A few pictures of San Diego and more VT100 preparation

Here I am in front of a Helicopter during the social event on the Aircraft Carrier the SS Midway. I spent a bit of time exploring the various helicopters and planes, then after about 2 minutes headed for the desserts!

Here I am with my friend Mike a fellow Marathon Maniac. I was quite startled when I heard my name as I was walking the EXPO one day. It was my friend Mike from the Marathon Maniacs and 50 States Marathon clubs! Mike is alot faster than I (sub 4 hour marathons by ALOT) but we Maniacs/50 Staters are a tight knit group, our insanity of running many marathons in a short amount of time bonds us.

Here I am at the Rose Garden at Balboa Park on an afternoon/evening run. I ran most days when I was in San Diego. I liked to run along the harbor as well as to Balboa Park (where the Zoo is located). One day I kind of ran too far and ended up having to get a taxi back to the hotel. So I had to put in a reciept for a one way taxi fare....so far this single direction transport has not been questioned, which is good.

One day I took the ferry to Coronado Island (really it's a peninsula) so I could try a new location to jog. It was a really pretty Island with lots of beautiful and large houses. I enjoyed jogging along the boardwalk, up and down the various roads and along the various waterways. I also got a sunburn! I would go outside for about 20 minutes and turn bright red!

Here I am on a jog to Balboa Park one morning. On this day, I knew not to continue on too far. This is the Cactus Garden which is quite interesting and has lots of different cacti. I touched a few and poked my hand up a bit. I really need to stop trying to pet animals or touch sharp objects!

In this park I was a little nervous because I asked a docent about the presence of rattlesnakes and she suggested they are lurking around. Nothing scares me more than rattlesnakes, so I did not go onto more obscure trails. I really need to get over this fear if I ever plan to do Western States!

Today I had a GREAT morning. I recieved an e-mail from a runner friend, Dan R. who will be in VT for a personal trip and noticed I mentioned that I was pacerless from mile ~90-100 at Vermont. He asked if I was still looking for a pacer and volunteered to keep me company.

Dan is a really great guy who I know several different ways: 1) I met him briefly at Bull Run Run 50 miler this past April (as well as his girlfriend Elizabeth who was crewing for him and is so sweet!) 2) He belongs to at least one of the the same running clubs as I do, the Virginia Happy Trails Running Club and 3) He is friends with super running machine Jamie D and 4) I stalk his blog (yeah, I admit it, I stalk people on blogs:-).

Upon reading his e-mail, I immediately responded, I still need a pacer and would LOVE if he would keep me company for the last few miles.

I reminded him that I am not remotely as fast as he (he placed 10th overall at Bull Run Run...I on the other hand might still be out there)

And in my mind I thought unless there is a large portion of dessert at the finish and that is the last dessert on earth I probably would never be as fast as 99% of the population. With the last dessert on earth at stake perhaps I could come in first place, but we'll never know, will we?

Dan said he was fine with my lack of speed. He is planning to park at the finish and run his way backwards along the course to mile 88 (we ultra-runners don't get too anxious about specific distances because 10=12 miles, right?), then pace me into the finish. Based on my last years time I should arrive at Bill's about 4:48 a.m.

I mentioned to Dan that I recall I arrived at this aid station before 5 a.m. but left a bit after 5 a.m. I had to get weighed (just a few moments) then seemed to sit down for no good reason. I believe I might have wasted about 15 minutes at this aid station and as far as I can remember there was no reason for this. I had no shoe change but think I might have been depressed about starting up running after losing/breaking my pacer.

This year I will be handed off seamlessly from Theresa to Dan. And I know both Dan and Theresa will take really good care of me because both have been so encouraging via e-mail messages!

I am getting really excited about VT100! Only 7 full days to go.

Training for VT100: Eating!

Last night at Bruster's Tristan is purchasing a "to go" banana split and scores a second doggie sundae for Gilligan.

Gilligan helps himself to the doggie sundae. We are really bad parents because we did not step in to stop him but in fact let this occur and laughed about it. We really need to create and enforce rules because at the rate Gilligan is running amok he will get into all sorts of mischeif.

But then he goes and pulls the "I still have a bandage on my paw so I get to do whatever I want" card!

This is Tristan and Gilligan purchasing our first banana split (for half price) last evening. During this doggie sundae aquisition, Gilligan was better behaved and waited patiently for his sundae.

