Welcome new Followers: SeeGirlRun, Pat, and Ewa
Week in Review: 5/8-5/16
Total: Ran 4 days
17.4 miles total
2:31:36 total time; average pace per mile 8:42
8 days since my last post. I have not had the motivation to run or to blog. They're connected, in that when I do run, I don't have any outstanding runs to comment about. They're just runs. Period. They're runs that involve me forcing myself to get into my running clothes and go run. They're runs that I know will initially start with my troublesome left knee freaking out and perhaps giving me a twinge or two of pain, and definitely the "not quite right" feeling, followed by it behaving shortly thereafter for the rest of my run. Weird thing is that my knee bothers me the most whenever I'm lying in bed or standing or sitting still. It's "happiest" whenever I'm running. I said I was joining the gym at the physical therapy place I was going to. Well, I did but I didn't. They have all my paperwork, and my membership begins the first time I go there. The first time hasn't happened yet. It needs to happen. It needs to happen because 1 of 2 things will result. Either the exercises will strengthen my left leg and knee to the point where I can run "normal" again; or the exercises will not work and I'll go back to my doctor and insist on having a MRI on my left knee. I know I have crepitus , but I also feel like there's more to my knee problems than that. Joining the gym I found out yesterday will have an additional benefit. I attended a Weight Watchers staff meeting (I work for them part time) yesterday and learned about metabolism. I'm going to share with you the valuable information that was given to me. "Simply put, metabolism is the number of calories the body burns on a daily basis. The three components of metabolism are: 1) Resting Metabolism,
2) Physical Activity, and 3) Calories Used to Process Food.
1) Resting Metabolism consists of the calories used to keep the body going. Resting Metabolism is the biggest part of total metabolism; it burns between two-thirds to three-quarters of the calories your body uses in a day. The "engine" of Resting Metabolism is lean body mass, which includes muscles, bone mass, blood, organs-everything except the fat. Lean body mass is the biggest determinant of how many calories your Resting Metabolism requires. 2) Physical Activity: Calories burned in physical activity are the most variable part of metabolism, and also the component over which you have the most control. Physical activity is great, affecting more than one segment of metabolism. Resistance training can increase lean mass which increases Resting Metabolism. So, me joining the gym and doing resistance training for my leg(s) and knee has added benefits in that it should increase my lean muscle mass, which in turn increases Resting Metabolism, and Resting Metabolism burns between two-thirds and three-quarters of the calories your/my body uses in a day." A win-win situation for me, and those of you already using resistance training. Ladies, it's ok to hate us men. "Men have more lean mass and less body fat than women. So men have more lean body tissue. Therefore, at rest, men need more calories to keep that lean body tissue going, and we burn more calories in the course of the day. 3) Calories Used to Process Food accounts for 10% of the calories we burn everyday. Speaking of calories, studies have shown that people who eat a light breakfast weigh less than those people who skip breakfast or eat a heavy breakfast." P.S. I n my latest effort to eat/drink more healthy, I haven't had any diet soda (or any soda at all) since May 1st. Thank-you Jill for motivating me to make this healthy choice.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Saturday, May 8, 2010
I Have a Life, and So Do You
Week in Review: 4/30-5/7
Total: Ran 3 days; 11.1 miles; 1:35:47; average pace per mile 8:37
My job has gotten in the way of blogging. I work in a High School classroom as a Teacher's Assistant at a private school for students with learning disabilities. The past week has been hectic. The teacher I work with had 2 PPT's to prepare for and attend, meaning I pretty much ran the classroom for two days, we had a student from our lower school (elementary) visit our classroom for a day, and we're trying to complete 6 art projects per student x 9 students before next Thursday. Did I mention that two of our students are ADHD and not on meds?! You get the idea. I used to worry about not keeping up with everyone's blogs. I would feel like I was a bad person because after all, all of you are my "blog buddies," and blog buddies read one another's blogs and support one another. Then on April 27, Anne had a very meaningful comment to a post I wrote where I apologized for being a "slacker." She said "Don't think of it as slacking, think of it as having a life :)
We'll still be here..." That helped put everything into perspective for me. I'm up to 71 "Followers", with about 20 of you loyally commenting on my posts. I in turn comment on your blogs, and whatever other blogs I have time to read. I think all or most of us understand that if we don't comment on every post we read, that's ok. If we don't write about every run and/or workout we do, that's also ok. It doesn't mean we don't care, or we're not interested in each others blogs. It simply means we have a life. I needed to be told that. So, blog buddies, I still love you all, but no more apologies if I don't post in a timely manner, or if I get behind in reading your blogs. I have a life, as you do, and at some point I will make the effort to "ketchup" on your blogs and my blog. Especially those of you who are my loyal 20 Followers. By the way, I noticed that Anne is a Psychologist. I wish I lived closer to Quebec, Canada. I sure could use her services at times. :-) Thanks again, Anne.
