Back to work, again. Pain’s mostly controlled in my left leg, weather’s warmer today, and I want to see what I’m capable of despite being so out of shape, and present the orthopedist I have an appointment with on the 9th with training-accurate conditions, so he doesn’t just say “You’re fine!” and leave it at that.

Total time: 20 minutes, split about 40-60 between jogging and walking
Total mileage: 1.02 miles

Not a supreme amount of effort here by any means, mostly “wogging”, as Deb would say. Legs feel fine, lungs totally weren’t ready for the abuse. On the plus side, the coughing I’m doing post-run should be enough to get rid of the last of the congestion from the cold I had last week.

We’ll see how I feel on Monday and take it from there.

Total time: 1 hour and 7 minutes walking
Total mileage: 3.28 Miles
MPH: 2.94 MPH

Did my usual route, plus a lap around the lake in the park I train at. Challenging stuff that, very hilly, muddy in parts, lots of roots to trip over. Didn’t really feel like I was exerting myself until a little before I hit the halfway mark on the lake, around the 31 minute mark. Knee was no better or worse than usual. If it’s just going to be in exactly the same amount of pain when I work out for the rest of my life, I can learn to tune it out pretty easily. I’m not sold on that happening, but for now, it’s holding up fine.

Lost about .17 MPH today (I did 3.11 MPH on Wednesday), but it was also a longer walk, and definitely a more challenging one to boot. I probably won’t be able to do this particular course on rainy or colder days, because of the high chance of me slipping and falling on my ass, to put it mildly.

Soundtrack for today’s workout, presented again without skipping over anything shuffle play threw at me (I won’t do this every time I work out, but today, I’m inspired):

Pulp-Babies
Jane’s Addiction-My Time
The Bee Gees-More Than A Woman
Siouxsie And The Banshees-Sea Breezes
My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult-After The Flesh
Steve Martin And Bernadette Peters-Tonight You Belong To Me (from “The Jerk” soundtrack)
Fuck Buttons-Surf Solar
King Diamond-A Mansion In Darkness
Andrew W.K.-My Big, Black Cock Radio Station ID
His Name Is Alive-In My Dream / Sometimes Screw
Tegan & Sara-Arrow
Batz Without Flesh-Shine It Down
Richard Hackley-God’s Backhand
Eurythmics-No Fear, No Hate, No Pain (No Broken Hearts)
Wire-Feed Me
Echo & The Bunnymen-In The Margins
The Bee Gees-You Should Be Dancing
Threebrain-Weeeeee!

Onward to Monday.

Total time: 45 minutes walking

Total mileage: 2.33 miles

Not too bad, really I’m already just barely under a 20 minute mile, despite not having really gotten off my ass to do much of anything in 3 1/2 months. Left leg bugged me most of the way, in the usual ways. I’m thinking that I’m going to try and tough it out through all that, as long as nothing gets sharply worse. I know what pain I’m working with here. Not getting better, but not getting worse, I don’t think.

What my iPod played while I was walking and had it on shuffle play, without skipping over any tracks or otherwise gaming it:

Wildchild-Renegade Master
Quiet Riot-Let’s Get Crazy
Ultra Vivid Scene-Mercy Seat
Ray Noble And His Orchestra-Midnight, the Stars and You (Ending music from “The Shining”, if you’re not familiar.)
Marilyn Manson-Leave A Scar
Bee Gees-Jive Talkin’
Katy Perry-I Kissed A Girl
Eric Weissberg & Steve Mandell-Duelling Banjos (from “Deliverance”)
Johnny Thunders-(You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A) Memory
Celebration-Diamonds
Dalbello-Animal
Charles Bronson-Phil Anselmo’s Pain Burns In The Heart Of My Little Brother
Julio Iglesias-Moonlight Lady
Devin Townsend Project-Bend It Like Bender

Man, was Julio some uplifting shit on the home stretch.

We’ll try this again on Friday, bullshit permitting.

