Response to the Comment on "A Shot in the Butt"

I feel remarkably better! I have NO pain on external rotation; a movement that before to even rotate my leg from the brake pedal to the gas would cause excruciating pain. The sciatic pressure running from the high hammy through the mid hamstring and ending in a very tender/sore feeling ligament on the outside (lateral) side of my knee is GONE! I've been working at strengthening the whole leg for almost a year but was only to really make significant strength improvements after the cortisone injection which relieved me of the inflammation and thus the pain. I am however experiencing some pain in the glute medius/external rotators now that I've returned to my regular job as a driver, but they were so weak from non use that I suppose that's to be expected and it is a very physical job plus the pain is more like a sore muscle feeling rather than a torn/injured one.

As I recently told one of my running buddies who inquired about this "quick fix" for his own pain in the butt. He described it to me and it sounded exactly like piriformis. I told him he should see an orthopod, but that the he would most likely be told to do PT and stretch which is exactly what the ortho he saw on Thursday told him to do. He is very inflexible and has horrible balance. Not to say that an orthpod wouldn't write a script for this procedure, but it seems they are reluctant to do so until the patient has refrained from over working it, done the PT, and is able to touch his toes. He was told he could still run, but not to do speed work or race.

My case started almost a year ago with a twisting fall forward which caused micro tears and a torn meniscus in my knee. It felt so tight that I overstretched it causing the biceps femoris to tear from the bone (an avulsion) with a very alarming pop/snap feeling and I again tore it more while pulling heavy boxes through my truck. I had completed 62 sessions of PT (way more than is needed) and other than doing a tad of running, leisure biking, pilates and quite a bit of swimming during this time it just wasn't getting better. IMO the cortisone injection was a miracle worker. I've been told that it could just be a temporary fix, that the cortisone is just masking the pain, but I've also been told that I may never need another one. I'm hoping for the latter.

I wish you luck. Hamstring tendinitis and tears are NO fun and neither is Piriformis Syndrome. The original post about the shot is here.

Thursday Night Runners

It just occurred to me that I hadn't yet posted a picture I took one Thursday night when the runners were over for the usual run, hot tub & beer, and dinner. This picture was from the past winter. Yes, the water went over the side when I got in. We've had as many as 8 in there, but we make someone sit on the high seat for room and not to loose too much water.

Here's the other Hot Tub Table

After the hole in my butt healed from the cortisone injection, I was able to get in the hot tub and retrieve the back table so I could seal the wood. I originally thought it wouldn't really matter if I finished the bottom part since it was hidden; then I discovered one Thursday night when the 'runners' were over that the wood was getting a little wet. Plus I hadn't taken a picture of it yet.

The original post about the hot tub tables is here.

Pudding Shot Recipe

Want a fun shooter, but Jell-O shots have become almost boring and a full shot of liquor makes you queasy? Try making pudding shots! Basically just use instant pudding but rather than adding all the milk cut it in 1/2 and make the other 1/2 your choice of liquor. One regular size box made 46 1-oz size cups.

We made a bunch of pudding shots for Motown A2H3 1000th, but this was my first time making them myself. I used a simple, can't-go-wrong recipe...

One Box (four 1/2 cup servings) Jell-O Instant Pudding (I used French Vanilla)

1 Cup Milk (this is 1/2 of what the recipe says to use)

1 Cup Liquor (I used O'Mara's Country Irish Cream)

One 8oz tub of Whipped Topping, cold but not frozen (I used Cool Whip brand)

Pour the milk into a bowl and beat for about a minute (no blender? use a whisk. No whisk? use a fork) in the pouch of dry pudding. Once completely blended whisk in the liquor. Stir in the whipped cream until blended, but try not to over work the mixture. An easy way to get the mixture into your cups is to pour it into a gallon size Ziploc baggie, seal the baggie, then cut a very small corner off and squeeze the pudding shot mixture through the hole into the cups; like a pastry bag and remember, you can always cut the hole bigger, but not smaller so cut smart. To get all the mixture out, I use the edge of the counter to work the mixture toward the hole. Snap on the lids and put them in the freezer overnight. Keep them cold when transporting.

Cost: For each batch that makes 46 cups the raw cost would approximately be....

• Cups & Lids: $1.89
• Pudding .75
• Milk .18
• Cool Whip 1.32
• Liquor 5.00

So the cost per batch in my case was about $9.14 or approximately 20 cents per shot. Certainly the biggest factor in how much a batch costs to make is the cost of the liquor!

