Countdown to Chicago

So this last week I was ramping back up into running after a ten day downtime (due to uncertainty about my foot.) I ran 2, 5, 7.3, and 4 miles Monday through Thursday. Unfortunately I had foot pain on that last run. This is not good, because certainly something is not right. I took Friday off and on Saturday I planned to run my last long run, which was ten miles. I only managed to do five, because my foot started hurting around four miles in.

Needless to say this complicates my certainty about running in the Chicago Marathon. Vince, a PARC member and CMU alum, told me a very cautionary tale about an undetected (via xray, anyway) stress fracture he had that ended up becoming a broken foot when he was running a marathon.

I already have an appointment with a podiatrist (the earliest they could schedule me after last Monday's doctor's appointment was this Wednesday, nine days later), but at Vince's encouragement, I have requested an urgent scheduling of a bone scan to remove all uncertainty about any existence of a stress fracture in my foot. If I have a fracture, I will not be running on Sunday. If I don't have a fracture, I will run. In the meantime I will continue biking to/from work this week as a means by which to keep some of my muscles exercised.

I fly out on Thursday morning very early. I will be working in the Chicago engineering office on Thursday, Friday, Monday, and some of Tuesday. I don't know anyone in the Chicago office, but I will be going to lunch with their director of Engineering for fun :) I will also be visiting with John W at U Chicago, and Fred M who works for Shure these days.

Regardless of what happens I will be going to Chicago, where I have never been, and I will have a great time visiting with old friends and catching up with the fine people of the Cambridge Running Club!

This weekend's exploits

Well, as this weekend is coming to a close, I'm coming to terms with the fact that the Chicago Marathon is less than 7 days away. This weekend was fun. Activities included:

• Volunteering at the finish line of the Palo Alto Moonlight Run and cheering on Rachel J and Paula V.
  
• The usual Saturday morning run (last before Chicago).. more about that in the next post.
  
• Seeing Saagar P while he was in town, rocking the interviews and scoring the job offers
  
• Going shopping with Andrea K (part of my fashion overhaul!)
  
• Biking and playing frisbee with CMU alums Gil T, Diane L, Tim W and Linda Y at Shoreline Lake. I had to replace my front tire's tube beforehand, which was good because I hadn't actually had to do this by myself before. Now I need to get a replacement tube...
  
• Playing Hassenpfeffer with Ed B and various CMU/Sigma Nu alums at Jenny K's party.
  

House party

Friday night my roommates and I threw a huge house party. We had something like 40 people show up over the course of the night. The house was in top shape - everything was cleaned up and sorted and looked nice. All the different social circles I'm in were represented - CMU/WRCT/AB Tech alumni, a friend from high school, people from work, runners from PARC.. you name it, they were there. It was a good time. The party went from 7pm to 3am; the booze flowed (not that I care) and there was lots of music (courtesy of my new Squeezebox plus my Bose sound system, yeah!), and lots of dancing (which I enjoyed.) We only had one noise complaint, but by the time a cop showed the high-energy part of the party had already subsided, and we were enjoying the hot tub and just chatting pretty quietly. He was professional and let us carry on, no worries.

A huge (running) scare

Well, things were going great with my training until Saturday the 15th. That day I ran 20 miles at a fast pace, and things were fine. Or so I thought. Several hours later I was walking around when I realized that my right foot hurt a lot. "This isn't good at all!" I thought, because the last thing I needed three weeks before the marathon was an injury. So I immediately started taking Aleve and I stopped running at all, hoping that the pain would subside. For the next few days it hurt to walk, and I hobbled rather badly. I stopped biking to/from work also as a precaution.

The earliest I could see any doctor -- which of course has to be my PCP, who I had never met before -- was nine days later, on Monday the 24th. Let me tell you that was the longest time ever. In the meantime though by the time Thursday rolled around, my foot was feeling fine, so long as I was taking Aleve. Though I must say, the more Aleve I took, the more upset my stomach felt over the course of the week. It's good stuff, but it's not perfect.

I tried going to salsa class on Thursday, as a light test of how my foot was doing. It seemed OK (and I really enjoyed the class), but I didn't want to risk it, so I did not run my planned 16 miler that weekend. Monday's visit to the doctor couldn't come soon enough.

