SAD (not the seasonal kind)

My parent's had no clue what they were in for when they adopted Rock Star five years ago. Scott and I had adopted Naomi 3 months before, and from that moment on my sister's and I joined forces to convince my parent's to adopt a greyhound as well.

Finally my mom caved in and said that she was OK with it if my dad agreed. All it took was a strategic phone call placed by my littlest sister Toni to my dad while he was in a meeting and the next day we were on our way to pick up Ima Rock Star (Rock Star for short).

They had no clue what they were in for. She came bounding out of the basement at full force, and on the drive home kept trying to climb into the front seat with us. Naomi lived with a foster family before we adopted her, but Rock Star had just been retired from the race track and was living in a rescue home. This was something that we forgot to tell my parents, but they found out soon enough. The next couple of days were filled with teaching her how to walk on a leash, not to be afraid of stairs/mirrors etc. My dad had to spend 2 weeks sleeping on the floor with her because she was so afraid.

It wasn't long before she became the "queen bee" of the family and started showing off her stuff. It took me a good two months to teach Naomi to sit, but my sister had Rock Star sitting, rolling over and playing dead within a day. She was such a great dog, and so, so nice.

Naomi and Rock Star on the look-out for squirrels....

Enjoying the retired life...
Rock Star had a stroke about a month ago. Apparently a chip broke off from a disk in her neck and traveled to her brain. The Vet told us that there was a 50/50 chance of her recovering, and put her on pain pills to ease her neck/back pain.

After that everything was kind of a downward spiral. There were many days where she would take one step forward, but then there would be 3 steps backward. And then she stopped eating steak. And she quit sleeping in my parent's room. She just couldn't move anymore.

This Tuesday I took her to the Vet and they ended up putting her to sleep. No one was expecting for it to happen that day, but the last thing our family wanted was for her to be in pain. I can't even begin to explain how sad it was to sit in that room, but I know it was even harder for my parent's to come home to an empty house without being greeting by a wagging tail at the door. It feels like we lost a family member, and Naomi lost her best friend.

I hope there really is a dog heaven, and I hope that Rock Star is running hard up there...

RIP Rock Star

Sinking in sand

This weekend was the Manhatten Park cross race. I have to say that coming off of a rest week and jumping straight into a cross race was harsh. Ok, cross is always harsh, but this time it was doubly so! I think every part of my body went into shock within 30 seconds. Not to mention I was emotionally drained. My parent's greyhound is really sick right now. It's so sad that I can't even talk about it, but let's just say that I spent the majority of my Saturday sitting on the landing with her and crying. Again, not optimal! But oh well, I was just racing for fun anyways.

And fun the course was-along with completely brutal. It seems like "fun" and "brutal" go hand in hand when jumping over barriers is involved...

I wanted to race in a Velo City jersey for at least one race this year and finally got my chance! They've been my bike shop sponsor for 3 years now and I couldn't do it without them. Though they probably wanted to ask for the jersey back once they saw me going over the barriers, ha ha!

I'm pretty sure this was "quick sand," as my bike felt like it was sinking with each lap...I figured out the key to getting across was to stay on the far left!

Oops...I mean right....

At this point getting off and running would have been quicker, but I was being completely stubborn. Zig-zagging through the sand seemed like a better option!

We had over 50 racers in our group, but I'm not sure what place I ended up. I changed my jersey right at the start line, and forgot to switch over my finish tag. Oh well. I know I was the first female across the line and I think 16th or 17th out of the guy's.

My friends Julie and Kelly came to cheer me over the barriers!

The Kisscross season finale is November 29th in Holland! I'm hoping for mud, and lot's of it!

Thank goodness it's Friday!

I am a huge fan of this weather lately. I keep find myself hoping that just maybe we will have a mild winter. As long as it's sunny I don't even care if it's cold out!

Yesterday I decided to take full advantage of the weather/rest week and took Naomi for an uber-long walk. She hasn't moved since. At least she's fashionable even when she sleeps :-)

Here's a sample of some of the footage that will be going into the Masher's Media Iceman DVD. It looks like they captured a few of the crashes...ouch!

