So I didn't blog about it this past week, but Wednesday was my final day of physical therapy. I'm healed. ok, well it doesn't quite work like that. But they said I progressed very well over the weeks...Daphne, who is leading the whole "patellofemural pain syndrome research project" video taped me again like she did on my first day. Over the next 3 months I need to continue my home exercises at LEAST three times per week. I asked about the big muscle strength training, like what I've been doing on the machines, and she suggested the gym membership thing...we'll see about that. I go back in November for another check-up. Daphne is one crazy chic. She wasn't my trainer all this time, she's leading the research project. She seems to be one of those transparent people who says exactly what's on her mind the moment it pops into her head...for example...one day this guys comes in with like a b, ag of stuff, in a plastic bag. He didn't speak English very well, it was hot out, so he looked a little disheveled, to say the least. "inaudible-inaudible-um Tiffany?" So some dude goes "there's no Tiffany here, you have the wrong place." Then Daphne said, "Wait, are you the courier? Are you here for Daphne?" Then everyone's like "ooooohhhhhhh, ok, situation resolved." So it was already fine, but then Daphne and her crazy self was like "I'm gonna be honest with you buddy, I thought you were some crazy dude coming in off the street trying to sell us something and we were about to kick you outta here!" It was sooo funny. ok, maybe you had to be there, but it was one of those things you're like, everyone was THINKING that, but not gonna actually SAY it, right? Not Daphne!
Anyway, back to my final check-up with her...she asked about the marathon and what my plans were. I was honest. I said "I really don't know, I'm going to try, but for right now, each long run every weekend is my marathon, I can't worry about October when it's August." She said that was the right attitude. OK...next topic.
So I'm happy to report that while my knee was hurting for a good part of the day yesterday, by night it was feeling better. ANd this morning? Shoot, I felt like I could go for a short run, but I didn't. No need to push it, over-zealousness after an injury is often what does people in. (Also advice from Daphne and crew. Even the slight pain for a bit afterwards...normal and okay. ANyway, Tomorrow morning I will run, as long as I get my work done tonight that needs to be on my boss's desk in the morning.
And on that note, let me end this post, as this particular read is likely a dull one, and pretty much just to pass on the information to ya.
Run #76 I (barely) get by with a little help from my friends
Date/Time: August 16 at around 6am
Place: Lakefront, 31st Street Beach up to Oak Street Beach and back, and then another 1/2 mile south and back, upper 60's
Mileage: 10 miles
Time It Took: Here's where it gets ugly....2:16:43
Pace: Um....13:40
Miles this week: 13
Miles this month: Does it matter? If so, 26
2008 Goal: 449.09/1000
Thoughts/Comments: Where do I begin? I can't even figure out where. ABout a mile in I noticed my knee, well, just under my knee, it was slightly hurting. Uh-oh. But it wasn't horrible, so I just kept going. I did the whole "walk one minute" after each mile, but then that turned into about 3 minutes twice, and only in the first half of my run. At around 7am or so, near Navy Pier, I SWEAR I saw Lou's boyfriend..but I've only seen picture of him on her blog, so I wasn't too sure.
I got to the water fountain at Oak Street Beach (4.5 miles), and I stopped. I stopped Ye Olde Garmin and just stopped and stretched. Drank. Watched about 5 CARA pace groups go by hoping against hope to see Lou...didn't happen. I thought "Maybe I could trail a long with her for awhile, it'd be like old times." This spot was a happenin spot, not only were all the running groups stopping there, but people were donning wetsuits to go swim in the water, there were people on bikes, etc....So after an eternity of just taking in the sights, I decided to be on my way. I ran another half mile before walking some more. PATHETIC. Then I ran another half mile.
But then up ahead and the mile marker...WOW! There's my old pace group that I ran with just a few times before my knee injury. I really only two of them, and of course they remembered me. THey were at their turnaround for a 14-miler. So I ran with them and they were nowhere near running a 12:00, and I didn't even care. We ran a half mile and then we stopped at the bathroom...oh yeah, I forgot that one chic has to go to the bathroom like TWICE in a run. Anyhoo, I was not trying to ditch company, so I waited with them. Watch off. Then we're off again, shuffling along at 13:00 , and this time I didn't stop til back at 31st St, nine miles. Then I went another half mile south with them, and then the last half mile I was along again, but headed in the right direction...towards MY CAR.
It was a horrible run, and I'm not sure why, and I'm not trying to overanalyze it. I do think I might join the group next week and run the first half of my run with them. We'll see.
So as I strolled through the supermarket (who says supermarket anymore?), I noticed a new item on the shelves. Kashi Honey Sunshine. "Honey-kissed Seven Whole Grain Cereal Pillows." I was intrigued. I read the stats in true WW fashion "100 cals-1.5 grams fat-6 grams fiber", ch-ching, my head did the math at 1 points per serving. (3 for two servings, and if you're ravenous, or food-obsessed, 6 points for three servings.)
