solar squirrel

I’m taking a product and brand management course as one of my LAST classes at Case towards my MBA.  Our team, Renewable Synergy, is working on an analysis of the Cleveland brand.  I know, kind of weird - thinking about a city’s ‘brand’, but that is exactly what we’re doing.  We want to do an analysis to understand how we can make the city resonate with the theme of sustainability.

I was thinking about this on my way home and I realized - some people - actually - a LOT of people - don’t even know what sustainability EVEN MEANS!!!  So maybe part of our recommendations is simply an educational promotion on just that.

Anyway - you can check up on our team’s progress via our Team Blog.  If you have any recommendations or ideas or even suggestions for people to talk to or web sites to visit please let me know!

This past weekend was the Akron Marathon.  For the past few years I’ve been on a team of 5, and the past couple have been all women teams.  This year Daisy coordinated an awesome team and still included me even though I am a broken out of shape joke of a runner.  (Ok, that was a bit rough)  Luckily for me this year they changed the distances a bit and the shortest leg was now 2.8 miles - a waste for any of my other team mates - but PERFECT for me, since my ITB issues have caused my fitness level to decline dramatically and my longest run this past month has been a little over 3 miles.

AkronRelay2009

I had the 4th leg which was conveniently located walking distance from Todd’s house on Sand Run Parkway.  I got to sleep in and walk to my relay point!  Our goal was to try to come in top 3 as we’ve done every year before (Kent State always beats us!!), but worst case was just have fun.  (Can I just repeat the fact that I am so happy to have such easy-going fun running friends?  No way would some of the people I know allow for an INJURED SLOW team mate to compete with them).  I figured my slowness would only cost us a few min. since my leg was so short.  I got to the start around 2:50 pace and got to see all the fast runners.  I saw Frank and he looked awesome.  I saw a few relay teams, but it seemed as if we were going to be in the top 3 spot.  I was a few seconds late seeing Christina because they announced the number as 296 and I was anticipating them saying the entire number.  Luckily I was watching for her so I knew it was her without hearing her number.  We had a bit of a clumsy handoff of the 80’s snap bracelette and I was off!  I felt awesome the first mile - catching the female relay runner ahead of me.  She was tall and thin and like a gazelle and I felt like a stomping elephant running next to her.  We had a pretty good pace ~6:35 for the first mile and then the hills started coming and the fact that I’m out of shape caught up with me.  I was so happy that I only had to run 2.8 miles!  The AMAZING thing is that my knee didn’t hurt AT ALL!!!!!  I slowed down and she had about 20 sec. on me when I finished.  I was excited to see Jen and I handed off to her and told her to catch the girl in front of me.  Garmin said I had a 7:34 pace which I’ll take given the circumstances.  I took the bus back to the stadium to watch the finish and had an awesome time hanging out with my running friends.  (And yes - we got 3RD PLACE!!!) How I YEARN to be back into running shape!!!  This was just the thing to keep me motivated.

The relay was Sat.; Sunday I ran my weekly Sunday run w/ Katy and my knee hurt, but not too bad.  (This was the first time I’ve done 2 days in a row).  Monday I swam and yesterday I biked.  I feel like I’m seriously on the road to recovery now.  I just need to stay focused and humble and not try to do too much too soon.  I want 2010 to be my best fitness year EVER.

First of all - thank you so much for posting comments (and talking to me in person) about my ITB issues.  I am so grateful that I have so many wonderful supportive friends who know what it’s like dealilng with a running injury.

Now the good news!!!!!!!
Today I had my weekly PT session with Courtney - who by the way is super awesome and also a runner.  I told her about how I was discouraged by the pain that occurred after only 1.45 miles.  She immidiately asked me if I had to go to work after this.  I hesitated but said yes.  (I mean I don’t HAVE to go to work, but I was planning on it!).  Then I realized why she asked - she wanted me to run and she wanted to be sure that I was ok getting sweaty.  Duh - Of course I’m ok with it!!!!  I want to figure out what my problem is!!!

So she has me on the treadmill with 0 incline and I set it to 6.9 mph (this is about 9 min pace I guess - very easy).  She told me to focus on my gait and think about my heel striking before my toe.  She also put a mirror in front of me so that I could see my form.  Initially I was running all wonky and she pointed this out to me and told me to relax and focus on heel-toe foot strike and also not to OVER think it.  (She’s right - good lord my form is awful…)  So I fixed my form and maintained my running - she kept checking up on me every few min. and told me to let her know when/if I felt pain.  Right at a little over 2 miles I started to feel it coming on.  I told her and asked her if she wanted me to stop running.  She told me to focus on my alignment and to keep running until the pain got to the point that I had to stop.  So I did.  I slowed down my pace a little bit, and I focused on my form.  And wouldn’t you know it - the pain stayed the same.  It didn’t get any worse.  I was able to pick my pace back up to the original 6.9 mph without the pain worsening.  I would say it was about a 5 on a scale from 1-10.  But it stayed at 5.  Actually, it might have gone down to a 4 as I kept running.  (Or I could have just gotten used to it…).  Regardless, I was able to keep running.  She told me to keep running until the pain got too bad or until I hit 4 miles.  I got to 4 miles.  I couldn’t believe it.  Before now the pain is either too unbearable for me to keep running - or I’m too scared that I’m going to do damage so I stop and walk.  I think this might officially be day 1 of recovery.