But enough with the suspense - on Monday I met my new doctor, Dr. Watson (not kidding.) He is really cool, and he spent several years in Pittsburgh, which immediately makes him awesome. He ordered xrays of my right foot, which came back with "no problems." This is great news, because it means I don't have a stress fracture.

Now that I have much more confidence that resuming running won't have a detrimental longer-term effect, I can get back to training for the marathon. However, not running for nine days takes its toll on the accumulated endurance and strength one builds up while marathon training. So last night I only ran 2 miles, slowly, in order to see if that would be a problem. It wasn't, and I felt just fine today. I also went to salsa class today, and then I ran 5 miles tonight. Everything seems A-OK but I'll know more in the morning.

At this point I have to ramp back up to doing 6-10 miles/day without causing other problems due to more than a week of inactivity. Then, I need to ramp down next week because the marathon is only TWELVE days away. Eeep! I can hardly believe it. But, I'm really really glad that it's still in the cards. I would have been really disappointed if I couldn't have run Chicago. I still would have gone to support my friends in CRC though.

Now I just need to put in my last miles and then get my butt out there. Chicago here I come!

Salsa and Rueda

Tonight I went to the Salsa and Rueda class at work. It was a lot of fun! I met two of the volunteer instructors last weekend through a mutual friend whilst we were at the Mountain View Arts/Wine festival. I'm fascinated by the dance; while a group of about 15 of us learned a bunch of steps and moves, there is so much more to learn. I hope to get my whits about me on the dance floor so that I can go to the clubs and dance Rueda de Casino! All in all tonight I must've danced for about two hours. Whew!

Crazy weekend

Well, I'm certainly not letting idle time get the best of me. In true Andrew fashion, I have started the process of thoroughly overextending myself. Bring it! Here's what I did this weekend:

• This weekend's run wasn't long, but it was hard. A few very fast people showed up and pushed the lead pack to do closer to 7 mile pace for the first six miles. This made the return trip much harder. 12 miles, over and done with.
  
• Saints that they are, Diane L and Gil T organized my bedroom and storage; I am so close to having everything in its right place I can taste it! If I just make one more run to IKEA, Office Max, or whatever and get my computer desk and a chair.. I will be all set!
  
• Andrea K's birthday party was at Bella Vita in Los Altos. Super extra bonus points to Derek P for making reservations at such a nice place.
  
• Yet Saturday had only just begun! This was followed up with a night of dancing at the Smash-Up Derby at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco. I went out with Rachel J, Paula V, and some of their girlfriends. Mike S also stopped by with some of his friends. The DNA lounge is a cool venue, and has some major geek cred, due to being owned and operated by Jamie Zawinski (Netscape employee #20.) The DJs were pretty good and mixing and mashing up 80s dance and rock tunes (Michael Jackson, Joan Jett) with modern hip hop (Akon, MIMS.) They even had a live band play who mashed up Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. Not too shabby!
  
• Sunday I went to the Art and Wine Festival in Mountain View. They close off Castro Street, which is the main drag downtown. The place is crammed to the gills with artists and other merchants selling their wares. It reminds me a lot of the Three Rivers Arts Festival.
  
• My high school friend Nancy B is in med school at Stanford. She is very very busy, but we both wanted the chance to go biking, so the best time ended up being this Sunday. Here is the route. 21 miles, with a big (well, for me anyway) climb in the middle. Ooof! Nancy is really good at biking; I hope to learn a lot from her and one day be up to her level.
  

And then I slept like a baby! Weekend over.

We want you ... to play football!

Well, I'm running a fantasy football league this season, and our league is short by one person. We can't start the draft until we get one more player, so would anyone here like to join? THANKS!

Visitors - hiking and croquet

Kat M and Joe B came up to the bay to visit Derek, Andrea, and me this labor day weekend. It was much fun! We hiked around Muir Woods, played croquet in Washington Square Park in San Francisco, and saw an awesome view of downtown and the Golden Gate Bridge via Battery 129.

Apartment update

Alright - things are starting to be livable at my apartment. As previously mentioned, my bedroom is painted. I moved my bed up against one wall, leaving plenty of space for a future computer desk, and even a loveseat, rocking chair, or large beanbag. The living room and dining is all set up, and thanks to Jen S, my kitchen has been unpacked and organized in a sane fashion. We'll finally be able to have a house party, which will be sweet.