Thursday, December 08, 2005

Freezing My Ass Off In Blog Slackerville

Hey, how are y'all? Been a long time hasn't it? Yes, I'm still here, thanks for asking. The Great Suburban Outback's weather has been so terminally wretched that SAD may be setting in.

Yes, I have been training. No, I haven't been as faithful as I need to be. A nagging foot pain has interrupted several long runs recently, so January's P.F. Chang's Rock 'n Roll Marathon is somewhat in doubt. This Sunday's 18-mile run is key. No pain: I'll do the full 26.2. Minor pain: I'll scale down my expectations and do the 13.1. Lotsa pain: I'm bagging the marathon and staying home on the couch.

Yes, I have had the foot x-rayed and, no, there's no stress fracture. And it's not plantar fasciitis, either. Old age and general cussedness, maybe.

Karyn told me that, in adjusting my expectations a bit, I was being smart...for once. First time I've been told that in a long, long time, incidentally, but the real game is a vertical finish at IMWI. There's no sense risking a more serious and longer-term injury training for a January race that's not all that important in the overall scheme of things.

This whole training thing does work, though. I now say "Goody! An easy day!" if Karyn has me running "only" 13 miles. I remember when 2 miles was an easy day...and not so long ago either.

Still, Arizona in January...hmmm. Just how bad does my foot REALLY hurt? And then there's that SAD thing, for which a good dose of sunshine and the requisite number of poolside bikinis are the preferred remedies.

Almost forgot a belated Thanksgiving "THANKS" to Michelle for the ice cream freezer. It made AWESOME cranberry-rasberry sorbet. The rest of dinner was good too, but not nearly as colorful. Thanks, Michelle!

I'm reading: "On the Ridge Between Life and Death" by David Roberts. Climber reexamines his life's risk-reward balance in light of the death of three climbing partners. Mountains are forever. So is grief, apparently.

iPod shuffle: "Richland Woman Blues" by Maria Muldaur. "MIdnight At the Oasis" gal grows up and gets downright bluesy. "...hurry home sweet Poppa and don't you take your time..." I'm hurrying, Darlin'. I surely am.

One more: if you're a fan of gospel music's emotional authenticity, my iPod just shuffled along to "Mary Don't You Weep" by the Swan Silvertones. Tears in my eyes, baby. Tears in my eyes.

13 comments:

Spandex King said...

Good Luck with the injury. I was a little worried about you. Thought maybe you jumped ship. Kinda funny how everything I think about revolves around IM. Happy Holidays to you.

Cliff said...

Glad you back..did the right move scaling down from a whole mara to a 1/2 one. I plan on doing a whole mara next year. The more I think about it, the more I realize it will take a lot of work and damage my body to do that plus train for IM.

Joe Friel mention that in his book (Going Long) to not go crazy on the run. There is no such thing as a recovery run. Running (long duration) is too taxing on the body.

Vertical Man said...

I'm starting to agree that there's no such thing as a recovery run, at least where my body is concerned. It's a little frustrating, though, to suddenly face some nagging little injuries after a race-packed and totally injury-free summer. Oh well.

ShesAlwaysWrite said...

Glad the sorbet worked out! I'll be doing the stuffing soon (with the parsnips, of course - thanks for the tip) for a family dinner.

Tracy said...

Good, I'm glad you're not running that mess. It takes forever to feel good after a marathon, but maybe that's just me, you're robot body would probably be fine!

Comm's said...

glad to hear from you again. I think it is completely normal to not feel like blogging when you combine bad weather and injury.,

My wife was diagnosed with SAD in Seattle when we lived there. Amazingly it completely disappeared when we moved to AZ.

Battman said...

Hhmmm, I'm still stuck on the Arizona vision. I hope the foot progresses; nothing reminds you more constantly than a broken wheel.

Ellie Hamilton said...

Don't know how many bikinis you'll see poolside.... from what I can glean, the average high temp for Jan. 15 in Phoenix is 65*. Not great for bikini-watching but super for running a marathon. Hope you can make it! Does your foot hurt around the ball-of-foot area? Mine does that sometimes. I don't know what it is. It makes me bag a run immediately. Feels like a joint that I need to pop.

tri-mama said...

I just booked my airline tickets for Chang's-can't wait-it's going to be 3 degrees here again at the end of the week


aahhh running in shorts.

PuddyRat said...

Back and tagged. You're it. Time out.

Meagan said...

good luck and heal up soon!! don't worry, it's december, you've got lots of time to get back to it!

Nancy Toby said...

Slacker.

We miss you. *sob*

bob said...
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