Thursday, April 08, 2010

"keep off the pole."

good news this week people! i went to see the doctor because the weekend before last i had both a long run AND a pole dancing lesson in the same day, and the next day there was a pesky pain in my shin that neither went away right away nor bruised up. being slightly paranoid, i make a doctor's appointment just to be safe. i kept running, but carefully. on tuesday i ran into coach lisa right before the big hill, and we were reminiscing of the time i switched to the 1/2 and then the afternoon before the race i switched to the full and ran in record time (you can read about that miracle run here if you are so inclined). she also chatted me up the big hill which of course was a very welcome distraction.

my doctor asked what was wrong and i prefaced my tale of shin pain and stripper poles that i knew it sounded silly but i really didn't know if the pain was serious or not. the laughed, made me hop around a bit, sat me on the table, pressed around, moved my foot this way and that (all no pain) and sent me on my way with the sage advise to "keep off the pole". she explained if i didn't have pain while running i was probably okay and if i felt any of that i should just call and we'll go straight to bone scan. sounds good to me.

the next morning i ran again. it was hot and pollen-y and i felt kinda heavy in the legs. oh and there was coach lisa again! that was about the extent of the excitement for the run.

so then this weekend my bff from college was coming to visit, and i planned to do my long run, but then her husband also came, who is *also* one of my good friends from college, and really between friday pm and sunday afternoon when they left there was no time between the eating and walking and socializing. (we did walk a lot though!)

on sunday when i dropped those friends off, i picked up my hs friend mel, her husband and daughter near penn station and walked and walked and ate and played in the park. around 3:30 i was unable to resist the urge to have a beer and by the time i got back to brooklyn it was 6:00 so no run for me on sunday.

i got up this morning and intended to run for 1.5 hours. i had checked out the schedule and next week everyone is running shorter (for 1.5 hours) and so figured i'd just flip flop the runs and run short this weekend. i headed out towards the brooklyn bridge planning to do a wide loop, but about 2 and a half miles in suddenly started getting terrible cramps. ug. i tried to run through, but to no avail. at smith and 9th i made the decision to jump on the train and call it a day. i was a bit bummed but if i haven't learned by now that one run doesn't make or break you, i've learned nothing at all :)

tuesday's run: 4.4 miles
thursdays's run: 3.9 miles
today's run:4.0 miles
season mileage to date:101.4
up next:another 4-ish miles tomorrow

Saturday, April 03, 2010

red hook runnin'

another eh week in the running. not in the feeling but in the amount.

after last week's run i had a bachelorette party. it was good times, but the item of note was that we started off with a pole dancing class, complete with spinning around and hanging off the pole. i noticed when i got home i had a variety of bruises and aches, but there was one spot that was troublesome, very achy, tender and bruised feeling right around the spot i had had the stress fracture. fall out from a pole dancing or broken leg. awesome. i opted to make a doc's appointment just in case, and got some time with her on wednesday.

sunday i was too hungover to run - i am getting "old" and cannot deal with the hangovers like i used to be able to - and monday and tuesday were pretty much torrential rains in nyc, so it was wednesday before i got out again.

wednesday was amazingly pretty though. it wasn't really sunny, but with all the rain having just passed by, the flowers and trees had started to bloom overnight. the birds were going crazy, all twitterpated. it was a lovely run.

wednesday night i felt ill and that lasted into thursday morning, so there was that day out, and friday morning is not a good day for the running since we're supposed to rest before the long run so there was another week gone. boo.

i ran with the team this morning, meeting them at the park at 8:15. it was a little chilly but i opted for no jacket, which turned out to be a smart choice. we were running for two hours - to red hook, back through carroll gardens, up to the park again, and finishing off whatever time we needed to.

i loved running through red hook. there is a really cool park down behind the ikea that is really cool, especially in the morning with no one out there! i caught up with coach lisa, told her i was going to hit the docs next week and she agreed that it was a smart thing, and better safe than sorry.

anyway, our delicious city run took us out by the water and the water always makes me feel reflective and peaceful and lucky. then back up to smith street, and up third which is both industrial near the lovely gowanus and also one of the most picturesque streets in park slope - wide, leafy, and lined with classic brooklyn stoops. up the hill, and up and up into the park. i had about another 40ish minutes so i figured i'd do a loop and change until my time was up.

the park was a breeze. so many people out, but not so many that it was annoying. and the grass was so GREEN, the vibrant lovely green only new spring grass can be. my only complaint was that the damn water fountains were not yet on! come on parks department! its waaaarm.

anyway, i finshed up by running a bit past our meeting point and back and thus landed just shy of 11 miles. i'm consistently running about 11 minute miles, which i think is a bit too fast, so i need to take a measured effort to slow it down next week. i have to go to boston again tomorrow afternoon so i'm going to try to run in the morning before i leave...lest it get to wednesday and i find i haven't run again.

wednesday's run: 4.4 miles
today's run: 10.8 miles
season mileage to date:89.1
up next:3 miles EZ