PS. Don't forget the Kisscross race this Sunday. Hup, Hup!

Filler

This week is a rest week, so that's what I've been doing. I DID go out for a 1.5 hour spin yesterday, but I was mostly coasting. Right now the weather is so nice (50's and sunny) that I absolutely had to get out to enjoy it. Because I know what's right around the corner....

I also finally had my follow-up appointment with my Doctor. I was supposed to go last week, but conveniently scheduled it this week. Technically I wasn't lying when I said I was going out of town to Traverse City, I just didn't mention it was for a race!

Anyways, my Doc was really surprised at how much better my shoulder looked, minus the few bruises that are STILL there. She said after seeing me the first time, and then getting my MRI results, she was expecting to have to put me in some sort of (figure 8?) brace. But after seeing how much more mobility I have, she said just to keep doing what I've been doing. I guess it takes 6-8 weeks to completely heal, so I'm about half-way there!

The best part? She said that I could race cross this weekend! Yes! It's at Manhatten Park, which is always one of my favorite cross courses! Hopefully I'll get some pictures. I'm about as graceful as an elephant going over the barriers, and I'm sure it's going to be much worse now that I'm going to be carrying my bike with one hand :-)

It's probably a good thing that training is on the down-low for the next week or two. I am still finalizing sponsorship stuff for next year, and this blog needs a major makeover at some point. I've done over 15 races this summer, and there's not one result up!

In the meantime, here's a great article about 24 hour racing. Read it!

And I posted this on FB, but here it is again....a small glimpse of what Iceman is like!

PS. I should not be interviewed before races. I'm always so excited/nervous that I talk even faster then normal...ha ha!

MyNorth.com Video: Video: The Iceman Cometh Race Gets Perfect Day for 20th Year

Iceman and Chili

So once again, the Iceman cometh and wenteth. And I felt a lot of paineth.

Here's a recap...

I arrived Friday afternoon and found the Kenda tent completely swamped. I jumped in and helped Jim (marketing director and all-around good guy) sell merchandise for the rest of the day. It was fun and we sold A LOT of tires.

The pro men and women didn't start until 2:30 on Saturday. It was really nice being able to sleep in, but at the same time I was jealous of the people who were already done racing while I was warming up. We arrived at the start area pretty early. I was riding with a camera to get race footage for Masher's Media, and they had to set it up on my handlebars. They make the Iceman DVD, and I can't wait to see it!

My bike getting set-up...

And then it was time to line up. Our field was 40 deep and had a TON of great racers. It was pretty cool to see, and a true testament of what happens where there are equal payouts. We were supposed to start 30 seconds behind the pro men, but there was a big pile-up before they even got out of sight. It's never fun to see or hear that.

Finally we were off. The course was a bit longer this year, with at least a mile of road at the start and some added singletrack. We made it further then the pro men before anyone crashed, but at the first turn a girl went down and took a few others with her. I felt like half of my mind was in race mode, and the other half was in full "protect shoulder" mode. As a result, I hit the first bit of doubletrack in a HORRIBLE position, and the lead group broke off before I could even think about moving up.

Even though we were on mountain bikes, a lot of the race felt like a road race. It was windy out and I was in a group of about 20 women for a while. It was one giant pace line. Eventually it started to break up a bit. I stayed near the front which was smart because the few singletrack sections were pretty tight. Eventually our group whittled down to about 4, and it stayed that way until the end.

For a lot of the race I felt like I was almost riding along and spectating. Don't get me wrong, we were going fast, but my shoulder hurt enough that I couldn't get in a comfortable position. The course was also so bumpy that I also couldn't take my hands off of the handlebars to grab my water bottle. Ouch!!!

By the last mile we were down to 3 racers, and I was in a 29'er sandwich. Both of the women I was with stood up and started hammering and I just had to sit and spin my brains out. I can't wait until I can stand up again on my bike!

