damn viruses!

i'm sick again. not exactly sure what i have but i've had some weird symptoms (go figure). i had a stiff neck and a headache when i go into work on tuesday. now i'm all stuffed up and my lungs feel "itchy". i hope i get rid of this pretty quickly because i've had zero energy this past week since i've done zero physical activity. so, overall, i feel like crap.

i've got a cardiology appointment on tuesday afternoon. hopefully, he'll do the necessary tests to make sure my heart is healthy. it's always scary to hear of young, supposedly healthy professional athletes dropping dead. and yet another one this past weekend. a denver broncos running back. yikes! it's funny that the docs never take me seriously. oh, you're young and in good shape. how could you possibly have a heart problem? look at jiri fischer. greg johnson had to retire this past summer because they found a hereditary heart problem. good thing they finally found it before he keeled over and died. all i ask is they do a stress echo to see what my heart is doing during exercise.

enough on that crap. i've been holding off for the longest time from looking at the mtbr 29er forum. i took a peek tonight after about 3 months. yikes! now i know why i stayed away! everytime i see what everyone else is riding, i want something new too! whether it's the latest custom frame or the latest bling parts. but no major purchases this season! i'm going with what i have and will most likely get a custom, dream bike next year after all our debt is paid off and we're in our new house. so, i'll have a full year to decide who i want to build it and what parts i'm gonna put on it, and lastly, whether or not it'll have gears.

oh yeah, i'm gonna have to make a change to my racing schedule. no 12 hours of addison for me. instead i'll be spending the weekend in chicago celebrating my birthday and checking out the arcade fire at the historic chicago theatre on 5/19. no big deal, i'll find something else to race. my april race schedule is still up in the air. it all depends on whether or not i run the half. if i do, i won't do yankee, but if i don't i'll race both pontiac and yankee.

my shin still causes me random pain so it'll be at least 2 more weeks before i try a brisk 30-45 minute walk to see how it feels. it sucks because i'm heading down to sunny south florida next weekend for a week for work. i was hoping to go running outside in shorts and a tee but i don't think that's gonna happen. too soon. but if i'm fully recovered from my cold, i'll definitely be partying it up in south beach on of the nights! yeah, it's 5 days of training but i heard it's like a mini-vacation so i'm gonna have FUN!

is it spring yet?

okay, so i'm officially sick of the cold. it's like 5 degrees out right now. but i can see the light at the end of the provebial tunnel. next sunday it's supposed to be in the upper 40's! can you say spring fever? the worst thing is that i haven't run in about 10 days and it feels like it's been 2 months! i was hoping my shin was getting better since i was experiencing very little pain last week but it was hurting again today. i'm still hopeful about the half mary at the end of april. we'll see what happens in another month.

i've been too lazy to set up the bike on the trainer, but i'd better get to it. i need to stay in reasonable shape while the shin heals up. i didn't ride the bike on friday like i had planned. i ended up working too late and then had plans to go out. good thing i don't go out to often any more because it would just get me into trouble. why is it that i can't just go out for a few drinks? it's fun while you're doing it but i sure do pay for it the next day. i didn't get up until 4 pm yesterday! yikes. at least i have one more day to recover. president's day is an official company holiday so i'll spend the day painting the house. getting the house ready to sell this spring. it's about damn time!

i need to get the bikes to the shop for tune ups. i need to find a decently cheap fork for the fango to get that ready to sell. i still need to unload the cross bike. i'm still thinking about putting a cheap ss together with the old homegrown frame and getting rid of that. i need $$! get the last of the debt paid off and then buy that new house! it's really weird. i'm like a grown up....sort of. i've been more motivated at work then i've ever been. we'll see how long that lasts. i guess i'm trying to get that promotion later this year. as much as i want that promotion, my play time and family time still remain at the top of my list. it's just weird that running still remains at the top of my play list right now.

one year

well it's my blog's first birthday today! a full year's worth of garbage from my existence. well, there's a number of holes in there when i didn't feel like writing, but it's all good!

hmmm...so what's new? i've taken a week off of running so far. has it really only been one week? it's not too easy to just quit something you love. i don't have a ton of pain in my shin but it still hurts every once in awhile. hopefully, it's healing up okay. if there's no pain in 3 weeks, i'm gonna try a short run and see what happens. since i haven't done any cardio in over a week, it's time to hit the stationary bike tonight. bo-ring! at least i've started lifting again this week. i can't believe how much muscle mass running has eaten up!

the mri last week was uneventful. i still need to get up off my ass and send it into the surgeon. not that i anticipate them finding anything.

i can't wait for spring! i'm pretty much sick of the cold although the snow this week was definitely welcome. we have to have at least one significant snowfall this winter, jeez! so, i guess spring is around the corner. 2 months until the pontiac lake tt. i'm guessing i'll be ready since i've been REALLY active this winter. but you never know. going anaerobic for 45 minutes doesn't sound like much fun if you know what i mean.

so, not much new going on here. just taking things slow and steady. c'mon sunshine!

happy birthday bloggy!

s.a.d.

seasonal affective disorder. i think i've got it. all the classic symptoms and i've felt the exact same way at the exact same time of the year for the past three years. it sucks. i have little motivation. not that i can ran anyway. i was stupid and did my first every speed workout on wednesday night on the dreadmill. it kicked my ass! and really did my left shin in. it's definitely broken. so, i won't be running for quite awhile. obviously, the half mary at the end of april is in doubt. that sucks. everytime i want to do something, my stupid body fails me. well, i guess it wasn't too smart to increase my mileage like i did. i thought i could get away with it. nope. running puts way too much stress on your body. you really do need to increase mileage by 10% per week.

so that has me doubly depressed. i guess i could lift but i've had little motivation lately. it looks like i'm gonna have to bust out the ol' trainer and ride that. that sounds like fun.

so i'm still sittin' here at work trying to kill two more hours. it's time for my annual mri and it's scheduled for 9:30 so i didn't feel like driving home and then back out to a2. joy. they get to inject me with more radioactivity. if you had special glasses, i bet i'd glow green like in the cartoons. my blood work came back normal this week. so that's some good news. i don't expect them to find too much on the mri...meaning not much is up there....ie no brains. get it? good.

february?

my how time flies. i can't believe it's been almost a month since i last wrote. i promise to write more often. i've just been really busy with work. a stupid presentation i had to put together for the end of january. that had me mucho preoccupied for most of the month.

some running related injuries made me cut back some of my miles. i ended up with, i think, 120 miles for january. i'm back to about 30/week for this month but i have a sneaking suspicion that i have a tibial stress fracture in my left shin. i'll try the dreadmill again tonight and see what's up. that sure would suck if i had a stress fracture. how would i ever be able to train for my half mary at the end of april?

it's february and that's usually when i feel my crappiest. this year is no exception. i went into the doc's last week to get checked out. you wanna know why i went in? get this...my left pec was twitching uncontrollably. yep, only crazy shit like this happens to me. i showed the doc and he said, "wow! cool!" so i asked if he's ever seen it before and of course he said, "nope". i must be a freak. yup. that's me. i go in for my annual mri on friday night. my blood work alread came back normal. yea! but my heart's been acting up again lately. that sucks. it's always one thing or another with me, isn't it?