Hip replacement?! WTF?

Welcome to my blog. I've had the addy for quite some time but never found something to write about. I could bore you with the drama I've lived through over the last three years, I guarantee you the TV mini series would have you glued to the tube, but that's mostly behind me now. My new adventure is preventing what my PT said was a 'path to a complete hip replacement'. WTF? I'm 38! He tells me I have the hips of a 65 year old. As I creep closer to that dreaded mid-life crisis number it begins, Caryn's quest to stay active while avoiding a complete hip replacement now or any time in the forseeable future. All right, I'll take off the drama queen crown. My adventure is mostly about having fun with friends and staying as active as I can for as long as I can. Let's face it, I've got some of the world's worst DNA when it comes to health.

What's on tap? This year I am officially registered for two century rides, the Death Ride (126 miles, 15,000 feet of climbing, 5 passes), Muddy Buddy, a mini tri and the Wildflower tri. I expect a few other events will end up on my calendar as well (anyone want a buddy for the Coolest 24 HR?).

A few weeks ago I completed my first event after an injury (jammed and twisted my femur into my hip socket). A beautiful cherry blossom 10 miler in DC with Genta and BJ. Running isn't as much fun as the company that runs with us! I managed to stay injury free (goal 1) and run a sub 1:30 race (goal 2). A visit to the PT confirmed I was ok physically to keep training and to ramp it up a bit.

After a trip to Sports Basement I now have rented a wetsuit for a month and bought my first tri outfit for this weekends mini tri. I got a death glare when I said I was going to try the wet suit during the pool swim this weekend. A lecture on chlorine followed but I promised her it was only a very short swim and it'd be the only time I wore it in a pool. I need the practice getting in and out of it! Fortunately she has been a triathlete for 20+ years so, after the chlorine lecture, she gave me a bunch of useful tips on transitions and gave me a thumbs up on my tri outfit. She said I looked really cute. Hmmm....bad ass or cute? I'm not sure which look suits me better. Probably cute for now until I officially earn the bad ass battle stories.

I thanked her for the latex dressing/undressing lessons and tips to which I got a 'Go all tits out and have fun!'. All tits out huh? I guess that's the feminine version of 'all balls out'. Either way I have friends joining me at the mini tri (the record holder for event has a time of 15 minutes! I did say this was a MINI tri right?!) and expect to continue to write a fabulous story of a life. From here on out you can read about my training rants and rave, race reports, mindless rambles and all sorts of other stuff. I hope you enjoy it and, if nothing else, I hope it motivates at least one person to go all tits out (or all balls out if that suits you better) and have fun time with friends doing something you love!!