My physical therapy routine

I've been in physical therapy twice in the past two years for my knee and hip problems.  My basic PT routine at home usually takes me a good hour to complete thoroughly... but it does work!  Therefore, I am a huge fan of physical therapy.  This is especially the case because I hate taking medication.  So any successful methods to treat physical injuries which don't require medication get an A+ in my book.

Over time, I've amassed quite the repertoire of PT exercises and stretches.  I thought that I would share my standard physical therapy routine.  This routine was prescribed to me based upon a diagnosis of IT band syndrome and some muscle imbalances (i.e. weaknesses in my hips and glutes).

STRETCHES
In general, I do all of these stretches in two or three sets of 30 seconds per leg/side.

1. Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch

2. Piriformis Stretch

3. Hamstring Stretch

FOAM ROLLING
I usually foam roll each side for about 1-2 minutes per side, or until I can't stand it anymore, whichever comes first.  My left side, which is my injury-prone side, always gets more foam-rolling time than my right side.

On a side note, I used to use just a standard white 36-inch foam roller.  But a few months ago I got a Trigger Point Foam Roller, which has been great.  The best part about it is that it's easy to travel with (it fits into a suitcase and you can stuff socks or t-shirts into the hollow center).

4. Foam Rolling - IT Band

The model is smiling. 
Comparatively, I never smile when I do this.  It hurts.

5. Foam Rolling - Quads

My form is typically not this good.  I usually hold 
myself up on my elbows instead of on my hands.

6. Foam Rolling - Hips




EXERCISES
I do these exercises in two to three sets of 12-15 reps per leg/side.

7. Clamshells

You can do this with a resistance band around your knees, too.

8. Squats

I do several variations of squats.  Sometimes I'll do them while holding the exercise ball in different ways against the wall, while squatting at an angle, etc.  Other times I'll do the squats with hand weights.

OTHER

9.  Monster Walk

I use varying levels of resistance bands for these.  I'll also do
these on a direct side-to-side basis, as opposed to at a diagonal.
I have a long hallway at home in which I'll do two round-trip laps of the monster walks.

10.  Planks (Front and Side)

I hate doing planks.  Hate them.  They are by far my least-favorite PT exercise. 
Because of this, I will never have abs of steel.  Ever.
I usually try to just hold these planks for as long as I can.

As noted above, there are several variations for almost all of these stretches and exercises, but you get the basic idea. 

Even though I do get bored of doing all the exercises and stretches day after day, I am so thankful for how much PT has helped me.  When going through injury, there have been many times in which I feared that I would never be able to run long distances ever again.  But PT has opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me.

Stitch (from Disney's Lilo and Stitch) holding the world.
(Stitch is one of my absolute favorite Disney characters.
He's "also cute and fluffy!!!")



I would love to hear about different physical therapy exercises/stretches others have been doing which they've found helpful.  Please do share!

Blackhawks Prospect Camp

This post has pretty much nothing to do with running and everything to do with hockey and my beloved Chicago Blackhawks.  Hockey enthusiasts, read on.  Non-hockey enthusiasts, I'll be back to my regular programming soon!

Last week the Chicago Blackhawks hosted their annual Prospect Camp for their draft picks, free agent invitees, and up-and-coming players in their system.  Prospect Camp takes place at Johnny's Icehouse West, the Blackhawks' practice facility, which is just down the street from the United Center.  The event is open to the public, so being the rabid Hawks fan that I am (who is in severe offseason hockey withdrawal), I went to go check it out.

Upon entering the viewing area at Johnny's Icehouse West, I was immediately met by this:

Brandon Whitney
He is an intimidatingly large and towering
goalie, especially when viewed up close.

Wow!

Johnny's Icehouse allows fans to view the action from behind the glass right at ice level.  It was by far the closest I'd ever been to a hockey goalie in playing mode.  I stood right behind Brandon Whitney and took in the view from his perspective (pucks coming at you in all directions at lightning-quick speed).  It was unbelievable to see the reflexes that these guys have to have in order to play the game, and how scary it is to have pucks, players, and sticks flying directly at you.