As I signed off from our Marathon coverage earlier today, we had a few runners out in the field that we didn’t have times for. Here’s what we’ve got now:

Kelly snuck in under 5 hours at 4:56:09. Jill, who may have run into trouble around the 15th mile, as she doesn’t have a 25K time, just a 15 mile and then the finish (I’ll see what I hear; could just be a chip malfunction or something) finished at 5:31:16. Hopefully she got through OK. I talked to Jill Sunday night, and she had “her worst marathon time but the most fun she’s had doing a marathon”, and says she was especially strong on the 59th Street Bridge. She doesn’t know what was up with Athlete Tracker either.

Brian Boyle had a nice strong 4:11:15, which means he finished right after NBC left the air. Keith Zeier did 6:20:52, but that was with 50 pounds of gear on his back! There are no listed times for John Tartaglio, but that might be a policy thing or somesuch, and I’m sure he did OK out there. Godspeed to him. We’ve got a time of 15 hours and 59 minutes from John Tartaglio, which makes him, in his own words (thanks for commenting, John) “the 1st bilateral hip disarticulate in history to run and complete a marathon”! Awesome.

There were 2 Edward Nortons listed on the Athlete Tracker. 1 didn’t have any times, and the other finished at a nice 3:48:01, so let’s hope Dr. Banner did the latter, which is likely because they did mention him at the finish line before the broadcast ended.

You all did great work out there. Be proud of it!

Quick links:

Marathon web site | Watch Live In U.S.
(3 feeds! Main Feed, Elite Mens’ Pack, Elite Womens’ Pack)
Elite Men Bios | Elite Women Bios | Elite Wheeler Bios
My Quick n’ Dirty Pre-Game Analysis

8:55 AM: It’s that time again, folks. “Meet The Press” is wrapping up, and the quick-and-dirty links are posted above. The race coverage will be starting in about 5 minutes (alas, I slept through the pre-race coverage at Ft. Wadsworth, where them G.I. Joe fellers used to live, but I’ve got a long sports day ahead of me, so I needed it), so if you’re familiar, pull up a chair, grab your favorite refreshments, and get ready for some great stories of the triumph of the human spirit, mixed with my random, idiotic comments. RUUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!11111

9:06 AM: We’re on the air, folks, though the wheelers and handcycle racers have been on the course for a while now. Elite women start in 4 minutes, the temperature on the course is 52 degrees, and and hey, Anthony Edwards is running! “This is gonna be a great year. HUH! HUH-HUH-HUH-HUH-HUH!”

9:12 AM: Elite women being announced now, to the tune of the “Requiem For A Dream” music…something ain’t right about that. Selina Kosgei, this year’s Boston winner, looks like she’s in great spirits. Time for the gun. And RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
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9:15 AM: Can these commentators stop treating Radcliffe like she’s the Yankees? Totally selling the other competitors short by making this The Paula Show. Getting my first look at Ludmila Petrova. She actually looks like she’s put on a little weight since last year, when she took 2nd. I wonder how it’ll affect her.

9:23 AM: Pat LaFontaine’s running the marathon…on ICE SKATES! OK, not really. Dan Jansen running as well, also on skates. Ladies are just about off the bridge.

9:32 AM: The women are in Brooklyn now. The elite pack has actually split in half already, which is kinda interesting, and I wonder if it’ll stick. Finally, they mention the wheelers at the half-hour mark, just about. Nice video package for Kurt Fearnley and Amanda McGrory, though.

9:35 AM: Ooh, a fall, Kosgei and Yuri Kano got tangled up. They got themselves back in the race, but it sucks to see that happen, especially this early. About 3 minutes away from the elite men and the masses being let loose.

9:43 AM: The masses are queueing up, and we’ve got the elite mens’ intros. “Hell’s Bells” for the men. What the shit? Meb looks limber and determined. Ryan Hall looks nervous. Gomes dos Santos looks a little skinny. Talking to Abdi Abdirahman instead of the reigning champion. What, no translator on staff, guys? Here comes the gun…and…

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9:55 AM: 5 Borough Challenge time, all working moms! I wonder if any of ‘em are single. Back to the women, Yuri Kano’s 30 seconds back, what a shame. Kosgei’s still in it, though. Petrova looks strong, and Paula looks like…Paula. Men coming off the bridge, Ramaala’s up there, with Gomes dos Santos and Bouramdane, the Moroccan, are leading. Pack tightened up a little bit as they went onto 4th Ave., and Makau’s jumped out in front. Could be a lot of lead changes.