Ok.  had to write a quick post to tell everyone the news.  My knee feels weird at the moment - but I think it’s because of the freakin’ foam roller (torture device) and this other torture device that felt like electric shock therapy.  I’ll post more about those later.

Here’s the shortest version of the story to recap it all:

I intended to run towpath at a 3:30 pace (this would be an 8-minute PR - totally do-able).  I was on week 7 or 8 of my 18 week training program and the schedule called for an 8 mile paced run.  (8 miles at the intended marathon pace - 8:00 miles).  This should have been and easy run.  Well, 4 miles into it I started getting this bizaar knee pain in my left knee.  This pain was so bad that I had to walk - something that has NEVER happened to me before.  Now, mind you, I did experience something similar with regard to knee pain the 2 runs prior to this - but I kept running and decided it was just a fluke.  This 8 mile run did me in, though, and I was forced to walk / run the rest of the way back.

I tried self-healing:  bought new shoes, took ibuprofin, stretched, rested, cross-trained.  Nothing worked.  So I went to the Dr. after a full 2-weeks off didn’t help. The only time I get any pain is when I’m running - nothing else hurts.  He was worse than useless and I left knowing nothing of what was wrong or how to fix it.  (At least I knew that my Xrays looked normal).

So - I scheduled an appt. with an Orthopedic sports Dr.  This place is AWESOME.  Right across the street from Akron Children’s hospital.  (I think they cater more to kids than to adults…)  I had 2 Dr.’s moving my knee, making me balance on each leg, do squats, walk, etc.  They asked a TON of questions and decided that it was likely an imbalance issue, possibly ITB.  They scheduled an apt. for me to see the physical therapist.

The physical therapist is a young, friendly girl about my age.  She also is a marathon runner.  She spent an hour with me and determined that I had obvious weekness in my hips and told me it was 100% my ITB that was causing the problems.  She gave me some exercises and stretches to do, and we scheduled an apt. with the gait analysis guy for the next week.

Last week I went in and the other Dr. (let’s call him gait-guy) had me lay on a table and he looked at my feet and legs.  He had me walk and run while he watched how my legs and feet moved.  He looked at the calluses on my feet and he tested the strength in each leg.  It was so funny because he IMMEDIATELY saw the problem.  In a nutshell- I have a crooked leg.  My left leg, rather than coming down strait from the knee to my foot, is slightly bent into the right.  This causes my running stride to do almost a loop when my foot hits the ground.  This in turn causes a lot of strain on my hip muscles - and in particular my ITB.  They were amazed that I had been able to have the life of running that I explained to them and baffled that I’ve never had any problems with my ITB until now.

The solution:

I have stretches and strength exercises I have to do daily to strengthen my hips and stretch my ITB.  I was also fitted with special orthodics that raise my left leg up and to the left in an attempt to keep me from doing the strange loop thing when my foot strikes the ground.  I was told to wear the orthodics for a couple of days to get used to them and then I could attempt a 1-2 mile run.

So - yesterday was the planned day.  I decided I would try to run 2 miles on the flat towpath.  (I know - that’s the most pathetic sentence related to running that I think I’ve ever written.)  Katy was over and she wanted to run with me.  Perfect - that would force me to only go 2 miles and at an easy (9-min) pace.  So I put on my Garmin, get my running stuff on, and set out to do my 2 miles.  BIG DAY!

We jogged the 800 ft. to the start of the towpath - I stretched one more time and we started the 2 mile run.  I was keeping an eye on my Garmin to make sure that we only went 1 mile out and that we didn’t go any faster than 8:30 pace.  At 1 mile turn around I felt fine (the shortest distance so far that I’ve experienced pain is 2.7 miles in) and we headed back.  Wouldn’t you know it - 1.45 miles in - the pain was back.  We had to walk the last .5 miles. 

I feel like I’m going backwards rather than forwards.  Every time I attempt to do a run, the distance I can go before I feel pain is SHORTER rather than longer.  I’m worried that I’m doing all these stretches and massages to my ITB and it’s making it WORSE rather than better.  I’m now not even capable of running 2 miles without pain.  What is it going to be next?  Will it start to hurt just from walking?  Why am I going backwards rather than forwards in recovery?  Ugh.  I am SO frustrated by the inability to do what I want to do, but even worse is the fact that I’m not seeing ANY signs of improvement.  In fact, what I’m seeing is a declining fitness level combined with a shorter and shorter running distance capability.  I’m like a fat person who is starving themselves and gaining weight rather than losing.

So what should I do?  I know - Todd tells me that soft tissue injuries take a long time to heal, and that I should be happy that I have legs and the ability to walk.  I get it.  But that doesn’t really make me feel any better in the short term.

