Jumping the Shark

It seems every great show I get into either gets cancelled (i.e. Firefly) or jumps the shark (i.e. Alias, Lost). Apparently Heroes is going the way of the shark.....we are still in Season 1, but one of my favorite bloggers, Wil Wheaton, had this to say about Season 2 in a recent blog post:

(Speaking of stopping time, is anyone else totally over Heroes this season? I haven't been this disappointed by a series since the third season of Lost.)

Bummer.

By the way, I ran two miles on the treadmill at lunch today. I had to get past some almost excruciating pain in my right tibialis posterior muscle but it seemed to loosen up after a half mile. I took some ibuprofen immediately afterwards and it hasn't hurt too much since. I do have to do my nightly "Stick, stretch, PT, and ice" routine, though. And watch Season 1 of Heroes.

Random Thoughts

I've been admonished for not keeping my blog up-to-date, and for keeping that picture of the balloon up on my blog too long. (Hope you like the new picture I posted, Dad!)

So I'm going to try to keep blogging, but I can't guarantee that anyone will actually be interested in what I have to say.

I created a new word yesterday - Garmining: to use the Garmin Forerunner. Sentence - "Are you Garmining on your run today or just using your watch?" The Garmin is giving us some attitude and my husband has to smack it a few times to get it to work. That's technology for you.

I dreamed about playing the Pokemon trading card game last night. While I have a great time playing with my six year old, this Pokemon thing is getting out of control. And every day he seems find more cards. I don't know where. He trades them and then today he said he found some under his bed. We were looking for cards last week and I didn't see any under there. And somehow he got an old 1996 Japanese Pokemon card, but he doesn't remember how he got it. I guess Transformers are so last month; Pokemon is the cool thing now.

At least I'm not doing the princess thing. My brother gets to enjoy playing barbies and princesses in a few years! He he! My brother and I used to play Superstar Barbie and the Six Million Dollar Man. Barbie would ride around in a shoe (her car) and I propped up some books for houses. I don't remember what the Six Million Dollar Man would do.

My new favorite show is Heroes. Save the cheerleader, save the world! We are watching the DVDs of the first season. We have a hard time stopping after just one episode a night.

Last but not least, my leg was really sore today. I'm contemplating going back to the doctor and possibly getting orthotics. I don't think I've done any major damage - just the same old shin splints - but maybe the orthotics are what I need. In the meantime, I rode the stationary bike today. 20 minutes, 5 miles, only 130 calories. Ugh. And very boring. Tomorrow I'll try to run on the treadmill again at lunch.

Back in the Saddle Again

After about a month on hiatus I started running again today. Four days off and too much food in the house really started to get to me. If there is good food in the house I will eat all day, and we certainly had a feast on Thanksgiving. My leg wasn't giving me much trouble so I thought I'd test it out.

I ran 2 miles in the cemetery. It was in the 40s and sunny. The first mile was a piece of cake. My leg felt as though it was loosening up. My left leg didn't give me any trouble at all. After one mile I could start to feel some pain in my right leg. I toughed it out; I put on some music and jogged past all the tombstones. It's weird to run in the cemetery with Intergalatic from the Beastie Boys ringing in your ears.

Afterwards I stretched and iced and used the Stick. I have an ankle brace that I wear, too, since the pain goes down to my ankle. I took some Advil as well. Just like old times.

It felt good to be out in the crisp clean air. To get away from the bustle of the beginning of the holiday season and four days in the house without much of a break except about 1 hour by myself with a cappucino cruising Toys R Us looking for ideas for the kids for Christmas. That was fun.

I start MIT training again in two weeks. I can't wait. Training for a race really gives me the motivation I need to keep running. Especially as winter approaches!

Boston or Bust!

My husband is planning his trip to Boston in April and the airfare and hotel rates are outrageously expensive due to the marathon. We will do everything we can to get him there, but I wanted to make a pitch for Christmas donations to the "Send Bill to Boston" fund instead of gifts! I think Bill would like the same for his birthday in February.

In other news, I ran on Saturday with the training group. Attendance was sparse but it was nice to have some people to run with. It was the first run for me since the race, and my first run in the cold. It started out around 35 degrees. I had on my husband's tights (yeah I can fit into his tights now!) and a long sleeve running shirt and jacket. I was warm but quickly realized how cold your hands can get without gloves! I kept switching my water bottle from hand to hand after each hand thawed for about 10 minutes in my sleeve or pocket. Fortunately, after a mile my hands started to warm up and I was ok.

I kept the run easy and short. 2 miles at 11:40 pace. It felt really good to be running again. My shins were sore but I shook it off. However, when I got home, my inside right leg tightened up so much it felt like I had a brick in my leg. It really hurt. REALLY hurt. I wrapped it with an ace bandage after icing with the paper cup and frozen peas on the side of my foot. I then proceeded to walk on it for about 2 or 3 hours at COSI with my son and his friend. I couldn't help it; I had promised to take them.

The next day was no better. I did less walking but my leg kept tightening up. I carried that brick around all day. Last night I massaged it with the Stick (the first roll over caused me to yelp it hurt so much, then the pain subsided a little), I stretched, resumed my PT and iced it again.

Because of this, I have made the very difficult decision to stop running until December when the training group starts again. I will choose alternative cardio exercises and strengthening and do my PT and try again in December. I'm a little sad I'm going to miss running in the Flying Feather this year, since it was my very first race ever and I'm a little sentimental about it, but I'd rather commit to serious training for the spring Cap City half marathon, and see how it goes. I might use that race as a gauge for whether I can even think about the Columbus Marathon (yes I said MARATHON) next year.

When you think about what I've done this past year, it's pretty amazing. At least to me. I've logged in almost 500 miles running thus far, and I ran 2 half marathons and two other races. Considering I was 30 pounds overweight and seriously sleep deprived when I started running over a year ago, I think I've done pretty well. I'm pretty sure I'm not setting my sights on Boston, as I am not nearly as seriously competitive as my husband, but I continue to strive to do better while enjoying the sport. Running is such a drug - I don't think I can ever stop!