Random bloviations

Posted on November 15, 2010 by threlkeld

Here’s my version of a Larry King column. Heavy on personal pronouns, inanity and randomness.

I use my Exogen 4000 bone stimulator daily. Sometimes twice a day. Is it working? I have no idea. Did you know these expensive devices only have about 170 uses? Then their internal battery goes dead. The maker claims you can’t replace or recharge the battery. Yeah. Right. Another four thousand dollars, please. I know we’re a capitalist country. But, honestly, we do take it too far sometimes.

I am also taking a product called Bone Up, a calcium supplement that’s full of Australian bovine something or other. It’s in the kitchen and I’m too comfortable at the moment to get up and go look at the bottle. It was recommended to me by a woman who has had many stress fractures. She says it works. I believe her.

I actually like this season’s Dexter. I didn’t like the last season, which felt like the writers were treading water with the character. This time around Dexter gets a quasi-girlfriend who may also have serial killer leanings (at the very least she is a victim turned vigilante), causing him to get sloppy with his protocol. That’s a plot development that rocks. I would not have thought of that. Also, Peter Weller is great in his role as scummy, bottom feeding private investigator.

I am also enjoying The Walking Dead, our first-ever zombie television series. I just call it The Zombie Show. I am still on the premiere episode, because not only am I too tired or too busy (or too asleep) to watch television most evenings, but also because Jonathan is not a big fan of the zombie genre. It’s a little hackneyed, but the cinematography is notably good and I appreciate the acting performance by the semi-aware-but-nonetheless-completely-zombified wife of one of the characters. That’s an acting challenge. The makeup and special effects are excellent too.

So my evenings are full of enjoyable violence.

I did the first of my two planned Big Name Runner interviews over the weekend. I know the article I want to write and how I will write it. I am determined to get this finished this week, although as usual my “pays the bills” work takes precedence and is heating up lately.

The nice thing about having a blog is that even if I can’t interest any of the usual outlets in paying me for it, I can just publish it here and I’ll be almost as happy with that. I’ll be surprised if no one wants it, but stranger things have happened. In general, I have quickly learned that it’s difficult to impossible to make a living just doing freelance running journalism. The fact that I’m not trying to means I can do the work I do in this area on my own terms. I’m still having fun with it.

I may get a chance to try out an Alter-G treadmill somewhere in Harlem soon. That should be interesting and educational.

I’m planning a trip to Switzerland at some point next year. It will probably be sometime later in the summer. We went there in 2007 and I’ve missed it ever since. The exchange rate is terrible, but there’s nothing I can do about that. Life is short. I want to go back to Zermatt, where a strained medialis prevented me from hiking up to the base of the Matterhorn. I also enjoyed Pontresina, the lower-key (and cheaper) sister town to St. Moritz. And, of course, the Jungfrau region, although I think this time we’ll stay on the Grindelwald/Wengen side, whereas last time we were in Murren.

Longer term, I’m figuring out where to go for my 50th birthday. Much as I would love to go somewhere weird and totally new to me, like Japan, or exotically third-world, like Indonesia, I think it’s going to be Norway. I guess I’m getting old, but I want a reliably civilized experience featuring a Western culture that I can somewhat relate to. There needs to be good beer and cheese involved too. I know it’s a few years off. But I like to plan.

Also, is it just me, or is anyone else annoyed by Haile’s petulant retirement announcement, followed by cooler headed reversal — which in the process eclipsed every other New York Marathon story? Everyone knew he didn’t mean it. Now. Do you remember who won the men’s and women’s races? You had to think about it for a moment, didn’t you?

Filed under: drinking, eating, elites, everyday life, injury, travel | 5 Comments »

Training: Oct 24-Nov 13

Posted on November 14, 2010 by threlkeld

Well, it’s about time for another yellow post. I only post this stuff so that it’s easy for me to go back and look at what was happening. Plus I’m obsessive-compulsive and it bugs me when I have gaps in training posts.

I was a cross-training machine in mid-to-late October, but things dropped off in the last two weeks. These were two incredibly busy weeks for me with work commitments (I have two big freelance projects these days with many due “deliverables,” as we call them), the NYC marathon — and lots of time spent in in the medical realm.

Not just MRI facilities and podiatrists, but also an endodontist whom I didn’t like very much at all. But then, people in the dental professional have a hard time being liked in general. The fact that she made me wait an hour to see her, then spent 15 minutes during our consultation berating a vendor, did not help her industry.

