30+ DRC 211

I have been seriously reconsidering this whole running challenge thing lately. I'm not terribly injured, but my knee isn't making running fun any more . . . at least right now.

I know if I stop to rest up a week or so, my knee will be fine again. But I'm not certain what would happen after. Would I want to try to start another non-stop challenge? Right now I'm not certain. But I think I'd lean towards a "no".

I know I'm not aggravating the knee, just prolonging the healing it could be doing. By running on it, I already feel my other leg working more than it did. And the leg with the bum knee, well that's working a bit different too. I'm feeling other parts of my legs that I didn't feel before and I don't think that's a good thing. My time has drastically dropped because of it.

And the thing is, I finally figured out where the problem stems from.

 These mofo's!

Ever since I bought these damn things and worn them, something funky crops up in my running. Be it my knee (currently) or my stinkin' ankle! Aaaaand it's always the same leg! These boots are so comfortably awesome, it's a shame I can't use them any more. And they're practically new! I only use them when I have to go onto the farm and walk the rooms. I can't be walking into those growing rooms with toe-shoes or my Merrells.

The boots are just too cushy. I need a boot that has a hard sole and insole.No cushyness. The closest thing I can think of is my old Altama military combat boots.

I had started wearing these boots in high school. At times after school, I'd go to the local flea market and help out some of the vendors there for a bit of money. Mainly the produce guys. It was open a few times a week. A couple of hours work and $20 was pretty good back then. These boots got me through a lot of shit. Sometimes literally . . . or almost. Rotten fruit and produce at the end of the weekend, no bueno.

I kept on buying these every few years because I couldn't find any other boots as comfortable. I've always tended towards harder soled shoes and boots. Vans, Chucks and Dickies shoes were great as well. The Dickies Vulcans were uber-cushy, but at the time I liked them.

I LOVE the look of some of the Red Wing Heritage boots. Especially these babies!

Red Wing Heritage Iron Ranger Style No. 8111's.

Old school. Love the damn boots. Just a bit pricey. They're around $250. But they last forever, so I think they'd be worth the price.

As far as running . . . I'm gonna keep at it. It's gotten a bit better. But I think that's because I'm REALLY concentrating on my form when running. And I try to wear my VFF's or Merrells when I can. I'm just gonna have to bite the bullet and take it slow until my knee heals up.

GD

p.s.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

p.p.s.
take it easy, too lazy. run smiley :)

30+ DRC 207. Yeah, I'm Getting Lazier

And I figured it was about time I abbreviated the titles to these damn updates. So today is day 207 of the 30+ day running challenge . . . or as abbreviated 30+ Day Running Challenge 207.

I think I have to work on that.

Anyway, for any regular readers, I think you'll understand.

My legs were doing ok. They weren't feeling as leaden in these past couple of days. I'm running slower now that I've essentially doubled my mileage, but it's not too bad. On Monday, Christmas Eve, I ran two miles and they were ok. Rainy, chilly, but ok. I got back, showered and made myself presentable and headed over to my parents house to spend the night with them.

My Dad asked after the daughter, godson and cousin. As I was telling him, my mom who was at the table, got up abruptly and stalked away. That hurt. I played the good son the rest of the night. Dinner, smiles and some conversation. I mainly conversed with my brother-in-law and my brother and his girlfriend. I stayed away from my mom. Soon midnight came around, handed the presents out the the kids and then went home around 1am.

Christmas day on Tuesday, I was not up to seeing family. I called the brat and spoke with her, my godson and my cousin. They LOVED the presents I had sent them. I got my cousin a Kindle Fire and the daughter told me she screamed. The same went with the godson, whom I made a 50/50 split buy on a new XBox 360 since he RR'ed his last on. The daughter already knew what was waiting for her at home, but I did send along a giant gummy bear. FIVE POUNDS! I love Amazon. The rest of the day was spent reading and glued to Netflix. I went for a run in the midafternoon and continued with the Netflixing.


Wednesday, I received a call from another cousin asking if I could give her a ride to pick up something from friends house in Marina. I agreed and as soon as I got home I got into my gear and headed out the door for two. After my shower I went to pick her up and along tagged along two other brats. I had planned to spill my guts to my cousin, but with her two nieces along . . . nope. Still, I made it the trip an event. My cousin is the WORST navigator on the planet. She'd been to her friends house several times, but apparently not at night. And she never paid attention to landmarks either. She finally got the address, but my map app couldn't pinpoint the house. Just kinda give us an general idea. So I was dealing with digital version of my cousin. I finally broke out the flashlight (I always carry one in the car) and started spotlighting the numbers on the homes (dark street). We had passed the house like three or four times! And when we finally found it, she finally recognized her friends car!!!!

