My Week Off

Hey Everyone, I know I said I wasn't going to post an update until after the Triathelon, but I'm finding that I have some free time on my hands this evening and decided to post a quick update.

How to waste time....
As you may know after the FairLakes 8K I decided to take a break from running. By doing so I figured I let me knee heel and use the time to do other stuff like organize/clean my closet, read some of the running books and magazines that I've been neglecting, finally watch a DVD from NetFlix that has been sitting around here collecting dust since July, take down the Christmas decorations and fill out my Publisher's Clearing House entry form. I may already be a winner! It says so right on the envelope. But alas I did nothing. I'm great at wasting time. I did everything but what I said I would do. My moto is... whenever I have a bad week for exercising I have a great week for socializing. Which is what I ended up doing.

Monday - Shopping, visit Roxane
Tuesday - Appt @ Hair Salon, Book Club
Wednesday - Make dinner for Al (P.S. He kept it down.)
Thursday - Shopping, spend night at mom's
Friday - Meet Al for Contradancing (See Below)
Saturday - Renaissance Festival (See Below)

Update on My Knee...
By Friday I was suffering from runner's withdrawl. So, I decided to go running around my neighborhood early Saturday morning. I ran for 1.0 hour covering approx. 4.5 miles, a pretty slow 13 minute mile pace. But my knee started acting up again after about 40 minutes. The pain was very on and off. And it was never so bad that I couldn't run, but I wish it would go away. Tomorrow I'm calling around to some doctors in the area of sports medicine to see if they can tell me what's wrong with my knee. I've been icing and resting it all week. Things have gotten better, but I really want the pain to be gone.

My Journey Into the Subculture
Webster defines a subculture as an ethnic, regional, economic, or social group exhibiting characteristic patterns of behavior sufficient to distinguish it from others within an embracing culture or society. This weekend I embraced 2 subcultures; the first I never knew about and the second I secretly wanted to be part of.

Contradancing?
What is Contra Dancing? Well, the only way to really know is to try it, but the following link does a realy good job of describing it "What is Contradancing?". Al is a regular contradancer and when he described it to me, I had this horrible flashback of the night Vijay and I went polka dancing. I imagined this as one of those things that nerds, social outcasts and overweight virgins do on Friday nights. Considering I fell into all 3 of those categories, why is this the first time I'm hearing about it? Despite my hesitation of being around "those people" for an entire evening, I decided to go anyway and I had the bestest time! I wore a button that told eveyone I was a first time contradancer. Everyone there was so friendly. And I danced with a ton of cool guys including Al. My "Balance and Swing" needs work, but it's not as bad as my "Hey for Four". If I keep going I may learn how to "Box the Gnat" and "Swat the Flea". Oh, and there was a live band playing. All night long I kept calling them the "contraband". Ha Ha Ha. Get it?! Contra Band?!!! I crack me up!

Rennasaince Festival
Ok, if you grew up in Maryland, there are 2 things that people look forward to in the Fall. 1. The beginning or end of Lacrosse season. (Seriously, it's like the state sport.) and 2. The Maryland Rennaisance Festival (aka Ren Fest). When I was growing up I use to see it advertised on TV all the time. It looked like one big circus set in medieval times. But apparently there were no black people back then, so my parents never took us. When I got to college, I knew plenty of kids (also not black) who use to work at the festival. They'd show up every Friday dressed in their costumes handing out filers for the Festival. I always wanted to go, but none of my friends were interested. I bet if there was a Ren Fest After Dark that featured strobe lighting, pulse-pounding music and an overcrowded dance floor they would be there in a heart beat. But alas, as the years went on my dreams of going to Ren Fest faded until this year. I finally found someone who was willing to not only go to Ren Fest with me, but also dress up and tolerate me trying to talk in a British accent all day. I had the bestest time!! The acts were pretty cool and the costumes were great. I got to see a bunch of stuff lit on fire and either juggled, thrown or swallowed. I learned to juggle (sort of) and wittnessed a real live Caber toss (this is something Scottish folks use to do for sport). I also had a turkey drumstick which was really good. All the food was good and cheap. But other souveniers were really expensive. So I came back empty handed. Anyway, a good time was had by all. Here's a picture of me and Al at RenFest.

