Mish Mash

Some alphabet soup of what's sloshing around in my brain today:

First try at the SwiMP3 device was pretty positive. They're bugger all difficult to get on with only one hand (hold down swim cap, pull goggles plus device over head, seems like you need three hands) and they didn't work at all for aquajogging because you lose the sound when your ears are out of the water, but I swam four laps with only one arm and in that span they worked beautifully. I loved how it sounded like the music was just coming from all around me, not little tinny sound being piped into my ears. I'll write up a proper review later, but first time around I'm pretty hooked.

Being injured sucks. I'm such a lousy patient. It's so hard not to do too much. Everything hurts. As it turns out, the broken arm isn't the worst of it. Feels like I pulled some muscles in my shoulder/neck/back and they're all complaining. Possibly even damaged some of the area where my upper ribs connect. The docs didn't look at any of that, despite me saying I got in a pretty bad wreck. At least I got to go to my magical chiropractor. He said it was all too inflamed to adjust anything, but he used his little torture machine electrical current acupressure thingie to help the muscles heal. I feel slightly better.

Packing for vacation helps alleviate the pain. Seriously, it's raining and grey and gloomy here today, but here's the forecast where we're going:

YES!!! Oh I know, I'm not supposed to say on the internet that we're going out of town. But we have some housesitters. And one of them is the Hungarian Street Fighting champion Barnabas Gaspar, who's 6'4" and 300 pounds of MEAN. Okay, just kidding. But we do have housesitters plus the vicious dogs and the attack chickens. So I feel like I can tell you that our daughter is DANCING at DISNEYLAND! Woot! Her dance team will be performing there on the Carnation stage, so exciting. I'm most jealous of the fact that she gets to go backstage underground in all the secret places. I'm a Disney Junkie and I would so love to go with her. But I'll be satisfied with just doing Disney.

It's so Un-PC in my town to like Disney. I live in Crunchy Hippieville and I swear half the kids here can't even watch Disney because Disney screwed up the true story of Pocohantas and they don't adhere to the real Grimm's fairy tales and they objectify women and it's an environmental drain and blah blah blah. Normally my liberal little bleeding heart would agree with all of that except that I Freakin Love Disney. There's no rhyme or reason to it. Hubby and I went there before we had kids. I've gone every few years of my adult life even without the kids as an excuse. This will be my fourth time there with the kids and we're all excited. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride here we come!

Hopefully by the time we get back, I can start gently working out again. I looked through my logbook from last time and saw I started running at about 3 weeks post arm-break. So hopefully it won't be too long before I'm back to training.

Speaking of which, I am kicking around the idea of signing up for IM Coeur d 'Alene. Hubby thinks I shouldn't do it. The course wouldn't be great for me, potential heat is always my nemesis. But let's face it, if I don't do that one, I probably won't be doing any IMs for a couple of years. So do I want to suck it up and face the fire? I've got a week to decide. Stay tuned...

Does Santa Wear Woolie Boolies? Sock Review

Do you think my hubby told Santa I was borrowing his socks all the time? Maybe that's why I got a pair in my Christmas stocking this year. Or perhaps it's because Santa wears Woolie Boolies himself up there in the frozen north and therefore knows that every good little trail runner deserves some to keep their feet toasty in the muddy mires of winter. These are the warmest and best socks I've ever found, so they went straight from my Christmas stocking and onto my feet, where they've been ever since.

Why are these socks so great? Here's a few reasons:

1. They Are Not Itchy! Though even the word  "wool" makes my skin crawl, these don't feel like any wool I've ever worn. The wool of my childhood was scratchy and miserable but we are lucky enough to live in a time when fabric technology has made clothing more comfortable than at any point in human existence. DeFeet has hit the perfect match of fibers to make a sock with the properties of wool but the comfort of your normal running socks.

2. They Are Just As Warm Wet as Dry: I accidentally put one of these into the wash and missed the other one, so when I went to wear them one of them was nice and dry and the other was still in the washing machine. I took the wet one out of the laundry and put them both on. Within minutes, you couldn't tell the difference in warmth between one foot and the other. When running on wet muddy trails where your shoes get soaked in an instant, this means your feet stay warm through the whole run.

3. They Keep Your Whole Body Warm: We try to keep our thermostat at about 60 degrees in the winter, and that means dressing warm enough around the house to be comfortable. I couldn't believe what a difference these socks meant in my overall body temperature. They're way better than even my fuzzy slippers at keeping me feeling comfortable and warm.

4. The Fit is Phenomenal: They fit really well, and they keep their shape. They don't bag, sag, or bunch up. When running, I don't get any hot spots or blisters with these socks on, even though they're slightly thicker than other running socks.

5. They Have Cute Little Sheep On Them: Okay, I know this isn't the world's biggest selling point, but I like a little cuteness and humor in my day. Who can resist socks with this cute little wooly fella and the word "Baah."? That's no "Baaah Humbug" by the way.

Made by DeFeet, the Woolie Boolies are the perfect sock for anyone who runs through the worst of the winter weather. Even though they didn't appear in my stocking, I happen to know that Santa is sending a pink pair of the cycling/running variety as well. I can't wait to try those out too.