Let me start by saying I HATE GOING TO THE DOCTOR!!!!
And I am pretty sure most of them hate me showing up on their exam table. I admit it - I am NOT a good patient.
Well, I am the PERFECT patient...I just don't follow orders.
Saturday, Oct. 6, I laced up my old running shoes without socks and ran the Del Mar Mud Run with my guy.
We had a blast!
It was muddy.
Mile 1, I had issues with my left heel. It hurt. I knew rocks were rubbing into it, but I used my Navy Seal training and just forged ahead...
"I can take 15 seconds of this....I can take 15 seconds of this." I 15-seconded myself into.....cellulitis!
(I am not going into the details of cellulitis unless it becomes a bigger issue after my next weekend Half Iron Distance at SOMA. So just cross your fingers that you don't have to read MORE about this.)
If you are interested in my Del Mar Mud Run and how my heel became infected, feel free to read about it at:
The day after the Del Mar Mud Run, I strapped on my bike shoes for a 49.5 mile ride for the Citrus Classic (which raises money for grants for teachers...some of whom are my best friends...so they can do amazing things in their classrooms that they normally would not be able to do because of lack of $$$$$), and then I slapped on my running shoes for 30 minutes of an agonizing run. It was only made better because the end of my run ended at a local bar where I was able to use my 2 free beer tickets from the bike ride.
(sorry, no picture of this)
All week long I have been nursing my left foot.
My training plans called for XYZ and I did X.
Mostly I wanted to sleep and put hot compresses on my foot.
Saturday, I rallied and put on my running shoes and exercise clothes and joined my friend for the Rugged Maniac to celebrate her birthday, which happened back in March.
We had to climb over this wall before we could even get to the start of the race/event.
There was NO way to go around the barrier.
If you couldn't get over the barrier, NO GO!!!!
(FYI - of the 18 obstacles in the 3.1 UPHILL miles, we only dodged one - it was poles stuck in the ground about 3 to 4 feet off the ground and they were spaced 3 to 4 feet apart and you were supposed to jumped from pole to pole. UHM, all I could think of was how I was going to have to pay big $$$$$ for dental work after I missed a footing and landed with my jaw on the edge of a pole, or how I would have to wear a cast/brace for months to recover after when I fell and hit (fill in any body part here). My smart "I don't want to get hurt" gene (probably the only smart gene I have) took over and said NO!!!!!!. I looked at my friend and said, "Do you need to do this?" It was unanimous. We jumped off the ledge and ran on to the more sane climb up two stories and slide down a plastic tarp into a pit of murky water and then climb up a hill of mud....yeah, FUN!!!)
I had duck-taped all around my shoe, but still I got murky, yucky, muddy water in my shoe. I did major rinsing, washing and ASAP (see earlier blogs) and the entire ordeal did not make my heel worse...though I did have some bruising and cuts on my left leg....and my right leg....and my back....
Sunday morning I got up early to pass out water bottles for cyclists. I spent 5 hours filling and strategically handing bottles to cyclists at the M3 Olympic and Long Course Distance race. When you look at the picture of me, please understand that it was getting warm, but I wanted to protect my heel, which was gelled with ASAP and bandaged. I did NOT want to get anything in it.
Therefore, socks with flip-flips.
Please take this bottle of water/electrolytes from me. I am standing here in my socks and flip-flops, but I am safe and really I haven't added any EPO to this bottle.
Really? You don't want my bottle? You have a bottle on your bike and one in your mouth, but you don't have a place for my bottle? I swear, even though I am standing here in socks with flip-flops, I did NOT poison your water/electrolyte drink. Is it the short blond hair that is scaring you? Come on guys, I am a triathlete also.....I can tell you from experience...TAKE THE ELECTROLYTES.
Volunteering was fun, a day off (standing on my sore foot) and I got a free entry to the Bonelli Turkey Tri.
Today I was hurting, so I called at 7:30 when the appointment desk opened to get an appointment. My doctor wasn't in today, but I told them I would take ANYONE. I mean, I could tell them what was wrong. My heel is infected and I need to get it under control for NEXT weekend because I have my FIRST half Iron distance race.
SIDEBAR - what am I suppose to call it? It's not officially an IRONMAN event..half or otherwise. But it is a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike and a 13.1 mile run. Although it is not an official WTC event, am I still allowed to call it a half Ironman? Or do I call it a half iron distance? Or is this a discussion for another blog?
