So. . .

Now what? I can't do anything. If it had just been my knee maybe I could work out my upper body. If it had just been my wrist, I could still go running or something. But it's both and I can't do anything.

I better be somewhat healed by December 30th, because that's when training begins for the Fargo Marathon!

random page: entry five.

I found this while wandering around bcdc's intranet, The Goat. There's a link for "random page" which is fun to click on repeatedly to see where you'll end up. I keep hoping it will one day take me to my page on the goat, but it hasn't yet. Anyway, I thought this was interesting. I have no idea why it's on the goat, if it is linked to anything relevant, or if it truly is a random page. I wonder what ever happened to entries one through four and if there are any subsequent ones. Maybe I'll go waste more time looking for those too. At least I look like I might be doing something productive!

Darwinism. Challenging your physical abilities. The curiosity of whether or not you can do it. The exhilaration of accomplishing something you actually questioned, premeditated, were fascinated by, and therefore conquered by means of anguish. Sacrifice is the tool we use to become accomplished. This is natural to some. Shunned by others. It's what sets the potential survivors apart from the easily diminished.

Experience. New experiences. Learning experiences. Progression. Innovation. Adaptation.

If you can't challenge yourself you have given up on life. Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant. Taking a challenge shows integrity. Facing fears shows how strong your will is. Quiting shows weakness. Only you can decide what you want to be. And what you can or can't accomplish. It is this mentality that from the beginning of mankind has created wheels, invented computers, and conquered peaks.

Try something different.

post script: Entries one through four are about this guy's dream of climbing Mt Reinier on his 40th birthday. The posts stop after entry five; I wonder if he ever made it.

swimteam secrets

i lick my hand
to smell your scent
intoxicating like chlorine

I like the smell of the pool on my skin.

All-County Swim Meet

Get out those tightly fitting speedo's, boys.

Girls, don those swim caps.

Because it's time to start training for
the first annual All-County Swim Meet!!!

When: Saturday, January 27th 2007
Where: Steiner Aquatics
Who: Swim teams across the County (that means you! all age groups and skill levels welcome*)
What: Swim fast, win a prize!
Why: Some people seem to think prizes are cool.

*This is a "serious" swim meet. No previous skill needed. Just humor us. Please come swim in our "All-County" swim meet. There will be prizes. Maybe even a trophy. Just please come swim in our swim meet!!!

The Deluxe Annual Family Pass.

We did it. We bought the annaul pass to the Salt Lake City Sports Complex. I have a blurry photo to prove it. Swimteam is back in full force.

Famous Potatoes.

I should be running a marathon this weekend, but I'm not.

this is how it is.

I haven't been running much lately. In fact, I don't think I've actually been since my run by the beach two weeks ago.

My ankle is all messed up. It feels like hash when I don't do anything at all. I'm scared to run. Sometimes I worry when I play frisbee...

I decided to let go of my pride and walk the marathon next month. Hey, it's something I haven't done, complete with it's own challenges, I'm sure (read: my pride). But I'll have Idaho out of the way with hopefully minimal problems with the ankles.

I don't think I'm doing the Wasatch Back Relay either. It's just not coming together like it did last year. After today the rates go up, we still do not have a full team. I don't want to deal with it.

So what's the state of my physical life? I walked 20 miles on a beach a few weeks ago. I've been swimming. I've been hiking. I play city league frisbee. Maybe that's good enough for right now.

the state of affairs

I think I feel the onset of overuse injuries coming on... so I don't want to overdue anything. I was going to go spin up at steiner, but came to bountiful instead. I'm still not sure if I'm doing a long run this weekend. If I do it will just be a short one. I'm skiing on Saturday anyway. Maybe I need new shoes... I know I need new shoes...

Because I have random pains and I don't like it!

soccer sabatical

I had my last soccer game tonight. Well, the last one for a while at least. I guess you could say I'm going on hiatus. Ultimate frisbee starts in a few weeks. As much as I'm going to miss Chunky Monkey, I'm so excited to see all the frisbee people. I haven't even played frisbee since Texas... It's been too long.

