The Holidays

My entire body is sore.

For Christmas, I took a week and a half off work and traveled to Newburgh, IN and Louisville, KY to spend as much time with family as I could.  With the exception of the actual traveling, it was a fantastic vacation.  I was a little concerned on my way down that I wouldn't be able to run anywhere.  The only sidewalks I knew of were in neighborhoods (mostly small - I could squeeze a mile out of my parents' subdivision) and at the elementary and high schools (4 laps = 1 mile).  This meant I would have to count while I ran.  No way.  Get real.  So, I went to a gym with my dad to run on a treadmill.  Please note, I only brought running clothes for outdoor running.  No sleeveless shirts in my suitcase.  Running inside is HOT and running on a treadmill is harder than I thought.  I quickly realized I am not a "metronome" runner.  When I run on the street, I must change my pace and shorten/lengthen my stride constantly.   I kept scooting up against the front of the treadmill and hitting my hands against the display, and ended up adjusting the speeds high, low, high, low for most of the run.  And the distractions in a gym are unbelievable!  I had my ipod, six TVs to choose from, and all kinds of people moving around downstairs in the weightlifting section to watch.  I was switching from college basketball, to the news, to George Lopez, to music, to laughing at people, and back to music.  I couldn't help myself!  It was pretty entertaining, though.  This is something I may need to get used to - at least a little bit.  Any more blizzards come through Boston and I will definitely need to have a training back up plan.

I decided to try my long run outside and, surprisingly, Newburgh has a nice, new Riverfront Trail.  It's still a work in progress, but it made for a very nice run.  I went back and forth to get my 9 miles in and thoroughly enjoyed the sites of the Ohio River.  My parents came with me and ran/walked the trail to start their training for the Bourbon Chase in October 2011!  We decided Dad needs new shoes.

The rest of the week I took it easy.  I was really enjoying my full days of laziness and spending time with the family.  Oh, and eating.  We ate a lot.  I was back in my old stomping grounds and thought it was necessary to grab a bite to eat at all the faves.  We hit up B-Dubs, White Castle (not necessarily a fave, but a must-have), Moe's, Acapulco's, and much more.  Add those on to the delicious (and much more wholesome) dinners at home and I think I could cut out eating for a good part of 2011.  Great marathon training foods.

On the plane ride back to Beantown, I couldn't get comfortable because I hurt so much.  I can't laugh or even sneeze without doubling over in pain.  You would think marathon training, right?  Not even close.  Call it Xbox Kinect.  Call it Track & Field games.  Sprints, Javelin Throw, Long Jump, Discus, Hurdles.  Call it Boxing.  Head, body, head, body, KO.  Oh the pain.  I'm positive my body can hold up for a 26.2 mile run but put me in front a TV with a controller-less video game and I am a goner.

 

Happy New Year!

Fresh Pond Park

Last weekend, we went to Green Bay, WI to watch the Packers - 49ers game.  And no, I did not run while in Wisconsin.  I raced from heated building to heated building, ate, drank beer and watched football as a good mid-Westerner should.  I did, however, run my 5 miles Friday after work to get the training in before we left.  I ran from my house to Fresh Pond Park and back.  It's a pretty decent run, nice and flat, and the route goes right past Chipotle.  So let's just say I "got hurt" or "hit the wall" and needed some delicious guac to get my strength back, wonderful Chipotle is right there.  Not this run, though.  Micah and I ran the five miles without a hitch.  No runner's knee to speak of.

Fresh Pond Park is a fairly popular place to go.  It's got a nice little path around a pond (it’s fresh…get it?) and people bring their dogs and strollers and walk around.  Which is fine.  Great, even.  Only problem is, everyone at Fresh Pond seems to think they are the only ones at Fresh Pond.  This is a popular place to take dogs off leash and let them run, which again, is great.  I'm always looking for another place to take my dogs where I can let them run and play.  Typically, however, when my dogs are off leash I try to have at least the vaguest clue as to where they are in the park.  In between dodging feral dogs (and hearing in the distance "oh, he's normally really good with people, I don't understand what happened") you have to also weave in and out of the hordes of people who, from what I can tell, are playing the "who can take up more of the sidewalk?" game.  Everyone wins at this game but me.  Here's what happens:

We are running, la di da, down the sidewalk.  Up ahead we see a young lady taking a nice stroll around the Pond.

She hears the pitter-patter of our feet coming up behind us.  It's clear we're going to pass her.  I'm looking very athletic with my running gloves, runner's knee strap and reflective gear, so it's pretty obvious I will be moving at a much faster pace than she is.  Her reaction?

Where did that come from?  Did the baby and the dogs just appear?  Maybe she was hiding them in her awesome white peacoat that was probably recently purchased in Montreal (underground, no less).  Is she just going to leave that poor baby naked on the sidewalk?  More importantly, her yoga pose is in really poor form.
 
Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little.  There was no baby.  I photo-shopped that in.  From my run I learned I need to steer clear of parks or any other place that encourages people to “stroll.”  I’m better off on the sidewalks of busy streets shared with my fellow runners or other pedestrians who have places to be and are far too busy to purposefully get in my way.

On another note, this post has taken about 2 weeks to complete.  Between starting and finishing I have been to Montreal and completed my first semester as an MBA student of Arizona State University.  Going out of the country and getting a 97% on my Accounting final should make up for the missed posts, right?  I am currently on my way to Newburgh, IN and Louisville, KY to visit the family.  And yes, I brought my running clothes with me.  Training doesn’t stop just because it’s Christmas! Happy Holidays everyone! 

Runner's Knee

My first week of training is finished.  Even better, I met my fundraising goal for the week.  All in all, a successful marathon training week.

My long run this weekend was 7 miles.  I didn't do so well...my left knee got really sore once we hit 3 miles so we cut the run short about 2 miles and "speed walked" home.  It was kind of a bummer, but I think I just tweaked it running the half marathon a couple weeks ago.  I'll just rub some dirt on it and I'll be okay.

Any time I have any aches or pains, running induced or not, I attempt self-diagnosis.  My initial go-to is Google, of course.  I Google EVERYTHING because Google has everything you could ever need.  Just recently, I interviewed three different people for a cashier position we had available.  I picked one person and couldn't figure out what to say to the other two.  Since I found them through Craigslist (not recommended, by the way), I decided emailing would be most appropriate.  So I googled "how to reject someone for a position."  Here is my favorite hit.  My goal was to find a sample letter that I could copy and paste thinking it would save me time.  Instead I wasted a half hour going through the search results and began to realize what a huge dork I am.  I ended up writing the e-mail all by myself.  It was 2 lines and took 30 seconds.  But I feel my google perusing gave me a good knowledge base.


The last time I googled a possible ailment was at work last year.  I didn't feel well, so I decided I was going to get everything done early so I could go home and rest.  Feeling short of breath was the only symptom I could pinpoint.  I just couldn't fill my lungs all the way.  Otherwise, I just felt like crap.  When I mentioned this to my boss, she seemed genuinely concerned and said "you may want to check that out, Al."  I'm pretty sure by "check that out" she meant "Google it," so Google it I did.  I gathered all the information I could find from my all-truth, all-knowing web sites like Wikipedia and WebMD (you know, the legitimate ones) and found that my shortness of breath could be a symptom of one of three things:

1. I am having a heart attack
2. My cancer radiation treatment is the culprit
3. I was bitten by a venomous snake.  (Not sure what kind of snake, @iamdoctorish needed a bit more information before releasing the full details of my analysis.)

Since I was still walking around and not currently undergoing chemotherapy I figured I could rule out 1 and 2.  Number 3 was a little unnerving.

Naturally, when my knee started hurting I figured there was no better place to turn other than good 'ole trusty Google.  I typed in "sharp ache kneecap running."  Can you believe that what came up was Runner's Knee?  Google is so smart.  So there it is, kids, I have runner's knee.  It's fairly common among hardcore athletes such as myself, so no need to worry.  I'll just wear a cool kneestrap.  It just makes me look more legit anyway.  It will help me move faster when I'm running away from all the venomous snakes hanging around Mass Ave.

Happy Thanksgiving

 

Breakin' in the Bikilas

Allie Running in Bikilas

Bikilas are my new barefoot running shoes.  Don't I look cool in them?

I'm starting off Thanksgiving week on a good foot.  I have officially transitioned from my half marathon training plan to full on marathon training.  I have 22 weeks to get in tip top shape and raise $3065 more for the Melanoma Foundation.  Funny how "April" sounds so far away but "22 weeks" feels like it's right around the corner.   I wanted to loosen up and break in my new shoes with an easy 1 mile run.  Micah and I grabbed the dogs and set out on our usual 1 mile loop.  Sota was not in the mood to run on a leash.  As soon as we got down the steps she broke into a run, dragging me behind, and went straight for the park across the street.  I got her under control and untangled myself from the rose bushes in front of the abandoned house at the end of our street and continued on our way.  These random bursts of speed from Sota make my running times look a lot better.  It doesn't matter that I am flailing behind her, I figure I am still covering ground and should count that toward my running time.  Of course, she makes up for it on her pee breaks in front of houses 42, 44, 46, 48, 50...  I tell her bad dogs pee during training runs.  She doesn't seem to care.  Minus the constant stopping, the dogs do pretty well on our short runs.  Buttercup starts showing her age after 1 mile and Sota starts showing her lack of attention span at about 2.  We leave them at home on our longer runs, and then they join us on our cool down W-A-L-Ks (I have to spell it out, otherwise there will be two very excited dogs harassing one very tired Allie). 

