Hello All!  Sorry it has been so long.  The world is spinning and I'm just trying to hold on.  Have only averaged about one 5 K a week in the last 4 weeks. 

Stepped on a large rock while running and it hit right where I have a screw in my foot.  My foot turned black and blue within a couple of hours and stayed like that for a couple of weeks.  Ouch!  Felt like I broke my foot but doctor says everything is in place.

Plan to increase my mileage once again.

Been working, going to school, driving my youngest here and there, and had my mother and big brother over for a few weeks.

I have been taking Sulfasalizine and am not too happy as I believe it is causing my hair loss.  :(

Was supposed to see the rheumatologist today but had to reschedule as I am very sleep deprived and feared falling asleep at the wheel.  It is a hour and half drive from where I am.

I had been attending school full time and just recently dropped one class to survive all my classes.  My accounting class is kick my behind. 

Hope all is well with all of you. 

My boys  band Revolt With Reason will be at the HOUSE OF BLUES Hollywood on December 17th.  Should be lots of fun because that is my twins birthday!  :)  :)

If you're interested check out their Facebook  Revolt With Reason at The House of Blues (Sunset Strip) - 2 

Below one of my twins in the recording studio C-4 Music Labs


 Have a fantastic Thanksgiving for all of you who celebrate it : )   :)

A windy 4 mile run yesterday up the hill and along the Aquaduct

A windy 4  mile run yesterday up the hill and along the Aquaduct.  It was beautiful but the wind was so strong it blew my one foot and it would hit the other when running!  I stayed far away from the aquaduct water because I felt like the wind would push me in.  Unfortunately I was allergic to something because I had an allergy attack that lasted several hours afterwards.  Feel much better today. 

It still was worth it.  It is so beautiful up there.  I was a little slower than usual averaging 5 miles per hour and I blame it on the wind.  :) 

Been working out at the gym as well with lounges, pull ups and dips.

Taking sulfazine, don't really feel it's doing anything, still having flare-ups in my fingers and ankles.
My rhuematologist said it would probably take about six weeks ...think it's only been 2 or 3.

Signed up for the color run in Lancaster for February.  Can't wait  :) :)

Color run!!! Be there

Going to sign up for this run.  Looks like fun!!!    :) :) :)

click on link below............


http://www.colormerad.com/race.i?raceid=214&t=Lancaster%2C_CA

Hello All. Haven't been blogging lately...

Hello All.  Haven't been blogging lately...  Been taking care of my mom and so I haven't really the time to blog between that, school, work and appointments. :o  Haven't really been running lately as well.

Saw the Rheumatologist yesterday and we agreed to try Sulfasalazine again.  I just feel my pain is not as bad as before I started Enbrel. 

She also ordered an x-ray of my foot because when the balls of my feet swelled up a few weeks back it left my right foot feeling a little discombobulated.  So I will be getting that x-ray tomorrow.

So needless to say I haven't been running in the last week :\  

Can't wait to get back on track.  This last month and half my workouts have been much more sparse.  Need to get back to at least where I was.  :o

A side note my twins are back in college and my youngest, Garrett is now a senior in high school.

Yesterday Garrett auditioned for a Disney show called Jessie.  Well, I guess he didn't get it because we haven't heard anything yet and you usually do by now I believe. :o  He's kind of sad about it, but I don't see signs that he is giving up.

He is also working on practicing the SAT questions. 

Have a great day.

Thanks for reading. :)

Results of today's ultrasound and second mammogram

Results of today's ultrasound and second mammogram were normal!!!  wahoooooo!!  Wow, what a scary thing to go through. I guess the first one was a false-positive.

But wow, how your mind just goes to town when you are sitting there waiting for results in the cold little room with other ladies dressed in hospital gowns waiting for their answers as well....so surreal....sooooooo scary!!! 

God bless all the people who have breast cancer. May they win their fight!!

Yikes! Abnormal mammogram :(

Yikes!  Abnormal mammogram :(   Go on Friday for more tests.  Trying to think positive.

We'll see.  :o 

here are the pictures we took of the beautiful running trails in Sacramento and misc....

Took some pics of the sites of Sacramento.  Mostly wanted to show you all the beautiful trail we did our running on in Sac, CA.

We were behind this bus for miles and miles on the way there!

What is this thing?



On the way to Sacramento

I found Waldo!




They weren't kidding about the trees!




 

The trail we ran our 5 K on
 

 

amazing trails we enjoyed

Happen to see  these peeps pass by




sooo many bike riders



more green beauty



beginning of trail



on the trail

when you look up you are just surrounded by trees, and can barely see the sky at times



my favorite part of the trail

we came back the next day after running and took some pics of the trail.... I am almost camouflage

t

the trail we took was right next to the river

this one looks like it has a face lol....what are these things?



the moss of the tree trunks

Green everywhere!

cool painting on a building in old town Sacramento looks like people are climbing out of the picture.... amazing artist!



I think there must of been a comic-con going on?



The trip wouldn't be complete until you see Mr. Pickles



Not as bad as it could be

Took this at a rest stop - beautiful California sunset



Wow, Sacramento has bEAutiful trails!   The one my hubby and I ran today was like a mini tropical rain forest...... I was 90 degrees outside the trail but when you are in the trail itselft it was very cool, I'd say like below 70 degrees.  The tall trees were so amazing. The river was gorgeous.  We also had fun listening to the geese honk their horns, in an arrow up in the sky.  Something I NEVER see in the desert!   :)

The bump in my foot did well with my eleven days of rest.  It hurts but nothing to write home about.