But we did win tonight. I got two goals. Too bad I was feeling very exhausted--I think I'm getting sick and it's leaving me with no energy. It was still fun and a good way to go out.

Good times fo' sho!

The McClelland Street Swimmers

A few weeks ago my hometeacher, Pete, called when I was headed up to the pool for Masters. I told him how I'm on this swim team for adults and he thought that was really cool. He said he wanted to swim too.

If you know me at all, you know how I get excited when people show interest in doing the things I do. Especially if while doing them they call me coach. Well, Pete now calls me "coach," and I now call him "team." It's a beautiful thing. We're trying to rope some other McClelland Streeters into joining the team -- aka my roommates. If Rui joins we can be an international team. It's really quite exciting.

Last night we had our first swim practice. He came to the pool after my Masters swim practice was over. I sat there in the water watching him swim, trying to give him pointers. He knows the basics, we just need to fine tune his skills. We'll be doing drills in the future.

Just so you know my Masters swim practice was a kick in the butt yesterday. We practiced the fly, back, and breast strokes -- and did sets of IM's. For all you non-swimmers, an IM is all four strokes: fly, back, breast, free. It's tough. But hey, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, or it at least puts hair on your chest.

futbol

Chunky Monkey went undefeated in the last league. This league is a little different. We've won a couple, lost a couple, and even tied once.

Our team has its ups and downs. Some days we run hard, some days we're a little lazier. Tonight I felt like we were all running hard and passing fairly well. We beat the team by some ridiculous amount like 13 to 3. Paul, I think, scored at least eight of those goals; he should get a haircut every week.

Beth and I are the only girls who play the field. Katie is in Keep. So I get to play half the game. We sub out every three minutes or so. Sometimes I just want to stay in longer. To be honest, sometimes I'd be happy if I didn't have to sub at all. I like running.

I did get one goal tonight. It was a fun game.

Sometimes it's a rough road to physical fitness and marathon readiness.

Every now and again I think I have a stress fracture on my left ankle. So what do I do? Crosstrain!

I recently bought a pass to Steiner Aquatics, aka the Salt Lake City Sports Complex. Sure, Steiner's doesn't have tons of equipment like a trendy gym might have. But what it lacks in equipment it gains in quality swim workouts!

I've been swimming Masters for a couple weeks now. It's like the old days -- swimming in the slow lane (we used to affectionately call it the "slacker" lane) with a guy on deck telling us what to do. Except for now it's not Jack Seninger, thank goodness! I was only going to go on Wednesdays, but now I'm swimming on Mondays as well. I think I'm going to get those quality, kick-your-butt-into-shape workouts that I need.

I'm also going to take some spin classes. And hopefully yoga and pilates if I can fit it all in. Because back in the day when I could run a marathon without training at all (and feel the best I've ever felt at the finish) I was swimming and biking more than running. I figure I can do that again here. Plus, maybe I could be ready for a few spring sprint triathlons! I'm going to be physically FIT!!

Famous Idaho Potato Marathon, here I come!

I'm back on the team!

Okay, so I didn't score two goals tonight, but my one goal was well worth it. Not only was it a pretty shot, but it put us ahead in a very close game. We held the lead to the finish. I'm happy, because they were a very good team. Maybe an undefeated season really is well within our reach.

The low-down.

I went running on Monday.

I didn't go running on Tuesday.

I went running on Wednesday.

I played soccer on Thursday.

What will the rest of the week bring?

I'm off the team.

I didn't get my two goal quota tonight, so I've been kicked off the team. That's the only reason they signed me. Maybe I'll go play in a league in Europe or something.

Okay, so soccer tonight was a lot of fun. As it has been this whole league. I love my team and I feel we're meshing better than the first game. We've won all four of our games so far and I'm thinking we might just be the champions at the end of this all. But anything can happen, we'll just have to see how it all plays out.

I just have to say that I'm in love with playing. It feels good to be out there again. I'm actually scoring goals--even if it is just one, not two. It's always like this after a long absence, though. I'm out there playing with some spit 'n fire, just so happy to be chasing a ball. I'm sure I'll gradually get worse if I keep playing for a while. Or maybe not. That just seems to be the trend sometimes. I'm happy for now at least.