My running continues to go well. I'm running less miles and less days per week, but my times are steadily improving. I'm not concerned with the miles and days run at this point. My next race is a 5K in four weeks, and my half marathon isn't until June 27. My left knee continues to be annoying, meaning it gets stiff while I sleep, and whenever I sit for an extended period of time. It doesn't hurt while I run, but the stiffness and crepitus don't appear to be going away any time soon. I've joined the fitness center at the physical therapy place I've been going to (not the one with "Hot Chick"), so next week I'll begin working on strengthening my weaker left leg. "Sweet Melissa," my latest P.T., is designing a strengthening exercise program for my bothersome left leg. I'm hoping the leg and knee exercises and stretching along with icing my knee post run will be an effective solution.
Well, I'm going to see if I can get caught up reading and commenting on your blogs this weekend. If I don't, then so be it. After all, I have a life, and so do you. However, I can always promise that your comment on my blog guarantees you my comment on your blog. Meaning, thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Have a great weekend, and kick ass(phault) if you're racing.
Total: Ran 3 days; 11.1 miles; 1:35:47; average pace per mile 8:37
My job has gotten in the way of blogging. I work in a High School classroom as a Teacher's Assistant at a private school for students with learning disabilities. The past week has been hectic. The teacher I work with had 2 PPT's to prepare for and attend, meaning I pretty much ran the classroom for two days, we had a student from our lower school (elementary) visit our classroom for a day, and we're trying to complete 6 art projects per student x 9 students before next Thursday. Did I mention that two of our students are ADHD and not on meds?! You get the idea. I used to worry about not keeping up with everyone's blogs. I would feel like I was a bad person because after all, all of you are my "blog buddies," and blog buddies read one another's blogs and support one another. Then on April 27, Anne had a very meaningful comment to a post I wrote where I apologized for being a "slacker." She said "Don't think of it as slacking, think of it as having a life :)
We'll still be here..." That helped put everything into perspective for me. I'm up to 71 "Followers", with about 20 of you loyally commenting on my posts. I in turn comment on your blogs, and whatever other blogs I have time to read. I think all or most of us understand that if we don't comment on every post we read, that's ok. If we don't write about every run and/or workout we do, that's also ok. It doesn't mean we don't care, or we're not interested in each others blogs. It simply means we have a life. I needed to be told that. So, blog buddies, I still love you all, but no more apologies if I don't post in a timely manner, or if I get behind in reading your blogs. I have a life, as you do, and at some point I will make the effort to "ketchup" on your blogs and my blog. Especially those of you who are my loyal 20 Followers. By the way, I noticed that Anne is a Psychologist. I wish I lived closer to Quebec, Canada. I sure could use her services at times. :-) Thanks again, Anne.
My running continues to go well. I'm running less miles and less days per week, but my times are steadily improving. I'm not concerned with the miles and days run at this point. My next race is a 5K in four weeks, and my half marathon isn't until June 27. My left knee continues to be annoying, meaning it gets stiff while I sleep, and whenever I sit for an extended period of time. It doesn't hurt while I run, but the stiffness and crepitus don't appear to be going away any time soon. I've joined the fitness center at the physical therapy place I've been going to (not the one with "Hot Chick"), so next week I'll begin working on strengthening my weaker left leg. "Sweet Melissa," my latest P.T., is designing a strengthening exercise program for my bothersome left leg. I'm hoping the leg and knee exercises and stretching along with icing my knee post run will be an effective solution.
Well, I'm going to see if I can get caught up reading and commenting on your blogs this weekend. If I don't, then so be it. After all, I have a life, and so do you. However, I can always promise that your comment on my blog guarantees you my comment on your blog. Meaning, thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Have a great weekend, and kick ass(phault) if you're racing.
