Enforced Training Break

Had a little medical issue come up this week which necessitated suspending training for a short time. A temporary setback, but not one I'm worried about.

Giveaway: Skeezix's Feline Fashionista Package

• A "I Know I'm Fabulous" t-shirt
• A hot pink boner blankie
• A hot pink fether boa 
• Skeezy shades with hot pink lenses
• A Hello Kitty handbag 
• Skeezix boxer shorts (with or without eau de Skeezix)

CLICK HERE for details on how to enter. A $5 donation buys you a chance at this fabulous prize.

CONCATS to Rosie and Cheeto, winners of this great prize!

JULY 9: 6 miles

I took the plunge and cut out an area of my pink NBs to accomodate my bunion:

Alas, although the MTP joint is pain-free, I experienced the old pain running up the big toe today. So I reeeeally hope the custom orthotic will help. 

Poison Oak is turning red all over the park: 

It's quite pretty. Look but don't touch!


One thing that really pisses me off is the trend of dog owners in the park going to the trouble of bagging Rover's waste, but then leaving the bag on the trail. WTF?

I saw one vishus deer, and a pretty moth who was a very accomodating model:

Today's ascent: 1922 ft.
Today's descent: 1875 ft.

I'm going to try a long walk tomorrow, maybe a 10-miler.

8 JULY: Cross Training: Weights/Cardio 90 mins

I thought Coach Tasty Face wouldn't be doing a workout this afternoon cuz he swam this morning and has a meet Sunday (I get to be his cheerleader!), but turns out he wanted to do weights, so I went to the gym with him. It was a good choice, because the blister could use a day of rest.

We do 3 flavors of weight workouts: light weights/high reps, med weight/med reps, and the heavy weights/low reps. Today was heavy weight, low reps. I was a little preturbed at a few women there who seemed to think it was okay to park their heinies on the equipment and talk on the phone while we were waiting for them to finish. Maybe they were just hypnotized by the brilliant blue-white glare from Coach TF's very shiny white legs.

It was a brutal workout. I gave it my all and am sitting here now bemoaning the fact that we do not have a jacuzzi. And an in-house masseuse named Sven.

Back in the Saddle Again: 5 miles

I took my new foot out for a spin this evening and threw everything I could at it, taking the trail that goes straight up bigass hill. The foot emerged unscathed and pain free. YAY! Hopefully, the combination of the cortizone shot and a custom orthotic will do the trick. I don't care if my foot completely collapses on October 4th, as long as I get thru the walk.

One thing that did not work out as well tonight was my shoes. Because of my deformed foot, I found an antique pair of Nikes and got out the X-acto knife and cut a hole where the joint is, so my foot can stick out. Here's what it looks like:

The concept is great -- I'm working up the courage to do surgery on either my Merrells or my NBs -- but the rubber in that old pair o' shoes has oxidized so much that there's no cushioning left, and my good foot ended up with a blister. So I had an excuse to slap on one of Band-Aid's new blister bandages (WHICH ARE AMAZING). I might end up euthanizing the Nikes which grievously pains the hoarder within me.

Love the oak trees on this trail:

My gnew enemy: gnats!!!! There were swarms of them.
 
Posting photos tmrw.

Distance: 5 miles
Time: 1 hr, 25 mins
Climb: +2,237ft / -2,201ft

The top of bigass hill is now all browned up:

FIVE BUCK FRIDAY Giveaway

SKROLL DOWN FOR NEW POSTS!!!!

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO NOON PDT JULY 5TH
Due to some contributors having problems submitting the online forms on the Susan G Komen site, the deadline has been extended to noon on Monday, July 5th.

For a sneek peek at the next fabulous giveaway (which begins July 5th at noon PDT), click here.

I suck at fund razing. I have a goal of raising $3000 for my breast cancer walk, but so far, I'm almost $2500 behind.

So I had an idea.

As a special thank-you-for-donating gift, each cat or person who makes a $5 donation this week will be entered in a drawing for a fabulous prize.

That's right. Between now and Monday (7/5), I'm offering my readers and friends the exclusive opportunity to win a custom pet portrait (examples above) created by me. It can be a cat portrait or a dog portrait and yeah, I can probably do ferrets, buns and rodentia as well. (I've had many good opportunities lately to study rodentia, thanks to Tripper.)

Details:

Size: 6-in. X 6 in. X 1-1/2-in.
Substrate: 10-oz natural cotton duck stretched canvas on heavy duty frame.
Profile: Gallery profile (wrapped and painted sides)
Medium: Mixed media. Acrylic base (Golden acrylics) adorned with beads and ephemera as appropriate.
Finish: Winner's choice of satin or gloss finish.
Description: Mixed media portrait that combines classic portraiture with collage and other mixed media. One pet per portrait.
Upgrade: After you win, if you'd like to donate an additional $25, you can upgrade to a 8" X 8" portrait featuring up to two pets.

Here's how you can enter for your chance to win:

• Go to the my Susan G Komen donation page, and donate $5 or more. More is better, but $5 is great. For each $5 you donate, you'll get an entry in the prize drawing. For every $25 you donate, you get an extra entry (6 instead of 5) as a bonus.
• Entry deadline: noon PDT on Monday 5 JULY.
• Winners will be announced Monday afternoon, along with a new giveaway.
• Having trouble donating online? Click here for a form you can mail in. (Then email me [karen **AT** catster **DOT** com] with your donation amount so I can get you entered in the drawing.)

Your donation goes directly to Susan G Komen, and is eligible for a tax deduction.

Money's tight? You can spread your payments out over four months.

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!!!!

The winner will also get
their very own Flat Skeezix,

with a pawtograph on the back!

So what are you waiting for? Hock up $5 like a hairball for your chance to win!

Thank you.

JULY 4th: Sick Day

Had a bad reaction to a new medication, which hit about 10am and sent me to bed for the rest of the day. No fireworks, no fun, no nuthin. Skeezix was a very good nurse, and slept on my neck.

JULY 3rd: Rest Day

Sore enough from Coach TF's bootcamp weights workout that I needed to take a rest day.

So instead, I researched kyoot owtfits our team could wear on the walk (see above).

JULY 2: 90-min bootcamp (weights and cardio) with Coach Tasty Face

I wasn't going to work out today, but Jeff shamed me into it (thanks, honey!)

The gym won't let you work out in flip flops (the only thing I can wear that doesn't kill my foot), so I took a decrepit antique pair of Nikes and cut out a hole where the MTP joint is. I look like an okie, but it works pretty well.

The abscess does not seem to be growing much as I first expected it would, so I might be able to avoid ER this weekend. Which is good, because when I was admitted to the hospital a few years ago with my butt boil, they took WAAAY too many Polaroids of it, all of which, I'm pretty sure, were posted to a butt boil fetishist website. I don't mind so much if the photos were posted online, I just would like a cut of the action.

JUN 30, JUL 1: Nada

In addition to the foot pain and knee pain, I now have an abscess on my inner thigh (email me if you want to see photos), which hurts like hell when I rub my legs together. I do have a podiatrist appt. on Tuesday, to figure out the game plan for my foot. Hoping I won't have to go to ER over the holiday weekend for the boil. Also hoping the foot doctor will be able to shoot me up with prednisone or something that does not involve surgery.

This does not mean that completing the walk is in jeopardy. I know I can make it even with the foot pain; I'm just making sure that doing so won't cause irreparable damage.

It sucks getting old and having parts wear out and fall off. I need to hire someone to walk around behind me with a dustpan and a bottle of Scotch.