Blog Master G

OK, so here we are the week before Memorial Day — the unofficial start to summer, albeit a week early this year — and it’s a chilly 38 freakin’ degrees. WTF? It’s 52 in my house this morning, which is colder than we set our heater at night in the winter (55). At least it’s supposed to warm up to 70 today, and nearly 90 later in the week:

Yesterday was also chilly; then and now I’m resisting the urge to turn on the baseboard heater in my office — out of principle.

I had my alarm set for 6:15am this morning — the plan was to go for a 6-mile recovery run — but it was one of those mornings when I was just too tired and couldn’t get out of bed. Jen’s alarm went off at 6:30am and the dual snoozing began. The tired was contagious this morning.

I’m supposed to run twice today: 6 miles in the AM and 4 miles in the PM — both recovery runs. I had the same thing on my training plan last week, but I didn’t find the time to squeeze in the second 4-mile run. I’ll probably go for a 6-8-mile run at lunchtime today.

Also, my right foot is sore again, but this time on the outer edge instead of the top. The sore foot put me nearly out of commission for about a week-and-a-half… well, enough out of commission that I only ran 21 miles the week of April 27 instead of the 55 my plan called for.

Here’s what I posted in this Runner’s World forums thread on the topic:

At the end of my 5th week of training for marathon #3 (Pfitz 18/70), I somehow injured my foot. It was during a 20-miler to cap off a 65-mile week (my personal high) on 4/26.

I suspect the cause is that I wore my New Balance 903s all the way through, as shown in this photo. I only have about 400 miles on them, so I’m surprised they’re already toast.

It’s pretty much that exact spot on the top of my right foot that hurts. It feels like a joint pain and really only hurts if I walk or run.

I tried to stay mostly off it last week, but got frustrated with not running and did run 3 days / 21 miles last week.

Of course, each time it started to feel better, I’d run, then it would get worse again.

I’ve been trying to ice once or twice a day for 20 minutes each time.

Any other pointers on healing foot pain?

I’m glad I’m relatively early in my training, but hate missing out on so many runs.

Thanks for any input!

I ended up buying a new pair of New Balance 1063 neutral cushion shoes, which are pretty awesome, but I think my feet are still getting used to them. On that topic, I wrote on May 10:

I’d forgotten what it was like to have actual cushioning in running shoes! I did my first run yesterday in the 1063s and wow, what a difference it makes. It’s like running on air vs. running barefoot. I love how cushioned they are – and exactly where I need it.

I also ran 21 miles in them today and aside from some soreness on the bottom of my feet, I felt really good the entire distance.

I think these shoes have helped me rediscover the joy of running.

From my Facebook status update that I posted a little while ago:

when did I reach a point in my life when running 16 miles could be preceded by the word(s) “only” or “cutting it short?” And that concludes a 58-mile week. Time for Star Trek IMAX tonight

It was a beautiful morning and parts of my run were much better than others. The plan was to run 20, but my heart just wasn’t in it and I hurt everywhere, from the bottom of my feet on up. I ran to the State Park and out by Saratoga Gaming & Raceway (the Racino) after running a few miles around Skidmore and town with a couple of my teammates for the GMR 200-mile relay I’m doing next month in Vermont.

I passed a bunch of walkers on S. Broadway, who looked like they were participating in some kind of fundraiser event. I also ran past a bunch of bicyclists racing in some other race near Kaydeross Creek. That was around the 14-mile mark when I hurt all over, had no energy left, and knew it was time to call it a day.

When I got back home, the Garmin read 16.11, and that was good enough for me. Sometimes the body reaches a point where it just says, “OK, I’m done.” After clocking in 58.4 miles this week, I reached that point. Not too shabby, especially coming off a 57-mile week last week and an injury week with 21 miles the week before.

I concluded the running portion of my day by soaking up some delicious sun as I lay on the grass telling Jen about my route while she trimmed the hedges in front of our house.

Friday night we had a few friends over for a fun happy hour. We drank “skinny girl” Piña coladas and Skyped in Alex, Cati, Nina, and Nacho for a virtual happy hour and tour of their new home in Michigan. Good times.

Yesterday was a pretty chill day — Jen and I hit the Farmers’ Market, where we ran into a number of people we know; we ran a mile with Anne (then I ran another 5); we went to the Racino with Justin to watch the Preakness and witness history as Rachel Alexandra raced her way to victory as the first filly in 85 years to win the race. Cool to see a female horse beat a bunch of dude horses — something that doesn’t seem likely to happen anytime soon among elite human runners at any distance… except maybe in some ultra-marathons, where women sometimes beat men.

After the Preakness, Alexis joined our motley crew for dinner at the Starting Gate, a new place by the bowling alley, followed by a mean game of bowling at the alley. I nailed a few strikes and a spare, bowling a 138.

Olde Bryan Inn Horse, originally uploaded by Blog Master G.

This is how you know it’s summer in Saratoga;

Today has been the longest, most action-packed day I can remember in a long time, so I feel the need to blog about it.

