After two week exactly my knees were feeling good enough to give it another go on the road. I switched to a more supportive shoe that I had purchased a while back. The Brooks Beast. I only ran 1.4 miles and i kept it to a very easy pace, but all together it was a pretty successful run. I just wanted to get out and see how my knees would respond to a light run. I had a slight pain in my left knee that came and went throughout the run. Nothing too serious though. I iced it when I got home and it feels fine now.
I really think the camber of the roads around town are contributing to the knee pain. I need to find a place to run around town that has flatter roads or just a softer surface all together.
I'm going to ease back in nice and slow, I definitely don't want to re-injure my knees. These past two weeks have been torture.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
On the Lighter Side.
My knees are really sore after yesterdays long run so nothing major going on today, I have a few videos to make you laugh though - Enjoy!
Friday, May 13, 2011
Human Nature
Human nature refers to the distinguishing characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling and acting, that humans tend to have naturally.
The inspirational Johnny Waite posted this on facebook late last night, I shared it on my wall, but I wanted to post it here as well in case it was missed on the news feed as so many things often are.
I was immediately hooked watching this. Each time he was turned down it was amusing, each time he asked a question and they answered it was intriguing. I rewatched it this afternoon because I thought about it off and on all day.
Why are some people so closed off and afraid? Why are others willing to share their feelings with a stranger...and not just about trivial questions. I mean this guy was quizzing them on love, fear, government, and the meaning of life. I felt myself answering each question as he asked them, agreeing or disagreeing with the comments he solicited, almost wishing I had been on that subway so I could have shared my thoughts.
Having a background in videography and video editing I was also really drawn to the style of the film. The interviews, less than ideal framing, less than ideal focus really conveyed the feeling of the tight quarters in the NY subway. The people who he highlighted were from an amazing variety of cultural heritage. The music was absolutely perfect. It felt raw and unedited even though he took great care to edit seamless transitions.
I know it was a little longer than the normal video, but please, if you didn't watch the entire thing, take 12 minutes out of your day and watch it all. You might take something away from it.
Once again, thanks to Johnny Waite for sharing and continuing to inspire me and I hope I can pass the feeling along to someone else.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Pushing it.
I subbed for kindergarten today so it was a long day with hardly a moment to take a breath. The end of the year is nearing and you can tell just by how active the children are at school. After school I had to meet with a school testing coordinator to do some training for a Linguistically Accommodated Testing (LAT) version of the TAKS for make-up testing next week. Needless to say, by the time I got home I was pretty beat.
I watched some TV and relaxed for a couple hours and then motivated myself to get up and get my run in. I did another 3 miles but today I really tried to even out my pace, even uphill and after I was winded. It paid off, I took a few minutes off my last time for the exact same route. My feet feel great post run and even more importantly I feel GREAT.
3.0 Miles
25:43s
8:34s Min/Mile
In other news...the damn Red Sox lost again...every time they get within a game of .500 they seem to find a way to lose again. Today, a 7-6 loss to the Toronto.
And Finally:
I watched some TV and relaxed for a couple hours and then motivated myself to get up and get my run in. I did another 3 miles but today I really tried to even out my pace, even uphill and after I was winded. It paid off, I took a few minutes off my last time for the exact same route. My feet feel great post run and even more importantly I feel GREAT.
3.0 Miles
25:43s
8:34s Min/Mile
In other news...the damn Red Sox lost again...every time they get within a game of .500 they seem to find a way to lose again. Today, a 7-6 loss to the Toronto.
And Finally:
Sunday, May 8, 2011
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
The Good: I had a great Mother's Day with my parents and my grandmother. We all went out to eat for lunch and spent the afternoon together. We didn't do much in particular, but it was just a great day together with family. After I drove back home I pumped myself up and went out to Rose Redman to run on the trails there. Day two on the new shoes, and the long run for the week. Once again the shoes felt great until half way through mile 4.
The Bad: Half way through mile 4 I started developing a blister on my right foot, nothing major but enough to turn an enjoyable run into something far less so. I dont know if it was the shoes or the fact that I was running on concrete trails. I'm inclined to think its more the running surface but I'll know soon enough. The awesome thing though, is that as soon as the run was over and I wasn't rubbing that blister over and over, my feet felt awesome, like I hadn't even run at all. I really do like these shoes.