Need to know how I got those figures? I figured out the cost based on bulk purchase complete set of cups a gallon of milk and a bottle of liquor. Obviously there is an initial investment in cups and lids. I can get 1 oz cups in a 250 pack for $4.69 but the lids only come in 100 packs for $1.99 each. So for an even match I'd have to buy 500 cups and lids (2 packs of cups @ 4.69 ea and 5 packs of lids at $1.99 ea). MInd you I did not buy all that at once, but for a cost per complete cup figure we have to have even amounts of both. So... (4.69 * 2) + (1.99 * 5) = 19.33 + 1.16 (6% tax) = $20.49 for 500 complete cups so each cup costs $.04. At Walmart a 4 serving size box of Jell-O Instant Pudding costs $.75, an 8 oz tub of Cool Whip was $1.32 and a Gallon of milk is roughly $3 (I don't do the regular grocery shopping so I really don't know the cost :o). I'm not sure what the cost of the OMara's Irish Cream was, but I'm guessing about $15; Bailey's is probably more like $25 for 750ML. Ok. So If I need a cup of milk that's 1/16th of a jug or about 18 cents per cup. A cup of liquor would be 1/3 of the 750 ML bottle (750ML=3 cups) so the liquor would be maybe $5. If you read all this you're probably thinking I need to get a life! :D

Gnaw Bone 2008 - Picture and Video Remix

Well, I had a cool video here, but apparently my Photobucket account is gone or something. That's ok, it lived it's course.

The best day I've had in months!

I woke this morning thinking that I did feel better; this has often proven to be false hope since later in the day PT proves that I'm not as recovered as I'd like to be which leads me into some huge emotional roller coaster. Today was different though. I went to PT and did all my exercises without too much discomfort. Pulling myself around the room on the rolling chair usually aggravates the crap out of my hamstring and even though last week this was easier there was a lot of pulling feeling; today... just felt like a workout without the extremes. The sideways rubber band walks usually hurt to bend forward and even though there was a tad of pulling it was nothing like I've experienced in the past.
It's now been two weeks since the injection.
Feeling so well, I decide to go to the Y and though I'd originally planned on swimming I decided to dedicate the day to working out instead. I started with running on the track and made it 9 laps which is about 3/4 mile until I felt a bit of a sharp pain in the area; I of course stopped as soon as I felt it. I then did some roll outs on the ball and there was no pain... weakness yes, but not pain. Then I did some good mornings and squats. The squats felt weird and I wondered about my form. I did 15 walking lunges then headed over to the weight equipment where everything felt way better than it did last week. I did all the leg exercises including the "butt kickers" after which is when I decided I'd continue on with weight workouts and save swimming for tomorrow.

Gnaw Bone 2008

Gnaw Bone results were great! Dave won again and shaved like 1/2 hour off last year's time. He says he was doing much better until he bonked out there and made it into the next aid station where we lounged for about 1/2 hour and ate 2 PBJs and what not. I didn't see him at that station because I was catching up with Katie and Anna at another. Katie and Anna got lost on the first leg turning a 6.5 mile leg into a 9 miler then after asking for directions and discovering they were further away from the start than they started got a ride in. They then had Randy drive them to the first leg. To put things into perspective; Dave left the first aid station at 7:20 after a change of shoes and Katie and Anna left at 8:25 after changing shoes... oops. I was glad to see them though! Katie and Anna made up a substantial amount of time during the rest of the race but apparently they took a little too long at the first few aid stations because they kept passing the same people. This is of course something you learn what you need as you come in, get it, and go. Somewhere in the last leg Katie went ahead of Anna and got lost again, but only for like a 1/2 mile off course; this gave Anna enough time to get ahead of her. Anna came in second woman after a pretty intense run against another female who finished 45 seconds after her. Katie arrived a couple minutes later she was 4th woman and 2nd in her age group. There are some pictures up now. EDIT: I uploaded my pictures and video to photobucket. There two ways to view them. 1. The Remix slideshow this is the same thing that's posted here on the 13th. 2. The Photobucket album (these might not be in chronological order.. OH MY!)

Kitchener Stitch

Heatherc3 posted this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZTxeHz7rtw demonstrating the kitchener stitch (aka grafting). A wonderful seamless bind off. And a nicely done video too!

OMG am I really getting better?

First off let me just say it was a beautiful Monday and I'm very glad to see Spring is here. I just love springtime when the grass is so green the tulips have popped in mass arrangements and there is that interesting collection of trees in full bloom, trees that have totally leafed out while other slower budding trees at an interesting contract with their still bare branches full of little buds. Deep breath, ahhhhhh.