On Wednesday night we went to half price Gelati Day at Carmen's Italian Ice. Because I ran there from work after a REALLY long and trying day, I actually had eaten 2 italian ices before Karen/Simba (background) and Tristan/Gilligan (foreground) arrived. Thus by the end of the evening I had powered down 3 desserts...Life is good!

Last evening Tristan and I went to the Fleet Feet Fun Run then headed to Bruster's with Gilligan. This time he went with no T-shirt and only his paw covered with a bandage (that doesn't even cover his Mast Cell, but is just there for pity). By looking indistinct he was able to score two ice creams at Brusters. (okay this also might have been possible because Tristan and I purchsed our ice cream for "there" at one window and our "to go" ice cream about 30 min later at different window).

Gilligan really enjoyed all the attention he got and was happy to go for his second consecutive night of frozen treats (because Wednesday night we did Carmen's Italian Ice for half price Gelati's).

This brings me to a funny story. My friend Karen (Simba, a dog friend's of Gilligan's owner) was curious what flavors they have at this establishment. Last time we met up the selection of flavors was really overwhelming so she wanted to have a strategy for what flavors she might be leaning towards. So she did what any self respecting person would do: google up Carmen's and Rockville. Apparently the third website listed was my blog! She was really amused; but this did not help in figuring out which flavors were available.

In fact I have been having problems with google lately kicking up my blog for information I am trying to research. For example I wanted to register for the Kentlands 5km race which is comieng up this September. When I googled up "Kentlands", "5 km" "2009" and "register", the first 5 hits were my blog...this was not helpful at all because I cannot register for the race on my blog! In fact ultimately I was able to find the registration page but that was only because registration opened relatively recently and I had not deleted the e-mail with the registration information.

Preparing for Vermont 100 in 2009

The past several weeks I have been trying to ramp up my training for the VT 100 miler. If you go to my posts in Jan, Feb and Mar, you will notice this strategy worked pretty effectively at allowing me to beat my previous Umstead 100 miler by over an hour. Unfortunately life got in the way and my longest training week was about 45 miles. And my longest distance since the Bob Potts Marathon about the first of June has been less than 15 miles. These numbers were not what I wanted.

But on a positive note as I indicated to one of my ultra-friends who questioned how prepared I am for VT100, I eagerly replied, "I can proudly say I have no overuse injuries!" There is the chance that the training philosophy of "less is more" could kick in. Of course it was only a little over 3 months ago that I ran my last 100, so perhaps I will have some residual endurance. And of course I know what to expect both from the 100 mile distance and the Vermont 100 mile course. Knowledge may give me a tiny, itty-bitty advantage.

I have done some heat training (and in fact after chatting with a different ultra-friend) learned that by going to the Sauna for 20 minutes I can raise my temperature about 3 degrees. I assume that I am raising my core temp because I wait a few moments to take my temperature. The reason I have been stopping at 20 minutes in the Sauna is that my glasses or reading material DNF. My glasses become impossible hot to the point where I think I might get a burn on my face (and how do I explain that to my doctor, insurance and husband?). And my books and magazines really have not fared well in the sauna. I am afraid to bring my Ipod because I think it would drop dead after about 5 minutes (even if I tried to train it up!).

As for last minute cramming, I kind have done a little. This is more to build some confidence and also because I think I was a bit unhappy the last few weeks because I was not getting my usual exercise. The last several days I have run to and/or from work. This is about 7 miles with a few moderate hills. Each day I have finished my run and felt really good. I just wish it was 3 weeks until VT because then I could get one more long run in.

I have not started to pack, but I do have my excel spreadsheet from last year which I have updated and revised. Because my husband/crew Tristan is so unreliable (yes I have finally come to this realization), we have agreed it is best that he only meet me at Margaritteville and no other aid station. This means I actually have to have an early drop bag to put my layers and headlamp/flashlight. And since I will not see Tristan twice in the evening, I will have to really commit to taking out my contacts and put on glasses about 8 p.m. and will have to tough it out. This may be the most traumatic portion of my 100 mile run because my contacts are so thick/heavy and realistically don't work that well (stupid astigmatism!) However, this will give me something to look foward over halfway through the race.

I am really looking forward to running with my assigned pacer: Theresa. She is really sweet and has been checking up on me and encouraging me lots recently via e-mail. Her enthusiasm is so infectious that I know mile 70-90 will be manageable (I would say a breeze but that is so far from the truth!).

