It’s been on my fitness goal list for a while, but I just haven’t had the time.

Remember when I trained for and ran a marathon?

Oh, that was fun.

But you know… since my knee is now confined to a transformer knee brace…

I thought it might be a perfect time to get cozy with Jillian. Actually, this has been in the plan for a while with Stef, but the ban from running the next 4 weeks only adds fuel to the Shred fire.

Stef and I have decided to commit to doing Jillian Michael’s Shred 4 times a week for the month of November. Though I have no doubt that Stef and I are badass enough to do Shred every day we both also want to get our cardio on (running for her, biking for me) and are proponents of at least 1 rest day per week.

But that’s not all… we are hoping some of you might join in as well! Stef and I both took down our measurements and before pics today and encourage others to do the same. The Shred DVD is at Target, Wal-mart and Amazon. So won’t you join us?

I love committing to this with a friend. Especially this time of year with the goodies are aplenty and the days are short on sunlight. Shred is such a great workout in a short amount of time.

So here are my before measurements and pictures. As much as it pains me a bit to post these, I know when I hopefully have some improvements in a month I’ll be happy I did!

These are almost too painful to post. But I’m going to do it. I’ll save you from reading a whole paragraph of self-deprecating rant. All I will say is that is is glaringly obvious that I’ve done nothing but run the past 6 months and totally ignored all ab work and strength training. I was totally tempted to suck it in for these photos but I resisted. This is it.

I can’t stop LOLing at the last photo. What a beast! Hehe. Ah well, you have to start somewhere. Bring it, Jillian!

So who will join us? Anyone? Bueller?

A weekend in pictures and minimal words.

Hot date on Friday night…

Perfect fall morning…

Miles got his hair did…

Homemade Chicken Tortilla Soup…

Date Night with Mike.

Spiderman Husband and Miles pre-5K.

How was your weekend?

I am having a bad week.

Wait, no. A horrible shitty stupid awful week.

Yes, I found out I can’t run for 4 weeks. OK, that sucks. I can deal.

Oh, and then we get some very hard-to-swallow news about someone we love more than life itself. Nothing life threatening but still I am upset. And I hate to be cryptic cause I know that is annoying but until I know more I really don’t want to share. The only reason I bring it up is to express how awful my week has been.

Then we get an email from the person we sold my iPhone 4 to. He says the packages arrived ripped and empty with no iPhone at all. He wants his $275 back. I get it, I’d probably feel the same way. But how do we know he isn’t lying and scamming us? And regardless why is it our fault that USPS sucks? Why do we get screwed out of $275? Well, because eBay rules are not on our side. And no, I didn’t ensure the package. Stupid of me.

Then I had to get fitted for my ‘reaction’ knee brace today. They should call it a ‘stupid’ brace instead. OK, I’m being dramatic but this thing is going to take some work to get used to. I started tearing up when they were having me test it out. I think the one therapist felt bad for me and the other one just thought I was weird.

And there are several other less than pleasant things I’m dealing with. Nothing catastrophic, but when you compound them together I feel like losing my mind. But instead of going bat-shit crazy I’m just randomly bursting into tears, eating Lofthouse sugar cookies and sending emails to friends about jumping off bridges. However, Mike has plans tonight so I will wait until tomorrow to bridge jump.

Jayyyyyyy Kayyyyyyyy, I’m really not suicidal. But I am bitter and frustrated and tired.

I don’t want to sound like a spoiled white girl with silly problems I’m being dramatic over. But dammit, I’m having a bad week.

Please do not leave me a rainbow and sunshine comment about how things will get better and to ‘hang in there’. It will only annoy me or make me cry. Kimi, out.

The winner of this super cute BIC Band is…

CARRIE!

Carrie, email me your mailing info and I’ll get your BIC Band out to you!

As I mentioned Monday I’m having some knee issues. Today I went to the doctor.

Short version of the story: I am not allowed to run for 4 weeks. I can cross train. I have to use a topical anti-inflammatory 3x a day am being fitted for a reactive knee brace.

Longer version of the story: I went to the sports medicine doctor today. Started off with some X-rays.

Then I waited, and waited some more. Then I saw the doctor. He had me stand, lay down, bend, stand, twist and all kinds of things. He asked me a lot of questions which I appreciated. He also asked me what my upcoming goals were as far as getting back to running. I was honest with him and said I had no mega important to me races coming up and I wanted to do whatever I needed to heal up properly so that I can have a stellar and pain free 2012. Don’t get me wrong, I want to be running ASAP but the marathon was my A race for the fall and I go to do it. If my A race was 2 weeks away I would have had some different answers to his questions.

Then he looked over my X-rays.

It was glaringly obvious (to him) that I have patellofemoral tracking abnormality, more commonly known as “runner’s knee”.

Patellofemoral syndrome, popularly known as “runner’s knee,” the single and most common problem among runners, is a tracking abnormality of the patella. The healthy, uninjured patella glides, straight up and down vertically in a cartilage-covered groove between the condyles, which are two prominent knuckle-like bones of the femur.

Read more of that stuff here.

I also have a very loose left knee cap. My right is also loose, but the left is worse. He said this could have happened post-baby. It’s not ground breaking news that having a baby changes your bod. Having a loose knee cap causes extra movement. Extra movement causes inflammation and inflammation causes pain. The brace I’m being fitted for will help limit that extra unnecessary movement.

All of this is nothing too terrifying. Whatevs, it happens.

The concerning part is a possible meniscus tear. He had me do a few specific movements that he says can very accurately identify a torn meniscus. I felt the pain that would equal a torn meniscus.

Not that a torn meniscus is the worst thing compared to other knee injuries. If in fact I do have a torn meniscus not running and some PT should fix me.

So for the next 4 weeks I will be biking a lot, doing other cross training, strength training and following doctors orders.

It’s unfortunate to work so hard for the past 6+ months to get in great shape. I’m no swimsuit model but I can run 26.2 miles at a time. So to lose that level of fitness is going to be a total bummer. But shit happens. Right? I did eat my feelings post-appointment too.

And then I got over it and got on the bike.

Obviously I want to be running. However, I’m not going to be upset about the situation. It happens. Some of the best runners I know get injured. No one is immune to it. So rather than be angry and upset I’m going to just deal with it and figure out other ways to produce endorphins.

So tell me, what’s your favorite cross training?

I have a list of new things I want to try… Pilates, a hip-hop dance class, zumba. And also some other things I haven’t had much time for… biking, Shred, free weights, yoga.