Here are some action shots taken from ice level:

Getting instructions on the next practice drill.

Lining up for one of the practice drills.

Goalie tandem stretching out while watching shootout drills.

Practice drills in motion.

2012 Blackhawks First-Round Draft Pick: Teuvo Teravainen.
He reminds me of Patrick Kane in the sense that they
both have slight builds, but are very skilled and quick.

Defensive drills.

I am very used to watching hockey from the nosebleed seats in an upper deck.  When viewed up close, you realize how unbelievably fast the players and the puck are moving at any given moment, how physical the game is, and how loud it is when the puck or the players hit the boards.  I was close enough to see the expressions on the players' faces and saw how they were all truly giving their all for every drill.  You could see how completely gassed they all were after each play.  It was fascinating watching the team dynamics, the players interacting with each other and the coaches, and all the little details that go into a practice.  It gave me a whole new level of respect for the level of athleticism, stamina, and willpower that these hockey players demonstrate.

I went upstairs to catch some action from the stands.  I caught a few more drills, then got to watch a scrimmage game.

Goalie drill where the goalies practice sliding from side
to side in between some pucks laid out on the ice.

The red team, playing on the "Home" bench during the scrimmage.

The white team, playing on the "Visitor" bench during the scrimmage.

It was an exciting scrimmage game which ended up going into overtime and a shootout.  Every time either team scored, the crowds in the stands and at ice level went nuts, just like at the United Center.  All that was missing was the huge airhorn and the echoing rendition of Chelsea Dagger.

There was great people-watching at the camp, too.  I got to see a number of the Blackhawks' front office members up close and personal:
 

Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville, aka "Coach Q"



Coach Q in action

General Manager Stan Bowman getting his daily potassium.
(Isn't it great that there are rabid fans and their cameras who are
ready to catch ANY and EVERY candid moment on film?)

CEO John McDonough in the stands.

Former Hawks defenseman Chris Chelios.
His son Jake was one of the players participating in the camp.

At the end of the day's practice, some of the players came by to say hello to the fans.

Brandon Whitney signing autographs.  He chatted with the fans
for awhile and posed for pictures.  Seemed like a very nice guy.
(Sadly I didn't bring anything autographable, so I missed
my opportunity.  =(  Note to self for the future.)

I thoroughly enjoyed attending Prospect Camp.  It gave me so much new respect for the players and the game - they are phenomenal, phenomenal athletes in every sense of the word.  I also loved being surrounded by other rabid Hawks fans again.  Prospect Camp was the perfect remedy for my off-season hockey blues.

Before attending the festivities, I thought that the collective player skill levels might be noticeably more junior compared to the official Hawks team members that you see at Training Camp Festival.  I was very pleasantly surprised to see how incredibly, amazingly talented all of the players were.  It blows my mind knowing that many, if not most of these guys, will be playing in the minors or in juniors next season as opposed to the NHL.  Some guys are just going to be sent home afterwards without even getting to play in the minors or juniors.  It really gives you a perspective for how elite and how competitive it truly is to play in the NHL.  I can't even imagine what it would be like to watch NHL players in this setting.

I've been reading the book 100 Things Blackhawks Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die (great book, by the way).  Attending prospect camp was on the list - and for very good reason!  Next on the wish list is to go watch an actual Blackhawks team practice.  Either way, I can't wait to go back to Johnny's Icehouse again to see more.

Just a few more months until hockey season starts!

Strike Out ALS 5K Race Recap

Last night I ran the Strike Out ALS 5K! 

The race took place at U.S. Cellular Field, home of the Chicago White Sox.  I was excited to run this race for many reasons, primarily the easy race logistics, 6:30 PM start time, and fun course (getting to finish on the warning track inside U.S. Cellular Field!)

