what a waste of a week

so its been 4 days since I could really exercise, because of how much pain my left knee is still in from my fall last saturday. This SUCKS! I'm supposed to be running 20 miles on Saturday, and should've run a total of around 40 miles this week.........I've run ZERO so far. I cant believe how mangled and bruised and swollen it still is. from stupid tripping. can you tell I'm frustrated??

6 WEEKS till the marathon! thats scary how fast that is going to go.

i'm going to try and run an easy 3 tomorrow with Back on My Feet before the 20 miler on saturday.

blargh........frustrated! want this marathon to be OVER!

in other news, since i havent exercised in 4 days.........i lost 2lbs. i swear to god i have an inverse metabolism.....

wish us luck saturday, running 20 with Kat, Diane, and maybe some of the BOMF crew.......but its supposed to be POURING rain all day. and cold. yipeee!

Things you can do when not training for a marathon: Eat Cheesesteaks

Mmmmm look at that delicious cheessesteak. Tony Luke's? Dalessandro's? Pat's or Geno's? No, no, no, and no. That is from Wogies in the West Village, a bar serving philly style sandwiches and $3 yuengling drafts, ordered, of course, by asking for "a lager". It's a philly bar through and through, with the owner and the bartenders all hailing from the best city in the U.S. of A.

Last night I ducked out of work a half hour early to get there before the game started so i could grab a good seat. best. move. ever. I got the last seat at the bar, and within 15 minutes you couldn't move. The place was packed to the rafters and every single person was a die hard phils fan stuck in nyc. i made friends with a dude originally from cherry hill, one from delaware, and another guy who just moved up here yesterday. For 4 hours it felt like i was back home, all the high fives and jumping up and down with random strangers reminded me of that beautiful night of October 29, 2008. I probably had 3 heart attacks last night, and at one point i think i blacked out. Playoff baseball is back!

Now its time to take care of those Dodgers for the second year in a row. Maybe matt stairs can recreate some of his magic and top it off afterward with another quote about "getting his ass hammered". We can only hope.

OUCH!

well, it finally happened. i joked with my friend danielle lots of times that no one ever falls or gets hurt while running, that its a crazy thought. and saturday, i bit the sidewalk, big time. i was jogging to meet up with everyone from BOMF, and kat & diane, for our saturday 10 mile run.....and coming up to the corner we meet at, i noticed that the group was really large for a saturday, and was trying to see who was there, wasnt paying attention. boom. went FLYING. i tripped, and flew, and slammed into the sidewalk, on my hands and knees, thankfully not my head. i threw my iphone (thankfully it survived), and i didnt even know if i could stand back up right away, it hurt so badly. i looked up and Austin, and one of the bomf guys were running towards me (i was still a block away, so I wasnt sure the group had spotted me yet), and they were helping me up before i knew it. i pulled up my pant legs, and both knees were pretty banged up, along with the palms of both hands.....and the side of one hand (explain how i hit the palm AND the back of my hand in the same fall, haha). so i hobbled to the rest of the group, poured some water on the wounds to clean off some of the gravel.....cried for a few minutes. (yes, i cried, it hurt like hell!!), and started off on a ten mile run!!

it wasnt a horrible run, the weather was nice, good company as always, and lots of friendly faces along the path, but my left knee was really in alot of pain, and i was ready to be done. and VERY glad it was a smaller distance. so i got home, quickly showered, cleaned up all my cuts, and ran out the door for a camping/hiking trip to delaware water gap! it was an AMAZING time, we hiked up to sunfish pond saturday night, probably a 3 mile hike uphill or so. sunday, we hiked Mt. Tammeny, probably about 4 miles of hiking, and 1500 feet of elevation climbed. all the while though, my knee was still really hurting.