Tristan is thinking about running the last 5 miles of the race with me. He just needs to figure out if he can get a ride to the ~95 mile aid station. His objection is that he doesn't know what time I will make it there and does not want to spend hours waiting for me. Unless we can figure out the logistics, the last 10 miles I will be alone. But that is fine. Last year I was able to do this bit solo and other than the stupid rock wall I nearly could not climb across I did fine. And now I mentally prepared for "The Wall" at about mile 90 or 95! Maybe this year I will fling a few rocks off it to make it lower...or I still have time to vandalize it and get rid of the entire wall (if only I could figure out where it is)

I am really looking forward to the horses passing me about mile 10 or so. The riders were so nice and encouraging and the horses so cute. I hope my friend whose horse timed out about mile 30 last year is back.

And of course I am really looking forward to seeing all my ultra-friends. A bunch of Reston Runners are traveling and racing the VT100 including some of my ultra-inspirations: Jim A and Anna B. as well as Anna's husband Jim B., and Dave Y., Jim N. Mary K., Keith W., Bill T. and Tim C. I hope my words of wisdom having done this race last year helps all of them in this race. I am looking forward to seeing my ultra-friends from afar including: Emmy, Frank, Anthony, Rob and others I know from VT100, Umstead and many other races who will be there. VT100 will be a great re-union and should be lots of fun!

My intention is to have a bag at every Aid Station (5, 7, 14/21, 17, 19, 23, 26 and 28). Some of these drop bags to mostly accept items. For example 5 & 7 on Sat morning and 28 on Sunday morning will recieve layers, headlamp and flashlights. On the other hand Aid Station 17, 19 and 21 I will be taking out items such as spare shoes, layers, headlamps, etc.

I have created a crib sheet of all the aid stations; however many are unmanned and several simply will provide food & beverages but have no drop bags. At every aid station my goal is to refill my water bottle, drink at least 2 cups of gatorade, have some banana's, M&M's, pretzels and other treats. I will resupply my fanny pack with sports bars at each aid station as needed as well as grab little pre-made med-packs (Advil, Pepto, Immodium, Tums, Wet wipes, and Bug Wipes). Of course I will also potentially swap out (or add to) my bandana collection.
At the later aid stations I hope my husband is able to acquire some positive notes of encouragement to put in my drop bags to surprise me. Since I will change out my socks throughout the race and shoes sporadically I will have a bit of down time during the race. Last year my pacer and volunteers read the various notes and it really gave me lots of energy and helped me regain my "positive mental attitude". If you want to surprise me with a note you can send an e-mail to my husband at:

Tristan_Massie (at) comcast dot com.

In the subject line you can call indicate it is meant for my 100 mile race:-) And you can indicate which drop bag you might like it place in if you have a preference.

Poop Happens: A brief summary of my recent life

Pocohontas, my mom's diabetic cat. My sister and I are now sharing caretaking duties of this cat but are looking to find her a more permanent home. She is really sweet and other than her diabetes (which she definitely accepts her insulin shots like champ), she is a good natured and afectionate cat. In fact she walks on a leash quite well (my mom trained her to do this because they traveled around in the RV and it was a good way to meet people and get the cat some fresh air and exercise).

This is a picture of a sight seen during the Fleet Feet Fun Run. What you should notice is there is a deer in the middle of someone's lawn. This is a densely populated residential area. But apparently Bambi is okay with that.

My mom owned a diabetic cat which about a month ago, my sister and I inherited. We are trying to find a home for Pocohontas (a hemeaphredic cat that was originally thought to be a female and alledgedly was spayed in the early 2000's). This past fall my mom went to the vet and during some diagnostic procedures, it was determined the cat was a boy (or at least had male organs). My sister thinks they misdiagnosed the cats gender and now calls "Pokey" a "he". I still call her Pocohontas and refer to her in third person feminine.

Well, my sister could not take care of the cat last weekend (which entails daily shots) because she was going out of town. Unfortunately since both Cindy and I have multi-cat families so we do not put out diabetic crunchie food as that would bankrupt us and there is no way to segregate the critters. But we do give Pocohontas her daily insulin shots. This means that for the forseeable future we will be sharing cat care duties.