10 AM: The one bad thing about the timing of this race: it’s often the last Sunday before Election Day in the US, so we get bombarded by shitty political commercials. Whoa, Fearnley and Schabort are down to the wire at the finish, HUGE finish, Fearnley by a FOOT. If only they’d given this part of the race more than 3 minutes, we’d have seen something epic.

10:03 AM: Bouramdane with a lead of about 5 seconds, as the 2nd wave leaves from the bridge!

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10:09 AM: Women at the 10 mile mark. Petrova laboring a bit, but still exactly where she’s been. Men on mile 4, Bouramdane still exactly where he is.

10:16 AM: The men (17 in the lead pack) closed the distance on Bouramdane at mile 5. Makau’s back in front. Commentators getting all nationalist on us. Pace quickening, 4:52 on mile 5, onto mile 6 now (duh). The word on the street is that Brooklyn slept in because of Halloween, fewer people on the sidelines this year. Women are doing about what they were, at mile 11.

10:23 AM: Womens’ pack down to 5 now at mile 12, Magdalena Lewy Boulet is about 8 seconds behind now. Some talk about Kosgei’s knee, possibly bleeding from the fall. Mens’ pack has fallen behind Bouramdane again, but I think they’re giving him enough rope, so to speak. Mile 7 there. Commentators again getting all nationalist on us, “I want to see the blonde haired, blue eyed white guy win!”, ugh.

10:30 AM: Women at the halfway mark, 70 or 80 meters behind their 2008 pace. I miss Gete Wami and Jelena Prokopcuka (Jelena’s preggers! Congrats to her!).

10:35 AM: Oh, burn. Al Trautwig just dissed Queens. Women in mile 15 now. Radcliffe, Petrova, France’s Christelle Daunay, Kosgei and Derartu Tulu from Ethiopia still in that pack. The ladies are heading onto the 59th Street Bridge, so shit may bust wide open soon.

10:40 AM: Kosgei’s starting to fade a little, and Daunay has finally pushed ahead of Radcliffe for a second. Men on mile 11 in a tighter pack, still a pretty full pack (13 runners), too. Meb’s leading right now. Makau is out of it. Not sure who else fell off yet, looking into it. Bouramdane is sprinting again, that sick bastard.

10:42 AM: Women on 1st Avenue!

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Daunay, Tulu, Petrova, Radcliffe and Kosgei has caught back up.

10:46 AM: Radcliffe and Petrova reining in Daunay and Tulu. Mile 16 for them, mile 12 for the men, where Bouramdane is being a big pain in the ass! Anthony Edwards is doin’ alright. Go, Gilbert!

10:56 AM: Women are a mile and a half from the Bronx, same 5 as we’ve had for a good stretch. Men turning onto the 59th Street Bridge. They must’ve made time while I was making coffee. =)

11:03 AM: Gomes dos Santos is off the pack a little bit. Commentators still laying on this USA stuff. Bouramdane STILL a pain in the ass. The guys about to turn onto 1st Ave.

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11:11 AM: Ramaala doing his usual burst on 1st, lead group of 10 right now. Abdirahman is the rabbit at the moment. 17 miles done for them. Women are a pack of 4, approaching the Madison Ave. Bridge, Radcliffe, Petrova, Daunay and Tulu heading back into Manhattan.

11:12 AM: Where the hell is the womens’ wheeler coverage? Inexcusable.

11:16 AM: Pack of 6 for the men now. Kwambai, Bouramdane, Cheruiyot, Ramaala, Meb, and now Kipkoech is falling off the pack. Women still a pack of 4, commentators don’t think Radcliffe’s in great shape, though to me, she looks like her usual self, so I’m wondering what they’re seeing. Insights, anyone?

11:20 AM: I don’t think I’ve seen Petrova differ in her pace much at all, she had that little bit of a rough patch an hour ago, but otherwise, she has been a machine. Mile 22 for the women, still 4 of them out in front.

11:22 AM: Men on mile 19, Willis Ave. Bridge, Cheruiyot and Kwambai are leading. Meb and Bouramdane in there still, Kipkoech and Gharib just back of those guys. Radcliffe falling back a bit, Petrova looking DETERMINED now.