Denis Leary: Dave, let me explain something to you, okay? People…hate you, you’re a dentist.

Campbell Scott: Is that right?

Denis Leary: They can’t wait to get out of your office, okay? They think about you, they think “pain.” They would like nothing more than to never have to see you again. And your best work never even sees the light of day.

Campbell Scott: Well, you’re going to lose every tooth in your mouth, my friend. You’ve got one of the worst cases of gum disease I’ve ever seen.

— The Secret Lives of Dentists

But the less said about my ongoing dental drama, the better. Except this: my problem is not due to neglect, if you must know. If it’s even a problem, that is; it could be total tooth apocalypse or just a mysterious shadow on the x-ray (I’m hoping it’s the latter when I go back in to find out). But whatever’s going on traces back to a bike accident I had in 1989.

Just to put this in perspective, here are some things that also happened in 1989:

  • Mikhael Gorbachev was named president of the Soviet Union
  • The Berlin Wall came down
  • We invaded Panama to capture Manuel Noriega
  • “Roseanne” and “The Cosby Show” were the top shows
  • “Wind Beneath My Wings” was Record of the Year
  • …and everyone had fluffy, fluffy hair and big shoulder pads!

I already had a root canal 10 years ago because of that accident (in addition to the three I had at the time to reconstruct three of my teeth). I did not have dental insurance then. I do not have dental insurance now. I will never have dental insurance. There is a very good reason for why I do not ride bikes except ones that are indoors and stay in place.

A state of the art cell phone. In 1989.

Basically, I am sick of sitting in traffic or hauling around on the train/subway, waiting around in horrible waiting rooms, having unpleasant things done to me, and then writing large checks for the privilege. So I’m taking a break from it for a few weeks.

The endodontist can wait until after Thanksgiving (a day I will probably be working — and the gym is open that day for losers like me!) as I’m doubtful my teeth will crumble or fall out in that time.

I am taking a wait-and-see approach to doing anything further on the osteitis pubis front. I know what I have, which is inflammation. Now I need to see how it responds to the return to running over the next week or two. If running obviously aggravates it, or it simply isn’t getting better, then I’ll take action. If it continues to improve, even slowly, I’ll let it ride.

The big change in cross-training is that I have returned to weight-bearing lower body work, but cautiously. I am careful with the leg press machine in particular. And walking lunges pissed off my right hamstring yesterday, so those are out for awhile. But I must do standing squats and deadlifts to strengthen the muscles that support my, er, pelvic region. And I’m back to rolling and stretching, since I can already feel my IT band and other muscles knotting up again.

I did another grassy field run today, half an hour this time. That did irritate my poor tendon (and brought back a very faint pain in the gluteus). Not exactly encouraging. But it’s early days yet. I probably won’t try a run again until Wednesday. The good news is that it was not as spiritiually demoralizing as Friday’s run. I truly think that second run back after a long layoff is the worst one.

So there’s the recap. In summary, I didn’t do as much training as I would have liked and I’m finding doctors to be tiresome.

Filed under: everyday life, injury | 2 Comments »

Ran today. Hated it.

Posted on November 12, 2010 by threlkeld

Today was my second attempt at running since the last attempt, which was roughly two weeks ago. That last run’s discomfort was largely obscured by the oh my god I’m actually running novelty. It’s been over three months since I’ve run, after all. But I knew based on that experience that today’s run wouldn’t be a good run. I figured it would be mediocre. I didn’t expect to actually hate the experience.

I understand now why most people who take up recreational running don’t get beyond January 7th. Being a new runner sucks. That’s essentially what I am now: a new runner. I can imagine someone thinking, “People do this for fun? They find it gives them pleasure? But how?”

I know that my aerobic system is in great shape, but when it comes to running I’m like a jet engine attached to a Radio Flyer. My body is not used to running and everything else I’ve been doing does not translate, at least at this point in time. I feel like I weigh a thousand pounds and it’s like running on stilts. (Plus my legs, which have been permanently browned since 2007, have gone all Johnny Winter on me in just three months of sunless existence. Thank goodness tights season is on the way.)

I ran around a baseball field again. Nice, soft grass. Jonathan and I went together and he was eager to run with me, despite my foul mood. I’m shocked he hasn’t left me, since I complain basically all the time. He told me his second run back (I think he’s on his fourth or fifth) was the worst one. It will get better. Jeez, I hope so.