I hadn't run a 5K in quite some time, but I knew that this was going to be a challenge.  Many people might think if you run longer distance races like 10-milers or half marathons, that 5Ks should be a piece of cake in comparison.  Not the case for me.  I actually think 5Ks are much harder, given that you are basically trying to sprint for 3.1 miles.  I find the more relaxed pace at longer races to be much easier by comparison.  But I was looking forward to mixing up the focus for one night's race.

Flashback to high school physics and algebra

Prior to the race, I looked at pace calculators and saw that a 30-minute finish meant an average pace of 9:40 per mile, and a 29-minute finish meant a 9:20 pace.  I've been doing my tempo runs at around a 9:30 pace, so I was fairly confident that I could break 30 minutes.  I thought that maybe if I pushed myself, that I could break 29 minutes.  So I decided that breaking 30 minutes would be Goal 1 for the night, and breaking 29 minutes would be Goal 2.

I drove down to U.S. Cellular Field and enjoyed the free parking and the many very helpful and cheerful volunteers helping to guide us.  Packet pickup was a breeze.  Unfortunately, one of the women at packet pickup was warning everyone to "save some energy for the stairs at the end of the course!" 

STAIRS?  I had read some recaps of last year's race, and had indeed heard that the course included some stairs throughout the ballpark.  Immediately I started thinking that maybe Goal 2, and maybe even Goal 1, would be too ambitious for the day if stairs were involved.  Stairs and me don't mix well!

Flashback to high school geometry

After packet pickup, I stored all of my gear in my car and went to go warm up.  This was a first for me - prior to last night, I've never warmed up before any race.  But I knew from experience that it usually takes me a mile or two to start feeling good while running, and I didn't want to go into the 5K with a cold sprint.  I took a GU for good measure, then ran easy for about 10 minutes, followed by some light fartleks for another 5 minutes.  Afterwards, I headed to the start line.

The DJ at the starting line announced that there were no stairs on the course this year.  But I didn't really believe him.  I thought he was pulling our collective legs.

Foundation ALS Patient Kaylynn Van Driest gave the welcome address.  It was very touching to hear her story.  I got tears in my eyes listening to her, as did many around me.  Many runners were wearing shirts with pictures of friends or family members that had been impacted by ALS, for whom they were running the race to honor.  I could see how impactful and meaningful this event was to so many people whose lives were personally impacted by ALS.

The airhorn sounded and we were off!  It was fairly crowded at the start, so I had some trouble getting going for the first minute or so.  But then the crowd started spreading out and I was able to get my pace up.

Mile 1: 8:50.  My thoughts: "Wow!  For a sub-29-minute finish, this was a well-cushioned mile!  But I hope I didn't start out too fast.  I don't know if I can maintain this pace and the first mile is always the easiest!  OK, let's keep 'er going here, push hard but not to the point where you feel like you're going to vomit."

It definitely started getting harder during the second mile.  Mile 2 seemed to go on forever, and I was sure that I was slowing down.  There was a water stop around mile 1.1 but I didn't take any.

Mile 2: 8:58.  "Not bad at all!  If I can still maintain this, then maybe I really can do a sub-29 minute finish!  But I need to be ready just in case there really are stairs at the end of the course.  That would add some extra time.  Ugh.  This is hard.  This is why I don't run a lot of 5Ks.  Just one more mile to go.  It's going to be tough but hang in there and keep at it!"

Around mile 2.2, we took a turn INTO the ballpark, which I didn't anticipate.  We were running through corridors inside the bowels of U.S. Cellular Field, past offices and equipment storage areas and breakrooms and everything!

This is not an actual picture from the race, but this gives you a
sense for the areas we were running through inside the stadium.

Prior to the race, I had remembered to turn off the auto-lap function on my Garmin.  But I lost the signal on my Garmin while inside the ballpark and hadn't thought to turn off the auto-pause in advance.  So at this time I was running "blindly" without knowing my time, pace, or distance.  This was especially hard since the indoor corridors had some sharp, blind curves and turns and we couldn't see very far ahead (see the picture above to get an idea, as well).  I had no sense for how much distance I had covered or how much still lay ahead.  I just tried to keep at it, although at this point I knew that I was slowing down.