When I met up with my sister at Reston we put the cat in the car and I started driving back to my home in MD. About 5 minutes into the ride it reeks!!! And it is not me. I look at the guilty culprit. The stench does not go away during the entire 30 minute drive. By the end of the trip my eyes are watering and I am about to try to find the Nuremburg or Helsinki rules (or is the Declaration of Independence) about ethical treatment of humans. After getting out of the car I notice she pooped in the back seat. And I was driving "blue-ey", my beloved car, not death trappy (my arch nemesis).

During the week I talked to my sister and mentioned this incident. My sister comments that during the cats flight from Dalles to Dulles earlier in June she apparently was taken out of her carrier during the Xray machine. Then Cindy put her on the leash for a bit and Pocohontas pooped in the Dalles Fort Worth Airport!!!

Oh by the way, we continue to look for someone who is able to take care of this cat. And other then her propensity to poop during travel she really is a sweet cat and does sort of get along acceptably with other cats. I will try to post a picture of her.

Continuing with this theme of poop. Tristan is now back in town. He survived his trip up Mt Rainier. But he had two incidents of significance.

First he took an expensive ($500+) down jacket on his trip and put it in a stuff sack. Somehow one morning the stuff sack worked its way out of his backpack and started rolling down an incline. Last Tristan saw this bag filled with his jacket it was going over the edge. Luckily as this was going on he thought about a sign we had seen during the Disney Marathon that suggested

"If your keys drop in hot flowing Lava, let 'em go man, just let 'em go!"

Apparently that should have said, "if your expensive jacket goes rolling off a 14,000 foot mountain let it go, just let it go dude".

Luckily one of his climbing group members ended up bailing at about 12,000 feet and Tristan asked and was able to borrow this very nice gentleman's jacket. This made it possible for Tristan to summit Rainier for the second time. This time on the more challenging Kautz Glacier.

The next story Tristan relayed was about their bagged dinners. Apparently they got "Tasty bits" for their final dinner. This was some type of spicey asian meal that upset most all of the climbers stomach by giving everyone gas. Sounds like a blast to be stuck in a small tent with other stinkey climbers with gas, doesn't it? Oh actually it sounds like my Monday night with Gilligan the gas-ey dog!

A currently unnamed person mentioned that during this entire trip (and every other mountaineering expedition he goes on) he ends up being really bound up (i.e. can't poop). My suggestion is some e.coli laced peanut butter but apparently this suggestion is not well recieved.

In fact this same person mentioned he has been pooping like a deer recently. I had no comeback for this comment. Does he mean he is lifting his tail and spewing out a bunch of pellets, he is pooping in people's backyards...what does he mean? Finally, I figured out this person was suggesting he was bound up. I offered my sympathy and suggested: "prunes, dates and other fruits: Gramps" I think the last suggestion nearly got me a beating (or as gramps said: "You're cruising for a bruising").

This got me to thinking in about 1 week I will have this exact same dilemma. If you read my post Umstead 100 mile or even VT100 posts you realize I pound down the banana's but don't eat many other fruits/veggies during the 100 miler. I admit I eat banana's for their binding properties, but it is not pretty after the fact when I am dehydrated and can't do my business for days.

For those of you who have made it to the end of this post, you should realize I was not joking in my blog title!

Gilligans Status: Nothing but relatively good news so far!

Gilligan and I during a freak July snowstorm in DC....just kidding. This is Gilligan running the George Washington Birthday Marathon in 2007. During this marathon, the high was about 27 degree's, the wind chill was in the teens and even a snow squall occurred during the later part of the race. But Gilligan ever the patient and supportive spectator hung around so he could run the last 400 meters of the race with me! He likes to cross the finish line of race: the enthusiastic crowds, cheering, thrill of victory are all things he really loves. He just doesn't want to run 26.2 miles for this, so he slips in right near the finish:-)
After a terrible week last week in which Gilligan had to go back for some emergency procedures because the wound on his neck was not healing and in fact had swollen to the size of a grapefruit (in which I left him at the vets Tuesday night because he was seeming to struggle to breath). This week has seen a dramatic improvement!

Gilligan's neck wound is now barely larger than a golf ball, none of his wounds are oozing and he is now eating and drinking normally. He still takes up 90% of our bed and is on meds for the next week or so. But he seems to be back to himself.

Last week I was really upset when I left him at his vets overnight. He was struggling to breath and had been off his food from Sun-Tues. I was really worried about how bad he was and how depressed and lethargic he was acting. But now he is back closer to normal, which I am really excited about!

