I Broke My Phone for This

(No, not "jailbreak", as in dropped and broke whilst standing in the street to take the picture.)

The greatest small business on earth, presented without additional comment.

Sorry all for having done such a shockingly awful job of forced march. I hope this makes up for it in some small, profound, life-altering way.

Ugh.

sick. sick. blech.

Feeling Meh

Watching the Knicks go down weirdly and/or hard against the Spurs. Sitting here with the popcorn in my forefoot every time I step down (it's a TUMOR!) It's a great fucking day.

More thoughts to follow, we'll see whether I can catch fire tomorrow on my forced march. Sleep well everyone. I hope I will... wife sick, daughter teething. All is AWESOME.

Great News!

So, went to the MD today (actually podiatrist, not sure... are those real doctors, or do MDs laugh about podiatry when they golf?)

I found out that that pain in the left foot, it totally IS nerve pain! It's never going to go away! Isn't that fucking lovely. It may go away, that is, or maybe not, or maybe cortisone, or maybe surgery, or whatever. So this might mean I can't hike anymore without huge pain, or any of the other many things I enjoy doing on my feet.

Official diagnosis (for now): "Morton's Neuroma"

Fucking fuck.

Mission 50/50

I'm heading to the Doctor tomorrow, to have my foot looked at. The nagging issue has gotten a bit worse, and hiking at Harriman on Sunday was dreadful, in a pair of boots that used to be all-day comfortable, blister-free, and perfect from the moment I got them. If I can't hike this summer, I'll be pretty disappointed, after this long, fattening winter I was counting on it.

If, on the other hand, I get the inevitable recommendation for an orthotic, I'm going to quietly recall the truism that "someone whose only tool is a hammer tends to see all problems in terms of nails", resist shouting angrily about it, and just go on my way.

Another realization: someone will always be doing a longer event, and doing it faster than I am. I need to stop feeling peevish about people social-"media-ing" about half-marathons and so forth, otherwise I'll never feel a sense of satisfaction about this, or turn into a loopy creature who aims to do ultra-events on my broken feet.

In other news, went to Harriman to find at least the 5k loop for the race, couldn't track it down, ended up just sort of noodling about in the woods with the better half and the delightful progeny. Some accidents are happier than you expect, recalling a ramble through Doodletown's ruins and cemeteries yesterday.

Sybillance, Sybillance... Check Check

I think I missed the second day of Forced March, but I'm still here. I'm still on pace with the run prep, and may take a check walk of the trails for the course tomorrow. Real pain in the feet, hoping they heal sometime.

Lace Them Up

Today begins the "forced march" of hopefully daily postings.

I'll warn that some will be lousy. Probably lousier than usual.

I'm still running, I had a moment where I realized that my gmapping had been wrong, and I had gone longer than expected (by a tiny, tiny bit.) So, I've skipped forward a week in my shorter in-week runs, and will tonight have to follow through on another monumental WHOLE MILE-AND-A-HALF without walking.

I think it should be fine, though I'm sore in the hip flexor from pushing a bit too hard on the same distance the other day. Conventional wisdom is to increase weekly mileage by ten-percent as a cap. This is proceeding a bit quicker, which has some possible risks of soreness and injury etc. Nerve pain in left foot is still present, right foot is a bit grumpy as well, but "we'll see."

What was encouraging is that my 1.5 the other night covered the road I had done my first nauseous .75 on a few weeks ago, and it was easier this time. I was a bit quicker, I worked a bit harder, and double the distance didn't feel too awful. It made me feel a bit hopeful, and it makes this feel like not as dreadful an idea as it seemed at first.

Bored Yet?

Another slightly longer run on Saturday, 1.5 miles of ACTUAL RUNNING. The extra warm-up and cool-down time is not counted.

Revelation: I'm slow. I'm also still fat. Holy cow, two weeks didn't fix everything? No, sadly they didn't. I'm actually heavier, which is surprising. I might just use the classic rationalization that I'm building muscle. That would be convenient, however untrue it might prove.

My feet are killing me, I've got a spot where I stepped down on a tape dispenser a few months back, and it gives me this weird nerve-twinkling pain every time I step down on it wrong. On the other foot, I really smashed into a piece of furniture a few weeks ago, and at this point I can't really walk without some real discomfort in my hiking boots. Running shoes are okay if I tread carefully, but it's a bit frustrating.

Sunday, wife/dog/daughter/self went for a walk of close to 5 miles up at Mohonk, on the cliffs overlooking the Catskills on one side, and the farmland around New Paltz on the other. The pup is a sore monkey today, and my feet were feeling like hamburger last night, but it was a good thing, and it's helping to grab hold of the weekends.

