It's been too long since I've posted here. My problem is that it seems everytime that I want to post, I get interupted in the middle of completing the post. Then whenever I want to finish the post, I have more to say; it takes longer to do the new post; I get interupted... An endless cycle. It really is just my problem - I've had a hard time being consistent with any writing since I was a kid.

Training has been difficult, painful and frustrating. It all started to go downhill (I wish the analogy were true) when I cross trained on an off day by doing plyometrics. One exercise I had done before and hope to do again, but with trying too hard and being tired from the run the day before, my right knee started bothering me. Not a debilitating pain, but hurtful enough to make running long distances painful. I self diagnosed "jumpers knee" and resolved to lay off serious plyometrics. Meanwhile, I rested for a couple of days, and then tried to run 10 miles with the Springfield group. At about mile 2 I started getting pain on the left side of my left knee. It felt like that popping feeling I imagined Curt Shilling feeling during game one of the World Series last year. Except mine was in my knee. I finished 5 miles and then called it quits for the day. I stretched out the offending tendon and then attempted self diagnosis. I discovered that I had developed Illiotibial Band Syndrome (I think I posted this problem earlier). Bear with me for the rest of the story...
With this discovery, I resolved to warm up and stretch the offending tendon and learned much about the biomechanics of running. I learned that the tendon needed to be more flexible. I considerED myself to be more flexible than most over the years with my karate training. What I forgot is that over this winter, my training has been mostly anaerobic and I haven't stretched adequately for some months. We train outside, which can be very cold, and stretching is ill advised when cold. So the learning continues and I now stretch more often. I even stretch before going on short walks.
To continue the story...
So I felt pretty good going into the St. Patrick's day race on 3/19. I got to the starting area a little later than I would have liked - 1/2 beforehand. With having to pick up my ankle chip (they don't track results from numbers anymore - they use computer chips to show your time and place), I had maybe 10-15 minutes to warm up and stretch. I felt a little rushed. I felt pretty good until mile 4 when my right calf started to ache. I could have stopped in the middle of a race, but I plodded on, finishing worse than the year before, but respectible none-the-less. The calf pain continued through the next days. Again, I self-diagnosed micro-tears in the gastro-nemeus muscle. With tears, you need the RICE system - Rest, Ice, Compression and elevation. This was a two week process before I could comfortably begin jogging slowing again without pain. I was beginning to think that I had been picked as a laboratory case study on how not to overtrain for a marathon. I read a piece on how to prevent running injuries. The piece described a number of injuries. I think I have had then all so far.
My best moment this week came when I was able to do a power walk up Skinner mountain (Holyoke Mountain) and run down most of the way. I completed up and down in about 50 minutes. The road still had some areas that were covered in snow and ice, so I needed to walk some of the way down. It was pretty up there and I hope to some day run all the way up. I can imagine that mountain running is not terribly good for my knees though. Again, the reference to my being a stupid lab rat. The Simpsons had a pretty funny episode when sister Lisa did a school science project showing how her Hamster was smarter than her brother, Bart. That's me, reaching for the cheese and getting shocked, only to reach for the cheese again.
Jennie is not feeling well this weekend, which prevented her from walking her long distance. She had planned on walking 7 miles. She has done much better than me in being consistent.
We're about 1/2 way through this process. That is, we're two months into a four month project but I feel like I've progressed about 1/2 of where I'd like to be. I've changed my goal of completing the marathon in less than four hours to just completing the marathon. The fundraising is going O.K. We've raise about 1/2 of what we need to complete our goal ($5,000). Many people have surprised me with how generous they give to support us and the American Stroke Association. This has been a valuable experience so far in that it has been a good way of getting in touch with old friends.

Three miles:

I ran three miles today after spending a lot of time stretching out that tendon on the side of my left knee. I've finally learned the name of my condition: illiotibial band friction syndrome. I rested from Saturday until Thursday and am trying to warm up more and perform a number of stretching exercises. I did three miles today at a slow pace (5.0-5.5mph on the treadmill with moderate hill climbing. It went well for two miles and I began to feel tightness there. I finished my three and then more stretching.

Jennie and I will be attending an auction of a favorite junk store - Ross brothers - that will be going out of business after 19 years on North Maple Street. It has been a nice place to go to find doorknobs, old hardware, doors and other architectural pieces. I used to like walking through there when I had time to myself. It provided a source of inspiration for various household projects and other dreams.

I've been assigned to the desk tonight on the 11-7 shift. Everyone gets a turn and tonight's mine. We are expecting more snow tonight so I plan on more accidents. Because it's Friday, I am planning on being busy. Because we work in a college town, I expect to see a few of these people.

A trooper brought in a 17 year old who had a warrant ordering his arrest because he was a "Child in Need of Services (CHINS)". The odd thing is that the warrant was obtained when he was 16 years old but now, later, he is 17. So, technically he is no longer a child (we can't get such a warrant when the person is over 17), but the state still can maintain custody of him because he is under 18. So he stays in custody - but you can't place him in a lockup because he hasn't committed any crimes (CHINS warrants are for status offenses - things that are not crimes for adults but things we expect kids to do - like obey their parents, go to school, etc.) So we have to find an "alternative placement" for him which usually is a foster home. But, most foster homes will not take kids over 17. We finally found him a place after much haggling and the guy will have to spend the weekend there.

I planned on doing some of my tax work for CY 2004 while I'm riding the pine tonight. Maybe when I finish this posting.

Hoping for a run today.

I woke up and the sticky goo from the back of my throat has not migrated south into my chest. My nose welcomes the break and I hope to get in a short run (2 miles) today. Hopefully my chest will cooperate.

Jennie got back from her conference in Orlando, Florida. She spent four plus days away and of course we're elated that she's home. I've had a great time being number one parent for awhile. Whenever I get these opportunities to take care of Lily, she and I spend at least one day, sometimes longer, getting aquainted again. She spends her time trying to figure out how much she can get away with and I spend my time figuring out new ways of getting her to behave. By the third day, we pretty much understood each other and by the last day, we were old friends. We made supper together last night - pasta with shrimp, garlic and lime sauce. She also convinced me to make some strawberry shortcake. She was very helpful and we didn't break anything - including each other.

We hope to go the distance.

For the last several weeks, Jennie and I have been training to run a marathon (26.2 miles). We have a schedule set out by our trainer which has us running progressively more miles each week so that by race date (June 19, 2005) we will be able to complete the race without needing hospitalization. I'm not convinced yet that a hospital stay is out of the question. I added up the miles that I will be running until race day, and it is about 500 miles.

There's a pretty good spoof of a molson add that features that song by The Proclaimers (not the Peter, Paul and Mary version). 500 miles is about how far it is from New Hampshire to PEI. If I were running there, I'd be somewhere in Maine right now and will be for a long time.

The miles last Saturday (10) were paining a tendon on the side of my knee and my coach taught me some new stretches to limber that tendon up more. I thought I solved the problem but the next day I caught a nasty cold that comes with fevers.

We are raising money for the American Stroke Assocation (ASA). I had a mild (is there such a thing) stroke about five years ago with no loounnhg t3erm eafects. My grandmother also had a stroke about a year ago and I am choosing to run the race in her honor. I also sent Tedy Bruschi (New England Patriots) an email hoping he would support me too. He suffered a stroke of the same kind I had.