Trail Running Reality Check

The photograph below was sent to me from my daughter Andrea. She was a witness to my falling twice in the woods of Alabama during a trail run. The second fall took out my shoulder.

The sad thing about the photograph is the truth in it. When trail running it's always important to look where your feet are going, not the pretty scenery in the woods. If you must sight-see then I recommend stopping and looking for a few seconds, then begin running again. Of course some people can fall on the flat, non-obstructed, Erie Canal path, just ask Mike Weinpress. He is an expert.

And We Have Takeoff!

Yesterday I was given the go ahead to begin "running" again by my physical therapist! After a few tests in the PT room he let me get on their treadmill and switch between walking for 3 minutes and running for 2 minutes. I went a whole 2.0 miles.

My pace for the first week has to be at 50% of my typical everyday run pace. My workouts are on a three day rotation. Monday I ran (though I also swam using a buoy last night), today I do weights and leg strengthening exercises, Wednesday I rest my legs. No biking for at least a week.

Thursday it all begins again. I can extend the run portion by 1/4 mile every third day, assuming no pain. If things go well in 10 days I can add biking back and begin to slowly increase my running distance and pace.

Yay!   

Dementors in Our Lives

"Dementors feed upon human happiness, and thus cause depression and despair to anyone near them. They can also consume a person's soul, leaving their victims in a permanent vegetative state, and thus are often referred to as soul sucking fiends. They are known to leave a person as an empty shell."
   From Harry Potter.

In other words, and in many cases, Dementors are like administrators or bosses. You can feel their presence before the key is placed in the lock to the office cubicle area that three of us share. Your soul begins to be sucked out as they talk about how we have to do assessments of our programs, they have a "new" assignment (meaning we just did it within the last year but must repeat our mistakes or they forgot we already tried that, whatever "that" is) or you have to come up with a solution to a problem that affects them (but not you).

Dementors can be found at staff meetings or on committees you serve on throughout the workplace. Students (or co-workers) can even be a dementor. A piece of your soul gets sucked out when you help a very needy student with an issue, then the next week, or hour, or sometimes within a few minutes they need help with the problem again. They learned nothing from you. They don't understand why you just won't do it for them (whatever "it" is, homework, learning how to use a computer program, etc.).

To battle the workplace dementors you must follow a healthy diet. Why? Because if you are eating healthy 90% of the time and taking your B vitamin complex and multivitamins the glass(es) of wine or Southern Comfort on the rocks you have before and during dinner to calm your soul will be negated.

Another strategy is to exercise. Running works well, though I am still out of commission due to recovering from an injury (but coming back soon). So I swim, bike and lift weights. Today, after an unexpected visit from one of my bosses (well, not totally unexpected as it seems she comes in every day to suck a bit more out of my soul), and soon after a committee meeting, I had an internal debate about swimming.

Next week the pool will be closed due to Spring Break. I swam yesterday during lunch and lifted weights last night. I was tired. Do I swim today or not? I went to my gym locker and my suit was still wet. I closed the locker, headed out but stopped at the bathroom. The internal struggle went on. I headed back to the locker, got changed and found a lane all to myself. After swimming 1200yds I felt re-energized and pieces of my soul had come back to me.

I remember thinking that maybe now I could go back to work and fight the dementors for a few more hours before heading for home. Hopefully they leave me alone until quitting time. It could also be that I need to learn to summon a Petronus Charm like Harry Potter. 

Little Bitty

One of country music's biggest stars, Alan Jackson, has a song called "Little Bitty". Jackson sings about how it's okay to be from a small town, with a small house and you can still be happy. 

I bring this up because Itty Bitty is what I saw yesterday while swimming at the MCC pool. The pool is open M-F from 12:00-1:50 and like most pools in this area it's a crap shoot as to when it will be busy. When I walked into the pool area at 12:15 it was packed. Every lane was full and lane one had two people in it. This was quite unusual. So I sat on the bench not sure what to do. I'm always hesitant about going up to a stranger and asking to share their lane. After a few minutes the lifeguard made a young woman from lane two move over into lane one so I could have a lane. I told the guard she didn't have to do that, but she said they wouldn't care.

The female swimmers were from the MCC swim team and really fast. One of them could use the kickboard and go down the lane faster than me. I grabbed my buoy and swam a 1:38 for 100yds, my fastest ever, and still couldn't keep up. 

About ten minutes later a couple of male team members came to swim. One dove into my lane (without even asking, the nerve!) and swam like a dolphin. I hated him immediately. As he was diving in I caught a glimpse of his suit, which covered about this much of his body;

Talk about Itty Bitty! Really? We weren't in a meet, was this really necessary? More reasons to hate him, young, with hair on his head, looking good in a tiny suit and fast. I tried to swim faster, with and without the buoy, I couldn't come close to staying up with him, especially with his flip turns. I did outlast him though, or he got tired of swimming in a lane with the old guy, as he moved over after a few laps with his teammates. I wonder if Jackson would approve of this Little Bitty suit?

Grandmothers, Running & Scotch

Runner's World online has an article on Elvira Montes, an 82 year old woman who just completed the Beer Mile World Championship. Elvira ran a 20 minute mile, with the requirement she drink a 12 oz beer after every quarter mile. To celebrate her family took her to Hooters (Elvira's choice), as she loves chicken wings and Scotch. A video of Elvira running and her Hooters visit is in the post below.

I'm surprised Mike W. isn't in the video helping Elvira with the Scotch drinking.

Forty-Eight ounces of beer in twenty minutes is pretty good, even without the running.

Hooters Makes You Happy: Grandma Elvira