The Rocket is back!

Go away, winter blues...

Go away, winter blues...

Couldn't get out of bed... finally did, but didn't feel like biking home. Sad, because it's not too cold out - I know there'll be colder days in the near future and I should take advantage of those days that aren't so cold.

After work I "ran" home.... Two miles into the run my right shin was killing me. The shin felt really tight, and I felt like crying. I was in the exact same place exactly a year ago. My shin was hurting, so I went to the doc, then I kept running on it, and it was better, then worse, then better, then worse, then my stress fracture was discovered. I know the date because it was just before the Gar Williams 1/2 marathon. Last year I ran the half and felt alright, but maybe this year I shouldn't. It's not the leg that had the stress fracture, and I can run on it, but I really want to know what's the deal. I need to make an appointment with a specialist and get a deep stride evaluation to find out what I'm doing with the right leg that causes these issues. My friend also suggested I wear tights even when the weather is not too cold. That may be a good idea - I tend to try to be tough and run on shorts unless it's super cold out, and my friend suggested my muscles need to stay warm throughout the run. So I'll try that and see if it helps. At this point though, I don't think it'd be a good idea to run the half on Saturday.

The other thing that I'm fighting against is negative vibes all around... my co-worker going through a separation is sad all the time... I try to be a good friend and support him cause I went through the same thing at his age, which brings me back memories of how tough it was for me too. It makes me so sad! And my roommate who was on travel for the past 3 months is back in town - she is so negative about everything all the time, it's really depressing! She is always complaining about TV shows, that they're not realistic or that medically that's impossible (she's a doctor) or who dresses that way in real life... it's a TV show for crying out loud!!! If you don't like it don't watch it! One thing is to make comments here and there but to yell at the TV about everything all the time is soooo annoying! Then she was looking for a book to read, so I went to my room and brought 10 books that I thought she may like. She yelled at me saying how could I bring those books that were so "heavy" and sad and they would make her feel all emotional on the plane! I had brought her "Desert Solitaire", "White Fang" and some other stuff... I had good intentions, if she didn't like my choices she could've just said "Thanks but these are not my type of books" !!! She honestly worries me, she has such a sarcastic view of the world... And she has been told by nurses that work with her that she needs to learn to deal with her patients better and try to simpathyse with them instead of coldly say "Of course you're sick, you're 100 lbs overweight and you never exercise!"... Anyway, she's gone for 3 months again the first week of January so I shouldn't complain... but it's tough being around people that are either negative for no reason or that are depressed for a good reason, and remaining positive. I'm trying.

Nothing

Attempted to run to work - wasn't happening. Right shin hurt a lot, and left shin started hurting again. So I ran to the metro stop, and metroed to work.

This is my official withdrawal from any attempt to run Boston in 2009. 2010 sounds better anyway. And the blogger girls will need a cheerleader!

What's the plan? Run shorter distances for now, cross-train lots, bike lots, do strength training, get a stride evaluation to figure out if I'm doing anything wrong and try to correct it. Run a Fall marathon in 2009 to qualify for Boston 2010.

Patience!

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I just scheduled a complete running assessment at a local PT clinic for next Tuesday - I'm hoping they will be able to help me, and the $100 charge seems reasonable...  Yaaaay!

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The White House Christmas Tree lighting ceremony was happening, so they let us go early to avoid traffic - I was able to hit the gym for 45 minutes before going out on a hot date :) Did the bike for 15 minutes, elliptical for 15 minutes, and weights/abs for 15 minutes.

Yes, it was me - that crazy runner girl wearing shorts and a tank top to run a bit more than half a mile to the gym, work out, and run back to the office in 30 degree weather and windy and cold and dark... talk about a way to get noticed! I had two options. One, walk to the gym on my work clothes, which would've taken me about 20 minutes, change there, shower there, and walk back to the office. Two, run to the gym, work out, and run back, shower in the office where it's nice and clean, get changed, and head out to my friend's house. I chose option 2 and survived!

Did 30 min on the elliptical, 20 min on stationary bike, and 15 min on the machines.

Does anyone know which bike type is better? I feel like the ones that make you be more vertical, with the regular bike seat, are probably a better workout than the ones with the wider seat where you're more sitting down horizontally... any ideas?

No exercise - woke up too late and walked to the Natural History Museum to meet a friend and check out the butterflies exhibit - it is so cool! You go into this room that feels like the tropics, full of flowers and plants, and all the colorful butterflies flie all around you and you can see them really close. Of course kids love it, and since I'm a big kid I loved it too! Walked about 4 miles, leisurely. Better than nothing!