Her nieces were laughing so hard, it was contagious. I really needed that.

When she finally dropped off some gifts and received some in turn, we headed back to town. On the way we were getting close to this really good frozen yogurt shop called MYO (Make Your Own). I parked and everyone wanted some. They poured their favorites and loaded up the toppings they wanted. Everyone was happy. I finally dropped them off and the nieces mom, gave me the evil eye :)

I forgot to mention that during the run, I was nearing the end and began pushing to go a bit faster in the last two tenths. Just as I was about to finish, I tweaked something in my knee. I had to slow down and finish much slower than before.

It's been aching off and on all day. It's not too bad, yet. I hope it doesn't bug me too much tonight when I go for my run.

GD

too lazy. run smiley :)

Day 204 of 30+ Day Running Challenge

And boy, I'm beat! And I've been trying to figure out WHY until I got my training report this morning.

For the past month (until last Monday) I'd been running a mile a day, to keep up with the Running Challenge. I'd been laid out with the flu and later with a cold. I don't think going out and running hurt me. When I went out for my run, my sinuses would clear up and my coughing would alleviate for hours, at times. Nearly four full weeks of running one stinkin' mile a day, needless to say my mileage dropped a bit.

And apparently it hurt me.

Last Monday (December 17th), I went out for a three mile run. I felt fantastic! It was great to be out there again for more than ten minutes. I had planned for at least five miles, but I was huffing it a bit near the third mile and called it quits when the clock turned over. I felt good though. After the run the glums hit hard, but I worked through it.

Tuesday, I made myself go for three. It was freakin' cold out. Once I got warmed up though, it was fine. Just a bit of skin burning off for a few minutes. I was really puffin' away by the time I got to the three mile mark.

Wednesday is when it really hit me. I started out great and about a half mile out, my legs really started to let me know that I was pushing them further than I have for a while. Just in the last two days, I'd put almost as many miles as I had last WEEK! And the previous weeks as well! But for some reason it didn't want to click into my dense skull. Mentally I was still in my 15+ mile-a-week mode. That's a big NOPE! And insult to injury, I thought running with my Merrell Trail Gloves would be ok. Again a bit NOPE! Not on pavement.

Thursday SUCKED. I didn't even get to start comfortable. My legs were sore and heavy from the get-go! It didn't help that it was really cold! My joints actually hurt, and not just legs. I was hoping it wasn't a flu relapse. I was beginning to reconsider my need for some sort of running pants.

I must apologize to Brent. I have foot-in-mouth disease. I've ran in the cold before, but not every single day. I've been able to make do on those days I did run in the cold, not needing to consider that I may be running in the cold again. Well now that I am running everyday, I want to make sure I stay motivated. And the only way to stay motivated is to be comfortable.

So I must buy pants.

Friday wasn't so bad. Yeah it was cold. But it was also rainy. It was something novel and I had fun. Because of the toe-shoes, my tootsies were soggy as well. They were cold at first, but the water in them warmed up enough to not be an issue.

On a side note, as I was starting out, my neighbors were just arriving from . . . wherever they were arriving from and were looking at me as if I had just grown another head or something. I said hi and continued on my way.

On Saturdays, I like to start my run around 8am or thereabouts. The covers were holding me down longer than usual and the fight that ensued was bloody. There was fleece and cotton everywhere, but I eventually prevailed. I got to the trail head an hour later than usual and started my run . . . about the same time it began drizzling . . . then raining. And continued until I was finished with my two miles. And stopped. Neat.

Yesterday . . . the battle with the blankets was epic! I got to the trail head two hours later than usual. It was raining pretty steadily and it was a might, bit colder than yesterday. As I was reaching the turnaround point, the heavens opened up. I was drenched and shivering by the time I finished my cool-down walk.

Though my legs are still a bit beat, I'm getting back into the groove of things. As to why I've been having so much trouble with my mileage? Let me give you a rundown of the last four weeks:

11/25/2012 to 12/01/2012
  8.16 Miles

12/02/2012 to 12/08/2012
  7.31 Miles

12/09/2012 to 12/15/2012
  7.35 Miles

12/16/2012 to 12/22/2012
  15.49 Miles

Even though I've gone back to the mileage I've had before, I've pretty much doubled my mileage after a near hiatus of almost a month. I didn't think it would hurt me this bad, but hopefully when it happens again, it won't be as big a surprise. It feels good to be back here again. I'll be staying here for a while, God willing.

