Lyme Disease - yuk!!

Monday morning, I get a call from our vet "Toules Lyme test came back negative. Please send us $105 for doing the test"

Monday afternoon, I get a call from my doctor "You tested positive for Lyme. We need you to take some pills for 30 days, then we'll test you again."

What were my symptoms? Well this rash apparently, although I just thought it was funky. It didn't hurt. I took this photo in mid August & sent it to Chris who was still on the west coast.

I was glad that I was diagnosed with something because I really had been feeling crappy. And I was hoping it wasn't just because I was getting older & shouldn't be exercising as much as we do.

I'm not sure when I got the tick bite because I never found a tick on me. But I am outside all the time, so it could have been any day. I started feeling poorly on our trip across country. I thought it was from sitting in the car all day, but now I know better.

My other symptoms: neck pain (I bought a new pillow & tried sleeping in our guest bedroom). I also had the neck pain during our Bonneville trip, but I thought it was from the hotel pillows. My neck pain was so bad at the end that I was having a hard time going to sleep, I could barely turn over; could not raise my arms over my head; and had a very difficult time getting out of bed. Chris had to help me dress quite a few mornings. And I still didn't go to the doctor...hmmmm

(I like my doctor - it's just a pain to get in to see her. And doctor's usually take one look at you, see that you're a triathlete & don't smoke, pat you on the knee, and tell you that you're the healthiest person they've seen all week.)

I also was very easily fatigued. Again, I thought it was from our cross country trip - too much time in the sun. I was starting to get irritated though, when I could barely get through a 4 mile run (and then felt like I had run 20...) I was telling myself "you're kidding: 4 weeks ago, you were doing an Ironman, now you can barely run 4 miles!!!" Oh the frustration, and still I didn't go to the doctor...

Then my hands and feet started cramping every once in a while. Not really painful, just really inconvenient. Then a couple nights with calf cramping - OUCH! Now those hurt! And I would wake the whole house up with my wimpering (ok, it was more like yelling/screaming/crying). Still no doctor's visit....

Finally a sore throat & jaw - with the pain moving up to my ear. Oh, I have a sinus infection! I better go to the doctor's and get the drugs because this won't go away on it's own. I did tell the doctor that I had been feeling poorly for the past month, so she took some blood samples. She said it was a big possibility that I had either Mono or Lyme. So it wasn't a sinus infection...

A week later, the results were in: Lyme. Yuk. Fortunately, I caught it early & should have no problem getting it cured. I've been taking the pills for over a week now & feel much much better! My neck pain went away after only a couple days on the pills (thank goodness - that was the worst!). I've been cramp free for 2 days now -yippee!!! I am still more tired than I normally would be - but I would say that I'm 90% back to normal! 7 mile run this morning with hill bounding - check!

Company relay

Chris' company does a relay event every year at the local park. It's a Bike; Boat/Kayak; Run. Chris was the team's runner for this year.

Hanging around at the start:


The cyclists getting ready to go!
Go Joe Go!

The lake where the kayak leg occurs:

Don bringing it home!

Waiting for Chris to start off on the run, after he gets the relay band from Don:

He took off fast - I barely got him!

Chris running to the finish - fast! 7:15 minute miles!

The tired & happy relay team! Congratulations!!

Sept half ironman: uncheck; car show: check; boat show: check

We decided to boycott the September half ironman. I hadn't been feeling well & Chris had such a hectic travel schedule, so our workouts had been sub par. We knew it wasn't going to be a pretty day. So, we went to another cool car show - put on by the Alter Boys.

We need one of these - antiquer!!!

It was in a great area with good food

and great scenery (besides the cars)

Still a lot of BSing going on. One reason we only go to a handful of shows each year. Too much standing & sitting around

Chris' dad's car that Dallas owns & drives now.

Chris & Dallas checking out the cars

What the?? a pickup with semi truck tires & can also tow???

Our pickup parked next to our friend Charlies car.

