Last Week, Part 1

I'm back, and as promised, here to talk about some of what I was away doing last week when I wasn't writing blog posts.  However, there are no pictures.  While it may have seemed like a good idea to offer this up, in retrospect, I don't care for the idea of posting pictures of people on the internet without their permission.  Especially if a large portion of those people are underage.  I will see what I can do about getting some scenery shots from the camp, though I didn't take any this year, there may be some stored somewhere on my hard drive from previous years.

The week started off with a wedding.  Our friends Mitch and Heather got hitched down in Blacksburg on the Saturday before camp kicked off, so we headed down for drinking, dancing, and celebrating.  Turns out I'm way too white to be dancing.  Luckily, I don't think there are any pictures of that.  While I left the wedding photography to the professionals (read:  people with nice cameras), it was a good opportunity to play with our camera and try out some of the settings that I've never bothered to read the user's manual about.

Then it was up early on Sunday to try to get to camp as quickly as possible.  This was Kim's first year on staff, so it would have been nice to attend at least a little bit of staff training.  Turns out we managed about 5 minutes of that, we just could not get moving quick enough and the drive was too long.

Sunday at camp is a blur.  Kids are showing up for registration and moving into the cabins, we're trying to get all of the information we need for the 300+ attending and get them settled in, get the oriented as much as possible to what is going on, and have the opening council fire for the week.  The campers are organized into 4 tribes for the week (WV 4-H relies on many traditions borrowed from Native Americans), led by a chief - an older camper, for whom it is a great honor chosen as chief, and for those of us who've served in this capacity, it is a very special week.  The staff are organized into the 5th tribe, the Bigfeet.  Typically the chief of the Bigfeet tribe is someone who is new on staff and unfamiliar with what is going on - rather than a great honor, it is more of a trial by fire.

Kim, being new on staff and new to WV 4-H, was the obvious choice for chief!  She spent a lot of the early part of the week completely lost as to what she was doing, but learned a lot about how we do things and had a really great week on staff.  She was a great addition to camp staff, and I'm not just saying that because she's my wife.

Monday was hot.  Ok, every day was hot.  And incredibly humid.  Standing still was enough to make us sweat.  It was so hot at times, my upper lip was sweating.  There are some buildings that have air conditioning (assembly hall, dining hall), and many that don't (cabins).  We had to spend the whole week making sure kids stayed hydrated and took time away from the sun.  Luckily, the camp has a pool.  Unluckily, it is a public pool during the times we don't use it.  Monday morning, before our designated time, some kid pooped in the pool!  You may not know this, but a pooped-in pool requires about a day of shutdown for cleaning, filtering, and to allow a mega-dose of chemicals to be run through the system so that it is safe again.  So we spent the first part of the week in the heat and humidity without the pool - and the rest of the week's humor revolved around poop jokes.

So there you have it.  The first part of the week was full of surprises, both pleasant and unpleasant.  I plan to write a quick post tomorrow (Saturday) about the rest of the week and last weekend, before resuming current events.

As for my training, so far so good this week.  I'm at about 20 miles for the week, with my long run still ahead of me tomorrow morning.  I have to work some this weekend, so I'll definitely want to get my runs in to keep my sanity.  I had a nice 5 mile tempo run at about an 8 minute pace yesterday, which I plan to bump up some each week leading up to the half marathon.  More on the plan in my next post.

Short Post, Long Weeks

I'm back!  Can't say much today, we're slammed with a deadline at work.  I'll try to write up a longer post in the next day or two, complete with photos and stories from camp.

For now, I'm back to work, back to training, and there will be some sleep in there somewhere...

Running Again

Feeling empty?  Like something familiar is missing, like football without beer, like eating french fries without ketchup...

You're in withdrawal.  I haven't posted since Sunday, and you love me so much that you've become chemically dependent on me.  I suppose it's time for a quick fix.

I've been super busy at work this week trying to tie up loose ends.  I'll be gone next week, braving the heat and humidity at Jackson's Mill 4-H camp to ensure that hundreds of campers have the best week of their year.  It's a break from the real world, a chance to recharge, and to do something that I feel has real meaning to the world.  It will also be a week that I won't be online.  Better check into rehab now, or you may not survive without me.