I had to remind myself that I’d already done two hours of hard exercise just a few hours before, on top of hard work in the pool yesterday, on top of whaling on my legs with 90 minutes of weight work on Tuesday.

I managed 25 minutes. I’ll try 30 next time. Probably on Sunday or Monday.

We did see a man who appeared to be drunk chasing some Canadian geese around at the edge of the field. That was funny.

Filed under: everyday life, injury | 8 Comments »

Adventures with Ambien

Posted on November 6, 2010 by threlkeld

Last night I had my first ever “bizarre behavior on Ambien” event. I got home from the Runner’s World party at about 10:30. My brain was abuzz with activity. I’m always overstimulated after going to a party of any kind. I knew I wouldn’t be able to switch it off. I also had been drinking club soda all evening (except for one tiny glass of champagne at the entrance). But I hadn’t eaten that much.

So I sat down on the couch with my laptop and shotgunned a full 10mg Zolpidem Tartrate (generic Ambien) and a beer. My Facebook posts from that period were normal.

I got very sleepy, so put down the notebook and went to bed. The next thing I remember is waking up at 4AM and wondering why my iPod was next to the bed and turned on. It was showing “Low Battery.” I switched it off and went back to sleep until 7AM.

As I entered the kitchen to make breakfast, I took note of a few oddities. The freezer door was slightly ajar. There was a destroyed fudgesicle wrapper strewn across the kitchen — bits were on the counter, on the floor and in the trash. Around the base of the trash can was scattered a pile of paper napkins. I did what I always do in such cases: blamed it on Jonathan.

Over breakfast, I did my usual web browsing — Google Reader, blog stats and, of course, the ever-addictive Facebook. But it was with some alarm that I noted that a version of myself had been actively posting around midnight, maybe 90 minutes after I went to sleep.

The original post was done pre-blackout. The follow-up comment, however, shows some cognitive troubles brewing.

There was, in fact, no bling at the RW “shindig.” There was lots of food, which I should have eaten more of.

Was it hiccups that woke me up? Probably. It seems that hiccups are always annoying. Even when you're crocked.

This last one is the best of the three. I don’t even need to highlight it anywhere, as the whole message is highlight-worthy.

At my most mentally disordered.

I like this one the best because it documents my total mental disintegration, punctuated by stream of consciousness thoughts and things I said earlier in the evening, during which the only substances I was high on were club soda and California rolls. There are also hints of things I wrote about as long as a week ago.

“For the record” was something I said when we were leaving. I said that, for the record, I would not take responsibility for Sandra’s knee issue being exacerbated by the fact that she was wearing 3″ Donna Karans and running across the street in them.

“She knows her shit” is a reference to two things: Sandra has a very good knowledge of roadways leading into and out of NYC. I learned about all kinds of shortcuts last night. It’s also a line I used in an email recently, describing Sandra’s coaching to a friend.

“I am driving with Sandra” was not accurate. I was, in fact, sitting somewhere in my home. We don’t know where, since there is evidence that I made my way around several rooms of the house last night. This may have been posted from the guest room. It’s worth pointing out that in order to post these messages, I had to first unearth my iPod from the bowels of my gym bag, which was in the entrance hall. Upon closer examination, it appears all Facebook updates were sent from my laptop (iPod messages are labeled as such). So I went from sitting on the couch thinking, “I feel really sleepy” to instantly being in a state of altered conscious. The brain is an amazing contraption.

“It’s a fun, exhilarating ride. No near deaths. Just thrills.” What I find most amazing about this copy is that I still managed to spell the word “exhilarating” correctly. I must have been marshalling all my mental capacities and working so hard to accomplish that. Sandra’s driving reminds me a little of Diane Keaton’s driving in Annie Hall. Although instead of half a sandwich on the floor, she has water bottles rolling around.

She told me that her daughter says she’s a terrible driver. I told her that I felt she was merely an assertive driver and, further, she drives like she conducts the rest of her life: making decisions with confidence and taking advantage of new opportunities as they present themselves. She’s also not afraid of 18 wheelers.

Filed under: everyday life | Tagged: , | 8 Comments »

Abbreviations

Posted on November 5, 2010 by threlkeld

My days are packed with running-related journo stuff, cross-training sessions, medical appointments and the work I have to do in order to pay the bills, of which there is a lot these days. But it’s bad timing.