And this is followed by even more good news. Last week we (Gilligan and I) saw an oncologist. During this visit it was really sad to hear all the very discouraging treatment options. But we were there for more diagnostic tests including blood, radiography, etc. This week we got the results and all are looking good! This means it is unlikely his cancer has spread and he may be in 10% (as per the oncologist) or 30% (as per the literature) or 40% (as per the pathologists) of dogs who have one bought with Mast Cell and it never returns, spreads or becomes a major issue. We are treating him with Benadryl and are really thinking if his paw bump does return, the steriod has a pretty decent success rate in slowing progression and minimal side effects. The radiation and chemo sounded awful!

And as for removing more of the margins of his cancer, Tristan and I have decided we are NOT going to do this. Little literature and few medical professionals suggest this is an appropriate option considering they would need to remove two cell layers around the Mast Cell Tumor and in his case this would be bone. Finally considering he had this bump since last Fall, it is very likely it is a very slow growing tumor so it seems reasonable to assume in his case we do not need to treat it aggressively.

I am just happy to have my dog back who is now acting normally (although as lazy as usual) and seems perky and happy. He wags his tail, looks up at us when we say his name and has occasionally been seen licking his sister puffy the cats butt (which I hadn't observed for the past month). We are still going for ice cream a few times a week because now we know we must treasure every day with him.

In fact tommorrow is half price Gelato Day at Carmen's Italian ice. We are already drooling in anticipation!

Why do I run....a few pictures from San Diego to illustrate my motivation

This picture is from Extraordinary Desserts in San Diego. Out of the 5 days I was in San Diego I went to this fine establishment 3 days. I would have gone more but as you can see from the below picture one evening I was otherwise occupied at a different event. The desserts were really good. I had a brownie that was really yummy, a chocolate bundt cake, and a chocolate filled croissant for my treats. What you will notice is that all of the desserts were very elegant and included some type of flower. My brownie had a pink daisy, my chocolate bundt cake had a rose and my chocolate filled croissant had a yellow daisy and some rose petals. I am ready to go back to San Diego for these yummy treats alone!

The DIA (Drug Information Association) conference has a nice networking event each year. A few years ago it was at the Georgia Aquarium. Last year it was at the Museum of Modern Art in Boston and this year it was at the USS Midway. As usual they had really tasty desserts as well as an open bar. I cannot speak about the open bar because I was busy gorging myself on the various desserts including both a white and milk chocolate fountain. I like to think this is good training for ultra distance eating. And I would easily guess I consumed 1000 calories during the 2-3 hours I was at this event. I really need to consider becoming a competitive eater.

Where in the world is my husband?

Tristan and his group hiking down Mt Baker last September

Tristan stuck in a Crevasse waiting for his group to pull him up.

Some of his group on Mt Baker rapelling down an ice wall. Last year Tristan did a 5 day expedition on Mt Baker to learn many mountaineering skills (including: rapelling, self arrest, crevasse rescue, and lots of other skills needed for climbing big peaks). This year Tristan is learning more skills on Mt Rainier and later in the summer (Labor Day) he has another expedition planned (and paid for) on Mt Shuksan in Washington State. He is becoming quite the accomplished mountaineer!

Tristan left for Mt Rainier last Saturday. That morning we had a brief period when we were both in the same time zone but did not get to see each other as I was at Dulles Airport and Tristan was at BWI.

I called Alpine Ascents on Wednesday (the guiding group Tristan went with) and they suggested he is fine (although perhaps they are told to hide the truth for a few days as to not alarm family members). They also suggested the entire group did summit Rainier. Knowing how hard Tristan trained I was confident he would summit. And apparently they had good weather the whole time. I am a little jealous because all of my major expeditions have a 50% chance of being somewhat miserable (based on 2 out of 4 hundred milers). Maybe in just over 2 weeks this statistic can be revised to 40%.

In the meantime Gilligan had a medical issue that led him to be in the vets overnight. One of his wounds is just not healing but essentially the problem is that Gilligan continues to itch and scratch at it re-opening the wound. Recently this wound did become closed but then it filled with fluid. The doctor drained it and I am doing my best to keep Gilligan from fussing at it. This is a full time job because he is quite determined to scratch. Recently I added cold compresses to his medical treatment and this actually seems to be helping.

