Back in the saddle again?

So.... Three months into my injury and getting better, though slowly, I, dear friends, am going out of my mind. I had my yoga class yesterday, which has been a constant bright spot at the beginning of all of my weeks for the past eight months. I had some time to kill between work and class, so I decided to grab a cup of tea at Gallery Espresso. (The staff can be a little uppity, and the clientele a little dirty/pretentious, but I guess we are talking about a locally run coffee shop that serves quality products so I guess I'll give them a little slack because it is after all to be expected.) (Oh yeah, and they serve Mariage Fréres Tea which is freaking phenominal.) So after my Baroness Grey (of course) I noticed a little bike shop next to the coffee shop and I walked in, because I have been looking for an alternative to running.

I would like to say that I have taken my own advise and followed the octopus' wisdom and started swimming regularly, but I regret to inform you that I haven't. I miss the accessibility of running where I'm out the door and on my way. I know I'm being very anti-inspirational about it, but when I planned a run in the morning, I was always excited enough about it to actually get up out of my bed in the morning and go outside and into the world to go run. It was great. Swimming, on the other hand, isn't so simple. I have to have my bag packed with two towels, all of my clothing to wear for the day, shampoo, conditioner, soap plus a baggie to put the soggy mess into afterwards, shoes. Strap myself into my bathing suit (a tumultuous task) in a groggy stupor, and get out my door with at least two hours to spare before work. Oh yeah, and I have to worry about waiting for a lane to open up, keep my eyes peeled for the naked cyclops in the dressing room. (Seriously, nothing against the one-eyed population but when she is naked and waving at a 5 year old girl, it's a lot to handle at 8:30-am.) So anyway, it's just difficult. I can't get my head around being that prepared all the time.

So, back to the bike shop at hand-- Perry Rubber. Replace those b's with n's and what do you have? Runner. (Sorry, sometimes I become a little involved with silly word play.) Anyway, I talked to this very nice guy about biking and how foreign it is to me (well. I know how to ride a bike, but that's pretty much the extent of my cycling knowledge... I guess I have that going for me at least). He thought it would be a great alternative to running. He actually had a similar injury that cause him to get into biking. He showed me some bikes and what their advantages are-- the accessibility, the fun, the social aspect... all things I'm looking for. We had a long conversation. Trouble is, when you are talking about biking, you are talking about some serious dollars. So even though I'm totally hooked on the concept. I now have another dilemma, lack of funds. Any of you out there know how to gain funds for such an endeavor?

Interesting

Well here's the link to the article about the marathon coming to Savannah.

So I went to the Tybee Island Social Club tonight with my mom, aunt, cousin and some friends and I ran into this guy that my brother grew up with. They were very good friends-- crazy devils. It was totally bizarre to see him, especially so out of the blue and on Tybee of all places. It's a small world I suppose. Anyway, he's a runner, and through the magic of facebook, I suppose that he has been keeping up with my running. So he asked me what races I had done, and I told him, and then I told him that I have tendonitis and that it's killing me and I'm so frustrated. It turns out he's had it several times and it's extremely frustrating, but he said that I should swim. He said, "You should just swim. You know, I'm actually a better swimmer than I am a runner. And stretch well." It sort of dawned on me at this point. I've been looking for a game plan to help me with training while in recovery, and while I do love to swim and have swum since my injury, it has been difficult because swimming is so much less accessible than running.

I have felt such a strong connection to the octopus lately. Several funny coincidences involving octopi have happened in the past couple of weeks and I think they are interesting animals. I looked up the symbolism for octopi, and it turns out that they are riddled with all sorts of great stuff. So when Jason told me I just needed to swim, it was sort of a "duh" moment. Of course. And then the octopus is also a great example of being flexible and ready to change, so maybe that's what my inner octopus is guiding me to do. I have to get over the accessibility thing. Don't know how. But hopefully there will be some inspiration from my eight tentacled pal.

No plans

Well, "We plan, God laughs" seems to be the moral of the story. I have decided to give up the marathon this year. I wanted so badly to do it. I really did. But I have to take care of myself. I will continue to train when I get better. The Rock N' Roll Marathon is coming to Savannah NEXT November... which seems pretty serendipitous, but I might go west anyway for the hell of it. Plus, I'm going to hope that I can get my registration fee counted for next year instead of this year.

Aleen seems relieved, just because she has SOO much on her plate. I myself am mournful, but I also feel a little bit of relief. I don't want to further complicate things by being a horse's ass. And I have decided to go on a hiking trip in October, hopefully. The Smokies are gorgeous at that time. And I know I'll be able to use a a vacation.

Hope all is well with all you runners. Don't over do it. And don't wear heels if they hurt!

Injuries: mental and physical

Well, aside from the obvious "I haven't written in a long time" speech, I will say that I've been having problems with my ankles since December. Being the stubborn ass that I am, I don't want to "quit," and I'm trying to hard not to feel unhinged by the fact that I have been in pain and that I need to heal myself, and I haven't been running... well... I realize I am word-vomiting... let me back up. I have weak ankles, and extra weight, which doesn't help the matter. I also have a mad desire to run and a mad desire to be motivated to run all the time. However, I feel like I have encountered (like most) a fair share of obstacles. I am currently treating my injury using a variety of holistic approaches, and trying really hard not to be put off by my injury and rehabilitation time.