Well let me tell you friends, this cereal is DELICIOUS. Especially if you have a hankering for Captain Crunch cereal, because quite frankly, it tastes awfully familiar. But with the old Captain's WW stats at 120-2-1 for 1 cup, weighing in at 2 pts-5pts-7pts for 1, 2 and 3 servings (and you're hungry later b/c of so little fiber), well folks, I think we have a winner here. Plus, who doesn't feel good about buying from Kashi?
So there's this poster in the bathroom at work. For years, I've been looking at that familiar face. "who are you? why do you taunt me? who ARE you?" Then suddenly, some 4 years later...it hits me. It's Albert! Albert Ingalls.
No? I swear there's a resemblance here. I am proud of myself for uncovering the mystery lady in the picture in the bathroom. That's no lady, that's Albert Ingalls. Maybe he left Walnut Grove in shame after burning down Mary's School for the Blind and killing her baby, and turned to modeling for artists, in drag, no less.
Place: treadmill at home, not enough time to head out to the lakefront, and truthfully, I just didn't feel like seeing 63rd street beach today
Mileage: 3
Time It Took: 35:49, including one 1-minute walking break at 2 miles
Pace: 11:56
Miles this week: 3
Miles this month: 16
2008 Goal: 439.09/1000 miles
Thoughts/Comments: This run was hard when I was thinking about how hard it seemed, but on the flip side, it still went by fast. Weird. Whatever, it's done and that's what matters. I don't know if I said this here, or said it to one of my fellow running friends or what, but I think it's best if I just try and maintain some sort of mileage during my midweek runs, instead of getting all crazy and increasing mileage and doing speedwork and stuff. I just feel lucky to be running!
Need help with your opinions, runners (past and present!)
ok, so in my COMEBACK QUEST, my return from patellafemoral pain syndrome to hit my second marathon this year, my beloved Chicago Marathon, here's my schedule for long runs for the remaining weekend leading up to Chicago, including the taper...note the highlighted on, b/c I will be asking a question and gathering opinions on it.
August 16: 10 miles
August 23: 12 miles
August 31: 13.1 Half Madness (half marathon)
September 6: 16 miles
September 13: 18 miles
September 21: Ready to Run 20-miler "pace race"
September 28: 12 miles
October 4: 8 miles
October 12: Chicago Marathon
Ok...so how important is that 18-miler? There is another half marathon that weekend in Chicago, the one I ran last year, and it's now in my neighborhood. (I moved, the race didn't.) I really want to somehow fit it into my schedule. Do you think it would be ok to forego the 18-miler? Maybe I will need a cutback week anyway? How much can I rely on my training earlier this year to go from a 16 miler, up to a 20 miler 2 weeks later? Am I plain nuts? Should I just forget the half marathon that weekend and focus on the bigger, more important goal? What do you think????
The Chicago Distance Classic (half marathon) is tomorrow at 6:30 am. I'm admittedly disappointed that I won't be running, but realistically it just ain't gonna happen. BTW, my knee has been hurting ALLLLL DAY today, but strangely at around 8pm or so...it just...well it just stopped. Weird.
But anyway, good vibes out to Annah, my best friend. Her best half time is 2:04 and some change. I'm sending vibes out to her to hit the 2:00 mark or even less! And Lou, who PR'ed in her last half at the Flying Pig (they have a half and a full, I think I mentioned that in my race report.) I think she'll do quite well again this time. And to Jaime, who has been knocking out her runs at a steady clip faster than our 12:00 pace from last year, also. She ran the Miami half marathon in January and a crazy trail half marathon a few months ago. I will also be keeping an eye out for this dude's race report, only b/c he is awesome. I don't even know him, I just lurk on his blog.
As for the CDC and it's new course, hopefully I will be back next year to earn the best medal around. This year's would have been my third consecutive.
Place: Lakefront, starting from my old meeting place when I ran with Chicago Endurance Sports, right from the statue of Ben Franklin. Mid to upper 70's by the time I finished.
Mileage: 8
Time it Took: 1:40:04
Pace: 12:31
Miles this week: 8
Miles this month: 13
2008 Goal: 436.09/1000 miles
Thoughts/Comments: So I get out there on the path, I'm feeling fantastic, my mind is just right, only thinking about today's run and nothing else. Following the advice of an article I recently read about coming back from injury, I walked after each mile. Just one minute. My goal was to run 7 to 8 miles, but once I got started I realized that it's 8-8-8, so how could I NOT run 8 miles? BTW, happy birthday to one of my best friends, RABIYA!.