Went on a non-date bike ride with a guy that I've been going on dates with that doesn't like to call our biking dates "dates". What classifies a date as a date? I don't think it depends on whether you dress up or wear makeup or go to dinner or what you do - I think it has to do with whether both people go with the intention of getting to know each other and perhaps thinking of developing a relationship... no?

So, we biked about 15 super-duper tough miles, very hilly terrain, dirt roads and paved road, in an area called Sugarloaf mountain - it is privately owned but the owners are sharing it with the public, maintaining it and everything - how nice is that? Those were some tough hills, man! I honestly thought several times I'd have to stop to take a breather, but pushed on and made it without stopping! I need to get clipless pedals and bike shoes - my running shoes are not doing the trick in these tough bike rides. Maybe a road bike too...

To all of you married people - stay married! Dating sucks! :) Some people like to go out with only one person at a time and see them very often and e-mail and call all the time... so you're basically boyfriend/girlfriend since pretty early on. That used to be the way I understood dating, but then I got advice from friends that most people don't do things that way, that most people go out with multiple people, so you only see each other one or maybe two times a week for a short period of time - and they don't call or e-mail too often. After a couple of months, you can have the "exclusivity" conversation... That's ok too... The problem is that you never really know which "type" of dater you're seeing, and you don't want to intrude in their lives too much or seem too eager by asking them... so you make assumptions, and if they're wrong... you're in trouble...  Definitely not the same as dating when you're younger... it seemed so much easier! You liked a boy, flirted a little, he asked you if you wanted to be his girlfriend, and there, you were dating! Everything gets more complicated as you get older.

Nuff of that... I'll probably try a short run/walk this evening to see how my shins feel. Thankfully they don't hurt at all when I bike.

27 degrees this morning... layered up and biked to work. Biked back. That's it. I wanted to go to the gym after work but had other issues to deal with. Trust me, you don't want to know! :)

AM - went to Sports & Spinal to get my running assessment. WOW was I impressed! Best $100 bucks ever spent in my life. The guy really, really knows this stuff. It turns out, his specialty is shin splints! Lucky me, right? No joke! He asked lots of questions, then looked at my feet and made me do some different exercises and he kept saying things that made me think he could get inside my head and knew exactly what was going on in my legs. My favorite part was when he moved my leg and said "WOW! that's crazy - as a kid you hated it when they made you sit down with your legs crossed in front, didn't you? You wanted to sit with your knees together and your lower legs spread apart next to your butt, right?" YESSS!!! I guess my knees have something that i don't remember what it's called, but I thought it was double-jointed. That was so funny though. All my life I thought something was wrong with me cause I couldn't get comfortable crossing my legs in front (Indian-style). Now I know, he told me it's the way my body was built and there's nothing I can do about it. On the other hand, there's a Yoga pose that not many people can do and I can because of that! ha!

He told me my main problem is the way my hip moves. He says with some exercises he can help me fix it. I've known I have a hip problem for a long time. When I was in college, I took an acting class. One of the exercises we did to warm up, we had to imitate another person walking. The girl that imitated me went on and walked in front of me moving her butt around like crazy! I said "I don't walk like that!" She said "Yes you do!" - horrible!!! Ever since I do my best not to move my butt too much when I walk, but I can't help it.

He also made me stand on my toes on a step on one leg with my knee bent and go up and down as many times as I could - and my leg was all shaky, and he said that's because there's a certain calf muscle that I needed to strengthen.

The third thing of notice that he said was that I've been wearing the wrong shoes. The "experts" at the running store only know so much, and he told me why everyone would think I overpronate so much and why they recommend I wear motion control or stability shoes, because that's what it looks like if you only look at my feet. But he looked at my hips and realized it's not really that I overpronate, but that I do something with my kick because of my hip rotation. Anyway, he said I shouldn't wear the Superfeet insoles, and that I may want to try running on neutral shoes, but that for now the stability without the Superfeet should be OK. This makes sense - up until after my first marathon, I hadn't had any shin issues... and I was wearing cheap discounted shoes, not realizing whether they were stability, neutral or whatever. I was just going with my gut. Then I started getting my gait analized and having those guys look at my stride, and that's when I started wearing stability shoes, which weren't right. I'm not blaming the running store guys, it's just not as simple with me as with most people, or so it seems.

The therapist also said I am the perfect example of girls that get shin splints, that I have all the traits that he's been studying for years, and asked if I'd be willing to go to a lecture in Georgetown next week, so he can use me as an example to show the audience what he means. Of course! Anything for the advance of sport science!

He also said his theory is that shin splints have different "seriousness" levels, from 1 to 4, 1 being mostly a soft tissue problem, 4 being mostly a bone problem. If someone had a level 1 or 2 problem, he'd suggest they could keep training, adding some stretching exercises. Levels 3 and 4 were more serious. He examined my legs very carefully and said he'd classify me as a level 3 - mainly a bone issue. He suggested for now I could run/walk twice a week for 20-30 minutes. 

