Choose Your Destiny! Flawless Victory. FIGHT!

Life is not always happy, happy, happy. We all have bad days that get the best of us. I had a day like that yesterday.

First. Let me begin by saying that my PT was also my sensei in karate and she is also my trainer. She and I have known each other many years. She is a dynamo and I always forget the power that this woman holds in her body! She is a ferocious but loving warrior woman who is really a peacemaker and healer…but she knows me sooo well that she can kick my butt..no holds barred. I respect her for that ability. When I need to get rid of “Miss Weepy” I ask her for advice. Then I buckle my seat belt! She tells it like it is and reminds me of who I am and how I am.

She has rehabbed my knee that was kicked back in karate and then has helped me to rehab the shoulder from the actual car accident. Now she is helping rehab the surgery that resulted from the very same car accident. She knows my body and me very well.

Yesterday, I was in agony when I walked into her door and said, “I don’t know why I am here because I am already in pain.” She said, “Because you are a masochist and love pain…and you also want to get better faster.” I said, Well, let’s set the record straight…. if I am a masochist, then you are a sadist.” She said “I can accept that role. Shall we begin?”

And so we did. She read the post –op report from the surgeon on what had actually been done…. Needless to say as the tears welled up in my eyes and I sweated profusely and she pushed me to literally purge the anesthesia, she kept telling me that my recovery so far was amazing! My range of motion was great, she felt no glitches when she rotated my shoulder every which way…and I cried from pain….she was very pleased. When I got dizzy she gave me a cold towel around my neck…let me sit down for 20 seconds…then up for another circuit. URGH.

Anyway, I lived. I have exercises to do at least 2x a day for now….also she wants cardio (even though I cannot wear a bra) on the light side and to drink lots of water. We had a quick and useless chat about her bra size and mine and the difference the bouncing would make…to no avail of the sympathy I was trying to get…..and off I went into cardio land…mild …to purge the anesthesia…but still bouncy!

I bought some dark chocolate with orange to soothe myself after this work out..and it helped…..then I slept for 4 hours….that really helped….then I did some of the PT exercises from today’s work out…..and realized that that phrase no pain no gain…is a good one.

We all have difficulties in life that we have to work through…and sometimes those difficulties recur…and we have to continue to work through them and hope to learn from them. I had to muster up the willingness to rehab an injury post surgery that I had spent the last year rehabbing pre-surgery. That was more an emotional willingness than a physical.

But today...today was another story....I was empowered by yesterday...already felt stronger....and I began to do my first workout on my own as part of my rehab for the shoulder surgery. I heard these words in my ears as I plugged in my IPOD:

Choose Your Destiny!


Flawless Victory!



FIGHT!

I Betcha Superman Didn't Wear a Bra !

If you recall, the one thing that weakened Superman was kryptonite. If it came near him, he would become very weak and non-functional.

Well, yesterday, I discovered that putting on a bra, post-surgery had the same effect on me as kryptonite does on superman.

Sometimes, I think I am superman.

I can do anything. Nothing can stop me. A friend told me this morning that I am an eternal optimist.

But the bra....it conquered me!

I had shoulder surgery on January 7th. That was Thursday. By Friday, I had done so well, the surgeon took me out of the sling. I was supposed to be in the sling a week.

I was pretty non-functional for the next few days....resting and in not too much pain. By the way, I had a pain block and could not feel any pain....and started taking aleve right away...so I was in good shape.....happy... and looking to the future and doing my PT exercises. Signed up for the Moab Century Tour in September.... the surgeon told me I could do cardio the next week and by the 16th could be back on my bike indoors on the trainer. so, that was my plan.

When the next week came....that was Monday, I woke up and determined that I could go to the gym and do a VERY Light cardio...perhaps 10 minutes on the elliptical.

Well, let me tell you how short lived this thought was! I undid the surgery tee that was given to me. It had velcro on the neck and side seam. I carefully moved my arm and felt good that it was so functional. I chose a wide strapped sports bra and carefully hooked the back in the front and then turned it to the back where it belonged. Then I carefully put the surgery arm into the left strap and the right arm into the right strap and pulled the bra on up and over and onto the shoulders.

OMG! The pain from the strap on one of the surgery sites was unbearable! Somehow I got it off and went to get some ice. ... Iced my shoulder and put myself to bed. Horrible, horrible, horrible. BRA= kryptonite for Cece.

Well, today is Tuesday, and I remembered I have a strapless bra! That is perfect!

So, in a little while, a friend is coming to take me out for a walk...not some cardio. I am determined to be a bit more moderate in my approach to rehab.

Wednesday? I will see my PT and trainer and begin my rehab in earnest...in my strapless bra!

Amendment to above post: I lasted about a 1/2 hour in the strapless bra...and then went into agony. Now in a cami and we will see how that goes. What's next?