Here’s the rundown for anyone following along at home:

Injury: Yesterday I got my diagnosis: osteitis pubis (inflammed adductor tendon) and sacral stress fracture (break in my lower pelvis). The latter is healing on its own. The former needs some help. I didn’t want to ask when I can start running again. I didn’t want to hear the answer. I’ll ask next week. I was initially glad to get the news — at least it’s not a tear that requires surgery — but plunged into a few hours of despair later on. I’m better now. But I’m not thinking about it too much. I just plow through my gym workouts and ignore the big picture.

Partay: Tonight I go to the Runner’s World party in mid-town. I’m not a party person, but I would like to meet some people I only know by name, byline or email. My date is Coach Sandra, who is generously chauffering us both there in her leaf-green Volkswagon bug.

Mi Familia: Tonight my sister also blows into town, but I’ll miss her. But tomorrow I meet up with her, my dad and my stepmother for some good old-fashioned steakhouse fun in the Meatpacking District. Then we all head downtown (way downtown) and hotel it overnight.

Gawk and Talk: On Sunday I arise at 5:30AM 8:00AM and, if anyone in my family is actually awake, bid them adieu. Then I train it back uptown and spend the morning watching the elites run the marathon. That’s the gawk part — comfy tables to sit at with appropiate eating utensils so they can gawk at the onscreen access’ on three giant television screens with a bunch of other losers. We’ll be getting real-time splits and probably all kinds of other statistics. Then around 1:30 I will wander out to the Post-Finish area, meet up with RW photog. Stacey Cramp and force myself to be extroverted and loud for around an hour and half. I feel bad accosting people right after they’ve raced 26.2 miles (I know I often want to kill anyone who tries to talk to me during that time), but I’ll try to look for people who don’t look homicidal or suicidal.

Impose and Collapse: Then I go to a friend’s place nearby to borrow her office in order to transcribe, edit and send off my interviews later in the afternoon. The rest of the day is unscheduled. What’s left of it.

Healing is Expensive and Tedious: On Monday at 9:15 I go to the office of an orthopedist whose services I can’t afford. But I’m paying for them anyway. He’ll give me a Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) injection in my adductor tendon to jump start its healing. I also hope to get hold of a bone stimulator machine (no giggling) from the first doc. Another friend recommended Bone Up (again, stop giggling) supplements, which are speeding their way to me via Amazon.com right now.

Lassoing the To Do List: I won’t be able to exercise Mon, Tue, Wed of next week, which is good because I’m slammed with work again. My “real” work and my “fun” work. The real work is under control, but the fun work is so far behind I can’t stand it. I’ve lost all momentum with Houston Hopefuls and need to pick that work up again soon. I have two major interviews with Big Running Names on the horizon that I need to prepare for, along with numerous other little projects. One of the interviews is of a backward-looking nature, the other forward-looking. That’s all I’ll say for now. But I think they’ll both be good if I don’t screw them up.

Busman’s Holiday: No trip to the Dominican Republic later this month to report on a 10K there. They didn’t want to foot the bill. I’m disappointed, but a little relieved too as the travel would be a new source of stress and interruption in training. We’ll be working through Thanksgiving to hit other project deadlines, and that’s fine because preparing a huge Thanksgiving dinner for two people is kind of pointless. Especially when one of them’s a Brit.

Filed under: billat, elites, everyday life, injury, racing | 6 Comments »

NYC Marathon: I’ll be there, enjoying myself

Posted on October 29, 2010 by threlkeld

I’ll be doing a little work for Runner’s World on marathon Sunday. I’ll be assisting photographer Stacey Cramp to help put together a “Faces at the Finish” slideshow. She snaps the pictures and I ask the questions. Last year Stacey’s aide de camp was Duncan Larkin. This year it’s me. I’m beginning to suspect that this assignment is some sort of rite of passage for budding running journalists.

What this means is that I get a press pass with pretty-good-to-excellent access. I asked for finish line access as well as access to the raceday breakfast and watchathon that goes on in the former site of Tavern on the Green. There are days and days of scheduled interviews, both in person and by phone, among the elites during marathon week. Looking at the schedule, I feel a little sorry for them. There will also be post-race press conferences. That’s great, and I’ll go to some of that stuff. But I’m basically going to take it easy on November 7 and during the days leading up to it, aside from my assigned task with Stacey.