It was a busy day for me and included way more activities than I've been able to do in I don't know how long. I started out with PT which went ok. Scott asked me about squatting and I told him it was getting easier. He then had me do single leg squats while holding onto a rail. I did the left one ok, but could barely lift myself with the right. Eeeek. I'm that weak? He wanted to test the abductors and adductors so I climbed on the bench and he did a face down passive test of the adductors. YOWIE! Major pain, major weakness. I told Scott this was the same movement that would send me flying off the table during PT in September. This has definitely Scott miffed. He gave me a exercise to do and hopefully it strengthens the area, but he also said that muscle weakness generally doesn't lead to pain like that rather a tear does. Hmm, could I have a tear in the external rotators too?

After PT I went to the Y and swam about 18 laps. I can never keep track. Then showered and went upstairs and in addition to doing chest and shoulders I did some leg work for the first time in like forever. I did both "Jane Fonda's", the machines that spread your legs and one you pull your legs together and the other you open them. This was, OMG, pain free? How could this be?! Elated, I moved over to the leg press and did double leg then single leg presses. The right leg of course was ridiculously weak, but I pushed through it and did 10 reps; I was using the lightest weight on the machine. I then did some leg curls with really light weight for the hamstrings and that went well. At home I planted the experimental plants into the garden area which went ok, but I did have quite a bit of knee pain from squatting for extended periods of time. After that I dug up some dandelions then cut the grass! My yard is a mess from not being able to clean up in the fall. So after that I did a set of the new exercised Scott gave me and soon after headed off to pilates. Pilates was almost pain free! There was really only one move that caused some pain, but those aren't that easy and really use the hip rotators with your whole leg weight.
I'm truly ecstatic that my condition is improving! Can you tell?

Flying Pig Marathon Slideshow

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Flying Pig Cincinnati Marathon Results

It was a gorgeous day for the 10th Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon and Half Marathon. This is the third year in a row that the temperature has not been a big factor and the sun has shown quite brightly. Of course it would have been better if I actually ran it, but I'm still recovering. I did take my bike and attempt to offer support to the runners but that didn't work out very well since the course is rather hilly and climbs up to the furthest point out; the return trip is much easier. :) Well I decided that I would take a different route in attempt to keep my bike off the runner's course and in doing so I believe I found the biggest hills in Cincinnati. I mean I knew Observatory Road would be high, but there were ridiculously steep hills and several times I walked my bike up. Was all this biking a good idea? No, but I actually don't feel sore from it as I thought I would and I don't feel like I jeopardised my recovery. Perhaps it was even good for me. Here are the results for most of the runners that I know: Half Marathon
Doug 1:33:14
Lance 1:34:24
Ann 1:49:39
Angela 2:03:54
Yvette 2:04:21
Kelly 2:40:22
Marathon- the course was stated to be .27 miles long and the times will be readjusted to reflect an exact marathon distance of 26.2 miles
Ken 3:16:50
David 3:25:33
Doug took 1st in his age group. Lance did not place in the Clydesdale division and we've been hearing about it; he's adamant that it's because they did not have a weigh in at the expo and went on the honor system. Granted Lance ran the best race he's ever run at the Pig, but you never know who will show up especially as word of mouth travels about the Clydesdale division invoking more runners to register for it. Ken ran a spectacular race although he did not BQ. Dave decided to have fun on the course where he ran a good race and yet managed to have some beer, Mimosa, breakfast, and collected items such as a pirate hat, lei, and beads. It's very strange that I can't paste the html for a slideshow into my blogger and have it work, but I can add it from photobucket; once added from photobucket however I cannot edit the posting what-so-ever.

A New Tubular Cast-On or a Re-invented Figure 8 Cast-on???

Ok, so I'm surfing the net looking for a good video on the tubular cast on which, by the written instructions that I was looking at is supposed to begin with a backward loop cast on. Anyway that's beside the point because I didn't find anything like that. I did however find this handy cast on the "Judy Becker Magic Cast-On. I'll have to put this in my list of knit tricks because it certainly seems to resemble the figure 8 cast on with out all the fuss of the extra loose needles. Take a look knitters and see what you think. I have to warn you that I find the lady demonstrating to be a little bit annoying; but she does get her point across.

I've decided that this cast on is not going to help me in my exploration of double knitting. Tsk Tsk cause it casts on so quickly. I think it would be more useful for a toe or top of hat much like the figure 8, there aren't many uses for it. Next I'm looking at the provisional cast on.