With Turkey Day coming up, my training will be off a  little bit.  I'm headed for Nashville, TN Wednesday night and will get back on Friday.  I probably won't do any training while down there - I'll be too busy eating.  But I'll be back in time for our first Running for Cover team run where I can embarrass myself in front of the teammates who have run 10-18 marathons (yikes).  My long run this week is 7 miles, which means my fundraising goal is $70. Help me hit my goal so I can run off my second helping of turkey and sweet potato casserole!

Daylight Savings Time

It's starting to feel like winter.  I went to City Sports the other day and purchased things like "base layers" and "running gloves" (I'm not really sure how running gloves differ from other gloves, but I bought them anyway because I feel like it'll make me look more like an athlete). Now all I need is to remind myself that when I get home from work I should probably go for a run instead of immediately climbing in bed. 

About the time I should have really been gearing up for the half marathon we ran Sunday, it was time to fall back an hour.  Which means it is pitch dark by about 5:30.  Darkness = Bedtime.  Bedtime ≠ Running.

The half marathon went well.  Probably would have been better if I had run more the two weeks before but Micah and I finished within our time goal, so we were happy.  I do want to note here that the half marathon started and ended at Newton South High School, which means we had to loop around and run the same three miles at the beginning and end of the race.  Listen up, Grandpas, because you'll only hear this once.  You were right, it can happen.  WE RAN UPHILL BOTH WAYS.  Literally.  I saw the 10 mile mark and thought "oh, this is a piece of cake.  The whole first half of the race was uphill so we'll just be flying down the hills and be finished in no time."  Fail.

Anyway, we had our first Running for Cover team meeting this week and I was discussing my early darkness dilemma with a teammate.  His immediate response was, "you should run in the morning."  I responded with "yea, I would, but, you know, I have to be to work by 6:30 so it's kind of impossible."  And he said, "oh yea, me too, I wake up at 4:00 AM every day."  WHAT????  The only time I ever see 4am is when I wake up having to use the bathroom.  And  I usually lay in bed for 10-15 minutes doing a cost/benefit analysis of whether it is worth getting out of bed for.  Like maybe I could hold it for another 5 hours or so.  No way.  So on Monday when you get home from work and it looks like nighttime outside, give me a call and tell me to get off my butt and go for a run. 

Patriots' Day Woes

My first encounter with Patriots' Day was on Monday, April 20, 2009.  Toward the end of the work day on this particular Monday I decided I desperately needed mint chocolate chip ice cream on a chocolate dipped waffle cone from Brigham's.  (Yes, my cravings are that specific).  I convinced a friend to sneak a break and walk down High Street with me to get my ice cream cone.  It was about 3:00 PM by the time we got there and the doors were closed with a sign that said "Brigham's will be closing early for Patriots' Day Monday, April 20."  I looked at my friend and said "Patriots' Day?!?!  There's no such thing.  Brigham's is making that up.  If that was a real holiday I would have the day off, too."  He assured me that Patriots' Day was a real thing with real historical significance blah, blah, blah.  I, however, was hearing none of it because all I could think of was my elusive ice cream cone and how jealous I was that the kids at Brigham's got to go home early while I was stuck at work for at least another hour.  I went home hungry, unhappy, and very much against the holiday.

My second encounter with Patriots' Day was on Monday, April 19, 2010.  The wounds were still open about the whole Brigham's ordeal and I was still pretty skeptical about it being a holiday since I was expected to be at work, but this year I was prepared for the nonsense.  My boss was running the Boston Marathon which meant in addition to running the joint, I was also the designated "How's she doing so far?" lady.  She had been training for the marathon for 5-6 months and I had slowly become jealous of her ability to run 26.2 miles while I occasionally ran out of breath on the ride up the elevator.  After following her training and seeing her after the race, I decided I wanted to run a marathon.  And do it faster than her.

So this is my year, folks!  Patriots' Day 2011 is the day where all previous Patriots' Day experiences are forgiven.  I am on the Running for Cover Marathon Team for the Melanoma Foundation of New England.  Cancer, including Melanoma, has affected all of us in one way or another.  Many members of my family have been diagnosed with all different types of cancer, some of whom have been lost to the battle.  Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer, but if detected early can be cured.  Research has also shown that Melanoma can be prevented by reducing the amount of exposure to ultraviolet rays.  In my opinion, there is no better reason to run 26.2 miles than to help the Melanoma Foundation of New England educate the public about the prevention and detection of Melanoma and other forms of skin cancer.  Please help me raise my goal of $3250 for this great program!

Donate on my First Giving page, www.firstgiving.com/allisonsilletto.  I appreciate all of your help and support.