Though I still miss the Chipmunk, my brat is with her mom and brother. I can take comfort in that. She's with some of her cousins and is having fun. She says she misses me and wishes I could be there with them. My godson says the same. Maybe next year I'll go there with them for at least a few days to spend Christmas with them. Though my mom will be upset. I'll deal with it when the time comes.

So to any of you who read this self-serving blog, Merry Christmas! Love your family, cause as the kids say . . . YOLO!

GD

p.s.
didn't check. run smiley :)

Day 198 of 30+ Day Running Challenge . . . And Teen Girls.

I had posted up on DailyMile that I was going to break 500 miles for the year. Yeeeeaaaah. Not gonna happen. I'm a dumbass. I hadn't realized that just running a mile a day for about a month was going to set me back this far.I would've had to run at least eight miles last night to break 500.

One highlight of the night though, as I was about the halfway point of my run, I ran past these high school girls. They were across the street. I was wearing my reflecting anklets and had my Knuckle Lights on (awesome fashion accessories). A moment later I hear some giggling and the pitter-patter of someone running behind me. I was being chased by one of the girls while her friends were yelling at her to run faster! Awesome! I'm still hot enough to chase!

Anyway . . . if I had to, I probably could've run 5 miles earlier in the day. But by the time I got home, it being dark and cold and drizzling and a MAJOR case of the glums, I just wasn't feeling it.


Why the glums, you ask?

The daughter is gone :'(

Her mom came down last Friday night from Yuma and took the daughter away for Xmas break on Sunday night. Saturday, I spent the day chauffeuring her and the daughter around taking care of some stuff before she had to head back to Yuma. I was holding up like a champ until her ride arrived Sunday night and my cousin says "Awwww! Your Uncle GD is gonna cry!"

And the daughter looked at me with her crumpled face in tears. Ugh! That broke me. The tears came and we hugged each other for a good minute or so. All the while my cousin (the heartless bitch) was laughing her ass off. Before they got into their ride, I gave my cousin a heartfelt hug and the daughter another long hug.

The daughter later texted me a several minutes after they left that her mom was crying, too. So maybe she isn't such a heartless bitch after all. This Christmas is gonna feel a bit more empty without the brat around . . .

GD

p.s.
too bummed to check. try to run smiley :')

Day 192. 12/12/12

Ooooooh. Supposedly, this is this century's last sequential date.

I call shenanigans.

There hasn't been a TRUE sequential date since the beginning of the Gregorian calendar. I mean, seriously!

January 1st, 1 - 1/1/1
February 2nd, 2 - 2/2/2
March 3rd, 3 - 3/3/3
April 4th, 4 - . . . and so on

You get the picture. After the first twelve years, sequential dates were DONE! If you wanna make a big deal outta the dates, then you can play with the binary stuff.

January 1st, 1 - 01/01/01
January 10th, 1 - 01/10/01
November 11th, 1111 - 11/11/1111
And blah, blah, blah.

When the second millenium began, fun stuff with binary dates was gone, too. I guess you can start playing with other numerology stuff, but the above mentioned ones are the ones that I thought a bit funny when people made a big deal about it.

The whole Mayan prophecy thing, today was one date a lot of people thought marked the end of the world. Others say it's the 21st of this month. Terrence McKenna, one of the new age philosophy gurus thought something significant would occur on the 21st. He "discovered" a pattern throughout history that the Mayan calendar appeared to match up with. Something to do with a 67 year cycle. But I remember reading somewhere that McKenna kinda fudged a date to match up with the Mayan calendar.

McKenna had an "Omega Point" theory. Having something to do with our mental capability increasing to such a high point that it was theoretically infinite. That Omega Point would occur December 21st, 2012. According to his theory though, that point should have occurred sometime in mid-November, which would mark the 67-point-something year cycle. The beginning of that cycle having occurred with the bombing of Hiroshima.

All that aside, there is a lot of things happening in this world. The main reason people take notice though, is that we literally have information at our fingertips. Most of my friends have smartphones. I know of only two hold-outs that adamantly refuse to get anything more than a simple text-capable phone. And they are married to each other. I use my iPhone all the time to look up stuff.

But my friends and I refuse to be like those dumb asses in group settings staring at their phone. Sure we'll take pictures and take calls if necessary, but we will NOT be Facebooking, Instagraming, Tweeting or whatever when we are trying to catch up on each others lives!