Finally, we took a sudden quick turn and were outside on the playing field!  I saw the Mile 3 mile marker.  The start of the MLB All-Star game was already being broadcoast from the Jumbotron and I could hear the commentators.  The final 0.1 of the course wound around the warning track on the outfield to the finish line. 

I picked it up as best as I could and sprinted to the end.  My clock time was around 28:25.  But, I knew that my chip time would be even better - so I was very happy!  (Plus, it turned out that the DJ was right after all about there being no stairs on the course.  Yay, and huge relief!)

Volunteers handed us water bottles.  Right at that moment, the MLB All-Star game's national anthem singer began singing the Star-Spangled Banner.  The timing was absolutely perfect for the national anthem as I stood at the edge of the outfield trying to catch my breath.

It was an incredible moment.  By far the most inspiring moment that I've ever experienced immediately after finishing a race.

There were a few computers set up near the finish line where you could enter your bib number and get a printout of your unofficial time (AWESOME!).  I waited in line to get mine.  Based on what I could recall of the time delay between the clock time and my chip time, I was anticipating that I'd finished around 28:05.  Imagine my surprise when I got my time card and it read 27:52.

Not too shabby for a race in which my biggest goal was to break 29 minutes!  Woo hoo!

Estimated Mile 3: 9:14
Estimated Mile 3.1: 0:50

Runners with their friends and family were starting to gather in the seats to watch the MLB All-Star game on the Jumbotron.  There were a few concession stands selling food and beverages.  I changed out of my running shoes into some sandals, went to the bathroom to splash some water on my face, bought a pretzel with cheese, then settled into a seat to eat and enjoy the game.  Ah, life is good.

Some pictures from the post-race party:

The MLB All-Star game on the Jumbotron

The playing field

Stadium lights and decks

The broadcast booths and fellow runners

The weather was absolutely gorgeous out.  It was a perfect summer night to be outdoors hanging out at a ballpark.  There was something so magical about being at the park and seeing the perfectly manicured grass, the pitcher's mound and bases, the outfield, the scoreboard.  I looked at the field and thought of all the amazing athletes that have displayed their talents in those very spaces.  It was awesome.  As I've mentioned before, I'm really not into baseball very much - but now I am definitely starting to see the appeal of great ballparks.

I hung out and watched the MLB All-Star game through the end of the 5th inning, relishing the beautiful evening.  Then I came home very happy.

I had such a great time at this race!  It was a fantastic event for a really good cause, and I was proud to be a part of it.  This is definitely a race that I would enjoy doing again in the future!

Extremely fun

This past weekend was jam-packed with activity!  It was one of the most enjoyable weekends I've had in a long time.

French to English translation:
"Let the good times roll!"

I belong to the Lightly Toasted Toastmasters Club, which meets twice a month on Saturday mornings.  (For those of you that aren't aware, Toastmasters Clubs are gatherings where folks get together to practice their public speaking skills.)  I haven't presented a Toastmasters speech in awhile.  Therefore, on a whim, I decided it was time to do one.  So I spent Friday night writing and rehearsing a speech.

(I know, I know.  You're probably thinking that this doesn't sound like a very exciting weekend.  I can just visualize the look on your face right now.)

(It does get better, I promise.)

The Toastmasters meeting on Saturday morning was a lot of fun, as it always is.  We had a full house of attendees at the meeting, and I enjoyed presenting my speech.  Adam even attended the Toastmasters meeting in person with me to watch me do my speech.  It was great having his moral support.

My speech topic was based on an actual awards program, the NAAAP 100, for which I'm serving my second year as the program director.  In my speech, I presented the award to Hines Ward, who is an actual recipient of this year's award (but who will unfortunately not be able to attend the awards ceremony in person). 