Training for and a preview of Vermont 100 mile run

Theresa, Randy, Me and Tristan: With my previous pacer from 2008: Randy, and this years pacer (unbeknownst to me) his wife Theresa and Tristan prior to the VT100 miler last year. I am really looking forward to running with Theresa and know we will have lots of fun during our 20 mile journey together. She will be pacing me from Camp 10 Bear to Bill's. This will be from about 10 p.m. Saturday to 5 a.m. the next day.

Here I am at the top of one of the numerous hills with several other runners. To get to the top of this hill we had to climb pretty hard up this grassy trail. It was a pretty significant slope to get up, luckily our descent on the other side was a bit more gradual. At this point during the race (probably about 3 p.m. or so), I was running with my friend Rob Apple (who is just a super nice person and a great ultra-marathoner). We spent about 45 or so miles on the course together and he really helped me alot and was a wonderful mentor!

Here I am at the beginning of the VT100 last year. I would guess it was about 6-7 a.m. or so. You will notice I ended up wearing my headlamp around my wrist. I ended up with a less bright flashlight with me so found this set up helped in the first few miles of the course. My recollection is the first 10 miles or so have a considerable amount of single track interspersed with rickety jeep road. This year I will have a "real" flashlight and headlamp and will intend to simply drop them at the first aid station/drop bag site.

Towards the end of the race, I acquired Tristan as a pacer. He took this picture of my feeble attempt at running. You will notice that neither of my feet are really off the ground (thus by ultra-running standards Tristan fails at taking a good picture!)

This was at the Taftsville Covered bridge. It was raining pretty hard (rainstorm number one of three that were pretty hard throughout the day on Saturday). But I will admit this rain storm was a refreshing break although it did make for some wet feet. Luckily my Drymax Socks kept my feet from blistering much at all.

Later storms in the day included lightening, thunder, hail, and significant wind, but this storm just had pretty hard rain.

I have been trying to train for VT100 mile pretty unsuccessfully since late April. That is when my mom became ill, passed away then Gilligan was diagnosed with cancer. But I am starting to get back on track with a bit of cramming and lots of eating (well if you consider powering down Bruster's Ice Cream eating:-)

This past weekend I walked on the treadmill on a 15% incline for about 2 hours and spent a bit of time in the Sauna (as well as about 20 or so minutes swimming) and Monday included a 10 mile run that was pretty fast by my standards (9-10 minute miles I would guess).

Fourth of July will be my last high mileage weekend in which I hope to have at least 2 solid days of running including a day trip to Sugarloaf Mountain. I also will start assembling my running stuff in preparation for our 5 day trip to VT as well as creating my drop bags. I have a nice EXCEL spreadsheet that will assist me in this and think I have Tristan in agreement to see me at mile ~55 (Margaritaville). It would be nice to see him earlier in the course but worry that this might create difficulties in ensuring he is at the one place I want to see him.

I have picked Margaritaville because then no matter how long it takes me to arrive, Tristan will be entertained by the aid station and should enjoy the music as he is a closet parrothead.

You Shuffle Your Feet, You Lose Your Seat...

"You shuffle your feet, you lose your seat" is a favorite phrase we attribute to our oldest cat Zaboo.  This is because he invariable steals our seat when either one of us gets up from a chair or the couch.  He is a habitual offender.  We occasionally pay him back by stealing his seat when he gets up, but I just don't think he gets it.

Well, this phrase now applies to the entire critter family.  Last night Gilligan put himself to be about 6 p.m. (what is he a grandparent??) then Boo pretty quickly made a beeline for the bed and took up residence on Tristan's side of the bed (or should I say Boo's side of the bed?).  I am aware of the timing because I was upstairs working on cleaning clothing (I would suggest folding laundry but if you take a glance at Tristan's guest blogpost pictures you will observe that "folding" is probably too strong a word).

About 7:00 Puffy hops into bed and somehow jettisons Boo from the pillow (right as the first episode of the Simpsons came on).  Finally Sagwa climbs into bed about 8:30 (right as the second Simpsons was ending).  Boo also returns to the bed but elects to simply take my over my pillow.  I am tired and ready for bed.  But there is no place on the bed for me.  Unless I become rubberlady, I cannot contort myself around the various creatures.  