Happy Gene vs Grim Reaper Gene?

On The Two Whos blog, Cece told a story about her sister Kristen:

“I am Glad You’re not Planning to Die! Thank you!” This was the 2 sentence sarcastic email I received from my sister after she received all 13 pages of my advanced directives, my living will and the “how tos” of fish and cat care. …also my plans for the funeral in case the worst happened in surgery.

You see, my sissy prefers to look on the bright happy side of life. She often says “I like to have denial.” She inherited my mother’s gene in this area of life. The Happy gene!


However, everyone seems to tell my sister about their dying. She told me, “This is the story of my life…including the calls with dad.” She swears that every phone call to my dad, she gets a death reference. So, she gets a lot ‘death reference’ in her conversations. It must be her ultra cheery attitude…The Happiness gene! Could it be that we are all just trying to temper it!

“Why not in denial? Grandma used to make me buy her very small bottles of vitamins because she did not think that she would live long enough to use them all and she did not want to spend money on a bigger bottle….but she made me keep buying the little bottles for years and she kept telling me she was gonna die soon….but she lived well past 100!,” she rants! My sister is on a roll! …..

Me? On the other hand, I inherited my father’s gene in this area of life. My sister calls it “The Grim Reaper” or ”Doom and Gloom” gene. I prefer to say that I see the pothole in the road and make a plan to go around it! I do not think it is doom and gloom…just taking a look at reality and what could possibly happen…and being prepared for it.

Possibly being a Girl Scout all those years taught me to “be prepared” ……but my sister was a Girl Scout too! Go figure! Gene pool?

For whatever reasons that we are different, it matters much less why we are different than the fact that we are different! So, then, does it matter that we see things, even the matters of life and death, differently?

No and yes! Different perspectives are just the way of life in our mind, no matter how we see life, life happens regardless. Like the ‘death’ Cece has been consciously preparing “in case” in past few days, or how her sister has consciously chosen to “have denial”. As long as we are conscious about what we are thinking, perspectives become our choices. When this happens, we can consciously choose the perspectives that serve our life for the better.

The happy happy or the grim reaper? The point here is not which perspective (attitude) is better than the other. Rather, can we see our perspective as perspectives, the product of our thoughts? Do we have the power to choose our perspectives to serve our life? Can we see the other person’s perspective as their perspective?

PS from Cece…as she is editing, she is back from surgery. All is well! Thanks for your well wishes! She developed ” the happy gene ‘ as she read the anesthesia disclaimer…and decided it was better to have denial than to embrace all those scary side effects…including death! She just signed the paper

Pre-Surgery Jitters

On the Two Whos blog , we recently addressed the issues of Re-calibrate our thinking and “outing” our blind spots…both of which have been troublesome issues for me that have come up in the last few weeks! And, it can get interesting when your readers come back at you and effectively “point out” a blind spot that you did not notice!

Lately, I have had the “Poor Mes” re : my upcoming surgery. Lots of fear and resentment that I will once again have to rehab an injury that was not my fault in the first place. Fist my knee was kicked back in karate and then the hit and run accident that is pushing me into surgery on this coming Thursday.

So I emailed my personal trainer/ PT , who is a reader, and asked her for her sage advice on the topics of resentment at having to rehab ONCE AGAIN after I spent the last year doing it! Her repsonse? A KICK ASS REPLY that shook me out of my “victimhood!”


She told me that she had known me for a long time…..that this poor me girl that she was seeing at this moment was not the real me and that I needed to shake that off so that the powerful stong kick ass cyclist named Cece could re-emerge. She reminded me of all my victories over a stupid gym teacher in elementary school and a semi-concsious orthopedic surgeon , lots of weight loss.and yes, even a cycling coach who wanted me to take the easy way out of some serious swithcback climbing…which ….by the way I conquored in a century in Lake Tahoe! She told me that this kick ass Cece is the one that needs to be nourished…not the “Missy Weepy” victim.

Her final comment to me was this ,” I know you asked for my sage wisdom but I think you need to take your own advice and “Re-calibrate!”

And so I have done! I will ROCK this rehab as I have rocked others…with lots of hard work and determination!

Cece

I've Been Kinda Quiet.......

I've been kinda quiet.....although I am still cursing at Troy Jacobson and cycling indoors...preparing for my surgery on Jan 7th and working at staying healthy until then......

Something has gotten me real busy and that is.....that my friend Yun and I started a new blog that we turned into a web site and we have had many fun and funny moments doing so!

It is called The Two Whos and it has been very challenging to put the blog up!

Here is an entry to let you know about our challenges!

How The Two Whos Travelled Down the Slippery Slope that is SEO!

Once upon a time there were Two Whos. One was Mz technology PhD in physics and the other Mz educator artist. They are Yun and Cece. One day Yun emailed Cece and said "Cece! We need SEO" Cece emailed back, "What is SEO?" That should tell you how large is the great divide between their knowledge bases.