By the way, it's pure coincidence that Hines Ward is a legendary member of the Pittsburgh Steelers, that Adam is a diehard Steelers fan, and that Adam decided to attend this particular meeting with me.  Pure coincidence.

Saturday night, Adam and I went to Millennium Park to listen to one of the free concerts put on by the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra.  The temperatures had finally cooled off a lot so it was very pleasant outside.  The music was outstanding, and the concert included an absolutely gorgeous setting with the backdrop of the city skyline.

The Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park, where the free outdoor concerts take place.

For all you Chicagoans, I highly, HIGHLY recommend checking out one of the free concerts at Millennium Park.  Bring a blanket and some food and drink, and enjoy the incredible ambience and people-watching.  It is quite the quintessential summertime weekend experience in Chicago.

Sunday morning I run-brunched with Erin!  It was our first time running together and it was fun.  I can definitely see how having a running partner can really help keep you accountable in a good way!  We chatted about runner's topics like Ragnar, bib-swapping, and upcoming races - as well as a host of other non-running topics like bike mishaps and how we met our spouses. 

Erin is a faster runner than I am, so I pushed myself a little bit while running with her.  For me, this is a really good thing - I hope to vicariously pick up some speed through her!  According to my Garmin, we covered about 6.2 miles - but her Garmin was consistently about 0.05 miles ahead of mine.  (I think I like her Garmin better than mine.)

After our run, we both went home to shower and then met up at Meli Cafe for brunch with our spouses in tow.  Meli Cafe was a place that I'd been wanting to try for quite some time, and it didn't disappoint.  What a fantastic menu!

Yummy yummy!

After brunch, I drove up to Wisconsin to visit Katie, who is one of my oldest friends in the world (old in terms of length of friendship, of course - not age!)  Katie is farm-sitting at this beautiful property with several horses, as well as various other animals and some gardens onsite.  It was so nice to hang out with her and really catch up on things.  It was also nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city for a bit.

On the way home, I had to stop at the Woodman's grocery store located right by the Illinois-Wisconsin border in Kenosha.  I am a huge fan of Woodman's!  They have the most complete collection of groceries I've ever seen - including an ENORMOUS aisle of cheese that seems to go on forever.  For someone who loves to cook and eat as much as I do, it's paradise.  I always load up on all the things that I can't easily find at my local grocery store at home, and then some.  In short, I usually end up buying the entire store.  And I've become quite adept at Tetris-ing the whole thing into my car for the ride home.

Unfortunately the weekend ended at that point.  But the fun didn't end there!  This afternoon I went to watch the first day of the Chicago Blackhawks' 2012 Prospect Camp, and tomorrow night I am running the Strike Out ALS 5K.  More on both to come.

To keep the extreme fun momentum going, I'm now off to foam roll the living daylights out of my hip flexor and IT band.  No better way to spend an evening, eh? 

Everybody say it with me: "Ohhhhhhhh, yeahhhhhhhh...."

A tale of two yoga videos

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way..."

Flashback to high school English lit class!  The famous opening lines from A Tale of Two Cities suggest that good and evil, wisdom and folly, and light and darkness all stand equally matched in their challenges spanning humankind.

Somewhere within the spectrum of humankind's challenges includes yours truly struggling to hold downward dog pose. 

They don't call it downward dog pose for nothing.

Ah yes, the practice of yoga.

I used to consider yoga to just be something fitness-related to do when I didn't feel like doing anything high-impact.  Now, with my ongoing struggles with knee and hip problems, I've come to appreciate that yoga is very important in helping to prevent or reduce injury. 

I've heard it said that to get the most benefits out of yoga, you should practice it every day - but that any yoga is better than none.  I've also heard that it's better to do a little yoga every day versus doing one enormous yoga session once a week.  My current goal is to do yoga at least twice a week, although more would probably be better.

I do yoga at home using one of two yoga DVDs, which I'll review here.

