Oh, a missed opp... just watched Ryan Lochte win the 200M backstroke. Had I known he was swimming in the finals, I would've brought the shoe with me.

Well, I actually won one of the shoes he wore during the award ceremonies. The other winner took the left shoe, so I ended up with the right shoe. 

Surprise souvenir

Fwd: Congrats! You won an autographed Lochte shoe! Go to the Speedo booth and show this message to claim your prize.

I can't believe I won these shoes during the finals last night! Will have to pick them up tomorrow morning during the prelims.


EDIT: Whew! Turns out I didn't win the shoes shown above - those are a pair he designed especially for himself with Speedo. He also designed limited edition Speedo footware, which in swim speak I guess means flip flops. So I think I'll be walking away with a pair of these instead (oh thank heavens! - not sure where/when I'd want to be caught wearing those green things!!!!)

Awesome! Micah came in 3rd place, beating out two of the four Olympians in the final. And, turns out I get to watch Michael Phelps swim in a final as well.

Here are the official results from the USA Swimming website:

USA Swimming-Nat. Meets                                 8/5/2010 - 21:16PM
     2010 ConocoPhillips National Championships - 8/3/2010 to 8/7/2010     
 
 Event 14  Women 100 LC Meter Breaststroke
=========================================================================
        World: W 1:04.45  8/7/2009  Jessica Hardy, Trojan
     American: A 1:04.45  8/7/2009  Jessica Hardy, Trojan Swim Club
    U.S. Open: O 1:04.45  8/7/2009  Jessica Hardy, Trojan Swim Club
 LC Nationals: M 1:05.34  7/9/2009  Rebecca Soni, Trojan Swim Club
  Meet Q Time:   1:12.79
    Name            Age Team              Prelims     Finals  FINA Points
=========================================================================
                       === Championship Final ===                        
 
  1 Soni, Rebecca    23 Trojan Swim Club  1:06.53    1:05.73   942   20  
    r:+0.78  31.01      1:05.73 (34.72)
  2 Chandler, Ann    22 Tucson Ford Deal  1:07.88    1:08.07   848   17  
    r:+0.74  32.05      1:08.07 (36.02)
  3 Lawrence, Micah  20 Auburn University 1:08.31    1:08.48   833   16  
    r:+0.83  31.87      1:08.48 (36.61)
  4 Jendrick, Megan  26 King Aquatic Clu  1:08.49    1:08.54   831   15  
    r:+0.67  32.05      1:08.54 (36.49)
  5 Clark, Corrie    28 Nittany Lion Aqu  1:08.63    1:08.77   823   14  
    r:+0.70  31.79      1:08.77 (36.98)
  6 Beard, Amanda    28 Tucson Ford Deal  1:08.72    1:09.12   810   13  
    r:+0.75  32.80      1:09.12 (36.32)
  7 Hardy, Jessica   23 Trojan Swim Club  1:06.90    1:09.24   806   12  
    r:+0.69  30.92      1:09.24 (38.32)
  8 Hehn, Keri       29 Trojan Swim Club  1:08.85    1:09.46   798   11  
    r:+0.79  32.37      1:09.46 (37.09)

Hypo day

On a personal note, I think I'm having a hypo thyroid day today. I'm a bit tired, and body functions are definitely not what they should be today. My left elbow is also very dry - a friend had once told me that a doctor recommended she get her thyroid checked for hypothyroidism because her elbows and skin, in general, were very dry. I think this is the worst I have felt, physically, in a few weeks so I'm not going to worry about it, not unless I'm like this for the next couple of days. Then I think I'd have a lot to complain to my ENDO about next week.

US National Swimming

Swimming.... two of my nieces swam this morning in the US Nationals (prelims), the 100m breast stroke. Micah got the fourth fastest time, that is behind three Olympians. She is swimming in the finals this evening. We are so excited! Her second event, the 200m breast stroke is on Saturday. Looking forward to seeing her swim against the big guns.

Interesting weekend

Elvy. I've been waiting to meet this woman for a few weeks now. Her brother-in-law is a member of my Dad's church group. I found out a few weeks ago that she had a total thyroidectomy for thyroid cancer a month after I did, but she had a lot of complications. I finally met her at a picnic on Saturday. I found out she is on her second week of the low-iodine diet and will get her RAI dosage in a week. It felt good talking to someone else who has gone through the same things I have (FNA biopsy, surgery, crappy low-iodine diet, etc.), esp since that does not happen all that often. I think I was able to put her at ease regarding RAI/WBS and what to expect when she starts taking Levoxyl after RAI. For a cancer that affects such a small population it is still interesting how no two cases are alike. Treatments differ depending on the doctor or insurance policy (it seems), side affects vary; perhaps the only thing we all have in common is wondering when our lives will return to normal. I'm no expert on my disease, but I'd do anything I could to help ease the new comers into the group. I just hope that no one I care about gets a personal invitation. Well, I guess I wouldn't want my frenemies in this exclusive group either, so let's just cast the net even wider and I say that I hope no one that I know has to be eased into the group. That would be kinda cool if by knowing me, people would get a free pass on thyroid cancer!

In addition to the 25 minutes of personal public pain I experienced Friday evening, my laptop once again died on me. I thought it died earlier last month (the screen either whited out or blacked out, and pc would not respond) but it eventually turned back on. As of Friday night I have not been able to get the screen to turn on, so I think I'm really out of luck this time. I was able to get a new laptop earlier this evening. Still not so sure how I feel about losing my old laptop (an HP tablet pc - it was awesome!), but like everything else in my life right now, I need to embrace change. So, hopefully my new Toshiba laptop will serve me longer than the two previous HPs.

On a more positive note, this morning I finished my first bottle (qty 30) of Levoxyl - one bottle down, and a life time more to go..... And, my siblings will be in town for the next two weeks! I am looking forward to spending time with my family.