Sidelined

It would seem that my personal highlight of the year is the 1/2 marathon I did in May.  It was so much fun accomplishing something like that.  As you may recall, during the 1/2 my knee literally screamed at me.  It was so loud I was sure other people heard it.

I took a couple weeks off to rest the knee, rest my body and just take some time to sleep!  During StomachGate 2011 I decided to hit the road and start doing some running.  I thought I would do a light 4 mile run, get the old legs and lungs workin' again and do some training for the next 1/2 marathon, probably in September or October.

My knee had different ideas.  At mile 2 it screamed again.  This time louder than during the 1/2 marathon.  Pain shot through my leg and I couldn't put any weight on it.  I limped the 2 miles back home, at least getting in my 4 miles that I wanted.  I hobbled over to my brother-in-law who knows a thing or two about medical stuff.  He confirmed that pain is coming from my lateral collateral ligament.  I laughed because, seriously, the lateral collateral ligament.  That sounded so fake.  He just smiled and told me to look it up.  Of course I did what you're warned not to and Googled it.  I learned some things:

1.  Sometimes you eat crow.  My brother-in-law is super smart about ligaments and stuff.
2.  It keeps your knee in place, so it won't bend out to the side. 
3.  It's a ligament = not much blood flow = long time to heal.
4.  An LCL sprain or tear is very hard to prevent.

After two weeks of constant tenderness I went to the doctor.  He confirmed all the things that I had learned on the world wide webs.  He sidelined me for a month.  Not just from running, but all forms of exercise except cycling. 

If it's not better in a month, I get to do physical therapy and wear a brace.

My summer training is on hold.  My summer ice cream eating hasn't slowed.  I best be getting on that stationary bike at the gym if I have any hope of fitting into my shorts.

The Night I "Met" Lance and A Giant Ram

It's been quite awhile since I've made an appearance on here.  It's because I've been running.  I'm gearing up for the 1/2 marathon in 53 days.  While that seems like a long time, it's right around the corner.  Because I need gadgets and fun things to keep me going, I've purchased the Nike + system.  I love it. 

You have a little sensor that goes in your shoe that looks like this:

It's like a pedometer in your shoe.  What's even cooler is that it talks to your iPod/iPhone so you can keep track of how far and how long you've run.  You can pick workouts based on time, distance, calories or an open-ended one.  Then you can pick a playlist from your music library to use during the run. 

I'm in love with the little system.  You even have the option to select a "power song."  Basically when you're totally wiped out, you hit the "Power Song" button and it will play the song that will get you all pumped up.  Mine is set to Eye of the Tiger by Survivor.  Nothing will pump you up quite like that song.

I've been using it for a few weeks now and still don't know everything that it can do.  My friend Lindsay and I decided to train together.  We've signed up for all the same races and we run about the same, so we're keeping each other motivated.  In one ear is my earbud listening to my music and the other ear is to chat and listen with Lindsay. 

One of the races we decided to do was the Only Fools Run At Midnight.  A local chapter of the Lion's Club puts on a midnight race on a weekend close to April Fool's Day.  It's 3.5 miles that are run in the dark.  I was a little nervous about running at midnight since my normal bedtime is 8:30, but you have to make memories!

Part of all the running of races that I like are the shirts.  I want some tangible thing to show that I actually ran the race.  It's been fun collecting shirts this season so far.  I've a green one from the St. Patrick's Day run.  I've got a white, long-sleeved one from a running clinic that I'm doing.  Now I have this one:

Don't be too jealous of that giant ram!  All the white actually glows in the dark.  I know, I'll have to hide this one from all company that comes over for fear that they'll steal the ram.

I'm not entirely sure why they chose to use a ram this year.  Last year was a mallard and the year before that an owl.  Perhaps they wanted something that not only didn't have feathers, but that looked intimidating in a sort of Cabela's way. 

The best part about this was at the end of the race, I ended my Nike+ workout and it went through my time, the pace, the distance, the calories and just as I was about to shut it off, a man's voice appeared in my earbud.  It was Lance Armstrong!  He congratulated me on my run.  Who knew that he cared!

It was a good night for wildlife and living strong.  Next up, racing for the cure.  That one might take awhile!