There will be lots and lots of interviews and articles coming out of the marathon. Mine probably won’t be among them. The one elite I really, really wanted to interview, Lyudmila Petrova, isn’t going to be among the field available to the media. I’m taking this as a sign, as much as I don’t generally believe in signs.

When I do my NYRR interviews, I spend hours researching and coming up with questions for the runners I’m going to interview, probably an average of 2-4 hours apiece. Then I go interview. Then I spend a few hours transcribing the interviews. Then I edit those and write them up. The average interview probably takes me around 6-8 hours in total to do. And those are the ones I can actually use. A Houston Hopefuls interview, because it’s more detailed and longer (and harder to research), typically takes me around 25 hours total from initial contact to posted interview.

I’m not whining. I’m just explaining why my contributions will be slim for the marathon. I’ve got around 50 hours of freelance work next week. Plus my insane cross-training schedule. Plus all these frigging medical appointments. So I’m going to put the kibosh on what was emerging as another source of pressure next week, much as I’d love to take full advantage of what NYRR is offering those of us with the fancy square of plastic around our necks. My apologies in advance.

But all is not lost. I will be on the NYC Marathon edition of the NY Running podcast on Tuesday November 2nd at 8PM ET, with cohorts Joe Garland and Steve Lastoe of NYCRuns.com. I have no idea if I’ll actually have anything to contribute, but I’ll try. NY Running is a parallel effort to the Runners Round Table podcast, of which I have become a fan, as the archives have provided much distraction (along with entertainment and insight) during the aforementioned insane cross-training schedule.

Anyway, tune in on Tuesday and help us make the show interesting. I’ll post something after the marathon. I just have no idea what.

Filed under: central park, elites, everyday life | 10 Comments »

Alphabet soup

Posted on October 22, 2010 by threlkeld

Well, since I can’t seem to get to sleep despite 3mg of Zolpidem Tartrate, I will post something.

I’ll post about a new game I play in the pool. I call it the Alphabet Soup Game. I “run” in a 25m pool, about half of which I can cover without my feel touching the bottom. So I am basically running in loops in a 6 ft wide lane for about 12m each way. It takes me around 60-75 seconds to complete a loop.

Time passes slowly in the pool. Very slowly. And lately I’ve found that wearing an MP3 player hampers my ability to keep up a steady effort. It’s a complete pace-killer for intervals/fartleks, just like on the track. Running hard in the pool is like running hard anywhere else —  it takes concentration and focus. So I’ve set aside the music and podcasts and now run in silence.

I have found with some experimentation that there remain some ways in which I can occupy my mind without slacking off on effort. One of them is a game whereby, on each loop, I choose the next letter of the alphabet and think of all the words I can during that loop, then move onto the next one with loop 2 being sponsored by the letter B, etc.

I also play this game when I’m trying to get to sleep — when counting backwards from 999 has not worked — and the same thing happens in the pool as it does in bed: I start off with a mundane, obvious children’s grammar book entry, such as “A is for apple” — and then immediately launch into some of the most obnoxious, obscure words. Words I’d forgotten I ever knew. I mean, I guess I’m happy that I have a decent vocabulary. But why am I coming up with words like “estoppel” and “egregiously” when “egg” would do perfectly well? I slip into themes too, where I’ll go on a psychological/brain journey and hop my way along related tangential words like they’re river rocks (“agoraphobia,” “amygdala,” and my favorite: “aquaphobia” — a fear of water found in the final stages of rabies. And in the early stages of pool running).

My standard pool run time is now 60+ minutes. After the warmup I can usually get through this word game at least twice, sometimes three times. 90 has been my biggest water run so far, and I did that one with music to reduce the shock. But on Sunday I’m doing a 2 hour run at steady ~75% effort, basically to simulate a long run. No MP3s. My vocabulary and capacity for free association will get a big workout then.

I’m becoming more efficient in the pool (meaning I cover more “ground” and I have had to increase my flail pace to get my HR up. I’m also adjusting the spin bike and elliptical machines to higher resistance settings these days since I’m much fitter on them than I was a month ago. Will this all pay off? I think it kind of has to, if one assumes that, at the very least, the aerobic conditioning will be applicable to running. I was also informed by Jonathan, in for him what was an uncharacteristically enthusiastic reaction (“Hang on — flex those again!”) that my shoulders, back (lats, especially) and triceps are making a statement when I enter a room. Some of that’s the upper body weight work. But I think most of it’s the pool running.

