell phone at the parking lot. Who we gonna call? (Ghostbusters!) Well, the only number Jenny knew was the Bistro...and I knew nothing. Worthless.
It's just around the bend.
Another bend.
Can you see the bridge? Almost there....
Ahhh we paddle with POWER now, I can see it! Time check: 7:15PM (party started), get out of the water, Jenny goes off on foot running (Don't leave me here!) in Teva's, swimsuit and wet with muddy river water. I pull those blasted boats out of the water, wrestle the crap out of them, kick 'em a bit, and go up to wait in the parking lot. I wanted to be visible on the off-chance the birthday party was now renamed to Search-Party...20-ish minutes later...I'm standing there and see a red car pull in and low and behold it IS a Search Party!! Camala runs over to me, "are you okay! What are you doing! Give me a hug!" Me: "ahh, ah, (tears) I'm gross from the river, oh you came for me!"
Camala, Ryan and Nate were leading the search party while Jo, Katie and Rachel manned home base.
Ryan and Nate in unison: "Where is your phone? Where is your car? Where is your PHONE?! Where is your car?!" Me: I'm sorry!
Camala: Where's Jenny?
Me: She's on foot, on the trail!
Nate: I'll go get her!
Me: She's running, she's far now.
Nate: Well crap!
Camala: Get in, let's go get her! Guys stay with kayaks. I'll come back with truck for you!

We hunt for Jenny, who has made it remarkably close to home, drenched in sweat, feet bleeding and raw from running in Teva's almost starts crying when she sees us waving out the windows. We get her in the car and are met outside my home-base crew with smiles and, "I'm so glad you're okay."
We hug, and then...FOOD!
Rachel: Ok, we were thinking sandwiches, what do you guys want?
Me: pizza! and beer! and cake! and ice cream! yummmm!
Rachel and Jo: ok, we'll take care of it, you guys SHOWER;)

Eventually boys came back with boats and beer. Pizza was delivered. Rachel made a beautiful cake

Chocolate Banana cake surrounded by chocolate covered strawberries paired with Vanilla Ice cream...perfect post-6 hour kayaking expedition:)
After a couple of brews, lots of recapping of the experience from every perspective it was a PERFECT Birthday party! I loved laughing about it afterwards and I felt so so so loved by my dear friends that came for me and rescued me:)
Joslyn was a great post-trauma hugger too:)

I just want you guys to know that I had trouble falling asleep that night because I couldn't stop smiling because I loved how things ended! I was sorry to worry you guys, but thanks for caring so much:)

ahh, it's even great to relive via blogging;) I hope you enjoyed the tale! :)

That's all for now!

Pictures of Middle School track days...

End of season coaches pic...
Me and Kelsey: wait! what are we doing with our hands? crossing arms? in front of us? leaning?
Travis, Mari, Kelsey, Me, Shane. OR: head coach, relay/jumps coach, discus coach, shot-put coach, and distance coach.
Last meet, Kelsey and Special K--rocks the throws:) and me.
Me: KICK LINE! everyone else: "wait! What? How do we? what err..., etc..."
Me laughing at Shane's miraculous ability to know how to do the kick line...
Just bigger versions of the middle-school children..obviously...
RUN FASTER 4x400 relays! :) had to show our support on BOTH straight-away's...

:)

