Ankle update

Miles: 0
Temperature:
Mood: Stir crazy

The best part of having a bum ankle is that I can now indulge my fantasies of being Curt Schilling in Game 6 of the ALCS against the Yankees. Except that I am not Curt Schilling. I also have been relishing in the sympathy. I have started to go a bit stir-crazy sitting down and not running or even walking about.

The swelling went down a bit today and I have a bit more mobility and certainly less pain than I did yesterday. Although, I do not intend to rush my recovery.

Urgh!

Miles: .5
Temperature: 25 Farenheit
Mood: Frustrated after falling

It looks as though I won't be running for a few weeks...I slipped on the ice today and twisted my ankle. It's now elevated, has been iced and will soon become acquainted with a bandage.

This has been a crazy winter for running with all kinds of stops and starts like this.

Needed: a treadmill that can double as a sofa

Miles: 3.5 miles
Temperature: Low to mid 20s (Farenheit)
Mood: Good, a bit overtired for such a small distance

Yesterday Val, my wife, and I went looking at treadmills. It's not like I exactly like running in one place like a hamster in a cage, but I don't necessarily like the weight gain that has come from a winter of inactivity. In one store we could have bought a fold up model that looked as though it were made from wood so thin it would have cracked by just standing on it the wrong way. The other store had sturdier models and advised against buying a fold up model for running.

Val and I took the brochure home, discussed where to put it and then remembered that we are in the process of trying to rid our lives of clutter. A treadmill would be an unwelcome, although not unused, addition into our lives. We could put it in the living room, but there's a player piano in there that is so out of tune that it sounds like a ghost in need of Ritalin every time our nephew plays a piano roll. Val suggested the dining room, but we both agreed that a treadmill is quite out of place in a dining room. Upstairs is out of the question due to our collective fear that a second floor treadmill would cause some unwelcome property damage. Finally, there is the basement. Not only is the basement overrun with junk all precisely packed by Val, but the ceilings are so low that concussions would be a daily topic of conversation - "How was your concussion today dear, mild or severe?"

Today I did the opposite loop of the one I did yesterday. I don't necessarily write after every run, but there also has not been much running to write about. For both runs it was fairly cold, but sunny. I am so out of running shape that I found myself taking walk breaks on a three-and-a-half mile loop! Not acceptable. Next year I am joining a gym when it gets to icy to run on the sidewalks and the high school track at night.

Don't slip

Miles: 3.5 -- or thereabout
Temperature: 35 Farenheit -- or thereabout
Mood: Relaxed -- very slow pace due to ice

In Massachusetts, where I live, the snow melts. This happens after the snow has accumulated and it gets warm enough to melt. At night, though, the temperature doesn't stay warm enough for the snow to melt, so the melted snow freezes into ice and raises issues if you try to run early in the morning.

I didn't run early in the morning - I waited for mid morning so I could be home in time to catch "Car Talk" on NPR. Yes, I donate to my local public radio station. Get off my back.

When there has been as much snow as there has this year, and you live in the suburbs, anyone who wants to use a sidewalk suffers from one of the following:

1. Is a foreigner
2. Has some kind of mental illness
3. Is battling a drinking problem severe enough to lead to a loss of license

In other words - yours truly is running through slush in the late afternoon, or trying not to slip on the ice.

As I was heading out an older gentleman who walks through my neighborhood every morning around 6:30am warned me about the ice. I promised to sue him for not telling me vigorously enough if I fell and got hurt.

I was fine. But, man I need to run more.

What, no Marathon? Out for a four-miler today another runner yelled to me, "What, no marathon today?"

"Three months ago!" I yelled back. "I'm taking it easy."

Red fish, green fish, blue fish, blue fish

It is nearly a month after the Disney Marathon. I have decided to keep writing "The Battle of Marathon" as a semi occasional running journal. I do update the main page, Verbal Jazz, at least once every weekday. "But enough of my yappin', let's boogey!"

Since the marathon I have run the same four-mile loop intermittently. The first time was just over a week after the race, in an effort to get out of the house. I felt sluggish and tired and not mentally prepared to be back to running. For the past month, as we've been hit with snow and ice and brutal cold, I have not run very often. I also have a mean wife who won't let me join a gym. Just kidding. I have not really wanted to run for the past month. I have also been out of work since January 30 (although I start a new job on February 17). Yesterday, I set a new record for inertia: I sat here and printed hundreds of photographs over a 12 hour span. I thought of going for a run, then blew it off because of the wind.

Today was different. I wanted to go for a run. I did seven miles for the first time since January 11. Ironically it was at the seven mile mark at the Marathon that I first attended to the plumbing issues that plagued me throughout the race. With the exception of a few icy spots and a couple of places where I could have been soaked by cars bounding through puddles (like my three-year-old niece who splashes in a puddle whenever she sees one), it was a pretty smooth run. It felt good to be out there again.

Even though I ran 26.2 a month ago, it was a challenge finishing seven. Normally, toward the end of a run I sprint and concentrate of the rhythm of my breathing. Today, I focused on the rhythm of saying: "red fish, green fish, blue fish, blue fish." I think it might be the amount of Dr. Seuss I have read to my niece and nephew over the past few months. "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" was a favorite at Christmastime, although my nephew fell asleep while I read it to him once. "Yertle the Turtle" sparked a discussion with my six-year-old nephew about being happy with who you are, and the niece has taken to shouting "I do not like green eggs and ham/ I do not like them Sam-I-Am," whenever I read it to her, although it sounds more like: "...not like green eggs..ham!....Sam-I-Am!" Anyway, Dr. Seuss must be rattling around in this brain somewhere and it took a run to bring it out.

Proof that I finished

Yes, that is pain on my face in these pictures. I am the guy wearing bib 3698. I have no idea who that is in picture number: 2896-1215-017.