I hope to take pictures of the trail tomorrow to show all of you it's beauty.  The people in Sac are also truly blessed with beautiful biking and jogging trails.

Thank you for reading.

Would love to hear some of your out there.   Visited Kyle Manard's Facebook site.  He is an amazing young man.  If you want some motivation like his FB site and keep up with his amazing life.

Thank you for reading!  :) :)

Took a few days off of running and other exercise hoping the swelling in my feet would go down and it did just that!:)   The lump/bump on the ball of my right foot is still there but much less swollen and less painful.   Worked the last three days too.

Tomorrow I will start up exercise again. This time with more padding in my shoes!

Hope all is well with you all.

Thanks for reading.

RA RA Runners has reached over 2000 page views! Here is a recent picture of all of you!

RA RA Runners has reached over 2000 page views!  Here is a recent picture of all of you! (Yet another milestone).....

Thank you for reading my blog.

Hope I have at least motivated one person with RA to keep moving despite the pain.

Thanks again,

Marie  :)

Bad news is : Large lump on the ball of my foot :( Good news is...

Bad News is: Large lump on the ball of my right foot :(  It is painful ... I have had many surgeries in that foot and one was to remove a "rheumatoid nodule (tumor)"  Hope it is not coming back :(  If it doesn't go away ....may have to see the podiatrist again. 

We'll see.  My theory is try not to focus on what I can't do but what I can do. 

 Last night had to weight train only and stay off the foot....I did some rowing at the gym as well to get that heart rate up. 

Good news is:  all this healthier eating and weight training has helped me to lose more weight. Wahoo ! 

It really pays to change up your exercise routine.  :)

Thank you for reading... hope today finds you well. 

Pelona Vista Park in the Antelope Valley has a nice 5 K course that is half park-like atmosphere and half back-country trials.

It was beautiful this afternoon when my husband and I went out for a run there. The wind kicked up and cooled things down.  Had a little trouble with being short of breath I believe a little "exercise asthma".  Was wheezing at the end of the 5 K.

But it went away quickly thank goodness.

Went home and had cucumber salad with balsamic vinegar, asparagus, and pan-cooked portabello mushroom sandwich on toasted sourdough topped with fresh spinach, tomato and mozzarella cheese, and a fresh fruit cup with raspberries, strawberries and blue berries. (all from the The dollar Store).

yummmm

Due to a RA flare-up of pain in the balls of my feet I have been cross training

Due to a RA flare-up of pain in the balls of my feet I have been cross training.   I am currently kicking up my weights on my strength training and doing shorter but higher intensity running on the treadmill until this foot flare-up is over. 

This high intensity training is helping me lose weight as well, not much but it is staying off :)

My goal of being able to do a dip on my own is getting closer, I have decreased the weight on the assisted dip/pull up machine to 90 lbs from 100 (less is more on this machine).  Yeah :)  

My leg presses I up'd from 80 lbs to 100 lbs. 

I went up on the chest press, shoulder press, lat pull and triceps pulley's as well.  Progress!

Thank you for reading. 

Random pic of RWR

Hope all of you are doing well today and are pain free :)

5K time today was 30 min 21 seconds ... trying to get it under 30.  This is 2 seconds less than my last best time.  Soooooooo close yet so far away.  :o

Still adding in the strength training: dips, pull-ups, abs, leg press, lunges, tricep and  bicep curls.

Ate much more healthier in the last day and today :)

Worked today. Verrrrryyyy tired.

Hope all is well with all of you! 

Love her blog! click on link

Love her blog!  click on link....




http://thetrimtart.blogspot.com/2013/06/easy-strawberry-granola-tart-super-low.html

My boys played at the House of Blues at the Sunset Strip

Below is a pic of my boys playing in their band (RWR) Revolt with Reason at the House of Blues last Thursday night.  They had fun fun fun!  Joan Jet was on the next stage and my boys said they saw Jon Bon Jovi sitting at the HOB restaurant eating.  So proud of them!  :) :) :)

 

 

 

Hello all. Had a great yesterday up to the California Aqueduct and back, 4.1 miles with the hubby of hills and dips. Tough but fun.

 

At the start I had a lot of pain in my ankles 6/10 but kept going then felt great afterwards about a 1/10.

 

My face was beat red for some reason.  It was so windy up there at the top of the mountain that the wind blew my one foot into my other foot several times, and at one point I felt it could actually blow me off the mountain!

 

Much calmer at the bottom of the mountain!

 

Well, thanks for listening I hope all of you are having a fine Sunday. Thanks for reading. 

 



My workout summary and goals for this year.....

For those of you who are curious about how my workouts (I try not bore people by having every post be about how exercised that day)....Below....I have snipped and pasted my workouts for this year.  I keep track on the Kaiser Permanente Walk website. 

You can see that some months/days are better than others.  Also, recently I have added more weight training and interval training to try and lose weight and according to the studies I have been reading in the ACSM Journal, it is great for arthritis too!

My goal by the end of this year is to run a 1/2 Marathon and to be able to do at least 1 UN-assisted dip and pull-up.  I know that is easy for some people but not for me.   I use this machine... I plan on changing the assisted weight gradually...

My Workout charts below