Random

I'm a middle, middle-aged audiophile, interested in beer, sustainable living, my kids, Earthly & non-Earthly phenomena and making music.

[castledanger]

Damn, I love Will Johnson.  

[castledanger]

:15.  That moment.  Crank the bass, crank the volume and absolutely melt.

[castledanger]

http://citra.ivs.org/races/cactusclassic.htm

Cactus Classic Trail Race in Manito, IL.  My next race and longest race to date, although not my longest run by far as I’m only doing the half marathon.  The description of, “The trails themselves consist of loose sandy soil for which the park is named.  Running these trails is similar to running on a beach.  This race is named for the variety of cactus which grows wild throughout the park.” put me off of the idea of having this one be my first marathon.  23 days away.  I should be ready, right?

[castledanger]

Am I officially an "ultrarunner?"  Probably not, but I did it.  I signed up for a 50K trail run.  It's trainin' time!

[castledanger]

Sirens

I lied.  The Sirens of Running called to me on Monday.  I had the day off from work & someone from the trail running group posted in the forum that they were running that day.  10.1 logged.

[castledanger]

Injury Report: More Progress?

So the lack of range of motion in my achilles tendon is gone - no limp, no problems.  The possible sprain that occurred a week after the achilles tendon injury when I ran too soon still lingers.  There is no pain or other symptoms that exist other than some minor swelling between my ankle bone and my heel.  It's been two weeks since I've ran, so I figured I'd give it a shot.  

01.18.13:  I ran 3 road miles out by our house just to try it out.  I took it out pretty hard because I was running out of daylight.  Running in our subdivision after dark doesn't bother me, but running on the country roads that surround subdivision after dark is not my idea of smart.  It didn't feel great.  Lots of swelling around the ankle/heel area.  I iced it, stretched it and compressed it.  It felt 80% better within an hour.

01.19.13:  Because it felt that much better so soon after I ran, I decided to go out with the trail running group I've been running with.  I put in 11.1 miles.  Again with the swelling.  Again with the icing, the stretching and the compressing.  Again with the 80% recovery within an hour.  

01.20.13:  I'm not going back out today.  I'm torn between the idea of being almost fully or fully healed and the idea of being properly trained for the trail half I'm doing in 7 weeks.  I'll take this whole week off from running for sure, sticking to swimming & biking and assess the viability of me going out running again next weekend. 

[castledanger]

Torture

Being a competitive swimmer for eight years and then sitting here with my yapper shut watching my six year old take swimming lessons is one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. Ugh.

[castledanger]

Tonight's Listening, from the comfort of my basement floor: Episode II - Joan of Arc Presents: Pine Cone

[castledanger]

Tonight's listening, from the comfort of my basement floor: Episode I - Matt Skiba & The Sekrets: Babylon

[castledanger]

Progress

I can almost walk without a limp now.  I'll give it a couple more weeks and maybe go for a short run.  I miss the trails.  :(

[castledanger]

Using everyone else's reaction to this show as my metric, I'm positive I shouldn't like it, but Rich Fulcher's deadpan delivery gets me every time.

[castledanger]

Today's Listening:  Episode I - The Stella Link

Listen to Green Light Ghost (EP) by the Stella Link.

[castledanger]

realization

Do you ever scratch your face and say, "Shit, I just scratched my face?!"  It's not real.  What is real?  We'll never know.  It could all just be our imaginations tricking us into thinking it's an all-to-real, shitty reality.  My face is scratched.  Yours is too.  Let's all go eat some orzo.  

[castledanger]

INJURED!

Flip.  I've been running, been trying to run more & more often.  I went from eking out 6.25 miles to killing 16.3 miles in a matter of a month.  I bought a pair of New Balance Minumus shoes and did not heed the warning on the label.  I ran in them for two weeks with exactly zero problems.  The third week started to manifest the Achilles Tendonitis that was supposedly possible.  By the end of the third week, it was prominently there.  I took a week off.  I ran 7.5 road miles after that week off and that was it - full on sprain.  My right ankle is weak anyway.  I super-sprained/almost broke it in 2009.  So there you go, I'm out.  I don't know for how long, but I'm out.  

I'm relegated to cycling and swimming, which isn't inherently a bad thing, but being January in Illinois, it doesn't give me a lot of outside time.  That, Sirs & Madams, is a bummer at best.  

When I walk, I have a limp.  Not from pain, but from lack of range of motion.  

I don't think I'm as frustrated with the fact that I can't run so much as the not knowing when I can run.  

Bleh.  

[castledanger]

"I think he's probably Samoan"

Raoul Duke

[castledanger]

And So it Begins... Episode II

I won the "Biggest Loser" Challenge between the wife and I that ended on 12.24.12.  I won by 1.5%.  She decided she wants to go again, for redemption & for motivation.  It started almost immediately, I just forgot to post.  Imagine that.

12.27.12 Official Weigh-in:  195.4

12.30.12 Official Weigh-in:  193.4

01.08.13 Official Weigh-in:  196.0 (I've come up with a lame ankle, so no running.  It's no excuse, but I thought I would notate it as a frame of reference)

So... I've been purposefully NOT updating this due to a lack of nutritional focus and therefore a lack of progress.  My head has officially been re-removed from my rear end and we are back on track.  I should also note that my wife is KILLING it this round both in the gym and on the plate and subsequently killing me in the contest.  

01.20.13 Official Weigh-in:  192.2 

[castledanger]

This website has so many records I want to buy, it's sick.  Yes, they're all re-issues, but I'm not THAT MUCH of nerd.  I could drop $500 easy.  Pisser.