Puppy Pics.

The last full day in taos saw Stilwell run the Up and Over trail run. When we arrived at the start we saw a bumber sticker that said "Taos - A Four Letter Word Four Steep." Tom would now agree. He finished 11th out of 31 and was 2nd in his division (36 -45) and the first Houstonian. I ran maybe 15 or 20 minutes just hanging around. My quads were still tired from the 30 minute run the day before.

We hiked a half mile or so up the trail to see the racers coming down. We staked out a place right along a stream and Norman had a blast. One more dinner and maybe another trip to the river/hot springs.

An encouraging 30 min run today. Felt pretty good and then cooled the legs off in the river. Kent and I then hiked over to the hot springs where we alternated hot and cold on the legs. It was treacherous as we had to avoid the naked guy in the hot springs.

Tom has just found a 10k trail run to do in the morning and thankfully Becki has threatened to kill me and make me walk back to Houston if I do it. It starts at the Taos ski valley and gains 2612 feet in the first 3 miles, beginning at 9207 feet. The race is called the Up and Over Trail Run - as part of the New Mexico High Altitude Challenge. The pictures of Tom above are from yesterday's run along the gourge. He did an hour and ten. He just looked great upon completion, but the beer was good.

My quad is activating much better today. My run was not bad at all and I was actually running. It was hilly and the downs did not hurt as much as yesterday. After the run my quad seems even more engaged than before. Yay! I will try to post pics of the Hot Springs (without naked guy) once I get them from the camera to the computer.

A couple more pics to make it a running post. The hill seemed really steep while running it.

New Mexico is great. Stilwell is running a lot and doing whatever Kat tells him to do. I have done a good deal of hiking and a few runs. I was going to say "easy runs", but no run is easy right now. I would type a good entry, but the sun is shining so just some pictures.

Well August 9th was the surgery and I think it went fine. I started doing leg lifts while in the recovery bed coming out of anesthesia. The nurses were actually laughing at me while scolding me, but hey, the doctor said start as soon as you feel you can. I don't think the anesthesia wiped me out too bad and I remember most everything and my conversations. I was able to walk to the car and never had to use my crutches. Even so, Becki would not let me drive home. When we got home I walked around the driveway watering plants just to have something to do and to keep from stiffening up too much. I used the ice machine a lot and focused on keeping the leg very straight. The doctor said that the biggest problem was having your leg bent and then not being able to get it straight. I would sleep with it elevated and very straight. I think I am now having difficulty getting it to bend enough. There is no way I could a regular quad stretch.

I walked about a mile or so on Friday and started doing more of the quad exercises. It was amazing how the quad completely shut down, but it was also amazing how quickly it reactivated. It is still weak, but it does respond. Saturday We took Norman to the lake and I walked 2 miles on the levy. Sunday we went to the lake again and I did 2.5 miles along with 4 sets of the stairs/hill. I then managed a trip to the gym and 7 miles on the stationary, some easy waking, 15 minutes on the elliptical and then some leg extensions on the machine (very low weight). It was encouraging, but I still have a long way to go. This morning I got up with Becki and did 5 brisk walking miles at Terry Hershey Park with Becki and Marie. I am sure I slowed them down quite a bit. The knee hurts more when I look at it since the swelling is still there. The pictures are from Sunday, but it not any better looking today.

It does still feel like it can hyper extend and feels like it is about to give out sometimes. I guess that is normal. I am back at the office today and will work through Thursday (first PT is Thursday too). Friday I have my follow up with the surgeon (Dr. Michael Mann) and then we leave for our driving trip to New Mexico. Hopefully I will rehab very quickly in the nice mountain air.

Well, that is my surgery update. Boring and details for me to remember it by later when I get discouraged.

Holy Gadzooks doctors have a racket going. I had a physical done 2 months ago and now they have me go back for a pre-surgery screening. They repeated the same blood work and I made them skip the EKG, Chest xray and the "drop trou" exam. Dang thing was still $299. It feels like they found a way to do the "drop trou" exam without me even taking off the pants or bending over. At least it was $299 - just like the commercials where everything ends in 99. I mean $300 would be silly, but $299, ehhh, forgetaboutit.

I keep finding that I feel resentful when I see people out running. It is not a good or nice feeling.

I am off to Dallas for the weekend to the parental unit and sibling. That is a very clinical way to say mom, dad, and sis. I am really just rambling.

Football season is approaching. I am just not ready for it since football is so boring compared to closely following the Astros - insert sarcasm here. Speaking of football, I went to my first futbol game last Wednesday for the Dynamo v. D.C. United. It was a blast.

I have the surgery scheduled for August 9th. My knee is acting up ever since I did the bike ride. I need to stretch the hamstrings out, but they just tighten back up anyway. It s kind of like making the bed. I just mess it up again at night. Actually, it is usually messed up before I get back in the bed thanks to Norman and his daytime sleeping habits. I think he spends at least half of the day digging up the covers to see if there is a bone hidden in the bed. In honor of his bed messiness I will try to find a Norman picture. Pictures of Norman make me smile.