Here's the first:

Crunch - The Perfect Yoga Workout: The Joy of Yoga & Fat-Burning Yoga

The Crunch Yoga DVD includes two workouts, the Fat Burning Yoga and the Joy of Yoga.  The Fat Burning Yoga workout, which is the more challenging of the two, is approximately 45 minutes and includes an abdominal section.  The Joy of Yoga workout is approximately 35 minutes.  I usually alternate between the two workouts depending on how I feel that day.

I think this DVD is an excellent choice for yoga beginners, although it can certainly challenge more advanced yoga folks.  Sara Ivanhoe, the instructor for both videos, is excellent.  She is clear and easy to follow, and she is careful to explain proper form.  She is unpretentious and uses easy-to-follow terms like "if your knee is in front of your foot, scootch your foot up and give it a nice graceful clunk forward."  You are given options to adapt the yoga to your level of comfort in both videos, which is a nice touch.

The music used in the workouts isn't great.  However, the DVD gives you the option to mute just the music on the Fat Burning Yoga workout so you can use your own music while still listening to the instructor.

All in all, I like this DVD a lot and have been using it for many years.

Here is the second yoga video that I use:


Bryan Kest Power Yoga Complete Collection

This Bryan Kest Power Yoga DVD includes three yoga workouts: Energize, Tone, and Sweat.  The Energy portion is the "beginner" portion, the Tone portion is intermediate, and the Sweat portion is advanced.  I've only done the Energize portion, though, which is approximately 50 minutes, and find it very challenging!  I am usually sore for days after doing the Energize workout.  Therefore, I only use this video on occasions when I am really prepared to feel the burn.

The instructor, Bryan Kest, is solid, compassionate, and genuinely encouraging.  He understands how truly tough some of the poses are, so he reminds us that "If you're doing the best you can, you're doing this class perfectly."  Some of the students in his class are insanely advanced in demonstrating the poses, but he provides ways to adapt the poses to your level of practice (which I gladly utilize). 

Bottom line, this DVD is intense!  It dispelled all notions I ever had of yoga being an "easy" workout.  I do think you need to have some background in yoga before doing it.  But if you are able to do this workout regularly (not me), I am sure you'd see amazing results!

On a postscript note - there is one yoga DVD I used to own, but no longer use.  Here it is:

A.M. and P.M. Yoga

The A.M. and P.M. Yoga DVD includes two 20-minute workouts, one to be done in the morning before starting your day and the other to be done at night before going to bed.  I liked the concept of this DVD and had heard good things about the instructor, Rodney Yee.  However, in practice I found the workouts to be too easy.  Also, the DVD includes an annoying commercial for all of their other products that you have to go through before you can start your workout.  I wasn't a fan.  As a result, I traded this DVD away at a swap meet with friends.

So there you have it - a tale of my two yoga videos, plus one yoga video that is no longer with me!  If anyone has other suggestions for great yoga DVDs, I'd love to hear them so please do share!

This too shall pass

It has not been a good running week for me.  As in, the last run I did was a 12-mile run last Sunday.  I have not done any running since then.  This is for a number of reasons:

1. My hip and knee injuries refuse to die without a vengeance
2. It's been ghastly hot this entire week (temps in the 100s)
3. Mentally, I've lost a step (or quite literally, several thousand steps since I'm not running)

Going back to last Sunday's run: Since the temperatures have been so unbearably hot, I knew I needed to hit the road as early as humanly possible.  Therefore, I went to bed at 9:00 PM last Saturday night so that I could get up at 5:30 AM this past Sunday to run. 

(Yeah, I know, way to tear it up on a summertime weekend with a 9:00 PM bedtime.  Incidentally, I saw many revellers from the LATE Bike Ride coming home from their all-night party just as I was headed out that morning.  Reminded me of when I was an RA back in college and responsibility was the name of the game.)

Party on, Wayne.  Party on, Garth.