Friday, April 30, 2010
I Think I finally Get it...A Flashback
Farmington Canal Linear Park trail 49 freakin' chilly degrees. 4 miles; Splits: 8:45; 8:24; 8:23; 8:22; 33:54; 8:28 per mile pace...I'm getting faster :-)
*Started this on Wednesday, finished it on Thursday. Re-posted it on Friday. :-)
Physical Therapy (P.T.) works. You knew that, right? P.T.'s have magic hands. Seriously. I've had P.T. for groin (You may laugh) and knee issues before, and have always managed to recover quickly and well. OK, just to clarify the groin part, no, the P.T. didn't use his hands on my groin area. (You may laugh again).
Yesterday I could have run, but chose to take an additional day off since I had P.T. and had used the gym. Not that I couldn't have run afterward, but decided to wait the extra day just to be safe, since my left knee isn't quite 100%. It's probably 98%, but hey, why should I have risked it? OK, I confess that I dogged it. Instead I ran today with a 25 mile per hour wind blowing into my side and a chilly 49 degrees temperature. My attire of the day consisted of wearing both a short sleeved and a long sleeved tech shirt, and shorts. I refused to wimp out and wear long running pants. I drove to the linear trail, figuring the trees there would help block the wind, and also knowing the wind would be blowing into my sides rather than my face. Smart, huh?! Had I run my road route, I would have started my run by running into the wind. Not smart. Call me a wuss if you'd like, but at least I was a warm wuss unimpeded by the wind. I decided to wear my MP3 player so I would focus more on the music and less on the sound of the wind howling.
The trees trick worked, the music sounded great (I ♥ the 70's tunes), and so did my wind strategy. Even more important, I felt fantastic. My knee wasn't an issue at all. Once again I felt the old faster mojo return. Flashback here...A few weeks ago, as I was just beginning P.T., I was looking at my 5K race times and my road run and linear trail run times from a few years ago. Three years ago almost to the day I ran a 23:24 5K (7:32/mile pace) race. At that time, I could run a 7:45-8 minute per mile pace on the road and trail. I never incorporated any kind of weight training, speedwork, or anything extra into my routine. I just ran, and ran well. Then came my running 4 marathons over a 2 1/2 year time period, from May 2007 to November 2009. Again, I was just running, and not doing any extra training. During that 2 1/2 year period of time, I learned how to pace myself in order to survive the 26.2 miles marathon distance. That meant running more of a slower and steady pace. More training meant running longer distances, running longer distances meant being more susceptible to injury (Hey, I feel 23, but I am 53), and lo and behold, I've had foot, knee, and groin injuries the past 3 years. Last year after training for six months for the NY City Marathon using the Jeff Galloway run-walk-run training method, I decided to test it by run-walk-running the Hartford Marathon first. I was afraid of "hitting the wall" while running the NY City marathon, since my previous marathon, the 2008 Hartford Marathon, I had done exactly that with about 7 miles to go. I toughed it out after having a mini meltdown, which consisted of me giving the spectators my "death stare" as they cheerfully proclaimed that I "only had fill-in-the-blank starting with 7 miles to go," and also stopping at the remaining water stations and drinking water and crumbling up the empty cups and slam dunking them into the garbage cans. I finished with my best marathon time of 4:22:19...go figure. So after run-walk-running the Hartford Marathon October 10 and the NY City Marathon three weeks later (November 1), I decided that I was done running marathons forever. Yes, I still feel that way. Anyhow, the groin pain I had been ignoring for the months leading up to those two marathons finally got the best of me, and I ended up going to P.T. and seeing "Nuno/Nemo", Hot Chick, and ADHD Dave for the month of February. For those of you new to my blog, it's all documented in my February posts. After finally being cleared to run, I was somehow able to run and finish the NY City Half Marathon on March 21st, despite having a "long run" of 7 miles. My left knee pain returned from a 2 year hiatus the beginning of this month, so it's been back to P.T. since April 6th for me. I decided that even though I liked Nuno/Nemo, Hot Chick, and ADHD Dave, I was going to go back to the P.T. place I had used before. Today (Thursday) was my last day seeing "Sweet Melissa." She told me I have "graduated" from P.T., since my only remaining problem with my left knee is the stiffness that comes and goes. The "snap, crackle, pop sounds" that I still have are due to crepitus, but that's nothing to worry about. I gave "Sweet Melissa" a thank-you card with 5 scratch off lottery tickets in it. She wants to go to Hawaii, her fiancee' wants to go to Paris for their honeymoon in October. I told her she'll win enough $$ to be able to do both.
