Clouds above Medicine Bow Peak
Some photos from our trip to Medicine Bow National Forest. These were taken mostly at an elevation of around 10,600 ft or so and there was still way too much snow on the trails to do any hiking in the high country. Maybe if we'd brought our snowshoes though I'm not sure my knee would have been happy about that. Medicine Bow Peak is over 12,000 ft I think.
We took a just under 2 hour hike with the dogs at a much lower elevation and it was hot. Was nice to get out and stretch our legs though.
My knee has not been fabulous and I finally went to the doctor last week. He agreed that something was probably wrong but he couldn't tell what. He gave me 3 options:
1. Physical therapy
2. MRI
3. Amputation
Oddly enough #3 was Jonny's suggestion before I even went to the doc. I opted for the MRI. I had it done yesterday but unfortunately the doc is out for over 2 weeks so I'm stuck staring at the graphic scans of my knee and wondering if any of the dark spots are the return of a cyst. He told me that once you get a cyst there's a 50% chance that you can get another one. He also said they don't like to open up the knee a second time which is more than fine by me but he refused to tell me what my other options are if it is a cyst. He said let's not worry about the worst case scenario right now. I suppose there are worse things than 2 more weeks of denial.
I've also realized that Regionals has crept up on me. They start on Friday which is a day and a half away. I lost track because of the seminar over the weekend. I wish I was more excited about it. Running Cody in Grand Prix finals will be fun, I'm looking forward to that for sure but the rest of it, meh, whatever. I feel like we've been there, done that. I entered Lola in Team, I don't know why, she's already qualified for the year and I'm not planning on going to Nationals anyway but I thought it would be fun. She's teamed with Moola, a big black poodle who was her teammate when we qualified last Oct. so there is no pressure at all. Plus her owner is nice and realizes the importance of having fun and not taking things too seriously so she's a perfect match for us. 'Team Moo Lo La!' reunited for some fun. Cody is not doing team, he's so inconsistent and it's too many runs for him. It will be nice not having to charge back to the crating area to get dog #2. He'll be pissed at not getting to run but oh well. Hopefully I'll be a lot more rested and focused than I was 2 weeks ago since Regionals is only 45 minutes away and I get to sleep in my own bed.
Great photos! I've only ever driven by there at high speed on I-80 and haven't really explored the area yet.
ReplyDeleteI really hope your knee turns out OK!
I hear you on trialing apathy. We were trialing so hard, every weekend for the last year, that it's been nice to have a couple months off and enjoy my training weekends and just be spontaneous. It'll take a while before I can really get back into heavy trialing again.
Once you get there, I'm sure it'll be (sort of) fun. I probably won't make it out to watch since I could-so-use a relaxing weekend, so I'll wait happily for your reports.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually kind of relieved about not volunteering this year.
We just have a regular 3-day USDAA trial this weekend with regular classes and all the tournaments, and I didn't sign Tika up for team because I kick myself so hard when I mess up, plus she's plenty Qed in team already. But I've been working away from home a lot and we've had no trials and she's going stir crazy and driving me nuts so now I regret not entering her after all. Oh, well, maybe someone will have to pull their dog at the last minute and we can sneak in. Otherwise I'll just have to make a point of spending time playing with her when I'm not running boost and remember not to just dash back to the score table.
ReplyDelete...Ha there's my blog post for today! Thanks. :-)
-ellen
Hmm, I don't even have a heavy trialing schedule to be burned out from. I'm not exactly burned out, just tired from the past 2 weekends of travelling/seminars and the novelty of Regionals has long worn off. 2 years ago I was really excited about it and Lola took 2nd in the Perf. Grand Prix Finals, can we ever hope to do better than that? It will be hot and 3 days is too long and I get Monday off of work right? Oh wait, I have a deadline on Wednesday so I'm pretty sure I don't have Monday off. Usually I take the summer off from agility and focus on triathlon but I'm so broken this year, I can't train so may as well work with the dogs.
ReplyDelete