Return to movement

It's been, oh, just about a month since the Death Valley marathon.  That was the last time that I really ran.  True, I've been on a couple of short forays, all ending quite abruptly due to knee pain, but for the most part I have done NOTHING since the race.  3 runs, 3(?) yoga classes, a couple of downhill skis, a few cross country skis, that's what's been going on here for the past 30 or so days.  Not much of nothing.  Definitely spurred by the IT issue, this has been a much-enjoyed month-long ol' hiatus.  Now, if I were SUAR, I'd surely be spending my time here on the injured list making quality choices, staying fit and hanging out with old ladies, but.  Dedicated I am not.  I'm a lazy, lazy runner and I've spent my time avoiding choices, getting fat and hanging out with the remote control.  I try for these 30-day physical naps once a year, every year.  Not because I read about it in a magazine or heard about it from a fellow runner, but because it just seems like a good idea.  And, oh yeah, I'm lazy! and relish any opportunity to lay down.

And, yet.  Scratch me deep and I bleed runner, and I hereby announce the cessation of the hiatus.  I've sat on my ass long enough and it's time to get up and get moving.  My muscles are calling me, hey! get busy! and I'm going to have to get busy, here.

Oh, yeah, that whole knee thing.  To be honest, I just figured I'd give myself a couple of weeks, some rest and a foam roller and just solve this thing bingbangboom! and I'd be all better faster than you can say "oh, that shit never happens to me!" and I'd one day soon just throw on my running togs and get out there and magically run, say, 5 pain free miles.

How's that plan working out for me?

Not so good.  Even though I haven't run a lick for 3 weeks, I can feel that it's just . . . not right.  Still, it hasn't bothered  me at all in that time, no pain or anything, so I'm being optimistic.  Until a few days ago, anyhow.  Last week, working the 4th night shift in a row (I'm an ER nurse, on my feet for 12 hours a pop), it started to hurt and hasn't really stopped (albeit in a very minor way) since.  Regression.  I tapped yet another ER doc friend, this time for a prescription for physical therapy.  Which starts on Monday.  I wave the white flag.

So I'm holding off on any kind of running until I see the therapist.  Meanwhile, I will be active in other ways (really, I have to.  I haven't been running like a runner, but I sure have been eating like a runner!).  I'm definitely committing to some regular yoga (2 classes a week, ok?), and will be spending the lion's share of this weekend on some cross country skis.  Ever cross country ski before?  Do you understand how klutzy I am?  Hilarity, no doubt, shall ensue.

I was going to go slide around the snow this afternoon, but Tom and I pulled roof duty instead.  What, you might ask, is "roof duty"?

Around here, it means roping up and climbing our very high and very pitched roof to chop down the frigging ice dams (overhanging the eaves by a foot or more, and a foot or so deep) with a big ax.  Don't break the windows!

(Thanks everyone for your tips about the photo links.  Thanks especially to Iron Mike for giving me the heads up that it was all Blogpress' doing, and I'm innocent, INNOCENT I tell you!)