Why I Run
“Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.”
- 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Well, over the weekend Wendy and I spent a full 2 days tiling the master bathroom. Besides what seemed like to me a non-square room and the issues that raises, it all went rather smoothly. Especially for us home repair challenged-types. Until.....of course, the end. All I had left was to cut a 1 inch strip of carpet to bridge the gap between the bathroom marble threshold and the closet carpet (we moved the threshold forward an inch and so a bare wood floor was left). So I went down to the basement to find the remnant carpet and a razor I could cut it with. You can see where this is going, can't you? After finding the carpet, and the razor, I decided I probably could use a new SHARP razor to make things easier. I laid the carpet on the workbench and proceeded to change out the razor. Put the razor down, grabbed the decent-sized carpet piece, grabbed the razor, carpet hits razor, razor cuts into the top of the index finger between the middle and top knuckles.
You know fingers, like heads, bleed a lot?
It was pretty deep, so I decided to have the urgent care take a look and yep! Stitches needed. How cool, my first stitches since I was five! The Doctor was really nice and we had a good conversation. Of course, he did see fit to stick the lidocaine needle in and around my wound at least 10 times. All in all it was a neat thing to see. The real cool thing is that he said in 7 days I can take the stitches out if I'd like! Isn't that every boy's dream?
Anyway, so I'll tackle the carpet again today!
Also, got a 4 mile run in.
My good friend, Ted, and I are going to do our own biggest loser contest come the 1st of the year!
This morning I went out for a 4 mile run and completed with no issues or pains, and even at a 8:34 pace (though I was pretty winded after). I'm starting to wonder if some of the pain issues might be that '2nd' pair of shoes. These are my old shoes that 416 miles on them. Today I used my 'new' ones - the ones I bought just before and used during the marathon - and everything seemed good. Though my previous old shoes hard nearly 500 miles on them and I didn't have any issues. I'll run in the new ones for the next few days and see what happens. All I can say is that is sure makes me happy to be able to go out in run without pains. But, in any case, I think I'll cross my fingers!
Its snowing again! So in three days we've had 2 significant snows...welcome to the north! That's 2 more snows than the entire 4 years we spent in Atlanta. The boys are pumped! Now only if they'd delay or cancel school, it would make their day. Oh...and if there was snow on Christmas too!
A new lady that started at my company is a former Sports Physical Therapist. Awesome! So as I was helping her get her computer up and running I asked her about my knee/calf issues, as well as my still sprained fingers (from the end of October flag football game). She felt around my knee and calf, asked me if this or that hurt, etc. She said there was some minor swelling the knee in tendon area, which kind of backs up my initial prognosis about the tendinitis thing. She told me to take a course of ibuprofen to reduce the swelling and to take it regularly for a week. That's how it works as an inflammatory, she said. Its not like a headache where you take aspirin or Tylenol and its gone. Ibuprofen needs to build up in your system to reduce the inflammation. I started taking it that afternoon. I can still try and run as long as I stop as soon as the pain hits. I did a semi-hard 2.50 miles on the treadmill this morning and it seemed fine. She said I can continue on the treadmill as that will provide less stress on the body since its softer than the street, but I'll do both.
On the depressing side! I'm at my heaviest weight since I had initially lost the 60 lbs 3-4 years ago. It's a mental, spiritual and physical drain. The thing is, I'm not sure why. I guess my work day snacking is more than I realize, plus I'm awful on the weekends. Combine that with not being able to run heavily and I'm a disaster! That's got to change. To be a 38 year old competitive runner, my weight really needs to be around 145-150. I weighed in at 184 this morning!
Ok, so this morning, I woke up to my first real snow in over 4 years! Having grown up in Ohio, its something I enjoy! The kids will be pumped, however Wendy...well, let's just say if it was sunny and 80, she would be happy. For those that don't know, we left the Ohio area about 8 or 9 years ago and moved to Maryland, where we still got snow. But the last 4 years were spent in Atlanta, GA. No snow there! Of course they did cancel school at the first thought of snow (no kidding!). They once cancelled school on a Sunday night because they was a chance there might be some ice. Monday comes and guess what? Yep, no ice. Kids get a nice day off!
So, it snowed and I probably smartly decided to hit the treadmill. I got in 30 minutes with no real issues with my knee/calf. Either there is still some soreness there, or I'm just overly sensitive. I did go for 3 miles or so. I've been reading around and it may be possible that I have Popliteal tendinitis? Which, apparently, tends to be the tendon in the calf/back of knee area. Supposedly weak hamstrings are part of it. So I found some exercises to try and strengthen the hamstrings. The funny part is, I just wonder how I can run for a long time, complete a marathon, run some more, then all of a sudden it pops up? Go figure!
Meanwhile....let it snow...let it snow...let it snow!
Well, this morning was (is) the morning I decided to take a trial run and see how the heeling process is going. I ran about 2.5 miles at a rather slow pace (which drove me nuts!), but it was something I needed to do to evaluate the knee/calf problems I started having. Of course wouldn't you know....it was 32, raining/sleeting/snowing! But hey, that's December in Ohio. It actually wasn't too bad. I do have some black tights I bought this summer after learning we were moving back here. I love them. I had gloves, hat, sweatshirt and felt warm enough. I did pass a guy (and remember this is 5 am) who was actually running in shorts...and they call me crazy!
Anyway, the run was OK. Felt very good in the beginning, but towards the end I still felt (possibly) a little in the calf, but I think it really must have been something around the knee, which may or may not be affiliated with the calf. So, I'll try a small run again tomorrow, most likely 2.5 miles again and see how it goes.
So, in summation, physically, the run was OK. But for mental health, it was awesome!