Neglect.

Let's be honest, I've been neglecting my Kenyan within. But I really do go running sometimes, I promise.

Actually, I've just been so busy lately with work and everything. . . But this week I actually went out both Monday and Tuesday night, and I didn't have time tonight because of Nata's bridal shower or I would've gone. Tomorrow I play soccer. (I'm on an indoor league again, it's like coming home.) I think I've refound my joy for running as a release. Sometimes you need it to keep your sanity. I've really been working a lot.

So if I'm ever around a computer I'll have to keep this weblog updated. That's the other part of the problem. . .

My week so far. . .

I went running on Monday and Tuesday, but not yesterday. By the time I got home from work I was too tired and hungry and Marcus came over to make dinner anyway. Hopefully I can go sometime today, but I have a wedding reception tonight (Eternal Wasatch Back Relay love!!!) so we'll see if I can squeeze one in.

On Monday I went on 1100 East to 1300 South and then busted up the hill to 1300 East. It's a pretty tough hill there at the end but I was proud of myself because I didn't stop at any point. It's a short run, but a good one.

Tuesday I just went on 1100 East to 1300 South and back. I had some time constraints because we were headed down to Pleasent Grove for Melissa Carroll's bridal shower. I just needed a quick one anyway to get the legs moving a little bit.

Just a little guy

I went running yesterday. It was just a little guy because it had to be quick so I could shower and get ready to go down to Provo for Armchair Cowboy. Besides, I feel like I may be getting a little sick. I just want to take it easy.

For a short run I felt I busted it out fairly quickly. It was good to get out there and at least get the legs moving a little bit.

11th East to 13th South

Back on the road

So I've only gone running a handful of times since the marathon. This past week, it seems, that I've kind of come to that place where I want to be out there again. I think I really needed a few weeks off.

I've been twice this week. Tuesday and Wednesday. Only about three miles each. Even though they didn't feel like the best runs, I knew I had to get out there anyway. And my body is appreciative of that. I need to get out there for myself. For my own sanity.

Maybe right now I should just focus on running for the pure joy of running. No training. No qualifying. No pacing. Just running.

So hopefully I'll hit the road again tomorrow. With this beautiful running weather how could I not?

St George

It's funny to compare my two St George Marathon experiences.

Last year I found out about a week before the race that I would be able to run. I had not been training at all, though I was in pretty good shape overall. I started out very slowly and must have gotten into a good pace because I finished at around 4:20. This was my first and only race where I felt really good at the finish line--I felt as though I could keep going right on to Vegas! Hey, why stop there? Why not keep running right to the coast?

*Sigh*

This year was different. I had been training. Or doing my best to train, at any rate. I was trying to work through chronic injuries. I had visions of qualifying for Boston. But I guess it wasn't the right time for me, and my body knew that. The week of the marathon I got sick. It was hard to hydrate adequately. I had also been living in Lubbock, TX for the past month, and as many of you know there are no hills in the high plains of West Texas.

In Paulo Coelho's book, The Alchemist, he writes "When you want something the whole universe conspires for you to achieve it." I believe that. But as I said before this just wasn't the right time. For starters, I was expecting and counting on pace groups during the race. I panicked at the starting line when I realized they really weren't having any that year (they had them the year before because that's how I gauged my progress since my watch died at mile 1) and I had no real back-up plan. I started out too fast. I burned myself out in my already weakened condition. The race was hard both mentally and physically.

The two races are such polar opposites. This year I came in at 4:17 chip time, which is practically what I ran it in the year before. But I felt totally different. My legs hurt, my feet ached, but I was surprisingly not as disappointed as I thought I might be. Will I run St George next year? I guess we'll have to see. Maybe I'll throw my name in the lottery and see if I get in. I am, however, refocusing on my goal of the fifty states club. I can't keep running the same two Utah marathons year after year! I'm thinking of Yakima River Canyon next April in Washington state. . .