11:24 AM: Just an aside, as we hit the home stretch for the pros: I love this race.

11:27 AM: Men on mile 20, no change in the top 4 guys, women are settling into a pack of 3 with Radcliffe really lagging now as they get to Central Park. I really like Petrova’s chances here, but Daunay and Tulu are close still and none of them look tired at mile 24. Oh, this is gonna be a good finish.

11:33 AM: “We’re back at the ING New York Marathon, and you are looking at Paula Radcliffe’s ass.” Sorry, that’s just the camera angle they gave us. Daunay is falling behind, so it’s Petrova and Tulu now. Radcliffe settling into 4th place, she’d need a miracle to come back. Meb’s leading at mile 22! Kwambai’s in 2nd, Bouramdane is finally falling off the pace, and Cheruiyot is behind him now, but he might have something up his sleeve. Ha, there he goes! it’s Meb and Cheruiyot! Radcliffe working on catching Daunay now for 3rd.

11:36 AM: Women in the last mile! Petrova and Tulu still there, maybe a yard between them. Man, I would not wanna be in Petrova’s way right now. She looks like she’s going to kick the shit out of anyone in her path.

11:3 AM: Tulu pushing Petrova now! Neck and neck! They’re turning into the park! Tulu just stretched it out! This is OVER if Petrova doesnt pull a miracle out of her ass. Here comes the finish! 200 yards to go!

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Tulu all the way now, looking totally in control! 2:28:52! Petrova 2:28:59! Petrova 2:29:15, and Radcliffe about 2:29:30! Congrats to all! Radcliffe damn near collapsed at the finish, something’s definitely wrong there.

Back to the men at mile 24, and it’s Meb in the lead! Cheruiyot 6 seconds behind, and Meb looks great. Cheruiyot putting a little mustard on it, but still not there. This would be one HELL of a comeback for Meb, who’s been through hell since we saw him in New York last. 8 seconds now! Cheruiyot looks like he’s struggling, but we’ve got a downhill coming up! Meb’s got almost 10 seconds now. This is an incredible turnaround for Meb, whose last NYC finish was 20th in 2006. 25 miles now! Crowd (predictably) going nuts because we’ve got a US citizen in position to maybe win this one. Cheruiyot is actually picking up his pace a little bit, but I think it’s too little, too late! Meb on Central Park South! Let’s see if Cheruiyot has anything left in the tank! Meb actually speeding up! Turning into the park! A half mile to go! Cheruiyot is toast! This is an incredibly convincing win about to happen here, folks!

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Meb Keflezighi! 2:09:14! And he does a pushup at the finish line! Cheruiyot finishes at 2:09:56! Great races by both, but for Meb, an incredible comeback! Gharib at 2:10:25! Ryan Hall finishes in 4th at 2:10:44. Congrats to all!

12:03 PM: And now, the rest of us. We’ve still got the 5 Borough Challenge, and maybe some word on the womens’ wheelers, the cops vs. firemen, and all the stories of the regular folks and celebrities who’ve taken this on. Just checked the marathon site, and Edith Hunkeler won the womens’ wheeler race, not that we’ve heard anything about it on NBC. Bad form, guys, but congrats to Edith, who won her 5th NYC Marathon today!

12:13 PM: A few friends and friends of friends in the race: my friend Jill is in there, and so is my sister’s co-worker Kelly. Kelly’s in the lead there, according to the marathon site, hitting the 10k mark at just over 1:07, with Jill at 1:09. Keep running, ladies, and good luck to you!

Deena Kastor is talking to Anthony Edwards, who looks like he’s hangin’ in there pretty good, too. Joan Benoit Samuelson is putting together a pretty good time at 52, has a shot at the 50+ womens’ record time.

12:23 PM: Awards ceremony time! The ladies look awesome. The masses are just about to start hitting the finish line, as the commentators talk to Meb. Classy guy, very respectful of his opponent down the stretch, and he mentioned the late Ryan Shay, who passed away during the Olympic Trials 2 years ago. Again, congrats to him.

12:33 PM: Joan Benoit Samuelson finishes at 2:49:09 (corrected time, network had it wrong at first), new 50+ record! John Tartaglio interviewed, double amputee running the race. Amazing stuff. I need to stop bitching about my legs and get out there next year.