I would promise lots of pictures, but at this point in our relationship we all know how often I actually post pictures...


To more important news - a week of running!  After 3 long weeks, my leg is finally ready to go again.  I got about 20 miles this week, mostly gentle and tentative, still a bit uneasy about fully trusting my injury.  Yesterday I did a moderate 5 mile tempo run that went very well, and the added effort level didn't cause me any pain, so I think I'm in the clear.  I have lost a bit of conditioning, the distance is there, but my pace isn't.  The downside to all of this is, I don't run at camp.  So after almost 3 weeks off, I get a week of easy running, then I'm off for another week.  Running, you tease.


I'm going to have to rework my half marathon goal.  I don't think I can get in shape for the pace I wanted to run with what time I have left.  I'll have to pick something a little slower to shoot for.  Not sure what yet, I'm letting it wait until after camp when I get really going again.

Hope you all have a nice week, someday you'll hear from me again...

Other Things

Monday is the day.  Come hell or high water, I start running again.  For a week.  After that I'll be gone for a week, working at the state 4-H camp, which I do every summer.  I'm finding it is tough to blog about my running when I'm not actually doing any running, so I have to resort to talking about some of my other training activities.

I hate most of the people at the gym.  I don't often say that I hate someone or something, especially not complete strangers.  But for about 90% of the people who use the YMCA gym, I make an exception - I really just don't like them.  I have a variety of reasons for these feelings (not the least of which is a burning envy when I see someone on the treadmill while I am on the injured list).  How many of them are actually accomplishing what they joined the gym to do (get in shape, lose weight, gain muscle, etc.)?  Very few.  Probably less than a quarter.  If you've been doing something for an extended period of time, months or even years in some cases, without results, why wouldn't you do something different?  I'm all for patience and long term goals, but you should see some progress along the way, sometime, right?

I don't dislike them all.  There are some that I like very much, for one thing or another that I see them do.  Since I don't know them, I give them fun nicknames to pass the time while lifting, based on the things that I see them doing.  These nicknames change over time.  Right now, they're superheroes and TV/movie personalities:

Clark Kent/Superman - This guy is a freight train.  Every day, every exercise, he's lifting heavier than everyone else.  Lots of big guys will grunt and yell and celebrate when they complete a big lift.  He never does.  He just quietly continues to work hard and get bigger and stronger.  He's polite, humble, and never seems to be in the way like so many of the other big guys tend to be.

Lois Lane - A brunette that lifts weights rather than spending all of her time on the machines.  I call her this because she clearly has a thing for Superman, she's the only one who he ever really talks to at the gym.  It's like a soap opera on mute - for an hour a day, I watch this play out without any idea what the dialogue is.  I'm almost certain at some point, one or more of the three of us will leave the gym, or switch our workout time, or something to put an end to my fascination with these strangers.  At that point, I'll write the two of them a happy ending - which I will of course share with all of you.

The Fantastic 4:  The next 4 guys workout together when they're all at the Y around the same time.  While they're no more productive than anybody else, they are very courteous and friendly, and they're such an odd group to see assembled together.  They are:

Brad Garret - Tall, with dark curly hair, and just generally goofy looking.  He actually doesn't look that much like Brad Garret, but something about how he acts and looks reminds me of Brad Garrett.

Fat John C. Reilly - This guy looks exactly like John C. Reilly would look if his face were just a little fatter.  Too bad he doesn't sound like him as well, that would be pretty amusing.

The Godfather - He's in his 60s, about 5'3", 100 pounds - but much stronger than you'd ever expect someone his size and age to be.  He doesn't even look muscular.  He looks a little like he might have been a mobster at some point - dark Mediterranean skin complexion, wears button up shirts with an extra button open at the top outside of the gym, and always has a gold chain on - even when working out.  He doesn't say much.  I saw him bench press 185 pounds twice one day though, so whatever it is he's doing, it's working.