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

Time to make a change, ch-ch-ch-changes: not a fan. I know, I know, that makes me sound like an old scrooge, but what can I do? Shifts in my circumstances are not welcome. I have never been in an earthquake, but I imagine that the ground starts a slow steady vibration with some spikes of intensity and then the surface starts to shake and bounce. Then, before you know it, the vibration has turned into full shifting and actual quaking, and soon your legs are moving around with the ground. Also, I should mention that in my imagination, I picture this to be really unpleasant and free from thrills or excitement.
Okay, so now I should bring this back to me. SOMETIMES changes in my life feel like that. They scare me. They make me want to run and hide out until it's over and passes by. I don't know what it is that makes me literally want to run for the hills, but the creeping up of it as it moves over me is not my favorite.
I know this all sounds really dramatic, and that's how it feels sometimes. So the things that are different or are changing now: done coaching middle school as of last night. I'm sad about it. Yes, it was super time consuming, and yes, it was overwhelming and at times really frustrating, but it was also so fun! Those little puppy-dog goobers were a breath of fresh air after dealing with angst-ridden-full-blown-TEENAGERS! They would bound up to me after getting off the bus at the high school and just stand there waiting for me to smile or acknowledge them. Then after a simple, "hello," the barrage of stories from the day's adventures would come pouring out of their mouth. Before I could even begin to wrap my mind around one tall-tale, another young-pup would begin his/her onslaught of adventures! Then, I would slowly close my eyes, take a deep breath, throw my head back and just smile and chuckle for these play-things that were enraptured by me! It's quite humbling to think that quite often middle-schoolers just want to walk with you. They just want to boast about how awesome they are and what new thing they learned about or discovered at school that day. To complete the puppy-ensemble would be my favorite: their bodies growing out of proportion with themselves. Often times, big feet reach me before a springy adolescent can stand upright. One day a pup might be at eye-level, and within a blink of an eye, they're looking down on me.
As their coach, these encounters made me laugh. I loved watching them grow and get better at stuff through the season. Last night was our last meet. I watched a girl throw the shot put with correct technique 12 feet further than she did in the beginning of the season! I mean, that, my friends, is an accomplishment. Also at our meet last night I happen to glance over just in time to see a 7th grade girl with the spirit of a 6-year-old bound up to me to tell me her latest accomplishment prefaced with, "COACH MUHA!!! (pause for me to put my pointer-finger over my lips to quiet her down, just a bit..) I just threw 29 FEET!" This exclamation was followed by jumping up and down and me smiling and saying, good job, now go for 30! That and MANY other excitements and accomplishments followed the rest of the night. As we left the track last night with 2 first place finishes, 1 2nd place and another one that I didn't quite catch all of us coaches were bonded. We stood awkwardly for a picture, not sure what to do with our hands, but we were smiling! We had laughed at the familiar jokes from the kids, screamed until our voices cracked and by-golly we had bonded!
I am sad track season is now over. I'm not sure how to get back into my former-life. What am I going to do now after school? I had thought of this time as short, intense and glad when it'll be over. Now, I'm going to miss the little guys:) They definitely leaped and bounded and puppy-licked with their stinky breathe in my heart. (figuratively, of course!)
So, changes, I see you there. I see you just coming right along, Seniors will be gone in 2 more days and then what? I will be sad again. Summer I'm glad you're coming and when kids are hard and mean and rude, and everything else, I'm glad you're nearby...but....

Until next time....
Go Falcons!

Try to make me go to rehab...

But I said no, no, no...

I FINALLY know what Amy Winehouse was singing about...err, wait a second...my rehab isn't for substance abuse--whew! For the last 6-7 weeks I've been visiting my favorite lo-cal for physical activity AND physical therapy--none other than Maximum Performance. I already was a frequent visitor of XP, as it's known to the locals, for my 5:45AM cycling class on Tuesday and Friday mornings, but for awhile now I've added something else. Let me back track a bit...end of September-ish 2009 I'm at the peak of intensity for marathon training and logging upwards of 30+ miles a week. That doesn't sound like that much, but for the novice runner it's A LOT! I started to get pain on the outside of my knee that was really limited my knee-swing mobility while running. It was pretty intense while running and just hurt all the way up the outside of my leg post-run. I was concerned, but figured it was like other aches and pains, something that must be pushed through. Well, IT-band pain is described below:

The iliotibial (IT) band is a tough group of fibers that run along the outside of the thigh. The gluteal muscles and the tensor fascia lata muscle attach to the top, and the lower part attaches to the tibia, just below the knee. It functions primarily as a stabilizer during running and can become irritated from overuse. Runners will usually describe pain on the outside part of the knee or lower thigh, often worsened by going up or down stairs, or getting out of a car.

