Not Getting Any Easier

ChiRunning was a bust. It shouldn't have been. The class was interesting, albeit a little close to how I imagine a meeting called "So, you want to be a Scientologist," but I'll get to that in a minute. The more important thing is that I basically flunked out.

My right leg was killing me. It still kind of is. Walking hurts. I have been icing as much as possible, and I am spending some extra time at the physical therapist tomorrow to regroup. I'm just not thinking about the future right now. I want to run. Now. The weather is perfect, and I am totally grounded.

I was really frustrated Saturday night, and feeling really discouraged, when my friend Laura gave me the full pep talk treatment. That really did help. She ran a marathon a few years ago after a pretty major injury. What's hilarious is that a few hours later, I was talking to some guy (Jason? Joe? Matt?) and we got onto the topic of the marathon. I mentioned that I was having a problem with my leg, and he was like "Yeah, it doesn't look good. I'm pretty sure you're not going to run it."

Who says that? It was just weird enough to be about the funniest thing I heard all year. Oh, that dream you have of overcoming that huge challenge? Nope, I can't see that working out. My advice: give up. It would have been some pretty effective psychology if he wasn't just sort of accidentally being a jackass.

But the incident did kind of reinforce that I am still so running that marathon. Maybe at the end, I'll be all clever and cute and say something like "that was for you, Jason or Joe or Matt."

Oh, ChiRunning -- the best part was that Larry, the instructor, kept citing the guy who wrote the book in this strange, adoring way.

There was a lot of "Danny says it is best to imagine the dotted line in the road pulling you forward from the chest," or "Danny says to drink this Kool-aid."

Ok, he didn't really talk about Kool-aid. The thing is, a whole lot of what Larry was teaching made sense. The idea is basically to make the trunk of your body rigid and stable, and then lean forward to allow gravity to help draw you forward. But "Danny" doesn't appear to have any training whatsoever in sports medicine or any physiological discipline. His resume is entirely made up of his own physical feats. It's just a little dubious.

So, I am totally down with giving some of the techniques a shot, but if you catch me running around repeating "Danny says," immediately stage the intervention. Please don't wait until the ATF gets involved. Thanks.

I've Been Keeping Something From You

So, I promised some good cheer today, and I do like to keep my promises. That particular promise will be kept right after I do this thing:

So, I wanted to tell you, and I almost did a couple of times. At first, I was just too sad. Then, as I went through the seven stages of grief (spending a particularly long time on "anger"), I started to worry that it would bring you down too much. But I think I have really come to terms with it, and I think I can now help you get through it, too.

On Sept. 6, the world became a slightly uglier place. Some monster, some total sociopath, launched a vicious attack in the dead of night on my totally unarmed, brand new (7-year-old) car. When I came out on the morning of Sept. 7, her back window lay at a grotesque angle against the headrests of the back seat. She didn't understand why she was being punished; she knew not why she wasn't protected in the warm arms of a garage.

Anyway, she is going to be all fixed up on Monday. The surgery was traumatic (and shockingly expensive), but the results should be impressive. She will be all that she once was, albeit a little more jaded, a little less innocent.

Ok, back to happy fun time!!

Oh, crap, I have no more time. Happy fun time will commence tomorrow, when I report back on chirunning.

You're not going to believe this, but ...

My right leg hurts. I guess that's not unusual, because you can tend to overcompensate with your stronger leg, but it's getting sort of hard to ignore. And these beautiful Minton tiles on the floor of the Capitol Building are not exactly soothing.

Yesterday, I was scheduled to run 6 miles. It's finally getting cooler outside, so I was really pretty jazzed about running. I ate a bunch of ibuprofen and ran nearly seven. I was feeling pretty awesome.

This morning, it hurt. I have spent all day trying to analyze the hurt. What I have come up with is that it doesn't quite feel like shin splints. It feels lower down and completely in the back of the leg.

I was scheduled to run three miles today, but I'm going to bag that and ice and eat more ibuprofin.

So, let's not think about that anymore. I also have a cold or the like. So I'm just one big ball of fun!

In happier news, my lovely momma has paid for me to do a running workshop Saturday morning. It seems a little new age-y for my tastes, but it can't hurt, right? Anyway, it's something new, and that's pretty much what I am in the market for.

In sadder news, I'm sure you've heard about Ann Richards. We like to keep our banter running-related here at Daphneruns, but I just gotta tip my hat to a really cool lady.

Come on back tomorrow, I will post some links and generally make good cheer.