If you're one of those people,  STOP IT! You're in a social situation with REAL PEOPLE! Socialize with your friends, meet new people if you want, but get OFF the damn phone!

My brother was one of those guys. He's a kid (relatively speaking) at 23 years old so he's into the whole social media stuff. I won't call it crap, because . . . come on. I'm blogging right now. He wanted to hang out with my friends and I. Cool! We got to the bar ordered some beers and burgers.

Pulls out his phone takes a picture of us, his food and beer. And starts tapping away. Bad move, dude.

My friends gave him so much shit, I almost started to feel bad for him . . . almost. He gave as good as he got, though. Pretty good, considering the smack talk thrown his way. But he got the point. From then on he only took pictures and updated his status' on the ride back home. Lesson learned.

Oh, and the running updates?

Still a bit of a cold. But I hope to be well enough for a good long run (long for me) on Saturday . . . maybe even Sunday.

GD

p.s.
too lazy to check. run smiley :)

Day 190 of blah, blah, blah . . . ugh.

The title has nothing to do with my motivation of keeping up with the running streak. It's to do with this stinkin' flu-turned-to-cold that is lingering like death on battlefield. But I'm fighting off the mother with everything I have. I'm near the end of the hit right now, thank the gods. I've had this thing for the past two weeks and right now, it's just some congestion and a bit of a cough.

And it's all because I gave my brother a ride from work . . . bastard.

About a month back, I had finished my run and had just got home and was about to jump in the shower when my brother called. His girlfriend was at work and he needed a ride from work later that afternoon. I agreed and I had been wanting to hang out with him for a while and asked him if he wanted to go have a beer and a burger. He said he had a cold, but he wanted to go anyway. I didn't think his being sick was a big deal. Oops.

We had a great lunch with some awesome beer at BJ's Brew House. I had their California Burger  with blue cheese crumbles and an Arrogant Bastard . . . or three. My brother, ever the adventurer, got the Bacon Cheeseburger and the AB as well. He was coughing a bit, but nothing major. He just happened to cough in my general direction once in a while. Again, I thought it no biggie.

That weekend I started getting sick. Just a general feeling of . . . blah. By Monday I was bad. Headache, runny nose, cough . . . I think even a slight fever. I left work early and went for a run. That cleared up the headache surprisingly. As well as the sinus issues. Cough worsened though. Dry air and deep breaths would do that. I coughed all night into Tuesday morning. I ended up biting the bullet and hit up the 24-hour Safeway and bought some Nyquil/Dayquil caps.

I attempted to speak to my boss and call in sick in the morning, but my voice was gone. I think he got the point. I crashed out after taking the daughter to school. I didn't wake up again until my alarm went off to go pick up the daughter. We got back home, I took a shower and made her some hamburger-mac-n-cheese. Homemade, even. No boxed stuff for the brat. Real sharp cheddar. Awesome. After giving her dinner, I went for my run.

That's when the single mile streak began.

It wasn't until this week that I began feeling a bit better and probably could have gone for more. But every time I finish a mile and stop, I begin coughing intermittently for a while. I had my first spaz attack a few days ago and again really bad yesterday. A couple of hours later though, I can take deep breaths again with no problems. It's really pissing me off.

I'm hoping by Wednesday I'll be able to start kicking up the miles again. It's sad seeing single digits on my weekly training log.

GD

p.s.
almost too sick to check, just lazy. run smiley :)

Day 183. Six Fuggin' Months!

Holy crap! Six months today!

And unfortunately it'll be a short run of a mile . . . again. For the past week or so, I've been really laid up with a nasty roller-coaster cold. Why roller-coaster? It shifts from being tolerable to horrible within a very short period. AAAAND . . . I had to contend with the weather as well!

When I was feeling good, I had no problem going out in the rain for a run. But being miserable and then having to go out in this miserable weather? Nuh-uh! So I'd wait for a break in the weather and in my cold and go out for my mile. It's been like that all week.

Today I'm feeling a bit better, not as foggy but contending with a bit of a cough and phlegm build-up. No rain, but it's a tad nipply. Usually great conditions for run when feeling well. Not today. I wanted to mark the dianniversary with a 6 mile run. But I guess it'll have to wait a bit. Hopefully this weekend.

If it feels like I'm rambling on, I probably am. Feeling a bit foggy again. Ugh.

GD

p.s.
ugh. run smiley :)