The visit to the new orthopedist went well yesterday, insofar as I was listened to quite carefully and the response was positive: “If it’s w, we’ll do x. If it’s y, we’ll do z.” The big surprise is that he takes my insurance, which I’d figured he wouldn’t. I’m so used to getting shafted by our insurance company and loathed by practictioners who grumpily accept it.

The MRI is next week. More news as it comes in. I’m sending Jonathan in to see ortho guy Tuesday since I figure he may as well get to work on fixing both of us.

I am hoping our diagnoses and recoveries will be easy as A, B, C. I don’t even care if they are painful and expensive. I just want them to work.

Uh oh. Can’t see straight. It’s time to make my way to my favorite horizontal space and start counting backwards…

Filed under: everyday life, injury, training, Uncategorized | Tagged: | 5 Comments »

Bad trips

Posted on October 18, 2010 by threlkeld

I have few television vices. One of them is House Hunters International. I also like the regular House Hunters, but the international edition is usually a lot more entertaining. Moreover, it often triggers memories of various trips I’ve taken to countries featured on the show, or to countries that merely resemble them. There really isn’t much difference among different members of the first-, second- and third-world country sets when you get right down to it.

Here are some highlights:

The Millennial Ass Bar-B-Que. We went to Scotland to celebrate the millennium. Or, rather, we went there to get away from crowds. One, because we don’t like them. Two, because there were such dire predictions of an apocalypse when the clock struck 2000 that we figured better safe than sorry. We rented a house in a town called Applecross. It had the narrowest bathroom I’d ever been in. It was about the width of our kitchen pantry. The owners had put in a wall towel-warmer. These are de rigueur in the UK. Unfortunately, it was opposite the sink. It also could not be turned off. I would frequently exit the tub and then, while drying myself off and admiring myself in the mirror, back into the towel warmer, singeing my rear end in the process. Finally, after a week, I’d conditioned myself not to do this. But by then it was time to leave. We had sherry with the owners, who were a little odd, but nice enough. The highlight that evening was spotting a real pine marten on their porch, and then the debate on the drive home about whether the woman cut her own hair. As for New Year’s, we stepped outside into the pitch black garden and had champagne to the sounds of braying sheep. Then went back inside and watched the London Wheel not work like it was supposed to.

I've actually seen this guy. Isn't it weird, what they did with his hands?

The Moscow Pensioner Survival Extravaganza. In the late 1990s my father and stepmother were finishing out their journalism careers in Russia. They invited us over and, well, it was Russia. I didn’t exactly want to go there. But how could I pass up the opportunity to do so? So, after four (count them: four) trips to the Russian Embassy in Manhattan, we finally secured the necessary paperwork to get into that Godforsaken country. The first thing I noticed when we got there was that none of the cars had hubcaps. Everything in Russia that isn’t nailed down gets stolen, including hubcaps. Also, the whole country is a hazard zone. Gaping holes in sidewalks, pieces of metal jutting out of unexpected places, buildings (inhabited ones) that look like the abandoned house in The Blair Witch Project — it was a total mess. But the best feature was the incredibly wide avenues. These were built to accomodate phalanxes of tanks three and four wide. They had stoplights that gave pedestrians about 20 seconds to get across at least 50 meters of crosswalk, behind which sat crazed Lada drivers, half of them drunk on bootleg vodka, ready to take off like it was Nascar. Among them were ancient pensioner women, all in black and barely able to walk. They’d get the green light, start madly hobbling — and barely make it. We went to see Lenin too. He was preserved under what looked like a McDonald’s fry warmer. He looked like a stuffed sausage. It was hard not to gawk, but it seemed rude to linger for more than about five seconds, much as I wanted to stay. I could write lots more about Russia. But I’ll move on.