So I'm running out there on my old stomping ground, and it was like an old friend greeting me "So good to have you back, you've been gone to long!" Flashbacks from last year's group training runs, like the first run when I wore a cotton t-shirt, or when we came around the bend and happened upon the 11:00 pace group giving cpr to "Sam" who'd had a heart attack, or the 16-mile run when we dodged raindrops, ginormous puddles, and branches still left behind from the storms earlier that week. What about that 18-miler during my spring marathon training when I stopped at St. Joe's Hospital after running out of gatorade...stocking up on pretzels and lemonade. Aaah the memories!
At the turnaround point, I stopped ye olde Garmin and went to the bathroom, stretched, had a gu and chugged some water.
During the return trip my legs were a bit tired. This was my longest run since MID-JUNE. A few thoughts tried to creep in, thinking too far ahead in the future.
But by the end of the run, I felt 100% fantastic about meeting my goal for TODAY. I won't be running in this weekend's Chicago Distance Classic half marathon, but I should be on track for the half marathon at the end of the month that I'm registered for as well. I"m headed off to the health and fitness expo in awhile to pick up my packet, even though I'm not running. There's always some cool vendors.
ROUGH WEEK, it feels like about 2 weeks have passed since Monday! I haven't run or biked, but at least I made my two PT sessions. GIve me a pass, please:
1. Late Sunday night I noticed the fridge temp was kinda high. Sure enough, upon waking Monday morning, it was in the 60's. Just went to the store on Sunday afternoon! Managed to fill a bag with stuff and took it to work to put in the already overcrowded fridge. Schedule appt for Tuesday, will have to take part of day off from work.
2. Monday at about 11am. Hubby calls me to tell me that my car (I was driving his car) is completely dead. We argue b/c I told him, in effect, "I told you so", we should have just gone ahead and had it fixed. For the next 2 hours, we deal with getting it towed and get him to where he needs to be.
3. No fridge, no food. Order pizza from neighborhood Pizza Hut. "It will be ready in 15 minutes, they say." Yeah, heard that onebefore, so I arrive in 25 minutes. No pizza. Um, Um, Um, I think we gave it away. 20 minutes later, they find it in the other "warming" bin. Not warm, but at this point it's 7:30 so I just take it and go.
4. Two blocks from home. Dangit. One Metra train...Two Metra trains. Wait Wait Wait. OK driving again. What's that? Blue lights and a siren? Get pulled over. "Not until you tell me why you're pulling me over" (my response to license and proof of insurance.) "Your license plate tags are expired." Flashback to Joey several times in the past few weeks talking about needing to go buy the tags for his car before the end of the month. Nice.
5. Eat. Hmmm, storm warnings on tv. Ok. Getting darker. More storm warnings. Tornado sirens go off! I don't ever remember hearing them in Chicago. Suburbs, yes. Chicago, no! The sky goes from regular to green to black and the trees start bending all crazy and we "batten down the hatches" and go downstairs. There we sit and watch the weather news on tv for an hour or so. Later, we marvel at the damage in other parts of the city, on the news. Doze off sometime around 10:30.
6. 11:45 Hubby wakes me up with "it's storming again." I look up and BOOM, power goes out. I go upstairs to check on the cherubs and Jada was sitting on the side of her bed whimpering. I get her and Zoe and decide to go lie down in our room. After watching the tree near our window, all I could envision was the story on the news about the mother and her children who died when a tree fell on them as they cuddled in bed. So we went downstairs, just to the 1st floor. At this point, down the block, I'm seeing glowing red, like a fire. I call 911. (Later we saw that it was 1 block down, a huge tree fell and brought down all the power lines and transformers and smashed four cars.)
7. Hubby goes to check on things downstairs. "LIndy! The sewer is backing up AND we're getting water in! So I run down to try and help move a few things, come back up and Lysol my feet. Jada was all upset, and Zoe was STILL sleeping. (Amazing how a creak on the floor as I"m trying to duck out the door for an early morning run will wake her, but all this commotion and she's still in dreamland!)
Anyhoo, to make this long drawn out story a little shorter, our power came back on in the middle of the night Tuesday going into Wednesday. Wednesday we had the refrigerator repair man come out and it was less than $100 to get fixed....AND my car is fixed, AND..... AND......the time has come, and we are the proud new owners of a 2005 Honda Civic hybrid. (This was already in the works when my car first starting acting up.)
Now maybe things can get back to normal. I plan to run tomorrow. I'm still beat down tired, I've only had about 4 or 5 hours sleep each night since Sunday.
Then suddenly, some 4 years later...it hits me. It's Albert! Albert Ingalls. 
Maybe he left Walnut Grove in shame after burning down Mary's School for the Blind and killing her baby, and turned to modeling for artists, in drag, no less.
