Friday, September 01, 2006

Random Reflections

How does a week without running feel so busy? Yeah, I decided to give my hip a week to heal and hopefully I can still salvage the 22 miler on Saturday. I'm just considering it an unplanned taper.

I really love what's happened over at completerunning.com. The revamped Complete Running Network is full of great RBF writers and personalities and is superbly informative. I do miss the Running Blog Recents page. I used that page to keep up with my favorite blogs. Although I've got links to some of them on the side bar of my little blog, I couldn't tell if there was something new to read or not without first checking in. I have finally subscribed to many feeds with Bloglines. I guess this is something that you all knew about, but I'm a little slow on the uptake when it comes to technology. I run sans a GPS, a HRM, or even an i-Pod. Heck I can't even take pictures with my cell phone. With Bloglines now I know when you've all added some interesting little tidbit I will want to read.

Drew has added a cool new tool on his blog to connect with other RBF members. Check it out! You never know who you might meet.

Speaking of CRN, I love today's quote: "It is very difficult to train for a marathon; but it is even more difficult to not be able to train for a marathon." —Aaron Douglas Trimble. I really hope this doesn't become my reality.

Wednesday I went out for a bike ride, rather than a run. I got on my stock, 8 year old GT Aggressor for a ride on the streets. I rode over to the far end of Bonelli, through Bonelli and down San Dimas Ave and then back home. San Dimas Ave is the street that Jeff road at 40 mph during his triathlon (June 10). I know I went nowhere near that fast but I went as fast as the GT would roll. I had it in the highest gear and all I could do was just spin the pedals. I ran out of daylight putting in 18 miles in 1:20. I felt like I had kept up a pretty decent pace, but post ride calculations come up with a measly 13.5 mph. Even more reason to be in awe of you Ironmen that clock huge miles at 20+ mph for an easy ride. The good news is that the hip didn't hurt during the ride.

Thursday night we said goodbye to Janice. Yet another work friend moving on to the next big thing. First Brian, my running partner, off to dental school in Boston. Then Celeste, another running partner/friend, off to a new job. Now Janice chasing her dream to become a dentist at the University of California at San Francisco Dental School. I was able to bring her over to the dark side (she got hooked on running) and I got to share her first half marathon.

This evening I saw a chiropractor, to see what she could do for my hip. Along with the hip pain, I can also feel that my back and neck are out of whack. So hopefully getting everything back in line will help. If not, then I will consider the next step. I have seen chiropractors in the past with very good results. This one comes highly recommended by many people at work, including Terry, my one last remaining running buddy at work. I got a little e-stim and "racked and whacked" (the chiro's description). Now, I feeling a little sore, but I expected that.
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August Milestone:

3 years at or below goal weight!

182.5 miles for the month. Off my goal of 200 miles, but my highest month yet by about 1.5 miles. Could this be the cause of my hip pain?

One of the races I was thinking of doing, a marathon relay with the CA Cruiser at the inaugural Inland Empire Marathon, has been canceled. That leaves me an opening for another interesting event I'll disclose later. ;-)

9 comments:

Rae said...

Great job with your August mileage! That huge!!

Hope the hip is behaving itself, injuries are such a pain (literally!).

I am in awe of the Ironmen, too! I can't even imagine......

Wes said...

Riding the bike is a great way to keep up your exercise while giving your hip a chance to heal. I applaud you!

Danny said...

i hope you feel better soon.

btw, i love that random RBF link script from Drew's site. Thanks for linking to it!

Beanie said...

actually, i'm just as slow as you are re: the bloglines tool. i'll definitely be using it from now on!

Anonymous said...

Darrell, first of all congrats on your amazing maintenance of the tremendous weight loss!!!! Dude, I can't believe its already been 3 years- congratulations! And then, just wondering how the 22-miler went this morning???? Hopefully your hip is doing okay...

Joe said...

Darrell, so sorry to hear of the continuing hip issues. Sure hope the "whack and crack" is holding up and continues to do so.

Unknown said...

As long as I don't hear you saying that you must be getting too old for this marathoning business you're okay. I hope the hip pain goes away so you can get back to training in time for the taper. There certainly seems to ne growing pains usually associated with increased mileage.

Backofpack said...

Darryl,
Thanks for coming by and reading my blog. I hope your hip is feeling much better after some rest.

That is a pretty cool link with from Drew. I'm having trouble keepin up on blogs too, so maybe bloglines would help...

Anne said...

Bloglines is definitely a useful tool, but I sometimes miss the thrill of opening a blog and finding something new that I wasn't expecting. Plus, you don't notice when sidebars change.

Hope all the rest and 'whacking' pay off for you this week when you return to running.