All this babbling leads me to the present/now/today. My pace per mile has been improving a great deal since I'm groin and knee pain free. For the first time in a long time, I can run normal, meaning without compensating for having pain. I'm starting to think that just maybe I can regain most, if not all, of the speed that I had three years ago. I'm no longer training for marathons, so the slow and steady running rule can be put to rest. I've always been a better than average runner, meaning I usually finish in the top 60-70% in the 5K races I run in, and around the middle of the pack in longer distances races. I like it like that. There's absolutely no pressure for me to run any faster than I want to or am able to, since I'm "average." Last May I actually finished 2nd in my division, in a 5K that was new. For that I received an award of four 2 oz. bags of Brioni coffee and a "Hotel California Tequila" t-shirt. You may laugh, but I was damn proud to receive that award in front of my fellow runners, and having them clap for me. If that's the one and only time I win an award running, so be it. At my age, I'm more interested in the pure enjoyment of running. As it says on the top of my blog, "I run, therefore I am." Being able to run is a gift; a gift we should be thankful we have, a gift we should always appreciate and enjoy. Being a runner is a privilege. A privilege that not everyone can enjoy. As a runner, we owe it to ourselves while out on a run to do whatever it takes to have fun. Bask in your ability to enjoy the sights, smells, and sounds while you're running. There are no bad days of running. A bad day of running is better than a good day of not running or not being able to run."
P.S. Duct tape does a great job of holding an ice pack to my knee. However, it hurts when I pull it off my skin. So I guess I don't recommend using duct tape to keep ice on your knee.
3 comments:
Tricia said...
"A bad day of running is better than a good day of not running or not being able to run."
LOVED that.
today on my blog I said, "After all...a little bit of running is better than no running at all." in reference to me having to come back slow from an injury.
Running IS a gift. :) Thanks my friend, this was great.
April 29, 2010 9:54 PM
Steel Springs said...
Yeah! Congratulations on your graduation! Great post.
April 29, 2010 10:35 PM
Cynthia O'H said...
Glad you're finding your mojo again.
April 29, 2010 11:15 PM
*Started this on Wednesday, finished it on Thursday. Re-posted it on Friday. :-)
Physical Therapy (P.T.) works. You knew that, right? P.T.'s have magic hands. Seriously. I've had P.T. for groin (You may laugh) and knee issues before, and have always managed to recover quickly and well. OK, just to clarify the groin part, no, the P.T. didn't use his hands on my groin area. (You may laugh again).
Yesterday I could have run, but chose to take an additional day off since I had P.T. and had used the gym. Not that I couldn't have run afterward, but decided to wait the extra day just to be safe, since my left knee isn't quite 100%. It's probably 98%, but hey, why should I have risked it? OK, I confess that I dogged it. Instead I ran today with a 25 mile per hour wind blowing into my side and a chilly 49 degrees temperature. My attire of the day consisted of wearing both a short sleeved and a long sleeved tech shirt, and shorts. I refused to wimp out and wear long running pants. I drove to the linear trail, figuring the trees there would help block the wind, and also knowing the wind would be blowing into my sides rather than my face. Smart, huh?! Had I run my road route, I would have started my run by running into the wind. Not smart. Call me a wuss if you'd like, but at least I was a warm wuss unimpeded by the wind. I decided to wear my MP3 player so I would focus more on the music and less on the sound of the wind howling.