I ended up in 12th place. NOT a position that I normally would be happy with, but given the circumstances I am really happy that I was able to race. The nice thing about the Iceman is that there is always next year!

Here I am hanging out by the Kenda trailer. I noticed that I've developed a bad habit of holding the arm with my fractured shoulder...

The rest of the night was pretty mellow. Scott and I had a nice dinner with my team, stopped by the Bell's party, and then it was off to bed. We had a 6:00 a.m. wake-up call so that we could get back in time for the VCC chilly-chili ride.

Temps were in the 70's and lots of people showed up to ride....this was only half of the group
Most of the people were on road bikes, but there were some cross bikes too. Scott and I just grabbed our race bikes out of the truck and were good to go. I'm happiest on my mountain bike anyways...even on pavement.

After a good 46 miles of riding it was time for some serious eating, which I am a pro at doing...especially when it involves chili and cookies :-)

Mike announcing the winner....

Sadly it was not Scott. After a 3 year winning streak he finally got taken down. He may look like he's smiling in the picture below, but he cried like a baby all the way home :-)
I have next week completely off. Time for some serious rest and recovering! But just for the record, I can still be talked into fun coffee rides!

Ice Ice Baby

Yes, I have used this title before. Probably multiple times. But there are only so many different titles that I can come up with when it comes to the word ice!

I have to admit that up until now I haven't been thinking about the Iceman that much, because I've been busy, busy, busy since I've gotten up off of the couch. However, it was impossible NOT to think about the Iceman since I turned on the computer yesterday. My entire FB page was filled with comments about the race. It was all iceman, iceman, iceman, iceman!!!!!

This will be my first time riding trail since Peak to Peak. My legs are ready...my shoulder is not. For instance, I still can't stand up while riding my bike. Normally the longer the race the better for me but not in this case. My goal is to get to the finish line as quickly as possible because that's one last minute my shoulder has to be bumping around :-)

It's going to be interesting. And it's going to be fast. The women's field is bigger and more competitive then it's ever been. Wish me luck....because I'm really, really, really going to need it!

I will be calling in the results here after the race!

So now I know

I finally got my MRI results Friday night. Unlike my previous visits during the day, the hospital was completely empty and spooky. Boo!

It was pouring rain outside and I had the squeaky shoe effect going on. I'm sure the film room heard me coming long before I actually got there. "Oh no, it's that shoulder girl again..." It totally reminded me one of the Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes, where Larry David was annoying everyone with his squeaky shoes. Except since the hallways were empty the only person I was annoying was myself!

Anyways, the official diagnosis from my MRI is that I have a nondisplaced linear fracture through the distal left clavicle with surrounding soft tissue edema. I think I would have been a little bit more bothered by this diagnosis if I would have gotten it right after my fall. But it's already been 2 weeks, so I'm well on the road to recovery. For instance, I can actually put a ponytail in my hair again. That's progress my friends, PROGRESS! Plus, my physical therapist friends said that having a fracture is much better then having anything displaced or torn....phew!

So, even though I'm happy that I only have a fracture, I still have to face the fact that I have a fracture. I can move my arm a lot more, but it still hurts a bit. Scott and I decided to test it out on dirt roads on Sunday to see how it would feel for Iceman....

I wanted to ride on trails, but figured that giving my shoulder more time to heal would be smart. Plus, Michigan roads have so many potholes that I got a little off-road action anyways.

On our way home we stopped for a little coffee. I figured that calcium in large quantities is probably a good idea right now. And yes, that's me justifying multiple vanilla and chai latte's a day!

Riding home I had to be careful not to hit any bumps. I was transporting very important cargo!
I won't be doing much riding for the rest of the week. Our field at Iceman is the most competitive I've ever seen it. We have close to 40 racers, including a former World Champion and the current National Champion. And countless other fast racers. To tell you the truth, I'm not nervous at all. I'm just so, so happy that I can race my bike. Ironically enough I'll be racing in Traverse City exactly 3 weeks to the day of my fall where I spent my afternoon in the Traverse City hospital. Go me :-)