He's such a great guy. And a lot of fun too. He's also a pretty good Jouster or is that Jester.

That's it for this week, kids. Wish me luck next Saturday. If my knee doesn't get any better I'm really going to need it.

- Gotta Run

I Hurt My Knees, Hercules!

OK. OK. I know, it’s been a while. Keeping up with this Blog has been a real challenge lately, but I’m determined to keep it up-to-date until I make it to the Disney Half. So here’s what I’ve been up to.

My Bad Knees
Well, if you failed to read my last blog entry, I ran 18 (well about 18) miles 2 week ago (8/27). Somewhere after mile 13 my knees were shot. I walked the last 4 miles in the rain back to the finish line because I could no longer run. Well, as stubborn as I am to stay on track. I continued running during the week following that memorable day. The following Saturday (9/3) was suppose to be an easy 10, but it turned into a hard 7 when I started limping after mile 6. Coach Julie told me to stay off my knee and don’t run for a week. Which I thought meant, "Just run whenever you feel like it, Valerie." So I ran the following Tuesday with the same results. After that I decided Julie maybe be onto something so I avoided running until this past Saturday (9/10) when I had to see if I could make it through another easy 10. I was doing pretty well for the first 5 miles, but once again somewhere after mile 7, I had to walk my way back to the finish line. All I could think about was whether I’d be able to run in the Fair Lakes 8K the next day. I guess sometimes we have to learn our lessons the hard way.

Lesson learned. To remedy this situation, I’m not running this week. I may still go to the gym and do the bike or weight train, but no running. Next Saturday (9/17), I will not run with DCFit. In fact, I will abandon them all together to go to the Renaissance Fair in MD. I never been before. So, I think it shoud be pretty cool. I will also invest in a new pair of shoes, because I’m under the impression that I somehow ruined the complex shock absorption system in my current pair by running 18 (almost 18) miles in the rain. The following week, I will run some to break in my new shoes and get ready for the Sea Colony Tri. I may also spend this week off looking for a personal trainer. I’ll let you know if I find one.

The Fair Lakes 8K
Today I ran in the Fair Lakes 8K. Despite everything I had to overcome in order to make it to the finish line (i.e. bad knees, a knee brace, 2 hits of Mortin) I did pretty well. I was surprised by how hilly the course was, but I somehow managed to place 331st among the women. Go Me!!! My time according to the Champion Chip was 59:39, a perfect 12 minute mile. My friend Joyce and boyfriend Al also ran. They both did really well also. Joyce finished 5 minutes ahead of me and Al (who hadn’t done any road work to prepare for the race) finished 2 minutes behind me. I was happy with my time and I’m looking forward to the remaining races this year.

Schools Out!!
Today I took my 2nd final and aced it. So far I’ve managed to maintain a 4.0 for the past year. Now, I’m taking the fall semester off to focus on running and races, blah, blah, blah. Mainly this last semester has left me really burnt out and I needed to take something of the priority list.

My Thoughts on Flowers
I never use to think getting flowers was such a big deal until I got some of my own and now I feel getting flowers is the coolest thing. So, I started taking pictures of them. How sappy can I get? Pretty sappy considering you are now forced to gaze upon them with envy. Mwaaah Ha Ha! (sinister laugher)

Thanks Al.

Well, that’s it for this episode. Tune in next time when our heroin returns from her first Triathlon with a greater sense of accomplishment, amazing stories of triumph and official Triathlon bling bling.

Don’t forget to donate.
http://wish.kintera.org/runvalerie

And if you can’t support me please support the victims of hurricane Katrina.
http://www.redcross.org/donate/donate.html
http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/USNSAHome.htm


Later Dudes.