The trees trick worked, the music sounded great (I ♥ the 70's tunes), and so did my wind strategy. Even more important, I felt fantastic. My knee wasn't an issue at all. Once again I felt the old faster mojo return. Flashback here...A few weeks ago, as I was just beginning P.T., I was looking at my 5K race times and my road run and linear trail run times from a few years ago. Three years ago almost to the day I ran a 23:24 5K (7:32/mile pace) race. At that time, I could run a 7:45-8 minute per mile pace on the road and trail. I never incorporated any kind of weight training, speedwork, or anything extra into my routine. I just ran, and ran well. Then came my running 4 marathons over a 2 1/2 year time period, from May 2007 to November 2009. Again, I was just running, and not doing any extra training. During that 2 1/2 year period of time, I learned how to pace myself in order to survive the 26.2 miles marathon distance. That meant running more of a slower and steady pace. More training meant running longer distances, running longer distances meant being more susceptible to injury (Hey, I feel 23, but I am 53), and lo and behold, I've had foot, knee, and groin injuries the past 3 years. Last year after training for six months for the NY City Marathon using the Jeff Galloway run-walk-run training method, I decided to test it by run-walk-running the Hartford Marathon first. I was afraid of "hitting the wall" while running the NY City marathon, since my previous marathon, the 2008 Hartford Marathon, I had done exactly that with about 7 miles to go. I toughed it out after having a mini meltdown, which consisted of me giving the spectators my "death stare" as they cheerfully proclaimed that I "only had fill-in-the-blank starting with 7 miles to go," and also stopping at the remaining water stations and drinking water and crumbling up the empty cups and slam dunking them into the garbage cans. I finished with my best marathon time of 4:22:19...go figure. So after run-walk-running the Hartford Marathon October 10 and the NY City Marathon three weeks later (November 1), I decided that I was done running marathons forever. Yes, I still feel that way. Anyhow, the groin pain I had been ignoring for the months leading up to those two marathons finally got the best of me, and I ended up going to P.T. and seeing "Nuno/Nemo", Hot Chick, and ADHD Dave for the month of February. For those of you new to my blog, it's all documented in my February posts. After finally being cleared to run, I was somehow able to run and finish the NY City Half Marathon on March 21st, despite having a "long run" of 7 miles. My left knee pain returned from a 2 year hiatus the beginning of this month, so it's been back to P.T. since April 6th for me. I decided that even though I liked Nuno/Nemo, Hot Chick, and ADHD Dave, I was going to go back to the P.T. place I had used before. Today (Thursday) was my last day seeing "Sweet Melissa." She told me I have "graduated" from P.T., since my only remaining problem with my left knee is the stiffness that comes and goes. The "snap, crackle, pop sounds" that I still have are due to crepitus, but that's nothing to worry about. I gave "Sweet Melissa" a thank-you card with 5 scratch off lottery tickets in it. She wants to go to Hawaii, her fiancee' wants to go to Paris for their honeymoon in October. I told her she'll win enough $$ to be able to do both.
All this babbling leads me to the present/now/today. My pace per mile has been improving a great deal since I'm groin and knee pain free. For the first time in a long time, I can run normal, meaning without compensating for having pain. I'm starting to think that just maybe I can regain most, if not all, of the speed that I had three years ago. I'm no longer training for marathons, so the slow and steady running rule can be put to rest. I've always been a better than average runner, meaning I usually finish in the top 60-70% in the 5K races I run in, and around the middle of the pack in longer distances races. I like it like that. There's absolutely no pressure for me to run any faster than I want to or am able to, since I'm "average." Last May I actually finished 2nd in my division, in a 5K that was new. For that I received an award of four 2 oz. bags of Brioni coffee and a "Hotel California Tequila" t-shirt. You may laugh, but I was damn proud to receive that award in front of my fellow runners, and having them clap for me. If that's the one and only time I win an award running, so be it. At my age, I'm more interested in the pure enjoyment of running. As it says on the top of my blog, "I run, therefore I am." Being able to run is a gift; a gift we should be thankful we have, a gift we should always appreciate and enjoy. Being a runner is a privilege. A privilege that not everyone can enjoy. As a runner, we owe it to ourselves while out on a run to do whatever it takes to have fun. Bask in your ability to enjoy the sights, smells, and sounds while you're running. There are no bad days of running. A bad day of running is better than a good day of not running or not being able to run."
P.S. Duct tape does a great job of holding an ice pack to my knee. However, it hurts when I pull it off my skin. So I guess I don't recommend using duct tape to keep ice on your knee.
3 comments:
Tricia said...
"A bad day of running is better than a good day of not running or not being able to run."
LOVED that.
today on my blog I said, "After all...a little bit of running is better than no running at all." in reference to me having to come back slow from an injury.
Running IS a gift. :) Thanks my friend, this was great.
April 29, 2010 9:54 PM
Steel Springs said...
