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April 28, 2006
Cast of Thousands
When I left to do my workout this morning, I figured I'd see more people than I've become accustomed to seeing along the path in the winter months. It is, after all, a spectacular day -- all pink and green and white and lake-blue and sky-blue and full of light. No angry wind, no bitter nip in the air. In short, shorts weather. And, sure enough, when I started my warmup I found myself running by quite a few people (in the winter, I can do an entire 10-mile run and not see a single soul). However, about 10 mins. after the turnaround, when I was about 2 miles from home, I saw to my horror up in the distance THRONGS of high school boys.
Preparing myself to be by turns amused and harried, I marched on toward them, grateful that I only had a couple more "on" intervals left in my 10x1:30 on/off workout. To my complete astonishment, I didn't hear a single rude, vulgar, obnoxious, or taunting comment. Not a single one. Two miles of high school boys, at times taking up the entire path, and not a single offensive word directed my way. I was impressed. (For those who were wondering, they were out there doing some sort of fund-raising walk -- I asked one of the boys because I was curious.)
As I was leaving the path at the tail end of my cool-down, I encountered an Amish family on their way to the path. One girl, about the same age as the boys they were, little did they know, about to join looked slightly askance at my micro-mini-shorts. I came up with three possible reasons why she may have been scandalized: 1) I had committed the sin of not looking in the mirror before I left my apartment (you know what I'm talking about: people whose outfits are so horrifying in terms of what they reveal that the only possible conclusion is that they failed to look at themselves in the mirror before they left home -- people who, say, go out in a belly-shirt revealing a wide swath of jiggly, untoned belly drooping over straining jeans); 2) she was scandalized by my outfit because she was Amish; 3) she was scandalized by my outfit because she was a teen-aged girl. I finally decided to go with option 3, remembering my own teen-aged horror of running shorts. I was wont to wear even my big soccer shorts with biking shorts underneath, and would never consider wearing my uniform shorts without biking shorts or tights. I don't think I ever actually wore running shorts outside of a meet situation until my junior year in college. What silliness! Now, of course, it's running shorts any chance I get, and the shorter the better!
The workout wasn't great: I felt out-of-shape and my quad bothered me. Of course, the burning quad was far less troubling today since I was actually running hard (so it was SUPPOSED to be working hard), but the strain I felt was still out-of-proportion to the effort I put in. I need to make another appointment to get the source muscle well-stretched and remember to ask for some good stretches I can do to keep it limber. Despite it all, it felt good to do some faster stuff.
Posted by alweiss at 03:15 PM | Comments (2)
April 25, 2006
Hard Truths
As I near the end of my second year of law school, I've been thinking quite hard about what I actually want to do with my post-law school life. Thus far, I've arrived at the following conclusions:
1. I AM A SPOILED BRAT
My life thus far has been incredibly easy. I've gotten nearly everything I've ever wanted, sometimes through sheer stubborness, but most of the time without very much effort. The few major disappointments I've suffered have been, for the most part, of the blessing-in-disguise variety. If I'm being completely honest, the only thing I've ever really had to work at is running, which is why I think it's such an indelible part of me.
2. I NEED TO RUN
Not just run; I need to run to the best of my ability. Running is the thing that makes me me. Without running, I am average. While I'm an average runner, running makes me a not average person. But I don't enjoy running unless I'm running well, so I need to make time and expend the effort to run well.
3. I AM NOT A CITY PERSON
This is one of the harder things I've had to admit to myself. Frankly, it's quite a blow to the image I have of myself as a tough, gritty New Yorker. On a more serious note, it also means admitting that I'm not going to be happy living in New York or other big cities for the rest of my life, which complicates things given my chosen career path. However, I am definitely happiest in the mountains, or in more rural places where I can step out the door onto dirt roads or soft trails. I think the reason I'm so dissatisfied living in Chicago is that I'm not a city person and it doesn't share the conveniences and perks that make New York bearable (close friends and family nearby, excellent public transportation system, relatively easy access to good running places, etc.).
4. I AM RUNNING OUT OF TIME
Both in terms of running and in terms of life in general. I probably only have 2-3 more years that I'll be capable of running PRs. And, as for the rest of my life, there's so much that I want to do, I don't know how I'm going to fit it all in. Kind of makes me wish I had figured out what I wanted to do with my life sooner, instead of frittering away my 20s (not that I'd ever give up some of the experiences I was lucky enough to have while I frittered -- how could I ever regret anything that put me in the Yankees locker room after a World Series victory?). There are things that are important for me to do career-wise (along the human rights dimension), but which I can't begin to do without "experience." At the same time, I'd like to have a family. At this late stage, it seems unavoidable that I will have to simultaneously juggle career and family aspirations (hypothetical family aspirations -- as my mom keeps pointing out, first I have to meet someone I'd want to spend the rest of my life with... which just isn't an option at the moment as I barely have time to prepare proper meals with my law school busy-ness). Had I gone to law school straight out of college, I could have kicked my career into high gear as soon as I graduated from law school, gotten my "experience," then taken a step back to raise a family, then moved on to what I ultimately want to do career-wise.
So much for the life update. The running update: I went to Active Body Chiropractic (the ART people recommended by a couple of people -- thanks!) and the chiropractor I saw there appears to have identified the source of my quadricep problem. This seems miraculous to me because I'm so accustomed to being disappointed by doctors who can never seem to accurately diagnose, let alone fix my over-use injuries. It seems that a muscle or tendon that runs from my thigh through my groin and attaches somewhere in my abdomen is very tight. This, combined with my running style (I run almost exclusively on my toes), is putting a lot of strain on my quad. Stretching out that muscle/tendon really DOES make the quad problem go away. I was running today on the treadmill at "easy" (8MM) pace when after about 10 minutes my quad started burning. I suffered until I had run three miles, then I stopped and stretched and, miracle of miracles, the burning never came back, even when I dropped the pace to 7MM for the last couple of miles. Happiness.
Posted by alweiss at 03:28 PM | Comments (8)
April 16, 2006
Run Strong!
I just want to wish everyone who is running Boston (I know there are a few eliterunning.com bloggers) a good race! I can't wait to read all about it.
Posted by alweiss at 11:42 PM | Comments (0)
April 09, 2006
Calling all Chicago-Area Runners
I've been having a problem with my right quad which seems to be getting worse and is starting to seroiusly affect my training. I keep getting this lactic-acid-type burning in it (think what happens to your quads at the end of an 800M race -- it's the same sensation, only even more intense) while running at an aerobic effort. It is absolutely not an injury or a pull. I notice it more when my legs are fatigued (while doing recovery jogs during workouts, or the day after a workout). When I blogged about it a while back, someone suggested it might be because my hips are misaligned. So, I was wondering if anyone knows of a good chiropractor in the Chicago area (preferably one I won't have to wait a long time to get an appointment with). Thanks in advance.
In other news, I confirmed yesterday that I am depressingly out-of-shape. I ran a half-marathon. My plan was to pace my friend E. as kind of a dry-run for the marathon we're going to run together in a month. But she started feeling bad about half way through and told me to go ahead because she didn't want to feel as if she had to keep any particular pace. At that point, I should have picked it up, but I just didn't -- maybe because I was already used to a slower rhythm. And when I finished I seriously questioned whether I could have. Then, on the VERY easy 4-mile add-on run I did later in the afternoon with my friend A., my right quad kept burning so badly that I had to stop several times. Ditto on my easy run this morning. All very frustrating.
Posted by alweiss at 05:23 PM | Comments (6)