Because he's not covered on my insurance, I have to figure out how many times I can see him for treatment, and he was willing to work on me so it wouldn't be a big burden on my checkbook... He said he could give me stretching/strengthening exercises for the calves, but that the hip issue required that I go into the office... that's going to be fun...

Anyhow - it was nice to see someone that seems to know what they're talking about and offers a solution. He thinks that I can get back into a full-swing marathon training program by February. That seems very reasonable: I can train well in the spring and do a summer or fall marathon. Until then, I'll be logging in very few miles per week, doing lots of spinning, biking, and swimming. I'm OK with that, knowing that it's what it takes to correct this problem for good.

I'll probably run/walk this evening for about 30 minutes...

Last but not least - I'm giving a big presentation Thursday... 30 minutes 60 slides, 50 people. !!!!!!!! Any advice for someone who is TERRIFIED of public speaking?

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PM: ran/walked 3 miles to a Latin American food store in Clarendon and walked back to the office. Shin hurt. Got home and did some core work and some strengthening exercises. Note to self: do not attempt the pistol again for a while, or any other workout suggested by Montelepsy. :)

A crazy Spring-like day in DC. it was like 65 degrees and rainy. Weird. After an insane day at work, I put on my shorts and a tank top and ran 1 mile to the gym, did a spin class that almost killed me and ran 1 mile to the metro and metroed home. Shins hurt. Back hurts. Head hurts. Everything hurts cause I am so ridiculously nervous about my presentation tomorrow. It will be OK, I know it! Thank you for your support fellow bloggers! 

Biked during lunch.

In an hour, I'll turn 31 years old. It's weird. I just thought my life at 31 would be so different. I am very happy. I have a lot of friends, live in a great place, have a great career, I'm fitter than I've ever been, love my biking and running and I feel lucky every day for all my blessings.

Yet of course, I expected that by now I would've found my significant other... have kids... you know, that's what's expected of a girl. So although I am by no means desperate and I'm not one of those girls who can't be alone and feels that she needs a man in her life, I can't help but feel like something is missing, or that my life will be even better if I could share some special things with someone.

What would you tell your girls if they were single (or in my case, divorced) by the age of 31? Would you worry? Would you think there's something "wrong" in their lives? Or would be OK with it and just think maybe love will come later? Or that some people are alone and that's ok - In my family we had a few aunts that never married, or even dated really. Maybe it's not for everyone... Maybe I'm just supposed to be a good friend, a good daughter, a good aunt, a good sister, a good economist, but not a girlfriend/wife/mom. What do you think?

I'm watching Gremlins, one of my very favorite ones! Burt/Walter/Kungfublonde, any favorite quotes from it?  

Biked 31 miles from my house to Bethesda to celebrate my 31st birthday! It is a gorgeous sunny day here in DC, 30 degrees and a bit windy - just perfect.

Thank you all for your b-day wishes and thoughts!

Jingle All the Way baby! Team "Santa's Little Jinglers" rocked! Thanks to cool guys and of course fastrunningbloggers Ben (Dutch) and Aaron (Running with Pepper)!!! They did awesome!

The morning was chill and sunny - I biked down to the start line and made it exactly in time. Along the way, I thought I saw teammate Tricia - so I yelled out "Tricia!" to which a very confused runner girl who wasn't Tricia replied "Ohio Drive"... I'm not sure how someone could confuse the word "Tricia" with "Where's the start line"? but it was pretty funny.

First to show up was smiling coolboy Aaron, always looking sharp and ready to run a great race no matter what - and he was wearing shorts! The others came by one by one (I had picked up the race packets for 10 other runners) and finally Ben made it, just a few minutes before the start of the race - yes I almost did want to kill you Ben, but I forgive you because you ran such a fast race, and because you are so nice, cute, and brought some very cool friends with you to the post-race party... :)  I realized then that I didn't have time to bring my backpack to the bag drop, so I decided to take a chance and lock it as well as I could with my bicycle... Thankfully, it was there when I came back.

The race started nicely - I felt like I was going fast for the first mile, then my shins started to feel tight and I had to slow way down... a lot of people passed me in the next mile. I thought I should slow down and run with the other girls and just enjoy the day, so I didn't worry. Around mile 2.5, my legs were feeling better and I started going a bit faster. By mile 4 I realized I could actually break 50 minutes - so I sped up a bit. By mile 5 I thought maybe I could break 48 - that didn't happen... When I could see the clock, I realized I could make it before 50 - I saw Ben on the side and he cheered me on as I sprinted to the finish line and finished strong at 49:38 - not bad for the training I've had lately, my legs in bad condition, and only a few hours of sleep (it was my birthday last night!) 