Allow me to refer to my diagram above: the circle was the site of immediate pain--felt mostly RIGHT after my 18 mile long run one Saturday morning. That run was awesome, no pain, steady pace, great ride a-long friend, (read: Beth!) in a word: perfect! After that run during my mile-logging of Monday-Friday the pain on the outside of my knee was killing me. I tried to change my foot-strike, pick up my pace, run on gravel, nothing helped. It intensified and was almost unbearable during my following week 20 mile run. Being the novice that I was, I didn't know any better and pushed through. In my mind I needed to run the 20 miler to feel confident that I could even finish the 26.2 miles come race day. Well, it was brutal and thanks a N. Parker we pushed through that, got done, and was quite wobbly-hobbly for the rest of the day. I was confined to the couch and just rested for the majority of the day. So, tapering helped but my pain was intensifying. Fast forward: race weekend, Chicago October 9-11, 2009. Intense pain, muscle joint, weariness, not feeling great at all! Trying to stay positive, because after all, I was in Chicago and by golly I WILL finish this dang-thing!
Race day: BRUTAL. COLD. PAINFUL. FINISHED!
Post race: time-off until Nov. 1, 2009. Began running again, low mileage to maintain fitness. Started to train again for a 1/2 marathon in April. Began to feel sharp hip pain after the runs. It was at times hard to stand up straight, hard to bend to the side. Really intense.
Decision: Time to get physical therapy...or at least investigate what that would look like.
Spring Break: try out a free session at XP and see what's up and what I need to do.

Turns out, this guy in the middle: MEB, aka: elite runner, Olympic Silver Medal winner in Athens, yeah, we have the same injury! Issues/weakness in our tensor fascia lata, which lies in the front/side of my right hip.
You see the connection between the IT-band and TFL...really closely connected and in my case: weak! The area is about the size of the adult thumb on me and it's just small enough, but when overworked can cause such pain. It was clear to see how weak this area of my hip was, I could barely hold my right leg up in the air when hardly pushed on.
When I started rehab I was feeling emotionally and physically defeated. I thought my running days were over and that I royally jacked myself up my running that Marathon until completion! Therapy has been hard because it's a slow road back when the TFL can get inflamed and overworked (by me) really easily. At times it feels touch and go, and I'm learning as I go.

Through physical therapy I've learned how important lateral movements are while training and total body strengthening is vital! I've learned some new movements, improved my balance and gotten to know the people that perform soft tissue, ice and ultra-sound on my very personal hip area twice a week! Insecurity has been checked at the door and I've had to put all my body-issues aside and really focus on strengthening my TFL and upper gluteal muscles in front of watching/supporting eyes! I know it's silly, and I'm no pro-by ANY means, but I really feel supported by this team of 3-4 people at Maximum Performance that are trying to get me back on the road, carefully, slowly and injury/pain free! I thought my running days were over--but I think its possible to come back better, and smarter...it just takes time and patience and vision for the future.
The greatest challenge of PT has been patience and grace for my body. I really want to push myself at times and just GET BETTER! but, it's not that easy. I've seen myself gain a few pounds because of a lack of calorie-burn from those miles every week and ya know what: that's just a part of it. I think that in my current place in life right now I don't have the mental capacity to abuse myself for gaining weight. Because that's really what happens inside of me. So, gained a few. I'm leaving it at that. There has also been those times where just LIFE interferes with my rehab. I don't have the time to get in, or I make the time to get in to XP and other things suffer: late for work! insufficient planning time, or just a general sense of the LONGEST days ever and scrabbling until around noon-ish... I had this realization as to why there are so many elderly people in physical therapy, because it's finally when they are old(er) and retired that they have TIME to get rehab work done! Ok, I know I'm exaggerating, but kinda feels like that sometimes...

I realized that this is a really long post now (if you're still with me: you rock!), so it's time to wrap up. I ran .5 mile twice last week with little pain, not none, but better! It wasn't easy to get back on the road, but it's a start. Tomorrow I'm going to try 1 mile and see how I feel after.

If you find yourself in the rehabilitation wheel--just keep spinning along, because every run (exercise/weight lifted/balance found/sit-up/push-up, the list goes on..) is a victory!

:)

-Love, Shelb

Staycation, St. Pat's and so much more!

Hi all!

