solar squirrel

Looks like I’m not doing XTERRA.  The combination of too much work and my ITB issues have prevented me from training properly.  I did a 5 mile run on Tue. which felt good until the last 1/4 mile.  My knee felt weird, but didn’t hurt.  I won’t be satisfied until there is nothing.  I think I’ll make an apt. with Steve’s Dr. just to be sure it actually IS ITB.

Not sure what this means for TowPath.  This is week 7 of an 18-week training plan.  I’m going to still train - but if I feel any pain at all I’m stopping.  This means that I’ll have to foregoe running with my friends since I don’t want to make them have to stop.  Which sucks because I HATE running alone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There have been 2 ‘baby’ owls in the yard the past few days.  They are so cool!  Todd saw one dive down and eat a mouse earlier tonight!  They make the strangest squeaking noises.  Todd said that they are likely still babies because they have fuzzy feathers on their heads - but they are big.  The one in this pic was on the roof earlier - it was so close Todd could have touched it.

It was glaring at Pearl (our cat) through the window as if it wanted to eat her!

Owl in the tree right outside the window

It has officially been 1 week without running.  Today I am going to run 3 easy miles on the flat towpath with the new pair of running shoes that I bought yesterday.  After Bridget and Steve’s suggestion - I went to Fleet Feet and got fitted.  I was VERY impressed with their service and may start going there regularly.  The young guy who helped us was awesome!  He asked me about my training, if I had any pain, what my planned weekly mileage was, and where I ran (i.e. road or trail).  Then he measured my feet (ULTRA bonus points for not falling over laughing at my insanely WIDE duck feet) and wrote some stuff on a piece of paper, put a dot on the tops of each of my feet, and had me walk and run while he watched.  He had me do it a few times so he got it right.  I was fairly certain that I don’t under or over pronate - since the wear pattern on the bottom of my shoes is even.  He agreed and picked out some neutral shoes for me to try on.

I ended up with some Mizuno Wave Creation 10’s.  They feel AWESOME.  I can’t wait to see how they feel when I run.  They were a bit (ok - for me A LOT) pricey.  But - if they’re going to help prevent injury then they are totally worth it.

Yesterday was my sister’s Birthday so I took her shopping (and to dinner on Friday night).  I had a blast - haven’t gone shopping since before I was laid off from Philips (October).  Bought a bunch of stuff (all on sale, but still).  I can’t believe clothing sizes anymore.  I swear they’ve changed to accomodate our growing bodies.  So the number stayed the same, but the clothing got much larger.  So it gives us this false sense that we’re not getting fat.  Most of my friends are smaller, so I forget that the general population is enormous - until you go somewhere like the mall - and see kids that are pushing 300 lbs and probably have health problems that used to be reserved for 70 year olds.  I guess it’s that ‘everyone gets a trophy’ mentality that is to blame.  We’re forgetting to take responsibility for our own actions - it’s someone else’s fault - someone else’s responsibility to make me eat right, exercise, go to school, get a job, follow the law.  Someone else will take care of it for me, and if they don’t - it’s not me who is to blame - it’s someone else.  Because in today’s world, everyone wins; it’s all happy ever after; rainbows, puppy-dogs, and sunshine.

As if it wasn’t bad enough that I’m taking a week off from running - I was still excited because Todd and I were going to go to West Branch tonight for some mountain biking.  Well, last night when I was getting ready for bed I was going down the stairs to take out my contacts (to the downstairs bathroom because the main one is under construction) and I slipped and fell down the stairs.  It hurt BAD.  I was just laying on the ground with the wind knocked out of me trying to say “I’m ok” so that Todd didn’t freak out when he saw me laying there.  He was so cute - he came flying down the stairs “are you ok?! Are you ok!?  Did you  hit your head?!”  He couldn’t be so lucky as for me to whack my brain… :)  The weird thing is that it gave me chills - like when you’re cold - I was shivering.  Todd said it was maybe from an adrenalin rush.  Interesting.

Now I have a messed up back, butt, and arm.  I think it will be ok, but my arm is pretty swolen and I can’t move it normally.  (I don’t think it’s broken anywhere - but if I still can’t move it I’ll get it checked out tomorrow).  I guess this could be looked at positively.  It just so happens the week I take off from running I can’t do anything else.  At least I got in a good swim Monday night with my good pals Brian and Kristin!

Of course I just finish putting my running schedule on my calendar for Towpath (10/11) and go for my paced six mile run Sat. and 4 miles in my dumb knee starts hurting.  I think I have re-injured last year’s IT band.  I ramped up too quickly from being a sedentary runner.

Argh…it is SO frustrating to have the fitness and endurance for something but at the same time not be able to do it!!  So my 13 mile run turned into 5 yesterday (thank you Bridget for stopping and walking with me mutliple times!)  Tonight I’m swimming and tomorrow I will foregoe the track in order to ensure that I get enough rest.  I’ll take a week off of running and then see where I am.  I think the main thing I need to start doing is strength training, since my left leg is so much weaker than my right.