12:46 PM: An update on the folks we’re tracking on the course: according to the Athlete Tracker (which is getting hammered as usual), Kelly’s 2 minutes and 30 seconds ahead of Jill at the 15K mark, and Anthony Edwards is at the 25K mark at 2:16:31. If you know someone in the race who you’d like us to give you an update on, suck@mybigblackcock.com and we’ll look into it for you! (Please specify whether you want last name, bib number, etc. posted here or not, as some folks get squeamish about this site).

12:50 PM: Jeff Schulman lost 230 pounds in 3 1/2 years, and he’s out on the course! Good for him!

1 PM: Athlete Tracker getting killed, but we’re gonna try and get numbers on everyone we’ve mentioned since the pro races finished. Ahhh, there we go. Jeff Schulman was at 2:15:43 at 25K, just ahead of Anthony Edwards! John Tartaglio’s not registering any times just yet, but he’s out there and in all likelihood, he’ll finish. That’s the important part.

1:03 PM: Interviews with the wheeler champions, finally. Seriously, NBC, plenty of us who watch the marathon care about that part of the race. Don’t skimp on it! On a somewhat related note, I’m LOVING Kurt Fearnley’s mustache.

1:15 PM: Kelly’s got 3 minutes on Jill at the halfway mark! Keep it up, ladies, it gets shorter from here! Keith Zeier’s running for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation with 50 pounds of gear in his backpack, raising money for the families of fallen soldiers, even after a pretty serious set of injuries from an explosion! Keith’s at 3:27:55 at the 25K mark. Kelly’s at 2:43:40 at mile 14.

1:20 PM: Special mention goes to the girl (damn it, I missed her name) who ran the race dressed at Winnie The Pooh. Very stylish!

1:35 PM: Jill hit mile 14 at 2:48:42, keep it up! Emigdin Flores, one of the youngest people on the course, is the first graduate from NYRR’s youth program to run the race. He started the program obese, and was kicking ass when I saw him! He finished at 3:20:42! Kelly hit 25K at 3:01:01, and Jill’s at mile 15 at 3:02:12!

1:45 PM: Ha, a dude in a viking outfit. Funny stuff. Brian Boyle’s another guy who’s come back from a major injury, surgeries, a coma, and so forth! Looks great out there, he’s at 2:16:07 through 25K. We also saw Diane Petruzzelli, who I believe is a fellow JSRC member, finish sub-3:00, lookin’ great! 2:53:03 for her! Jeff Schulman’s across the line, with a sub-4 time of 3:54:31! Awesome work! 5 Borough Challenge is wrapping up, and our winner is Allyson Hentel-Koplan from Manhattan!’

1:50 PM: Wow, it’s the High Five Guy! He’s high-fived over 20,000 people during the race! Man, his hand must hurt.

1:58 PM: Just about to wrap it up here. Mayor’s Cup is won by the fire department this year. Still a lot of running to do out there, plenty of folks to clear the line as we cross the 4 hour mark, but they’ll get there. On the pro side, it was a very competitive race, really enjoyable to watch as pure sport. On the coverage end of things, I’d really like to see NBC do a better job covering the wheelers next year, and hopefully this sentiment is shared by other folks who won’t get pooh-poohed because they have a dirty domain name.

One last check of the Athlete Tracker has Anthony Edwards finishing at 4:08:20 and there he is on camera, just as I was checking in! Ed Norton’s out there somewhere too. Hopefully, he doesn’t turn into the Hulk on anyone. We’ll update with finishing times later today or tomorrow on the rest of the people we’re following! Still waiting on Jill, Kelly, John, Brian and Keith. Keep up the good work, folks!

All the best to you folks who are still out there, and hopefully, I’ll be out there with you next year, on what would be the 10th year I’ve followed the race otherwise.