One day Yun said, "Cece...just open it up in power point" ...Cece said "What is power point?" Yun said "How do you function?" Cece said "I do not have to!"

Cece keeps thinking that she needs a HE WHO or a SHE WHO Geek that will help us. Yun thinks this is a challenge and Cece thinks it is hell!

One night, Cece had a dream. She was dreaming she was writing HTML code. She woke up at 3:30am and started to research on the Internet.... but the problem is that she did not understand all that code language so she sent it all to Yun.

Yun woke up the next day and was bombarded by SEO optimization instructions. She read it all and tried to digest it...and downloaded many plug ins...but then said ,"Cece! Now we have all this complex stuff, but how do we work it?

What is a "tag Cloud" a " post tag" a "slug?" What does a slug have to do with computer? It's a whole new language! In Chinese we call it this: ...if you talk to me in something I do not understand , we say they speak to us like a cow playing the guitar!...We can see the cow playing the guitar... and we laugh as we think of the Geek wondering "Who are you guys?"

In China we have another way to say we do not understand. We say it is like a sky book. It means we are clueless. We are laughing so hard. We need a HE Who Geek...or a SHE Who Geek! HELP! We are having SEO nightmares!

Now what are we going to call this post on SEO language...women building business, women's emotional strength....clueless...we'll figure this out eventually!

As Cece was leaving Yun's house, the physicist said "You know Cece, it will just be the two of us, We will probably not find a He Who or a She Who. Maybe our business will be to develop the code for the SEO! By the time we are both done researching, we will be experts!" The artist sarcastically said, "OH! How much fun!"

Race Report: Muddy Buddy Arizona!

Stephanie Tiger and friends, Char, Mary and Rob went to race in the Muddy Buddy Arizona! After I saw these pics, I greeted Stephanie with a "Welcome Back Oh Fierce Warrior Woman!" Her team took 5th place! Stephanie will be a guest blogger for us and give us a race report.

The Muddy Buddy is a mud-liscious race . Here is the description! Each race features a 6-7 mile course and 5 obstacles. At the start of the race, one team member will run and one will ride the bike. At the 1st obstacle, the rider will drop the bike, complete the obstacle, and begin running. The runner will arrive, complete the obstacle, find their bike, and begin riding. Teams will continue leapfrogging each other through the entire course. At the end of the race, racers will crawl through the infamous Mud Pit crossing. See Below:

Hey there Internet! My name is Stephanie and Cece has asked me to do a guest blog post. I recently participated in my first Muddy Buddy event in Phoenix, AZ. If you are not familiar with the Muddy Buddy event, this event is an obstacle course race that you run and bike for 6 or 7 miles and it benefits the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF). You do this event with a buddy. One person starts on the bike, the other starts with the run. You both take off and get to the first obstacle. The biker drops the bike, does the obstacle, then takes off running. The runner comes in to the obstacle, does the obstacle, finds the bike then takes off to the next obstacle. You leap frog this entire course then finish together going through a mud pit, hence, Muddy Buddy.

As mentioned, I participated in the event on December 13th in Phoenix, AZ. It.Was.COLD! Not as cold as Albuquerque but cold for Arizona! My buddies (Rob, Charlotte and Mary) and I arrived at the event, got our race packets and waited for our wave to take off. We decided I would take off on the bike first and he would run. There were 7 waves

and we were in the 5th wave. Bikes were taking off first then the runners would take off 2 minutes after the bikes. Each wave was separated by 6 minutes. Oh yeah, did I mention that there was close to 1000 participants! So, we finally get to our wave. The butterflies have made their presence known! 5…4…3…2…1 “Boom” and we are off!

The first leg was 1.5 miles and it was tough! All up hill! The first portion was on pavement then we turned onto singletrack trails. The trails were phenomenal and boy is 1.5 miles a lot longer than I remember! I thought I would never get to the first obstacle. Finally, I make it to the first obstacle. Crawling under nets on your hands and knees. This event is so well organized that they actually have 2 of the same obstacles. One course for the bikers and one course for the runners. This way we didn’t crash into one another. Splendid! My buddy and I decided that we would drop the bike at 11:00. He figured people would go to the left or the right and boy was he right! 11:00 was perfect! I found the bike every time! Even before the volunteers found it! Well, it also helped that I wrapped orange, electrical tape all over my bike frame ;) Anyway, under the nets, no problem!