The commute is still on the tougher side, I haven't gotten the hang of it fully, though at least I'm now having the typical "how 'bout them Yankees/weather/weather/weather" conversations with the folks I stand with every morning. No matter how it gets sliced, I'm still on the go to and from work for 20 hours out of my week, and nothing can be expected to change that as long as I'm lucky enough to have work.

In other news: you may expect 30 updates in a row which are all likely to be pretty crummy on average, as I'm joining the Forced March: http://theforcedmarch.tumblr.com/

It's for the best, really.

Wait and See

Finished off the required slow jog on Tuesday, was hoping for another one this evening, but it's looking uncertain, feeling a sore-throatey coldish sort of a deal coming on.

I'm hoping I'm feeling up for it this evening, had a rest of it yesterday and ended up feeling pretty well emotionally wrung out, not sure if it was as a result or just coincidental.

Baby Steps

Managed to complete the pathetic 1.25 miles of pace this weekend, wrapped up in enough walking to warm/cool to make it basically the slowest 5k ever run by man since time began.

Next day did as quick and up-and-back on Mount Beacon as I could manage 2 miles round trip, 1000 feet up, 1000 feet down, a little bit under an hour. I felt everything short of wanting to barf, so I'm not sure of how 6 miles of trail running is going to feel, though this certainly had more intense climbing than the "race" will.

Photo from the old hotel grounds at the shoulder of North Beacon Mountain:

Another of the old machinery for the long defunct incline railroad:

Weekend Plans

One more very slow muttering "training" "run" yesterday, decided to put on sneaks and hoof it a mile on the way home from work to do some errands. Suit pants notwitstanding, got myself something pleasantly shin splinty and gasped a bit.

I'm trying to decide whether to do the "long" run for this weekend of 1.25 miles AND do a hike, or just do a real proper 5-6 miles on trails at slower paces to get strength built up. I think both is probably wise, but I don't know if the time will be there to make that happen. If just a hike, I'm probably going to try and go from the Breakneck Ridge trailhead all the way over the top to Mount Beacon and home from there. We'll see how it goes.

Surprising Levels of Pain and Suffering

I went for the first run last night. It was an “easy” no-distance bit of fluff. I suffered and muttered and was sad. I did, however go and do it, and make it home.

I’m sore today, and after all that nobility, I had insomnia, and then had a small person I share a house with who had a fever and was inconsolably crying all night (literally ALL NIGHT.) I got about an hour of sleep, I’m embarrassingly sore for a less-than-a-mile-of-real-running-at-once bit of exercise, but I hope this all works out somehow without lasting pain and damage.

I signed up for the North Face 10k at Bear Mountain, and there are just under 82 days and counting (I have a counter on my artisanal igoogle page) before I have to show up there, and probably throw up at some point in the woods before pulling up gimpy and coming across the line late.

They only need you to keep about a 3.1 mph pace (the drop-dead time is 2 hours), though it is over rock, root, stream, and hill. The biggest f-you of it all is that there will be people there that weekend on a variant course who are doing:

-50 miles

-Marathon distance

-Half-Marathon distance

Those are all on the prior day, so I’ll get to feel like a big-man as all the later starting 5k and childrens fun-run participants pass me.

Today is “rest”, tomorrow is “other activity” and Thursday is another three-quarter mile death march. I think maybe, maybe it will be… easier?

Of Fishing Poles and Carrots

I’m 36.

I have never been in what you might call “good shape.”

I wrestled with what could be described as something of an eating disorder when I was younger, into my mid-20’s. I was a touch under 160 pounds at about 6’3” at the best/worst depending on which perspective you want to take.

Things, to say the least, haven’t improved, and I’m now what feels distinctly fat and out of shape at 230 and climbing slowly but surely.

So here goes… taking a stab at the Couch-to-5k exercise, but doing more like a Couch-to-10k. I’ve got until a semi-target date of May 6^th, and if I happen to lose weight at the same time, all the better, but I’m not counting on it.

The people who don’t read this blog will certainly find the tales of missed training and procrastination RIVETING. Stay tuned, as my first .75 miles of molasses-like fury are being unleashed this evening. I don’t have high hopes, given my history of semi-engagement with these projects.

I drink more than I probably should, and have been known to indulge in cigarettes in the past. Time feels like it’s wasting to get a miraculous turnaround in before real decrepitude sets in. Currently, the pipe dream is to run the North Face 10k adventure run at Bear Mountain in early May. Barring that, maybe I’ll just go and run it on the same trails with no support if I’m not ready that soon.

Longer goal is that I’d like to be fit enough to run from my door, to the top of the local high point (Mt. Beacon) and back by late summer without coughing out my lungs and/or dying.

Pray for mojo.