I need feedback about this because I do NOT want to be athletically incorrect.
Here's all the reasons for the faces made at me today!!!
The first face I got was from the nurse at the fill-in doctor.
You want to guess why she (of course, this is a guy because of the beard, but it might as well have been my nurse because the face was the same) made this face?
My blood pressure was 133/67.
"Your blood pressure is a little high," she said.
"Yeah, well, I just ran from the parking lot and then I ran up the two flights of stairs," I said.
That's when she made the face.
"You ran?" she said.
"Yeah, in my flip-flops," I said.
She made another face, but I could not find that face on the Internet.
I could tell she didn't like me. I wasn't her regular patient...(read - unfit).
It was about to get worse.
"Do you exercise?" she asked.
"Yes, I do," I happily answered.
"About how many days a week do you exercise?" she scowled at me..
"Six to seven," I answered.
"Uh, okay? How many minutes a day do you exercise?" she asked.
"Well, it depends on my training schedule, but usually an hour to 3 hours...more on the weekends. A 50-mile bike ride and a 3-mile run can take me a little more than 4 hours with a potty break depending on if there are hills or if it is flat, or if it is hot. And when I have Olympic triathlons it can take me about 3 hours and 45 minutes. Just depends on the weather and terrain. It just depends. My normal training schedule ranges from 8 to 15 hours a week. I am thinking this weekend's half Ironman is going to take me about 8 hours."
(This is not my nurse, but it might as well have been. You would have thought she would want to congratulate me for being 52 and in great shape with my only concern being a little pus on my heel, but NOOO!!!, she is not happy.)
Sorry to say, things got even worse when the fill-in doctor showed up. She looked at my heel and asked me how long it had been that way. I told her it started after the Del Mar Mud Run when my heel was rubbed raw, blah, blah blah....
"It's infected," she said....and then muttered something about an increase in flesh-eating bacteria.
"Yeah, I know," I said back to her, "I just need to get it under control because I have a half Ironman this coming up weekend."
"What's that?" she asked.
I barely said, "I am going to swim 1.2 miles," when she said....
"You can't swim."
She didn't just say, "You can't swim." She ADAMANTLY said, "You can't swim."
I didn't flinch.
I looked her in the eye and said, "Well, I am. And then I am going to bike 56 miles and then I am going to run 13.1 miles."
"That's going to really hurt," she gawked at me.
"Well, it would hurt more NOT to do it," I said,
(I would be in training pain if I didn't show up at the starting line at SOMA....it would be as if a part of me was cut off - like a little toe...and I like my little toe. I am sure it has a useful purpose.)
"Wait here," she said and left the room.
As if I was going anywhere.
She came back and gave me two prescriptions...pills and a cream (not triple antibiotic cream because I am allergic to that).
She NEVER once looked me in the eye.
You would think my story would be over, but it isn't.
This looks like a great road to ride on.
I took my prescription to the pharmacy and they said it would be an HOUR to fill it. It was after my lunch time and I was hungry. I walked across the street to El Torito and order a soup and salad and read my new OXYGEN magazine.
Take this to lunch with you and you will definitely eat LESS!!!
About an hour later I was back standing in line to pick up my medicine.
"Sorry you had to wait so long," the pharmacist intern said.
"No worries," I said. "I went across the street and had a soup and salad at El Torito."
"Oh, sorry, parking must have been tough when you got back," he said.
"Uhm, I didn't have a hard time at all because I WALKED across the street," I said.
Well, he was wearing a white coat, but the expression was similar.
"You walked?"
"Yeah, I would have ran and been here faster, but I had to walk because my heel is infected and I am in flip-flips. That's why I am standing in our line waiting for my prescription," I said.
I left the medical facility today noticing how many nurses and doctors need to rethink what being healthy is and maybe they should start with themselves.
I left Kaiser thinking maybe I was an abnormality in the whole scope of wellness and fitness.
Then in the hallway I ran into my REAL doctor.
"Hey, what are you doing?" he said.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, "They told me you were off for the day."
"I am working over in the hospital. Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I have an infected heel," I said. "The other doctor told me not to swim."
He started laughing.
"What's your event?" he asked.
I told him.
He said to do take the prescription the other doctor gave me.
Plus, waterproof band-aids.
Then he wished me luck and told me to come back next week and see him if I was still having a problem.
As I walked away he said, "Finish it, Kandi."
That's exactly what I plan to do!
Faces be damned.