Off running I go. That first run was tough! If you are familiar with mountain biking at all, you know what washout conditions are. Well, this portion was 80% washout, which means I may as well have been running on the beach! I was glad I wasn’t biking this portion ;) Sorry Rob, just keepin’ it real LOL! Second obstacle, what I was dreading the most…….THE WALL. You see, I have very strong legs but consider myself more like a Tyrannosaurus Rex in my upper body and I just dreaded do a wall. Well, the wall wasn’t that bad. There was no rope to climb but there were pegs like at a rock wall climbing facility. Still had to pull myself up and I did it! Then had to shimmy down ropes on the other side. Done! Found my bike that Rob had dropped off, and I was on my way. I had to climb a hill out of that obstacle and for those that know me, I LOVE HILLS! What a kick!

By this time, I am totally pumped! I pass Rob who is now running (Go Rob!) and get to the next obstacle. Balance beams. No problem! Drop the bike, run across beams and start running. This run for me was excellent! I am enjoying the course and the scenery so much! Everyone is so friendly and having a great time! Rob passes me (Go Rob!) and he is flying on that bike! I get to the last obstacle and it is a HUGE tower! I am terrible with heights but someone figured it was 30 feet high! Had to climb netting to get to the top and slide down the other side.
WHAT A BLAST! OMG, I was a little kid again just flying down that slide! One of my other friends ended up getting burns on her arms coming down that slide and that made me realize that I think I actually held my arms up and went “Whoo Hoo” down the slide! LOL! Okay, off the slide, find the bike, get some water and I’m off again. This time, the hill got me. I bonked! Had to walk my bike up that hill.

I see the finish line and vendor tents and hear the crowd cheering! I drop the bike, find my buddy and we proceed into THE MUD PIT. Holy smokes, the mud was FREEZING! I was so cold I didn’t think I was going to make it out! My buddy helped me through the mud pit by being the Marine that he is and barking at me “Get on your belly and crawl!” “You can do it!” (Thanks Rob! I really did need that encouragement at that moment!)

We crossed the finish line in 1:03! My buddy Rob kept telling me that he thought we did really well with that time. Well my friends, he was right. We came away with a 5th place medal for our division! I can’t even tell you how surprised and happy I was! Our first time as buddies and coming away with a medal! My other buddies, Charlotte and Mary, did really well also and had a blast! We are all looking at next year already!

What an awesome experience! Awesome buddy! Awesome friends! This event is very well organized and if anyone is interested in doing it, by all means DO IT! I am already looking at next year.

I would like to thank my other cohorts in grime! Our dear friend Barney took all of us in his RV from ABQ to PHX. Thanks Barney (and Quigley)! Also my other friends Donna and Judi came along for moral support and ended up volunteering at the event. Thanks guys! You all made this a very special time!
Next time, you’re going Cece! LOL ;)

Stephanie Tiger

How Do you Lose Weight in an Italian Family? Arthur Avenue Revisited!

I am sure that many of you saw my "cookie expose" recently where I was going to implant a Navy Seal into my home to restrain me from making cookies. Well, believe it or not, I got a reply from that post saying that this new friend was trained by an expert in the "Secret Navy Seal Cookie Maneuver"..... so .....he thought he could qualify to restrain me both pre and post cookie making. LOL. I had a good laugh at that! He was very clever!

But none of us really suspected that my sissy was the one that needed the NAVY SEAL...because just 2 weeks before my birthday rolled around (it is today), I was told by my sissy, that a package was coming and it had cookies in it! She read my blog...but what good Italian girl would not want a cookie, she reasoned!

So, I waited and waited for this package to be delivered to my work place.....called my nutritionist frantically shouting "Cookies are Coming! Cookies are Coming!" and quickly developed a plan to deal with them once they arrived.

But they did not arrive. Day after day I waited....but no cookies. My birthday was approaching and still no cookies! I kept asking at my office if they had arrived, and I even saw a big suspicious box, but alas, it was not mine. On Thursday, I called the office again and low and behold, they had opened the suspicious box and it WAS mine...only now my name had morphed in Lucietta Navalle....a good Italian girl!..finally..... this was my box!

I opened it up and inside....I saw...my favorites......taralli's! A wonderful spicy pretzel like "cookie" that are addictive...everyone says they are and I have had the ultimate taralli eating addictive experience...I cannot stop eating them. They came from Little Italy.... a wonderful Italian deli on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx called Teitel Brothers.

So now I was faced with a dilemma. It was Thursday afternoon and almost 5pm. Would I take the taralli's home and eat them (2 bags) or would I eat a few and share the rest? I decided the latter as my emergency plan.

I started handing them out in my office. The social worker told me I looked like a priest. He was probably in a euphoric state created by eating too many taralli's! Joel said I was holding the taralli up and saying "Take....eat...." He was rolling on the floor telling me I was acting like a priest handing out communion! It was a religious experience giving away my taralli's!

Needless to say there was more in the box..huge olives , provolone cheese, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, aborio rice, porcini mushrooms and more.

Well, I decided that I would invite a few friends over to share the wealth! I am making a wonderful Italian meal to enjoy with them. Abondanza!