I had done 12 miles the weekend before and found it relatively challenging, so I was looking forward to last Sunday's 12-miler feeling easier.  Not the case.  It was so stiflingly hot and humid even at 6 AM that my only focus throughout the entire 12 miles became to run in whatever shaded patches of sidewalk I could.  While I did finish without major issue, it was certainly not one of my more enjoyable runs.

Fast forward to today.  I haven't been able to get back on track ever since last Sunday's run.

Up until this week I had been joyously celebrating a few weeks of pain-free knee movement.  However, much to my horror, some knee discomfort has seemingly begun springing back to life.  My left hip flexor is also stubbornly acting up again.  I have been diligently doing my PT stretches/exercises, some of them twice a day, in the hopes that it will help to calm things down.  Unfortunately no avail just yet.

If my injuries were a cartoon character, this is what they'd look like.
To quote Daffy Duck himself, "You're dithpicable!"

Injury reoccurrences aside, I know that after miserable runs, sometimes the toughest challenge is to just get back out there and try again.  Unfortunately the hot weather has made it downright dangerous to get back out there.  I despise treadmills, so I've been using the stationary bike and doing yoga indoors.  I know that cross-training and stretching are still valuable, but it's been frustrating not being able to pull myself over that hump yet.

The bigger issue is this: As the hot temps persist and more non-running days pile up, I am feeling both my momentum and my confidence dwindling.  I've become skittish and I am apprehensive about putting myself through more long, painful runs.  A few weeks ago, I was thinking that the 16-, 18-, and 20-mile training runs on the plan weren't really going to be that bad - but suddenly, the mileage seems insurmountable.  And I'm hating how this all feels.

For now, the focus is just on trying to stay positive.  Admittedly it has been really tough, though.  I'm trying to remind myself, rather profoundly, that the only constant in life is change.  So as frustrated as I've been, I keep telling myself it will eventually change. 

What has helped a little more is that I've got some fun stuff coming up over the next week.  To name just a few things, I'll be running and brunching (run-brunching?) with Erin, visiting Katie, and checking out Blackhawks prospect camp.  I'm also running the Strike Out ALS 5K next Tuesday, which will be very enjoyable and logistically easy.  So I'm trying to pump myself up by looking forward to these things.

From a motivational standpoint, some folks have suggested giving yourself a small reward for completing tough runs or races.  One of my few girly-girl indulgences is nail polish, and I had a gift certificate sitting around.  So yesterday, with this "self-reward" idealism in mind, I proceeded to immediately blow the gift certificate on a few bottles of nail polish.  These will be my carrot for getting through some future grueling runs.  I will wait to open them only after I have "earned" them.  Hey, whatever works, right?

These boots are made for running...

In the meantime, while I wait for the temperatures to drop back down to normal, for my nagging injuries to calm down again, and for my motivational mindset to improve, I will live my life with military precision.

My shadow's the only one that runs beside me

The latest installment of Maggie's Runner Photo Challenge!

Your running group. Who do you usually run with? A running club? A group run at a store? A buddy? Your dog? No one? Whatever, take a picture of it, even if it’s just you looking lonely.

Ladies and gentleman, without further ado, I now present to you...

To paraquote the great Green Day song, "My shadow's the only one that runs beside me."  In other words, I always run solo.

While the Boulevard of Broken Dreams song has a sad connotation to it, I actually really enjoy running by myself.  I find it therapeutic and a great chance for me to think, observe the scenery around me, and go exploring.  I used to always listen to music on my headphones while running, but in the last few months I've been working on running without music as much as I can.  (I do still "treat" myself to music once in awhile, though, especially on days when I am dragging or unmotivated.)

Admittedly, another reason that I run alone is because I'm slow.  Most seasoned runners leave me in the dust.  Therefore, it's not the easiest thing for me to find runners that match my pace.  But thankfully my shadow matches me step for step!  =D

I have heard a lot about how running with other people is great, of course.  However, after my uncomfortable experience trying to run with a group, I've gone back to enjoying my solo runs.  Maybe at a later point I'll try finding another running club to join.  But for now it's all good as just me, myself, and I!