The Ugly: I'm not a huge basketball fan, I keep up with it as a sports fan but my real enthusiasm has always been in baseball and then football. I do like the Dallas Mavericks though, always have. Way back to the days when Jim Jackson and Jamal Mashburn were teamed up with Jason Kidd and they were only winning a dozen games a year. So, You'd think it wouldn't be in "the ugly" when I tell you that my favorite basketball team just swept the Lakers in the second round of the NBA playoffs. Game 4 score - Mavs 122 - Lakers 86!
But, what was ugly, was the behavior of the Lakers players. After getting their butts whipped for 4 games in a row, the two time defending champions resorted to dirty play. As a result of their dirty play Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum were both ejected from the game after dirty hits on Mavericks players. Talk about sore losers... Go Mavericks!
I stole a cool widget from Sara and her new blog "Just Call Me Grace" so I can keep track of my running - its over on the left of the blog!
The Bad: Half way through mile 4 I started developing a blister on my right foot, nothing major but enough to turn an enjoyable run into something far less so. I dont know if it was the shoes or the fact that I was running on concrete trails. I'm inclined to think its more the running surface but I'll know soon enough. The awesome thing though, is that as soon as the run was over and I wasn't rubbing that blister over and over, my feet felt awesome, like I hadn't even run at all. I really do like these shoes.
The Ugly: I'm not a huge basketball fan, I keep up with it as a sports fan but my real enthusiasm has always been in baseball and then football. I do like the Dallas Mavericks though, always have. Way back to the days when Jim Jackson and Jamal Mashburn were teamed up with Jason Kidd and they were only winning a dozen games a year. So, You'd think it wouldn't be in "the ugly" when I tell you that my favorite basketball team just swept the Lakers in the second round of the NBA playoffs. Game 4 score - Mavs 122 - Lakers 86!
But, what was ugly, was the behavior of the Lakers players. After getting their butts whipped for 4 games in a row, the two time defending champions resorted to dirty play. As a result of their dirty play Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum were both ejected from the game after dirty hits on Mavericks players. Talk about sore losers... Go Mavericks!
I stole a cool widget from Sara and her new blog "Just Call Me Grace" so I can keep track of my running - its over on the left of the blog!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
New Kicks
Alright, here's the truth. I have terrible feet. Terrible. I don't mean terrible in an annoying way, like Carrot Top telling a joke. I mean terrible in an painful way, like when you hit your thumb instead of head of the nail when swinging a hammer. (Yeah I hit my thumb pretty hard while working last Tuesday) Anyway, my feet just suck. I've tried stability shoes, motion control shoes, cushioned shoes, arch supports, and heel supports. I've gotten feet massages and soaked them in Epsom salt. Hell, I'll admit it...At one point I could even answer the question, "Are you Gellin?" "Yes."
I've heard about how great Asics, New Balance, Saucony, and Brooks shoes are. I've tried them. I liked some of them, didn't like others, but there's been no "great" shoe for me. Nike, Adidas, Puma, K Swiss. I've sported them all at one time or another. Heather has a pair of Vibram Five Finger shoes, and these really do look interesting to me. Enough so that I was about to try them when she told me about another shoe she'd seen an ad for. Some Reebok shoe. Reebok?!? I didn't know they even still made shoes. Then I remembered seeing some Peyton Manning commercials about Zigtech shoes and I said, "No thanks babe." She assured me it wasn't those shoes, it was something new they had. So I looked it up online a couple weeks ago and found this interesting video:
Ok I'll admit I was interested. Maybe I'm a sucker for marketing...maybe I'm just tired of the sledgehammer hitting my feet... So when my feet were killing me after my run yesterday I decided I needed a new pair of running shoes. So tonight I went down to the shoes store to try on these new Reebok shoes. Most shoes feel awful the instant I put my feet in them, most of the ones that don't feel awful 20 min later. But when I put these new shoes on they actually felt pretty good. I walked around in the store for 15 minutes. I know that may seem like a long time, and the the store clerk agreed, he was discretely keeping and eye on me as if at any moment I might make a run for it and sprint out of the store and steal these new shoes!
Anyway, after getting a good feel for them, and to the relief of the salesman, I didn't run, I bought.
I rushed home slipped them on and headed out to log a few miles and see how they did. It's only the first run, only three miles. But they felt GREAT. An amazing difference. I only hope the hammer won't be back soon. I'll keep you posted.