Because Sagwa is the sweetest and most likely to snuggle, I lift her up and take up a tiny handkerchief sized portion of the bed.  This works out okay until Gilligan starts backing up onto the small bit of real estate I had claimed for myself and Sagwa.  At some point overnight I move to the other side of the bed ("Tristan's" side) by displacing Boo.  I don't think this pleases him but I have thrown caution in the wind.  I pay the mortgage, utilities, for kibble (well okay, Tristan and I pay for these things but for effect I pretend it is just I), thus I deserve a portion of the bed.

Well, all this accomplishes is to have Puffie and Gilligan to double team me again by creeping over to my new side.  I feel slightly vindicated (but slightly bad) when about 2 a.m. Gilligan seems to fall off the side of the bed.  At this point I reposition myself and defend my turf for about 2 minutes.

Then I think to pay me back, Gilligan decides to hold fartfest 2009.  Seriously about every 10 minutes he would let one rip.  And they were stinky!!!  I feel he was trying to get me to cave but I sort of kept control of my side of the bed.  

I have my sister, a small van and lots of month long camping trips in this van with my mom and dad to thank for my ability to defend my turf.  My parents positioned our sleeping arrangement such that my head was on the wheel well and my sister was parallel to the back seat (after the seat, my parents had a raised platform complete with a mattress).  This means as we grew taller our feet started touching (about 8-10 years of age).  By the time we were 12 or 13 it was all out war over feet positioning.  If you showed any sign of weakness to my sister, you would have no feet room the entire night! 

I better get to bed or I will lose my coveted spot.  So far tonight I may be the first one heading upstairs (ha ha chumps!)

1 Massie back in Md and 1 Massie out and finally a bit of good news

Tristan and I apparently refuse to be in the same state for more than a few minutes this month.  On Saturday morning my flight arrived from San Diego at Washington Dulles about 5:30 a.m.  At about the same time Tristan was getting on a plane to Washington State for a mountaineering expedition.

Of course Tristan left me a nice treat to remind me of him this morning...an alarm clock going off at 3 a.m.!!!!  He is very lucky he was in WA because seriously if he was closer I would have run to where he was and strangled him or beat him silly (if he is lucky I will have forgotten this in the next week or so!).

Tristan also left the dog in a very bizarre outfit.  Apparently Gilligan (or Tristan) wants to be preppy.  So Gilligan was in an old cable knit sweater when I arrived home.  And it was nicely knotted around his neck.  All Gilligan needed was a pair of loafers and a pair of khakis and he could have been on the cover of GQ.

As per a brief telephone conversation, this stylin look was to protect Gilligan's neck wound.  Perhaps this was the case before Tristan left, but by the time I got home it was in a bit of disarray and definitely not covering his neck wound.  In fact I would suggest by the time I arrived home, Gilligan looked like a retired pole dancer (and a not very good one at that).

Gilligan is now wearing a turquoise blue t-shirt which accentuates his brown eyes (as per Cosmopolitan Magazine) as well as his smurf shorts.   Tristan objected to this outfit because it was too feminine for Gilligan, but Tristan is not here, is he??

During the same brief conversation Tristan mentioned my dermatologist called and my biopsy was negative...WAHOO!!!  This is even better considering I had become "lobster face" at San Diego.  I went out for several long runs and really struggled with sunscreen staying on (and boy is the sun bright there!).  If sunscreen gets in my eyes and burns, I tend to wash it right  off.  And I hate hats!  Suffice it to say, if I had to go for a follow up appointment the dermatologist was not going to be pleased at how red my face was/is.  On a positive note, I am completely embracing the monochrome pink look!

Finally Tristan was able to say he is getting guided on Mount Rainier by two folks who have summitted Everest.  This made Tristan really excited.  One gentleman is a Sherpa that has a speed record going up Everest and the other guide has guided Everest as well as summitted Mount Rainier well over 100 times.  I think Tristan is in good hands and I know he is really looking forward to this expedition up the Kautz Glacier (I think...or else it is Eammons Glacier--which ever one is not the popular route).  

I sure hope his guides let him have everything he wants and needs (last expedition I think he wished he had one additional thick pair of gloves).  I would argue over everything I packed and keep everything.  If I want a 100 lb bag to carry up the mountain, that is my prerogative.  And any trip up the mountain is only about 10 miles and 10,000 vertical feet which probably means I would be carrying less pound miles then I do on my average 100 miler.