The Grand Cayman Tourist Trap and Burn-O-Rama. In 1993 I got the bright idea that we should learn to scuba dive. I did research and learned that Grand Cayman was a good place to get your PADI license — then go on to Cayman Brac (a strip of an island with incredible coral reefs) for the good diving. We went to Grand Cayman and spent a week in intensive training in a pool and, by some miracle, both passed the open water tests. Then we had a day to kill before moving on to Brac. First, Jonathan got a sunburn in about five minutes walking across a parking lot without having put on suntan lotion. The sun is really strong down there. (Something about the equator and the sun in September; I don’t know, I didn’t really pay attention in those classes.) Then we decided to take an “island tour.” This consisted of us driving around with a guy in minivan and stopping at anyplace where he thought we’d spend money. Finally, frustrated, we said, “Look. We’re not going to buy anything. Show us something interesting.” So we went to the turtle farm and then to the volcanic rock formations.

The Unfortunate Yachting Trip. A few years ago we went to Switzerland for two weeks to hike. Then, the following week, we met up with Jonathan’s brother and his husband (Yeah, you can do that sort of thing in the UK! They are so much more advanced than we are. They have candy machines in the subway too, which probably explains a lot about British teeth.) for a pleasure cruise down Holland’s canals in their yacht. Mind you, it’s not a big yacht. But any boat seems big in those canals. And any yacht is, by definition, expensive. Jonathan and I have no sailing experience. Rob and Phil showed us how to tie some basic knots, how to use “bumpers” (those floatie things that hang off the side of the boat — they look a bit like Lenin, come to think of it), and what the long pointy sticks were for (repelling the boat away from destructive objects, like big walls). And we were off! This was one of the most stressful trips of my life — a week spent trying not to destroy someone else’s investment. One day we went through 13 locks. I drank heavily every evening to recover. There was nothing else to do in the evenings but sit on the boat and stare at each other through a haze of exhaustion. Highlights were Gouda, Anne Frank’s hideout and, well, drinking a lot in the evenings.

Filed under: everyday life, travel | 2 Comments »

Lots of good stuff

Posted on September 29, 2010 by threlkeld

So things are a little nuts.

I just started a sizeable corporate writing job, although I capped it at 20 hours a week. It runs through New Year’s Eve. Whee! If I gave you the description of the project, you’d probably wonder why I haven’t shot myself in the face by now. But in fact, it’s just the sort of project that appeals to me. I will be making real improvements to a big mess and the work taps into some of my obsessive-compulsive content strategist skills. I’m even getting to do a little on-the-fly usability work.

I’m putting the finishing touches on my second article for Running Times, the subject of which is “what do race participants want from their race directors?” Sound familiar? Yes, there was a reason behind that survey. To round things out I did some great interviews with directors of races both large and small, along with runner Kim Duclos, of Emerald Nuts Midnight Run gatecrashing fame. Unfortunately, because of tight space considerations, I could only use about 1% of their material. But maybe I’ll use it for something else eventually. That article comes out in December (Jan/Feb issue).

In the meantime, my first paid byline, a portrait of masters Marathon Trials qualifier Tamara Karrh, appears in the November issue, which should be hitting newstands and doorsteps in about two weeks. There is a companion profile for Karrh on Houston Hopefuls. That’s scheduled to autopublish tomorrow (I think — I put it on autopilot for a reason). Now I’m just trying to find the hours to transcribe and publish the latest excellent interview with Chicagoan Julie Wankowski. I may find those hours over the weekend as I…

…jet off to Arizona for a family get together from Saturday through Monday. I’ll have much time in airports and on airplanes. I am also hoping to do some work on the Fifth Avenue Mile elite interviews I did last week. They will take the same structure as my previous “A few minutes with…” pieces. Those seemed to work well and my questions are not tied to the event the runners were here for, so I can take weeks to publish them (much as I hate to). I’ll take this opportunity to say this again: professional runners are delightful people, by and large. They seem to like their jobs and most of them are, I suspect, brighter than the average person. When I find myself sitting there talking to one of them, I still feel like I need to pinch myself.

As far as what you have to look forward to, I had great chats with Shannon Rowbury (who won the women’s race), Leo Manzano, Molly Huddle, Alan Webb and Morgan Uceny. I’ll get those posted eventually. My one mistake with this race was not taking NYRR up on an invitation to sit on the “press truck.” This is a flatbed truck that drives along at the front of the race, outfitted with bleachers, from which gawking members of the press sit rearward, enjoying a panoramic view of the race as it unfolds. Well, that looked like a total gas, if incredibly dangerous. Yeah — like I said: total gas! My hope is that next year I can run in the race myself, go shower at someone’s apartment nearby, then come back and jump on the crazy truck for the elite races.