It's been so long blogging world, yet I hope all is well! You are finding me hump-dayed of my Spring Break 2010 holed up in Manhattan! This Spring Break is going quite well and has been a good mix of hang-out time with good friends, time and space for me, and getting stuff done, and relaxing--and we're only 1/2 way! :)
Spring break recap (read: staycation)
Saturday's 32 Annual St. Pat's 10k-
Why don't you rotate for me picture? anywho: Beth and I gathered at Acme gift in Aggieville to store our winter woolie-warm clothes so they wouldn't hold back our speed! It was quite chilly that day, maybe 40-ish with a mighty north wind! The first 2.5 miles were uphill and into the north wind pretty steadily. Beth and I ran together and just chugged right along. It was a nice casual pace and felt pretty good, nice a relaxed for me. I was coming off a low-back strain that happened sometime the week prior, so going slow was good for it. We finished just over an hour- 1:01. I always love flying by people at the end, keeping enough kick to really excelerate right by them-best part!
After the race we enjoyed some AJ's pizza--could be my 2nd favorite pizza establishment in Manhattan. Second only to Bluestem Bistro ;) (free plug)
Sunday night ate some yummy sushi and hung with my other half-separated from birth (Jenny-funny girl!) We laughed, lounged, sipped red wine and watched Julie & Julia-so cute!
Monday--ahh, sleeping in! errands, eating yummy food-at home! watched movie with Parkers! We watched Hurt Locker--which was good, another war movie around Iraq, different twist, but really nothing amazing-was kinda disappointed because it won Best Picture this year.
Tuesday--5:45AM cycle baby! Ain't no wussies up in 'har! Then, eventually went on a little retreat with Mars, and Jenny G.
We gathered at this Inn, outside of Manhattan and sat and talked for a couple of hours, shared some stuff, then had some time reading. It was really nice to get outside city limits and look into the woods, enjoy someone else's establishment, and have focused time. I'm not very good at focused time at all--carving it out is a challenge and honoring that time is even more of a challenge.
I had decided that a retreat would be nice to focus on priorities and thinking about what I value. If you ask anyone who knows me they would agree that exercise, nutrition and fitness are pretty important to me personally, and running has taken priority the past year.
Which leads us to today....

Today, Wednesday, was my first appt. with a physical therapist to look at and diagnose my right hip. My right and left IT bands are really tight and since the marathon my right hip has not been able to recover fully. It's marketedbly weaker than my left hip and when I run it kind of collapses and so my stride compensates and creates pain. Even as I write this right now, I realize I'm writing it for me as a way to process. But I feel encouraged because I have a clear path of treatment: no running for a little while, get in to the PT, work on getting inflamation down, learning strenghtening exercises, and get my hip up to par so I can handle to stress of running distances again! It also means that I can say a def. yes, or no in this case to upcoming races. So, Abilene 1/2 marathon on April 10th, have to say no to you for now. But, I will be patient, and we might meet again next year. I do plan on going out there and riding alongside friends and being their portable PIT-CREW! :)

So, here we are: Wednesday afternoon, ready to attack some Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred--bring it girl! ;) I hope you are enjoying your week, no matter what it looks like!
Oh, and BTDubya--have you seen the forecast for Saturday? high of 35 and 2-4inches of SNOW?!?! what the hey??!

Have a grrrreat day friends! So long for now!

Shelb

AWKWARD!

Ok, KSU game is on soon, but until then I'm watching a DVR'd Bachelor...holy moly--so awkward! AND, Jake himself has said it this time, several times....geesh! They are in San Francisco, and the city looks amazing. It really makes me long for clear blue skies, brightly colored plants, deep green trees--ahhh, where is Spring? My mind is dreaming of Spring break--and how fun it would be to travel--warm beaches, sun!

And, now they could be kissing on this boat, and it's so uncomfortable--I hear the crab from the Little Mermaid echoing, "kiss 'da GIRL!" come on Jake!

Sorry if this isn't fun for all you non-Bachelor watchers!

Ok, gotta get ready for some Wildcat action against Nebraska--come on boys!:)

Time to chat!

Hi friends,

I'm SOO sorry it's been so long! Geesh--posting after so long has so much anticipation is adding some pressure. But, then I'm watching the Bachelor (on the wings of love...) and Jenny and I just add some essential commentary.
Let's see....recently Maris, Jenny and I threw a baby shower for the lovely Katie Parker! She's gonna have a bay-bay here reeeaaaalll soon! (like 4 weeks!?)


We throw quite a party:) We (Maris, Jenny and I) were REALLY excited about the food, but more excited about our sweet combo gift...The AWESOME diaper cake that Maris made by hand from scratch:) It looked awesome and I think that she should sell them!
Really love this onsie...good for Natron and the reading and such...
Katie's friend Emily and baby were so cute/fun/awesome/funny! Loved meeting her and hanging out!
Oh, another update: training has commenced for a 1/2 marathon that will be on April 10, 2010 in Abilene...let's go for a run Mr. Eisenhower! :)

Ok, the comment I make the most watching this show (the Bachelor) is, "OH gosh....sooo awkward!" and then we laugh!

Well, more to come soon! LOVE me some MARS:)