Yeah! Congratulations on your graduation! Great post.
April 29, 2010 10:35 PM
Cynthia O'H said...
Glad you're finding your mojo again.
April 29, 2010 11:15 PM
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Ragnar Relay: May 21-22: CT to MA
I can run on a Ragnar Relay team from New Haven, Connecticut to Boston, Massachusetts if I find one more person to run with me on a team of 12. Anyone interested??
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
"Ketchup" Time
Is there a Slacker Blogger" award? If so, I graciously accept it. I have blogger writer's block. I've been running, but my runs have been BORING. I still haven't seen roller blading, disco dancing, karaoke singing, linear trail lady. (See my May 20, 2009 post about her). I haven't had any of "Rick's excellent adventures." My latest runs were last Thursday, a 4.1 miler at a very fast for me 8:31 per mile pace; and this past Saturday 6 miles at an 8:44 per mile pace. I'm happy to say I have been meeting my goal of running my splits in under 9 minutes. My P.T. "Sweet Melissa" has continued to work her magic by kneading my left knee. My knee pain hasn't returned, and today she had me spend more time in the gym doing strengthening exercises for my left leg and knee. Thursday I will be "graduating" (as she called it) from P.T. and be on my own to continue stretching and strengthening. I'm seriously considering spending $35/month for at least the next two months to use their gym. It's five minutes from work, it's usually empty or nearly empty when I get out of work, and obviously I know what equipment to use and how to use it there. I won't lie, having "Sweet Melissa" around would be a bonus also. Time to go "ketchup" on your blogs and see what everyone's been up to. Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comments.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
A Feel Good Post and New P.T.'s Nickname
Welcome new Followers misszippy and SeeGirlRun.
As usual, I'm behind posting and reading your posts. However, since tax season is officially over, and my wonderful wife Mrs. Marathonman (Kathy) isn't working seven days a week and about 85 hours a week, I should be caught up in no time fellow bloggers.
First, my running. My last three runs have been pain free. No groin issues, no knee issues, no nothing. I'm giving all the credit to my current Physical Therapist, Melissa. Melissa is about 4 feet, 10 inches tall, standing on her tippy-toes. Like always, I'm going to be a typical male and say that I appreciate her nice personality as well as her exterior features. I will go as far as saying she's got better exterior features than my last P.T. interest "Hot Chick" (aka Lindsay). I've come up with not one, but two nicknames for her. First, I'm showing my age here, but in 1972 The Allman Brothers Band released a song called "Sweet Melissa." So, Sweet Melissa is nickname number 1. A less flattering nickname I've come up with is "Negative 15." Negative 15 refers to the fact that I'm 15 inches taller than her. Of the two, I of course like Sweet Melissa. You're welcome to express your opinion when you comment. Anyhow, Sweet Melissa today did her knee kneading (I'll never wash that knee again), followed by having me go into the gym, and doing five exercises, two of which involved strengthening my weaker left leg. Finally, a P.T. who I believe understands my leg and knee issues. Unfortunately I will be on my own after two more visits thanks to my sucky new insurance, which only approved five P.T. sessions. OK, I confess, two more sessions will be enough if (knock on wood) my knee continues to behave.
I've actually been running without listening to music, and for now enjoying it that way. Listening to myself panting and puffing while I'm appreciating the sights, sounds, and smells (good and bad) of spring here in Connecticut has been my "music." It's a beautiful time of the year here. The trees are getting leaves, the leaves and tree buds are a rainbow of colors, and the warmer temperatures means shorts and a short sleeved tech. shirt when I run. It's definitely perfect running weather. It's especially nice running on the Farmington Canal Linear Trail in Cheshire and Hamden. The birds and swans are back, the squirrels are once again scaring the shit out of me by darting in front of me, and occasionally I'll even see some deer. Most importantly, warmer weather means more female ponytail runners. Sorry, I couldn't resist. However, I have yet to see roller blading, disco dancing, karaoke singing, linear trail lady. (See my May 20, 2009 post about her).