Also, I have registered for a marathon in November, and even though I had and have ever intention of doing it, the odds point to no. I feel so unbelievably helpless in the matter. With my dear friend getting married, and having a full time job AND finding another job that will give her unprecedented opportunity for her future, I'm worried that the marathon is no longer at the top of her list of priorities. All I can say is that while I am ceaselessly happy for her, I am also saddened because of my own desires and fantasies of crossing a finish line 26.2 miles after crossing a start line. Not only have I already paid the 70 dollar registration fee that includes personalized bib, but I have told umpteen people that I am doing this and that I'm training for a marathon. And while I would love to say that I am strong enough and crazy enough to just do it by myself without her being by my side, I'm not sure that I am.

And in addition to the fact of her life going on a different trail, my foot doesn't seem to want to stop hurting, and I am terrified and anxious pretty much all the time about my injury, and that I haven't run in over a month and that I feel like I'm back tracking and quitting and feeling sorry for myself all the time, and that my ego did this to me because of those stupidly beautiful 4 inch heels and those 3 events I just HAD to wear them to while standing, even though I over-pronate and have injured both ankles many times over the years. What to do, what to do... If I were someone else listening to me talk about this, I would say that I have to just keep living day to day, take care of myself, quit beating myself up, acknowledge the fact that I am only human and that I am a minute speck in the scheme of things, and that I have to give myself a break. But even though most things worth achieving are not easy... it's really hard. Really.

Beaufort

So the Beaufort Twilight run was very cool. It was a little more home grown than the other races I've been to. It was in this neighborhood in Beaufort called "Habersham Village." In this area, there was the center of the village, which had shops and restaurants and then, looping out from the center of the town were roads that led to the neighborhood of unbelievably gorgeous houses. On the second and then third loop of the race, the course took you by the marsh, where the sun was setting. It was beautiful.

My time was not a huge accomplishment at 1:03:52, which means that due to a bought with a sinus infection my pacing was 12:48. I guess it doesn't really matter. I don't really do these races to "beat" anything except a lazy attitude. Although my timing does feel like an indicator that I've been distracted. But, then again, I might just be giving myself a hard time. Anyway, it was a beautiful run.

Also, I got recognized! As you can see in my Tybee run pictures, I wear a turquoise hat when I run usually. My sister-in-law, Melanie gave it to me, and I love it. Well, I was wearing it at Tybee and I wore it Saturday as well, and a woman came up to me and said "Hey, miss! Did you run the Tybee Race?" and when I told her I had, she said that she recognized my hat and that she was behind me at the Tybee run and she was trying to catch up to me the whole time, looking at my hat, and that she would be behind me during this race too! It was a sweet comment. I don't know if she ended up behind me or not... I do have to say, I have really enjoyed getting into this community. As far as I can tell, runners are really friendly people. It's a very supportive community. Everyone is so encouraging and happy. I love it. Everyone wants everyone else to do well. It's very uplifting. It's a whole hell of a lot better than meeting people in bars, in my opinion of course.

Well it's off to work! I have to go in early because my coworkers daughter is sick. Feel better Ally!

Planning for Running.

So I have this whole weekend off through Monday and I think I'm going to spend it running, coming up with new recipes, organizing and doing yoga. Sounds like a plan to me!

I registered for the Beaufort Twilight Run on March 20. It's an 8k, so longer than the last run I did. I'm pretty excited. I'm doing this one by myself though, so I'm a little conflicted about not having company. I'm sure I'll be fine, it will just be weird. Also there's this oyster roast afterwards, and I get a little awkward around people sometimes. We'll see how it goes.

I subscribed to Runner's World Magazine and I got my first couple of issues. They are super informative. There are also a bunch of recipes under the "Fuel" section and they are fantastic. Also there's lots of information about training and pacing. I'm totally hooked.

The February mean reds

Gotta love free beer! (Corona Light to boot!)

Okay, so there's something you should know about me. The month of February has, historically speaking, always dealt me a fairly irritating hand, so I'm trying my best to keep a positive outlook. But there are ups and downs to every month though, so maybe I'm being a little irrational... (Me? Never!) So this month has been fairly good as opposed to other years. I'm trying to keep my momentum going. In my brain it's all I can think about, but acting on it when I need to is really difficult. My schedule is so up and down, I get really tired at odd times and then I don't feel like running. It's really frustrating. I mean these are definitely the obstacles that I have to figure out how to overcome so... persevere!!

But there are the slightly anecdotal moments like the irony of running late for my yoga class and getting pulled over for speeding... Then missing my yoga class as a result of it. Moral of the story? Don't run late for yoga. haha

But... goals accomplished this week? Even though I missed my yoga class, I pulled a u-turn and went home and did some on my own and I did my first shoulder-stand which I was REALLY excited about. My times are also decreasing in my running. My pace has gone from a 12 minute mile to about an 11.5 minute mile in the past week so that's another thing I'm pretty pumped about.

I bought Hal Higdon's book Marathon too. I'm trying to eat, drink, breath running and healthful thoughts. I can't think of anything I've wanted more, at least for a really long time. Apparently my friends might be getting a little bored by me, but it's what's keeping me going and keeping me happy and strong right now, so they can shove it for all I care.

In other news, my friend Aleen, with whom I'm running the marathon, just got engaged! So congratulations Aleen and Joe! (Joe is also going to be running the marathon with us.) Also the proofs from the Tybee 5k became available, and I think I like them better than others that I have seen. Ha!