"Winter Time", Post Canyon Injuries, and Other Random Thoughts

My plan after the Canyon was to jump right back into my routine. Well that hasn't happened yet and it's a bit discouraging. 4 years ago I dislocated my knee cap. It loosed the tendons and ligaments around my knee cap so bad that my knee cap sat a half inch to the right from where it should have been. I went through physical therapy, which worked pretty well, but now and again especially after something strenuous it flares back up again. So after my hike I'm back in my knee brace and know I can't get back to my regular TKB, Zumba, or ST until it feels better. My toe nail is also still turning purple -- but is feeling a little better, though I still can't wear close toed shoes which is also preventing me from any sort of fitness. GRRRR. I'm thinking swimming some laps at the gym pool might be a good idea but between work, halloween stuff, and home life I just need to find the time. I know I shouldn't make excuses I should just do it! Maybe after my errands tonight I'll go take care of that :)

ouchie :(


Yesterday in typical Arizona weather fashion the temperature dropped 30 degrees. Most places get "Fall weather" well we don't. It goes from 90 to winter over night. So yesterday when I woke up and it was 48 degrees out (cold for us thin blooded desert dwellers) I was like WOAH okay winter is here YAY! So last night hubby and I decided it was the perfect night to make a batch of home made chili and curl up on the couch for some movie time (Transformers 2). We went to the store to get all of our chili ingredients and I was very frustrated with the canned tomato selection at Albertson's. Did you know they don't stock the "no salt added" tomato products?? WTH is that about? Even Wal-Mart carries them! So rather than racking up the sodium with the canned tomatoes we decided to just use fresh tomatoes along with the organic kidney, pinto, & black beans, plus extra lean ground turkey, corn, & jalapeno peppers (we like it spicy). It was soo mmm mmm good and really hit the spot on a "cold" night (cold for us anyways LOL)

Not the "standard" chili but it was still delicous and healthy!


Now that the Canyon is behind me I'm thinking of what I want to accomplish next. On TV the other night there was a commercial for a tri-athatlon at Lake Pleasant on November 1st. A 1/2 mile swim, 17 mile bike ride, and a 5K. That seems totally do-able!! Unfortunate timing but I'm thinking this is something I'd really like to train for. I have never really been a swimmer per say, but I'd certainly like to try -- plus I hear swimming is a really good full body work out. I'd have to trade in my beach cruiser for a road bike which is something I've been meaning to do anyways, but YAH I'd LOVE to try a triathatlon! Also, next year, I have a group of people that want to do a rim to rim hike at the Canyon. Different than the hike I just did, we'd start at the North Rim of the Canyon and spend 2 days hiking through the Canyon to the south rim (its about 25 miles I think). It would certainly be more challenging than the hike we just did with a lot more elevation changes. Last year my brother did the Bright Angel trail and it took him almost 9 hours to get back to the top because of all the steep elevation changes. Also, with the rim to rim you don't have the option of helichoptering out your pack as we did with the Havasu Falls hike. I certainly learned a lot though on this last trip of what you truly need to pack so hopefully next time around I will get away with a much lighter pack!

Okay well my procrastinating is done for today, its time for me to get back to work I just wanted to share a few things with everyone. Hope all is well :)