If you’re still reading this - can you give me some advice because I’m dying over here!  I need something to keep me going - someone to tell me that the recovery is going to start soon.  People that haven’t spent over 50% of their lives as a runner don’t understand.  I started running when I was 12 years old.  8th grade track team.  It’s not like I just picked this up a couple of years ago to loose weight or try to look good in a bathing suit.  Running and me know each other well.  We’ve been together for a long time.  Longer than most of the relationships in a lot of our lives.  We’re going on 20 years of friendship and now my good old pal running is lying in a hospital bed on life support.  This is a HUGE part of my life.  Oh, and not to mention the fact that it’s a HUGE part of my SOCIAL life.

So enough rambling because now I’ve gotten myself all worked up and there are tears in my eyes and I can’t see the screen very well.  Argh.

I went to the Dr. on Friday and the short story is that they think that I have an alignment problem that was aggravated due to my increased mileage and speed work.  They have ordered physical therapy to get to the bottom of the issue.  Two different Dr.’s spent about an hour with me moving my knee and leg, watching me do single and double-legged squats, comparing both knees, etc.  I was thoroughly impressed.  (I went to an Orthopedic sports Dr. based out of Akron Children’s Hospital.)  My first day of physical therapy is Wed.  They told me to bring in my running shoes so that they can also look at my wear patterns and also possibly do a gait analysis.  This is great!  I think I’m finally going to get over this dumb knee issue!

So what have I been doing since I haven’t been running?

Watching amazed as Todd transforms the old, hideous bathroom into a modern spa paradise!

New Shower

(More pictures to come soon in a post dedicated to our bathroom transformation)

Drinking WAY too much at Blues and Brews and then drinking margaritas:

B and me after Blues and Brews

Having fun with my intelligent, athletic, talented, funny, cute, all around AWESOME and HARD CORE boyfriend:

My cutie

Making yummy plates of food and indulging waaaaay too much:

Olives, cheeses, meats, breads, fruits and wine!

So yea, life has still continued and I’m getting by without doing my favorite pastime.  I’m sooooo ready to get back to running and I’m being hopeful that this physical therapy will work out.  In the meantime I’m going to continue doing my cross training to maintain a moderate level of fitness.  (Plus with all this eating and drinking, I’m going to be 500 lbs. by the time I get back to running!)  I miss hanging out with my running girls.  Worst case I go and have fun with all of them at Columbus.  (I’m signed up for the half marathon which I may or may not be able to run).  I sure do miss running with all of my SERC friends…

Today I woke up to this strange knocking noise.  I went out to the porch and saw Todd outside doing as he calls it ‘Man Stuff’ - today it’s splitting wood.  We had the park come and take down 2 dead trees and Todd asked them to just leave them so that he could use the wood for the fireplaces.  Earlier this week he did ‘Man Stuff’ using the chain saw.  Today he’s splitting it.  He cracks me up - when he’s doing ‘man stuff’ (anything involving a chain saw, ax, car parts, heavy lifting / moving, demolishing, or building) he is in his element.  He’s like a rooster standing tall with a big poofed out chest.  haahahhahaaaa!!!  He is going to kill me when he reads this…

Todd doing some 'Man Stuff'

It has been well over a month since I first started having weird knee pain during running.  My hopes of running the Towpath Marathon are obviously extinguished and now I’m not even sure I can run a 5K without having to stop.

Today was the end of 2 full weeks off from running.  I went out this am. to do an easy flat 4 miles to start back up slowly, and I had to stop at 2.7 due to the SAME exact pain!  Yes, I went to the Dr. and he told me it was nothing and gave me 0 advice.  I am so over our inadequate healthcare system and can tell everyone who is a runner - never go to Dr. Timothy C Gajewski.  He obviously has a bias against runners.  I should have known better - all of my Dr.’s are women and I was just desperate for an apointment.

So - back to resting and I’m going to make another appointment.  This time with someone who is specifically related to sports injury.  I will call tomorrow.

In other news I’ve been biking (spin classes) 2 days a week which has been nice.  I’ve also been doing some body sculpting and last week did Yoga for the first time.  I’m going to continue this unless the Dr. says not to.  I need to get exercise some way!

In other news school is starting in a week, work is work, and I’m signed up for the Akron Marathon Relay and the Columbus Half Marathon.  I think I’ll take the rest of August off of running (depending on what the Dr. says) and hopefully be back to 100% in time for the relay (Sept 26th).  Thank goodness I have such a good aerobic base!

I am going to have my MBA after this semester.  It’s really crazy to say that since I didn’t think I would ever be finished since I’ve been going so slowly.  (I started in 2006).  I’m also going to *hopefully* be able to have my transcripts state that I have a concentration in sustainability since I will have completed 4 courses that count towards it.  This semester is sustainable operations.  It should be interesting - there are only a handfull of us in the class.  The syllabus looks good, though.  I’m also taking a product and brand management class, which should be pretty neat.

Ok.  Glad I got that update out of the way.  I’m going to go put these Oriental Style Vegetables that have been sitting on my knee back into the freezer and attempt to mow the grass (that is a jungle) with the reel mower.  (Running, you may have beaten me for now, but lawn mower aerobics is HARD CORE!)

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!