Here’s a quick recap of everything I’ve done so far today:

• Woke up at 5am
• Ran 14 miles (in about 2 hours @ ~8:30/mile training pace)
• Discovered a great new country road on second half of run (out Crescent past Racino)
• Worked
• Dropped off new tires for WRX & bike for riding home @ Superior Auto (best service place in Saratoga Springs)
• Drove party van to Clifton Park to meet Jen for car exchange & lunch (since we forgot about WRX appointment today)
• Enjoyed a delicious lunch @ Shalimar
• Drove WRX to Superior Auto
• Rode bike home
• Worked some more
• Rode bike into town for haircut
• Picked up contact lens solution & Dr. Scholls for blisters
• Rode bike home
• Continued working a full day
• Returned to Superior with Jen to pick up WRX
• Cleaned two bathrooms
• Had Drew & Courtney over for dinner
• Served as sous chef for Drew, who cooked a mean dinner for us
• Enjoyed the company of friends
• Tried to find Super Nintendo in basement for Street Fighter 2 battles
• Finished cleaning up the kitchen
• Blogged about it all

And I did all that before 10pm! Now let’s see how much of the 2-hour Lost season finale we can watch before crashing out for the night (I’m guessing not much).

I love a burrito. Especially when it’s free. And even if it’s from a chain. As Jen always says: It’s the perfect food. It contains ingredients from all the food groups, and we both agree we could eat burritos for every meal. Today I did for two out of three.

Just got home from the new Chipotle in Wilton. To celebrate its opening day, they gave away free burritos all day long. So Jen and I went there for lunch and had giant, delicious veggie fajita burritos. The tortillas were nice ‘n soft, the guac delicious, and the veggies all fresh. It was so good I went back for dinner and got another one with Tom and Anne. Considering I’d just run 5 miles after work and pounded a giant protein shake, I wasn’t sure I could eat another giant burrito. But pound it I did.

There was a Chipotle by my old office in Marin, where I’d go for lunch sometimes. In California, of course, you almost take burritos for granted since there’s an excellent, locally owned burrito place on nearly every corner. And I would almost feel guilty for eating at a chain like Chipotle.

But here in Upstate New York, we’ll take what we can get. There’s Moe’s, another small fast food style burrito chain, and a few locally-owned places — The Mexican Connection, Leon’s, and Cantina, where the gang often goes for the best kept secret in town: Taco Tuesdays ($2 tacos and $1 Coronitas). I don’t think I’ve ever blogged about Taco Tuesday for some reason — oh right, I’m a slacker with blogging lately — but it’s always a great time, a fun vibe, and really, you can’t beat $2 tacos.

Eating aside, I’ve also been continuing to run lately. A lot. I had a record mileage week last week — 62.51 miles. In a week. That was pretty awesome. I finished it off with a great day in the sun with Jen and friends on Sunday: A 5k PR (20:46) on a trail race (Dodge the Deer 5k!), followed by another 14.11 miles that afternoon. I’ve already logged 28 miles this week in 3 days of running and am on target for another 60+ mile week.

Good thing I’m eating lots of burritos to fuel all my running.

Here are lots of great photos Tom took at Dodge the Deer. Thanks, Tom! And thanks, everyone, for coming to cheer us on!

I’ve been accused of letting my blog turn too much into a running-focused blog, and have been encouraged by more than one reader — including Dan of Fun in Saratoga, whom we last saw at the UPH Fundraiser a couple weeks ago — to write more about the restaurants we visit and the food we enjoy.

So without further ado, I present to you my birthday recap  — a beautiful evening of porch sitting and dinner at Leon’s, where Jen and I returned Thursday night to celebrate my birthday (one of several celebrations). After enjoying happy hour for the inaugural porch sitting of the season, we took to the road and began our walking trek to Leon’s, which rarely disappoints.

It was a fairly low-key Thursday night, with only a couple other occupied tables in the establishment. By the time we finished, we were the only ones left.

As I’d done once before, I ordered my own concoction: The chicken burrito (“Burro Ranchero,” which the menu describes as Rachael Ray’s favorite item to order when she goes to Leon’s), minus the chicken and with shrimp instead. I’m not sure how substituting shrimp for chicken makes the price go from $13 to $18, but that’s another story. Add some guacamole and it was delicious, as always. Jen ordered her favorite dish: The chile relleno, which was as fresh and as spicy as ever.

We each had a couple house margaritas — Jen’s on the rocks, no salt; mine frozen, with salt — and it was all the right ingredients for a perfect birthday dinner with my wonderful wife.

We rounded off my birthday weekend by seeing our friends Drew and Courtney play acoustic guitar at Jitters Cafe in Ballston Spa Friday night, followed by drinks with the gang at 9 Maple and Gaffney’s. Saturday afternoon Jen had lined up an awesome hot stone massage for me at Classical Concepts on Broadway (I’d highly recommend it).

Thank you to my wife and all our friends for the great birthday weekend!