Next day we went to the Newport Boat show!!

Busy Newport Harbor!

Lots of great sailboats to see. We avoided the power boats - ack!

Fun size sailboats!

And there is plenty of gear to check out as well...

I think we're getting ready - we really miss our sailboat this fall. It's usually when we sail to the Vineyard; Nantucket; and Block Island. Our triathlon training is done, and we just enjoy being on the sailboat. Isn't happening this year though - thanks to a dumb powerboater.

After we got our hopes up at the boat show, we went to our favorite restaurant. We love the bar! And lucky for us - it was the last night for their summer sushi menu. The sushi guys were headed to the Bahamas for the winter. Sounds like a nice operation - maybe I need to check into that line of work...

Our view into Newport Harbor - from our bar stools.

Time to head home

Lunch with Joe

We had a simple little lunch party for Joe C - far right - at the head of the table. His last day at our company is today. It's a sad day for all of us, but he'll enjoy retirement. As you can see from Bruce (far left - at the head of the table) retirement is good & fun!

Joe was the VP of sales & I worked quite frequently. He was easy to work with & always in your corner. His replacement, who hasn't been hired yet, will be working out of the Chicago office - very helpful. Now, we'll see how long I last and many others!!

A favorite - car show

We love cars, but aren't the biggest fan of car shows. We enjoy stopping by and checking the cars out, but we don't enjoy hanging out all day - too many other things to do!!
But, there are a handful of car shows on the east & west coast that we really enjoy. This past Sunday, we attended one of them: Old Timers.

And even better - most of our friends from our Bonneville trip were there as well! Ken, Jim, Ritchie, Bill, Bill, Billy, Don, Ron. And some of our friends from the annual Reliability Run were also there - Michele & Roger! The day passed by very quickly - with so many people to chat with :)

It's a favorite car show for many, so the fair grounds was packed!

Very nice: Chrysler Town & Country (very expensive too...)

Heading home - we followed Chris' brother, Dallas, and our friend Jim.

What have we been up to??

Well, Chris was out of town almost the entire month of August! We took off for our trip to Bonneville on August 7th. I flew back on the 15th. He drove back & got home around 1 pm on the 22nd. Then he traveled for business from the 23rd to the 1st of September!! Whew!

Besides spending some extra time in Bonneville, he also managed to squeeze in some fun during his business trip:

He also had brunch with our good friends Cyndy & Jon (our Cancun buddies).

I was stuck at home doing this:

Ok, ok, I had some fun too!

Chris mom & husband Tony were in town for a visit, so I had a great dinner with them.

I went to a Polo match with our good friends Jen & Dave & their 2 kids: Caroline & Tommy

Caroline & Tommy loved the polo ponies, so we spent a lot of time in the barns. It was fun, and we learned a lot about the ponies from the stable girls.

Our good friend Eric was putting on a triathlon in our neighborhood, so I volunteered on one Saturday:

My station: making sure the runners made the final turn into the park & finish line. Boston pro Dede won - beat all the guys too :) It was fun watching her tear up the course!

Then I raced the next day - on Sunday!

It wasn't pretty, but I got it done! Hard to believe that only a month prior, I had completed an Ironman & felt great. This 33.4 mile race almost did me in!!! I hadn't been feeling that good the week prior though...that's my story & I'm sticking to it!

Fortunately, our tri club had a tent with beer & goodies that saved my life (after the race, of course)

Since Chris was out of town, and I didn't feel like finding another partner, we did miss out on a couple pre-purchased events...

The Red Sox tickets went to Chris' mom & Tony, who gave them to a friend.

And I sold our Country Music Festival tickets to my horse riding instructor: both tickets for only $82.50.

At least somebody enjoyed our tickets - better than them sitting in our drawer & going to waste!

Now, summer is coming to a close, and we still have a couple races left. Another 70.3 (miles) triathlon race in September & a marathon in November. Here's hoping my drive comes back, because I haven't been feeling like exercising since our Bonneville trip!