And there’s more. I’ll be at the finish line (and perhaps also along the course) of the NYC Marathon on November 7th, serving as aide de camp to photographer Stacey Cramp, who’s shooting the event for Running Times. I get a groovy press pass, a nice Asics jacket and entre to a big party on the Friday that kicks off race weekend.

And there may be still more. Later in November, Coach Sandra, who has several parallel careers, is agenting 10 elites from all over the place (people I’ve mostly heard of and, in the case of Adriana Pirtea, met) to a 10K race in her country of origin, the Dominican Republic. I may be able to get comped on travel costs in exchange for doing a writeup. That’s a big “we’ll see” at the moment, but it should be a lot of fun if it happens.

All these developments are almost enough to make me forget that these days I am a runner in theory only. But not quite. It’s been seven weeks since I’ve gone running. Since my insurance sucks, meaning my stratospheric deductibles require that I  pay out of pocket for things like MRIs and bone scans, I am going on the assumption that a stress fracture is what ails me and will take another 4-5 weeks off (or, rather, spend another month doing insane cross-training only and not running at all). Then I’ll try a run. It will have been three months by then. If I’m still in pain, I’ll bite the bullet and shell out the thousands required to look inside myself.

This was a long-winded way of saying that things might quiet down on this blog. But only because my offline life has gotten considerably more noisy.

Except for the running injury, everything else that’s happened is exactly the sort of thing I wanted to happen when I jumped ship from my corporate gig over the summer. Let’s hear it for leaps of faith.

Filed under: coaching, elites, everyday life, injury, olympics, poll, racing, training, travel | 7 Comments »

Various and sundry

Posted on September 10, 2010 by threlkeld

Just a bunch of random stuff.

The injury clouds part (seemingly)

My right hamstring and ass felt — well, they felt normal today, actually. Which for me means they felt fantastic. I felt nothing there — like a normal person. No pain, no limping. Are you generally aware of your ass and hamstring? Well, me neither! I think giving $200 to a gym yesterday must have cured the problem. Ha ha. See? I haven’t lost my sense of humor.

So I hinted to Coach Sandra via an email this evening that I’d like to try running soon. In a typically terse response (English is not her native language, so she’s a telephone kind of gal), she said not to run (I picture her picturing me as a troublemaker, going all rogue on her and her plan). Or, rather, she thinks I should try again on Monday. That’s fine, as I was going to give the wonderfulness of a pain-free ass and leg time to establish itself as something that isn’t temporary.

Cross-training continues

I did another session, this time on my own, on the evil elliptical. It went better. I was able to run hands-free when “ellipticaling” (what do you call what you do on the elliptical?) normally. I still had to grab on for the faster surges I did, but not as much. I’ve determined that you need to change your form slightly when moving faster. I’ll try again on Sunday, probably.

Then, after some stretching I’ve been assigned, another 30 minute bout of pool running, also on my own. This I can confidently say that I’m getting the hang of. I was able to establish good running form, and with that I proceeded to do a bunch of 45 second intervals. It still sucks, but at least I know what I’m doing now.

And now, a few hours later, I am beat.

Tomorrow is another virgin voyage, a spin class. This is a break from the elliptical that I welcome. Also, the spin bike supposedly doesn’t engage the gluteus in the way a regular stationary bike (which I have at home) does. After spinning, it’s — yes — another half an hour of pool running. Then another aggressive session of myotherapy.

Another day, another byline

I got my second assignment from Running Times. This time it’s for the feature in the Racing section (toward the back of the magazine, after the regular features) for the Jan/Feb issue. I won’t give away too much, but I will say that I will be asking the online runnersphere to participate in a survey that I’m putting together. I hope to launch that tomorrow afternoon. Your participation is important! And I’m looking for input from the entire spectrum of runningdom, not just you highly competitive types. So get ready, people. A detailed survey is coming.

As for the first one, a profile of masters phenom Tamara Karrh, who qualified for the 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials with a 2:40 (!) — that should appear in the November print edition in roughly a month.

Bye bye, Summer — don’t let the door hit you

I think we’ve seen the last of the hellacious dryer blast weather. It’s cool and lovely here. I wish I could run in it, but for now it’s enjoyable to get up and feel a cool breeze wafting in. Sometimes I just go sit outside on our porch to feel the non-heat and non-humidity. The cat is in a considerably better mood these days too.

Filed under: coaching, everyday life, injury, training | 4 Comments »

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