One more, for the people at home:

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We’re about 36 hours away from, jeez, what is it, my 9th year of sitting on my ass and watching this? (Damn leg.) Anyway, here’s a little info about the race that you could probably get elsewhere, but won’t because you’re all very lazy people:

On the mens’ side of things, it’s a very different year. Some familiar faces are out, you’ve got a lot of US presence (even if it’s naturalized US presence; hell, we’re all immigrants here) in the elite men, and you’ve got some faces you haven’t seen in New York for quite some time making returns. Meb is back, and the fella I’d consider the favorite going in, Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot returns after what I’m pretty sure is a 4 year hiatus, which he’s spent beating the living piss out of the Boston course. However, Marilson Gomes dos Santos will be back to defend his title, and he was a much more confident runner last year, so it won’t be a cakewalk for Cheruiyot or anyone else.

Over on the womens’ side, it’s also a very unfamiliar field to me, aside from defending champion and superwoman Paula Radcliffe and, holy mother of pearl, Ludmila Petrova is back at 41, after taking 2nd last year! That should be a pretty solid rematch.

I’ll tell you where the real action is this year, though, folks: the wheeler divisions! I kid you not, both the mens’ and womens’ wheeler divisions, which will hopefully get a fair amount of airtime, are absolutely STACKED. It’s like the Wheeler Hall Of Fame up in this. I’m not sure whether the web feed will have cameras on multiple race leads, but I’m hoping, because this is going to be stellar.

The weather for Sunday looks to be maybe 5 degrees warmer than I think the participants would like (I could be wrong on this) with a high of 58, but not super warm, and the course is going to be a little wet and perhaps slippery from the overnight rain.

I’ll be here starting fairly early (television race coverage starts at 9 AM Eastern Standard Time) to yell “RUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN” for 5 hours or so, so stop by if you’re into that sort of thing.

Just a short one, lasted all of 15 minutes and .7 miles. Needed to get out of the house and get some air. Wanted to walk for longer, but I couldn’t. Got more than I bargained for, though. I got possibly usable data.

I’ve got a pair of ASICS Gel-Kayano XIIIs that I’d been running in before the left leg gave me so much shit that I had to give it a rest. I use them to walk sometimes, too, even though they’re not the best walking shoes, not being designed for that. Over the summer, I’ve switched back near-entirely to my Saucony Jazz sneakers to walk, and my leg’s been recovering. However, I put the Kayanos on today for my walk, and I was barely out of my parking lot before I started experiencing some of the familiar discomfort I’d been dealing with.

Now, it could be that I did something else to the leg over the past week, but I don’t think it is. Very interesting. I’m thinking that, after years if not decades of not having it, my legs are just not that into superior arch support. Could also be that I need to just bite the bullet and stop procrastinating on wearing braces for walking/running. I’m going to have to run this by a few people at running shoe stores, and maybe, eventually, if one will ever see me, a proper podiatrist. Finding a general practitioner who really gets the mechanics of walking and running is tough.

15 minutes walking
16 minutes walking

Total time: 31 minutes (I was planning on doing 28, but my pace was pretty leisurely)
Total mileage: 1.45 miles

It wasn’t especially warm out there, and there was a nice breeze, but it was still humid as a bastard. Hate that. Knee only behaved itself until about the turn-around point and is still bugging me, but I’ll get past it. Humidity also made me wear out easier, as it always does. Brought Moby’s new “Wait For Me” with me so I could start giving it a proper listen before I review it (review’s a week or two overdue already by my standards, but it’ll happen, along with the Polly Scattergood review; hopefully Stephanie at Mute hasn’t written me off for dead yet). Didn’t bring a water bottle. Need to get a new one.

Riveting stuff, people. Onward to Wednesday, if my leg doesn’t fall off. I know you all just keep reading these entries in the hope that one day, I’ll type “Day 2184. My fucking leg fell off today. Oh, and I saw some deer.”

12 minutes walking x 2

Total time: 24 minutes
Total mileage: 1.21 miles

Nothing unusual to report. Next week, water bottle and iPod start coming with me again.

Onward to Monday.

Gonna stick with my old “every other day” weekday routine. Yesterday was not a day for using my left leg.

10 minutes walking x 2

Total time: 20 minutes
Total mileage: no pedometer (battery died) but I’d say it was a mile.

Knee was sore but not intolerably sore throughout. Less of that pinching feeling in the muscles. I was slightly winded toward the end, which is a good sign that I need to be doing this. 20 minutes of pretty casual walking should not be doing that. I think I’m basically back to the drawing board after 5 months off from regular exercise, but that’s fine. I’ll get where I need to be.