The Zohan - So he doesn't really look much like Adam Sandler (don't pretend like you don't know what shitty movie I'm talking about).  But his high, flopped over hair makes me think of that terrible abortion of a film (I also thought of him as Ace Ventura at one point).  He always wears sleeveless shirts, and has big biceps but nothing else. 

My manager also works out at the Y.  He's lost a lot of weight - after his 40th birthday, he started working out (both cardio and strength) and paying attention to his diet.  He's considerably healthier now.


Every coin has two sides.  There are some people at the gym (or categories of people) that I have a specific hatred for.

Ex-military guy - He's a big fat muscle guy who used to be in some branch of the military, he's in his 50s maybe.  I've overheard him talking to other soldiers (or ex-soldiers) who also use the gym.  He also happens to be a racist, from the things I've overheard him saying about Muslims.

Personal trainers - all of them, whether they are paid, or a husband giving his wife direction, or a friend trying to help out.  They impart their wisdom, gleaned from half-reading articles on sports sites and magazines, encourage us to do thing that they themselves don't understand the purpose of, and inspire us to laziness.  There were a couple of women lifting weights the other day, using weights light enough that they were conversing while exercising.  What's that supposed to do?


Thanks for listening to my rant.  I am eagerly looking forward to running again, so that I have something better to write about...

Thinking and Doing

So it turns out that thinking you are healthy and healed when siting on the couch, poking and prodding at your injury, is a completely different thing from actually being healthy and healed and ready to run.

Wednesday Morning:  another 1/2 mile jog, only to find out that my shin is still not quite there.

At least my weight lifting is still going well, and I've been doing a bit of biking at the Y to keep my cardio strong for me (eventual) return to running.  I might be cutting it close with my half marathon preparations though...

Long Weekend

Independence Day was a much needed long weekend.  Not only did I need an extra day off from work, but it sure didn't hurt having a few days of guilt-free laziness.  Not running is driving me crazy.

We didn't do anything for the 4th this year.  My wife had to work, so I stayed home and played housewife, taking care of some overdue, to-do list items.  Every couple of months Kim has to travel around the state to the 3 Sam's Clubs for inspection, and it just so happened that this time around she ended up with the long weekend, meaning 3 days instead of 2.  Don't feel too sorry for her though, because she now has 6 days off.

I think I can run tomorrow.  The fulcrum test isn't producing pain in my shin, and I've really been working to align my knee over my big toe during everyday motions (walking, squatting down to pick stuff up, etc.).  My legs feel good, and I don't think I'll be losing as much time as I thought when I realized the seriousness of the injury.  I'm going to give it a couple of miles tomorrow and see how it feels, then a couple of more the next day, and report back the results.

Take Two

Step One:  Approach wall
Step Two:  Bang head against said wall
Step Three:  Repeat as necessary

I'm sidelined again.  After Wednesday's great run, I headed out into cool and comfortable weather Thursday morning, eager to try to get my rhythm back.  About halfway through, a familiar pain started to emerge in my right shin...

So I need more recovery.  Apparently one week just wasn't enough.  I am fairly confident through my diagnostics that it isn't a stress fracture.  I can hop up and down on it without pain.  It only hurts when running.  If I place one hand inside just below my knee, the other outside just above the ankle, and push lightly, it hurts (this is a form of fulcrum test).  My knee has been tracking lateral to my big toe (meaning outside - see, I could play a doctor on TV!) when running.  So I think when my soleus (lower calf) fatigues, its ability to help take the load is diminished.  This introduces extra bending stresses into the medial (inside) side of the shin, placing that part of the bone in tension - bone, like most brittle materials, is much better in compression than tension.  So pressing on the ankle/knee produces a pain that is the same as what I feel during running.

I don't think it is fractured, but it can't be too far off.  Probably a few more hard workouts, and I'd be in real trouble here.  So I need to stop running for a while.  I plan to take it easy until the fulcrum test no longer produces pain, meaning all of my training will be weight lifting, biking, and swimming.  At least I can keep my heart in great shape and stay strong and fit while I wait to run again...