In other news, remember the 6K race in NY City that I was going to run this past Sunday? Well, I didn't. Instead, my wife and I drove to Boston for the quick meet-up with Meg and Jill that I talked about in my last post. Three days later, I'm still so happy that it happened. Unfortunately we couldn't stay over and watch the Boston Marathon as I had originally planned. But, I already have a game-plan for next year's Boston Marathon. Today at work I received our school calendar for next year. Guess what? I'm off the entire week of April 18-22. My point is, next year's Boston Marathon is on April 18th. So next week I'm reserving a room at the Boston Marriott Copley Place for the marathon. Yup, THE hotel where I met Meg and Jill, and that has the awesome sports bar, and is close to all the marathon pre-race, raceday, and post-race action. I'm also going to register to run the 5K race there too. (Got that, Jill)?!
As usual, I'm behind posting and reading your posts. However, since tax season is officially over, and my wonderful wife Mrs. Marathonman (Kathy) isn't working seven days a week and about 85 hours a week, I should be caught up in no time fellow bloggers.
First, my running. My last three runs have been pain free. No groin issues, no knee issues, no nothing. I'm giving all the credit to my current Physical Therapist, Melissa. Melissa is about 4 feet, 10 inches tall, standing on her tippy-toes. Like always, I'm going to be a typical male and say that I appreciate her nice personality as well as her exterior features. I will go as far as saying she's got better exterior features than my last P.T. interest "Hot Chick" (aka Lindsay). I've come up with not one, but two nicknames for her. First, I'm showing my age here, but in 1972 The Allman Brothers Band released a song called "Sweet Melissa." So, Sweet Melissa is nickname number 1. A less flattering nickname I've come up with is "Negative 15." Negative 15 refers to the fact that I'm 15 inches taller than her. Of the two, I of course like Sweet Melissa. You're welcome to express your opinion when you comment. Anyhow, Sweet Melissa today did her knee kneading (I'll never wash that knee again), followed by having me go into the gym, and doing five exercises, two of which involved strengthening my weaker left leg. Finally, a P.T. who I believe understands my leg and knee issues. Unfortunately I will be on my own after two more visits thanks to my sucky new insurance, which only approved five P.T. sessions. OK, I confess, two more sessions will be enough if (knock on wood) my knee continues to behave.
I've actually been running without listening to music, and for now enjoying it that way. Listening to myself panting and puffing while I'm appreciating the sights, sounds, and smells (good and bad) of spring here in Connecticut has been my "music." It's a beautiful time of the year here. The trees are getting leaves, the leaves and tree buds are a rainbow of colors, and the warmer temperatures means shorts and a short sleeved tech. shirt when I run. It's definitely perfect running weather. It's especially nice running on the Farmington Canal Linear Trail in Cheshire and Hamden. The birds and swans are back, the squirrels are once again scaring the shit out of me by darting in front of me, and occasionally I'll even see some deer. Most importantly, warmer weather means more female ponytail runners. Sorry, I couldn't resist. However, I have yet to see roller blading, disco dancing, karaoke singing, linear trail lady. (See my May 20, 2009 post about her).
In other news, remember the 6K race in NY City that I was going to run this past Sunday? Well, I didn't. Instead, my wife and I drove to Boston for the quick meet-up with Meg and Jill that I talked about in my last post. Three days later, I'm still so happy that it happened. Unfortunately we couldn't stay over and watch the Boston Marathon as I had originally planned. But, I already have a game-plan for next year's Boston Marathon. Today at work I received our school calendar for next year. Guess what? I'm off the entire week of April 18-22. My point is, next year's Boston Marathon is on April 18th. So next week I'm reserving a room at the Boston Marriott Copley Place for the marathon. Yup, THE hotel where I met Meg and Jill, and that has the awesome sports bar, and is close to all the marathon pre-race, raceday, and post-race action. I'm also going to register to run the 5K race there too. (Got that, Jill)?!
Monday, April 19, 2010
Me, Meg, and Jill in Boston
Since I wasn't able to go see the Boston Marathon this year as planned, my wife and I drove up there the day before and had a quick (1/2 hour) get-together Meg and Jill. It was so nice meeting them, and they're as down-to-earth as I expected. Meg kicked the Boston Marathon's ass today, but I won't spoil it for her by telling you guys about it. Jill helped out Katie by walking with her, and again I'll allow Jill and Katie to tell you guys about it.
Invite: If any of my blogging buddies want to run the Hartford Marathon (Or half marathon) on October 9th, you have a place to stay at our house. I'm through running marathons, but will be running the half marathon that day.
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