Onto Friday.

Don’t get too excited. I jogged maybe 10 paces, just to see how it felt, and it didn’t feel so good yet.

Today’s workout:

8 minutes walking, then 8 minutes back

Total time: 16 minutes
Total mileage: didn’t have the pedometer on me; next time.

I’d decided a while back that after a month to 6 weeks of no walking unless I had to walk, to heal the unholy trinity of bad shit that was up with my leg (bursitis, tendonitis and shin splints), I was going to start testing and exercising my legs again. This was the first step. Not a long walk at all, just a few minutes in one direction, until I felt what wasn’t much pain, but was some sort of discomfort, then home. There was some tingling in my left calf and thigh, and a very mild, dull pain through the leg. The knee wasn’t as cranky as it can be when I’m on it for a while, and still isn’t.

I’ll try again tomorrow, time, weather, and leg permitting. Back to fucking work.

Some of you may remember me mentioning Deb McGee in last year’s New York City Marathon coverage. Some of you may also have noticed that she’s become a regular commenter here since then (she found my mention of her on a Google search, and stuck around after that…), and is a pretty swell gal in general. Well, Deb’s friends down in Virginia have started the Race For McGee 10 km in her name, to benefit the ALS Association. I’m pretty sure this is the second year they’ve done it, and it goes without saying that it’s a great cause. The race takes place at 7:30 PM on June 20th, 2009 on the boardwalk in Colonial Beach, Virginia. The race will be followed by a post-race barbecue as well, and if you’re not familiar, post-race parties can be a lot of fun. Deb’s not running in the 10K from what she says, but I’m pretty sure she’ll be there, so say hi for me if you run into her. I’m sure she’ll get a hell of a kick out of hearing from anyone who heard about the race on My Big, Black Cock, so don’t let her (or me) down, my hairy-palmed readers!

If you’d like to enter the race, grab a t-shirt or make a donation to the ALS Association via the Race For McGee, the mail-in entry form is here (warning: PDF file at the other side of that link), and the online one (which you’ll need to sign up for a Race Timing Unlimited account in order to access) is here.

The official diagnosis, finally: Bursitis, Shin Splints and Tendonitis.

The doctor should’ve just busted out the ever-popular “AIDS Of The Knee” while he was at it.

I don’t half-ass this stuff, do I?

I’ve got a treatment plan in the works, but suggestions for how to deal with this, from people who’ve dealt with all of this before (especially if it’s been the same combo) are of course welcome and appreciated.

I had an unrelated-to-running knee injury about 2 weeks ago. I’m just about completely back to normal, but I’ve been out of commission since then. The decision I have to make, moving forward, is what level of workout to proceed with and when (I was thinking today, but I may give it one more week). Stay tuned on that.

Also: over the past 2 days, perhaps owing to some of the aloe vera gel I’ve been rubbing on my left leg due to a still-healing cut that happened the day of the knee injury (it was a pretty bad fall on granite that took a few chunks out of me), I’ve felt the strangest thing in my left calf, something I hadn’t felt since I’d injured it initially: that itch you get when a part of your body’s healing. I don’t know if it’s a sympathetic sensation attached to the cut, or related directly to the shin splints, but it’s definitely new. I’ve rested both legs pretty well over the 2 weeks of non-running, but I didn’t feel anything like this. Has anyone out there had similar feelings during the healing process for shin splints or a stress fracture?

I need new calves and shins.

5 minutes walking
3 minutes jogging/2 minutes walking x 2
3 minutes jogging

*sound of me hitting wall here*

15 minutes walking

Total time: 33 minutes
Total mileage: 1.67 miles

Definitely have to make some adjustments somewhere. More stretching, more cross-training, better diet, extra rest, pre-workout Vicodin, something. Breathing’s great, except when pain kicks in, which makes me labor more. Both calves and shins are giving me major shit right now. Today, it was more the right than the left. At least they match now, I suppose. If all goes well, I’ll have better health coverage within the next month or so, so I’m going to get very seriously looked at if I do.

We’ll see how I feel on Monday. (Wednesday, I missed because my entire course was a puddle of slush with an icy bottom.)