May 6 Stats:
Total Distance: 3.01 Miles
Total Time: 27:31s
Avg Pace: 9:08 min/mile
I've heard about how great Asics, New Balance, Saucony, and Brooks shoes are. I've tried them. I liked some of them, didn't like others, but there's been no "great" shoe for me. Nike, Adidas, Puma, K Swiss. I've sported them all at one time or another. Heather has a pair of Vibram Five Finger shoes, and these really do look interesting to me. Enough so that I was about to try them when she told me about another shoe she'd seen an ad for. Some Reebok shoe. Reebok?!? I didn't know they even still made shoes. Then I remembered seeing some Peyton Manning commercials about Zigtech shoes and I said, "No thanks babe." She assured me it wasn't those shoes, it was something new they had. So I looked it up online a couple weeks ago and found this interesting video:
Ok I'll admit I was interested. Maybe I'm a sucker for marketing...maybe I'm just tired of the sledgehammer hitting my feet... So when my feet were killing me after my run yesterday I decided I needed a new pair of running shoes. So tonight I went down to the shoes store to try on these new Reebok shoes. Most shoes feel awful the instant I put my feet in them, most of the ones that don't feel awful 20 min later. But when I put these new shoes on they actually felt pretty good. I walked around in the store for 15 minutes. I know that may seem like a long time, and the the store clerk agreed, he was discretely keeping and eye on me as if at any moment I might make a run for it and sprint out of the store and steal these new shoes!
Anyway, after getting a good feel for them, and to the relief of the salesman, I didn't run, I bought.
I rushed home slipped them on and headed out to log a few miles and see how they did. It's only the first run, only three miles. But they felt GREAT. An amazing difference. I only hope the hammer won't be back soon. I'll keep you posted.
May 6 Stats:
Total Distance: 3.01 Miles
Total Time: 27:31s
Avg Pace: 9:08 min/mile
It's the greatest comeback since Lazerus!
Ok first a little music to listen to while you read.
I posted it on facebook a while back so you might have already heard it, if so...it's still awesome.
Now on to business. I can't believe how the time is flying. It's been almost two weeks since I posted a blog. Despite my lack of commitment to blogging I have been doing great on everything else. I've been subbing for both Elementary and Middle school and and working on the building out at the farm.
This morning I sanded the floor down on the second story and it's ready to be stained now. After I finished with the floor, I installed a pretty cool ceiling fan, the place is really coming together. I'll have to take some pictures next time I'm out there to post.
My eating has been pretty close to excellent for six weeks now. I'm still not doing anything crazy, just eating good foods, limiting my portions to real sizes and eating lots of fruits and veggies and with few exceptions, organic meat.
The most exciting thing going on recently is that my SI problem seems to be gone again. It's been about two weeks since I had any pain and this week I actually started running again. Not a lot - 3 miles on Tuesday, and Thursday. I'm going to do 3 more tonight and then start "going long" on Sundays. I'm starting with 5 miles tomorrow and I'll increase it by a mile every week.
I also registered for a 5k at the end of a month, I'll run a 10k around the end of June/beginning of July and probably again in August before the Tough Mudder October 8th. That's subject to change, I might squeeze some other things in there depending on how everything goes.
Also looking forward to reading about Johnny Waite's weekend training for the Death Race. Go Johnny!
That's it for now, I'll keep the updates coming more frequently now that I'm actually making progress on my workouts. Oh...I'm down 16 lbs now. Things are coming around.
I posted it on facebook a while back so you might have already heard it, if so...it's still awesome.
Now on to business. I can't believe how the time is flying. It's been almost two weeks since I posted a blog. Despite my lack of commitment to blogging I have been doing great on everything else. I've been subbing for both Elementary and Middle school and and working on the building out at the farm.
This morning I sanded the floor down on the second story and it's ready to be stained now. After I finished with the floor, I installed a pretty cool ceiling fan, the place is really coming together. I'll have to take some pictures next time I'm out there to post.
My eating has been pretty close to excellent for six weeks now. I'm still not doing anything crazy, just eating good foods, limiting my portions to real sizes and eating lots of fruits and veggies and with few exceptions, organic meat.
The most exciting thing going on recently is that my SI problem seems to be gone again. It's been about two weeks since I had any pain and this week I actually started running again. Not a lot - 3 miles on Tuesday, and Thursday. I'm going to do 3 more tonight and then start "going long" on Sundays. I'm starting with 5 miles tomorrow and I'll increase it by a mile every week.
I also registered for a 5k at the end of a month, I'll run a 10k around the end of June/beginning of July and probably again in August before the Tough Mudder October 8th. That's subject to change, I might squeeze some other things in there depending on how everything goes.
Also looking forward to reading about Johnny Waite's weekend training for the Death Race. Go Johnny!
That's it for now, I'll keep the updates coming more frequently now that I'm actually making progress on my workouts. Oh...I'm down 16 lbs now. Things are coming around.
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