Finally today I got paired with my VT100 pacer.  It is Theresa, the wife of my pacer from last year.  She will pace me from mile 70 to ~90.  This will work out really well because realistically I just need someone to help me out over the night hours when I become lonely, tired, depressed and start wondering why in the world I paid good money to be tortured:-)  

I know we will have lots of fun.  I am a bit nervous about VT100 because I definitely am not in as good shape as I was last year, but hopefully the knowledge of the course and my experience with other 100's will make up for my potential lack of fitness.  Pretty much it is too close to the race for me to cram much so hopefully grit and determination will make up for any deficiencies I have because of my recent personal life challenges

Dr. M's pets

While Tammy is in San Diego this is a guest post from Dr. M 

(M stands for Mountain as opposed to what was written in a recent post). Really just posting pictures of the pets for her benefit.

Big G visited the vet yesterday to have his bandage changed. The vet came in and said "it's my favorite dog" then he said "well your my favorite too" to the dog in the opposite room. That may have been the last straw for Gilligan as Gilligan hit him in the face with his tail as he was changing the bandage. I guess Gilligan needed to vent a little. Gilligan has been to Bruster's ice cream the last two days to have a doggie sundae though.

His best friend Puff is keeping him company and giving him some loving too.

Gilligan's newest look and off to San Diego for a conference

This is Gilligan's newest outfit...you will notice he is currently starting to cross-dress. Apparently he and I are identical in many ways. We both are 120 lbs (just kidding only one of us is 120, but the other's license says 120 because back in the day this regulation bra wearer was 120 lbs...) He apparently wears a 36 C bra (well at least his one scar which is filled with liquid is "C" cup sized). And we both enjoy ice cream and donuts.

At Brusters today enjoying a waffle cone and a doggie ice cream. This is a SINGLE dip ice cream. The double and triple are HUGE and ENORMOUS, respectively. I was going to go for a double, but considering it was a bit hot, it would have melted all over me. You can notice right under his pseudo collar (just a slip knot thing using his leash) is his man-bra.

This is Tristan and Gilligan at Bruster's on Thursday night (for half price banana split...in fact you can notice one banana on the counter). This was the evening Gilligan was sportin his McGyvered bandana neckware. He liked his patriotism but ultimately this set up did not prevent him from scratching at one of his more critical scars.

Here you can see our cats having a tribal council to determine who gets voted out of the bed. The last few nights we have had all 3 cats, Gilligan, Tristan and I in our Queen size bed. I think we might need to upgrade to a King sized bed because at least one person complains they lack space with this arrangement.

Even worse, Gilligan has been going up on to the bed earlier and earlier in the evening to get some prime real estate. Last night his self imposed bed time was about 8 p.m. He pretty much had the entire bed by lying at an angle with his paws straight out.

Gilligan continues to chew and scratch his various surgical wounds a bit. We continue to put his boxers on every few hours but his neckerchief/bandana was not exactly working. But today I stumbled on a product that might be working but if it's not, at least its causing quite a stir in Gaithersburg. In fact we had a road trip to Brusters for ice cream to see if anyone commented. But alas they laughed and pointed but did not comment.

He is now wearing a bra that had a strap malfunction. It was about to be tossed in the trash when I realized it might actually cover one of his wounds. It does...and it makes a statement that Gilligan is comfortable with his masculanity.

Sadly I wear pretty boring undergarments so it is simply a generic faux satin padded white bra. I really should invest in alot more exciting undergarments considering at regular intervals Tristan takes photo's that showcase my unmentionables but alas I am either too lazy or too cheap to do this.

Tommorrow I leave for San Diego for a conference. I will be there about 1 week. When I come home next Saturday I arrive at about 5:30 a.m. at Dulles. My husband leaves for Washington State at 6:30 a.m. from BWI. This means I will not seem him for nearly 20 days (until July 8th, which for those of you in the DC area may recall is Carmen's Italien Ice half price Gelato Day!!!). I can't figure out if I am more excited about the Gelato or seeing my husband on this day (Just kidding of course it's Gelato)...no seriously it is the husband, "Dr. M":-)

On a positive note for the next 20 days I should not lose items or have items mysteriously disappear or find the remnants of broken items that had been mine and in pristine shape last time I saw them.

And of course this 10 day trip of Tristan's (including 5 days on Mount Rainier doing crazy stuff like crevase rescue) will give me time to bedazzle all the items that I own before Tristan comes back!