well, i'm paying for it today. my left knee is still really really swollen, purple, full of cuts/scrapes, and hurts when i bend it. basically, i'm re-opening the wounds everytime i bend my knee, haha. and hiking and not icing it all weekend has really set me back. i couldnt run this morning, i biked to work and winced in pain everytime i pedalled. basically, i think im going to have to take it slow for a few days. luckily, i dont REALLY bend my knees that much when i run because of my stride, so i might be able to do some easy runs until these wounds heal up. i'm a little worried about the swelling though, hopefully more icing will help.

sigh.....only 6 weeks till the marathon, a 20 mile run next weekend, and this is NOT what i needed to happen!!

so here's a happy photo from my hiking adventures this weekend to cheer things up a bit :)

quick update!

i'm sorry i havent posted in awhile, yikes! quick update- successfully, but barely, completed the MS 150 mile bike ride last weekend. my butt is still sore, a whole week later. in Toe-watch 2009 news, my toe has turned black, haha, its weird, but i'm just waiting for it to fall off! It still hurts, but not quite as bad. i'm getting up for a ten mile run tomorrow, before heading off to a hiking/camping weekend with a great group of friends. so even though the mileage is lower, we'll be doing a ton of hiking, i didnt want to completely kill my legs. i was pretty bad this week, i took 2 days off after the bike ride, ran 6 miles one day, and went to the gym another, then another rest day. bum. i'll kick it back into gear next week for sure, soooo glad the bike ride is behind me. stay tuned for an update after running/hiking/camping!

the real story about bridget's toe.

this is actually what happened. sorry to out you bridget! but its time you stopped living in filth.

toe update!

i know, i know, you're all on the edge of your seats about the status of my sore toe....

so I mangled my toe this weekend with all my fabulous running.....and I haven't been able to wear shoes since Sunday, haha. I sported flip flops at work yesterday so that I could wear this giant rubber toe protector. Today its finally feeling better, still sore if i touch the top of the nail, but way better. It seems that the nail has separated from the nail bed, and there's a callous underneath it (ew, right?). according to lots of running websites, this is really common, and my nail might eventually fall off, which, apparently will make it feel way better.

i cant believe i'm actually HOPING for my toenail to fall off. running has made me into a weirdo.

in a related story- i tried to find a funny picture of a toe to post, but apparently, googling "cartoon toe" or "funny toe" doesnt come up with anything very good. so, note to self, make some cartoon toes and throw them out on the internet.

ok, now i'm losing it. going to try to run 3 after work and see how it goes!!

Weekend warrior

I had a great weekend of running!

Saturday, Kat, Diane, and I set out on a 14 mile run....along Kelly drive and through fairmount/forbidden drive. The weather was beautiful and crisp, a perfect fall day for sure. And Diane had cut up oranges for us as a snack- training is all about trying out what works and what first right? They were sooo refreshing and delicious when we cracked them open around mile 7ish....way better than those chemical filled goo packs!
So I biked home from our run (ugh it's like triathalon training when you don't have a car!) and then my bff matt called to say he'd be picking me up in 20 minutes for Oktoberfest at Brauhaus on south street. Sigh....no rest for the weary :-/ but there were German beers to be drank!
All I wanted was a nap but instead I found myself eating bratwurst and drinking giant mugs of beer! It was fun, but then I was off to meet my family for dinner! Soo tired! I don't think I've ever NOT taken a nap after a long run haha.

And to top it off, this morning was the Parkway run, a 5k for childrens hospital, with bff, grace, Dana, Lauren, Peter and the rest of the sig team. I had no idea how it'd go, how sore I'd be. But- Lauren and matt pushed me along...and then I got a burst of energy towards the end when I thought I'd finish in less than 30 minutes. I finished in 30:11!! That's one of my best times in....well....as long as I can remember. I've always finished 5ks in like 32-34! I was excited!

Then I had to run to the train to go babysit, play with kids all day, and now I'm completely zombified :)

also- my toe is KILLING me!! I keep hearing that you can lose nails from running, eek! I have a feeling it's comin soon! I hope I can run with the pain :-/