Celebrated with Aaron, Ben, and Patrick, the first 3 guys in the team - we were able to finish 11th out of 49 teams! Not too bad at all!

After the race I invited all runners and other friends to my place for some food and drinks. It was soooo nice to be able to catch up with old friends, meet new very cool friends, and talk about running, life, and the pursuit of happiness!

Thank you SO VERY VERY MUCH Ben and Aaron for your unbelievable greatness! And thank you to Sasha and the blog for introducing me to such fabulous runners!

Here are some photos of the three bloggers for your viewing pleasure - and yes, they are THAT good looking!

And here is the rest of our team:

Happy Sunday runners! Have a fabulous running week!

Biked to work and back - spin class after work. Good one!

Nada. Too busy having too much fun with holiday parties, but tomorrow is the Christmas Lights Run, one of my favorite events in the area where we all meet at Union Station wearing crazy christmas clothing and run around the streets of DC making lots of noise and attempting to sing Christmas carols, so I'll get some exercise then... excuses, excuses...  Here's a photo from last year's run:

Went out on a bike ride with Will, drove to Annapolis and took the Annapolis-Baltimore trail, it was just gorgeous but very, very cold. The trail connects with another trail that goes all the way around BWI airport and back. Riding around the airport didn't sound like fun to me but it was actually pretty nice - it's very open and with lots of views, and seeing the airplanes take off and land right by you was kind of fun. We rode about 40 miles and then went to Annapolis to warm up with some Maryland crab soup. Yumm! 

Travelled to Aspen

In Aspen! Took my first ski lesson - Beginner's Magic, though they put me on level 3 cause I'm such a natural athlete :)

The instructor, Kermit, was sooooo good! I had a great time and learned lots!

I felt so confident I could ski on my own after yesterday's lesson, that I got a free ski pass from my cousin (she works at the resort - score!) and went out and rode green slopes all day. It wasn't a good decision: I should've taken one more lesson at least before doing this. Fell lots and lots, but had tons of fun and by the end I was getting pretty good.

Merry Christmas to all!

I am in Aspen, Colorado, visiting a cousin that lives here with her husband - she is 5 months pregnant so this is a very special Christmas for them. We have TONS of snow and I am learning to ski (or to ski better) and having a great time. It's also my mom's birthday today - a Christmas baby she was.

Have a great holiday everyone, enjoy this family time!

Took my 2nd ski lesson - level 4 "Beginners magic". It was great and i was with 4 other girls who were very supportive of each other, and the instructor, Pops, was so nice! A great day. After the lesson me and one of the girls went up the lift again and met up with Kermit, the other instructor, and he came down the mountain with us, giving us some great tips. Now I'm ready to ride some blue slopes!

Travel day - no exercise whatsoever. Saw Paris Hilton at the Aspen airport, going through security like everyone else. That's hot :)

Reunited-and it feels so good!

After an entire week of no running, finally I got back to it. Thankfully I was able to make it home last night, after many delays in Aspen and Denver. Woke up and it was like 60 degrees outside! Almost 70! So I went out and ran around the capitol and back, about 4 miles, more like jogging and taking walking breaks because of my shin. It hurt a bit but after it's warmed up it stops hurting. Overall a great run. Then my... ehem, ehem... boyfriend came by and we biked around the RFK stadium to the National Arboretum and back around - many hills in the Arboretum. He's lived pretty much all his life in the DC area and had never been to the Arboretum, one of my favorite sights in DC. Crazy!

A great day. I look forward to more running and biking this week, to get back in shape after a week of skiing (Skiing at the level I'm in is not "real" exercise... It works the muscles, yes, but not really the cardio much... I don't think...)

Biked to work, biked to the gym after work, did a 1-hour spin class, almost died, biked home.

Ran to the office the short way on an absolutely positively gorgeous DC morning, 45 degrees, a bit windy, blue sky, shining on me, nothing but blue sky, do I see.

Right shin a bit sore but feels better after it has warmed up. Took a few walking breaks to loosen it up.

A bunch of friends and I rented a cabin near Luray, just outside Shenandoah National Park, to spend New Year's eve and a couple of days after that. I see lots of biking and some running in those days, so I'm thinking of going to another spin class tonight to get me in shape to tackle the hills of the famous Skyline Drive... we'll see if that happens...

I cannot believe 2008 is over.

Happy new year!

I've decided to start a new blog in the new year, since I will be focusing a lot more on biking and cross-training. I hope you all keep in touch at argyrocket.fastrunningblog.com

Is anyone more excited than me about 2009? I don't think so!