Now that's what I call dedication!

In order to attempt a pain-free long run, I went to see Dr. Mike twice this week. The process went a little something like this: (if you dont care for science talk, skip ahead)

Monday: Dr. Mike appointment. He adjusts my back, hips, scapula. Digs into my right tibialis anterior (shin muscle), peroneus longus, bit of soleus. Tells me my pain is from tight two joint hip flexor and I should stretch it and it will fix the pain.

Tuesday: 6 mile treadmill run. Right leg unhappy; hip flexor tight, hamstring not firing at all. I come up with a theory that this is really a nerve problem instead of a hip flexor problem. Theory: since hamstring isnt working at all, it is restricting hip flexor movement, causing a kind of isometric contraction. This is what is making hip flexor tight and we have been focusing on the wrong issue. I am impressed with my genius.

Wednesday: I see Dr. Mike. Tell him my theory. He kindly tells me I'm a moron and it is reciprocal inhibition that is causing the problems. There is no way this is a nerve problem because if I had sciatica, I wouldn't be able to walk on my toes or heels, which I successfully demonstrated. Just to humor me, he digs the shit out of my right low back around the nerve with his chiropractor tool that looks something like this:

And leaves me looking something like this:

Ok, not quite. But that's what it feels like.

Thursday: The moment of truth: The Long Run.

I decided that I would get my 15-mile long run in on Thursday after work because I am headed to DC from Friday night to Monday and wouldn't be able to get it in then. Now that's dedication... or just plain fear knowing that if I skip this run, the next weekend long run will hurt like hell... or honesty, knowing I will likely be hungover all weekend in DC. Plus, I had to do it when I could borrow my roommate Mikey's iPod. My iPod, lovingly known to its friends as The Pod, is no longer with us (God rest his little soul). It may have been due to its constant falls from 3 foot heights or the water-logging from shower-time sing alongs; I don't know, I'm not a doctor. I choose however, to blame this death on Apple's workmanship. The Pod will be missed (and not readily replaced, looking at my lack of funds).

So, I mapped my run on mapmyrun.com at 4:50, was dressed and had my CamelBak filled by 5:10, and sat around avoiding the inevidable until 5:25. I got out the door at 5:30 and turned the iPod on. Here is a peek into my head during the run:

5:35 Wow, Mikey likes country music a LOT. Right knee not the happiest, maybe it will loosen up.

5:42 Bootilicious... really Mikey? But I can definitely run to this song!

6:02 Wait a minute... is that my hamstring starting to fire? Wait, let me try to do high knees... my hip flexor isn't that pissed! This is awesome! Remember to tell Dr. Mike that your theory was pure genius. Then again, it could have been the stretching he told you to do. Damn. No control in this experiment.

6:21 (Running by Trader Joe's on Beacon St) I wish I had a cart or something so I could buy a case of wine right now.

6:35 This song (We Belong) is by Pat Benetar? No way! I love this song! (Song then put on repeat 3 times in a row)

6:47 Ok, my hamstrings are really sore now. Perhaps a 15 miler wasn't the best first run for my unused right hamstring.

7:40 Really? This is the first time a hip-hop song comes on since Bootilicious. That was almost exactly 2 hours ago. I better put it on repeat.

7:55 How long til I'm done?

7: 59 I wish I were done. I feel like the tin man I'm so sore.

8:04 Can I please be done?

8:06 (Finally reached Baxter St) DONE.

So if I take out the 10 stop lights I waited for years at, that's about a 10 minute mile... not too bad in the crazy strong wind.

Today I am feeling good, glad the Celtics managed to pull through to beat Dallas last night (what a rough game!!), and am ready to have a lazy weekend. Ahhh yessss.

Here's the link to the map of my run if you're interested:

http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/ma/boston/834330924742

I don't know if you need a log-in to see it, so I will kindly give you mine:

Name: lvwolfe

Password (shh... don't tell): 02190219 (those are zeros PS)

Blog is back up!

So, apparently when you post a map onto your blog, Blogger's spam searching software thinks your perfectly good blog is spam. So even though its super cool to have a map posted, it looks like I'll just have to post the link to my maps now. Lame.

This past week has been crazy from my move to Southie last Sunday. I had to stay home from work on Wednesday to get my furniture delivered but am now the proud owner of my very own bed and dresser... and huge credit card bill. I'm all moved in minus wall art and new bedding, but that may have to wait until I pay off my current owings. For the living room we've decided to go cheap for wall decorations and have a roomie photoshoot with the four of us and take ridiculous pictures in ridiculous garb...if only I had access to Dad's closet! I love the apartment minus the fact that my room has no windows... but it will be great on Sundays when I can sleep in!!

This morning I got up for practice with the help of my trusty new light alarm clock--if you set the alarm, the light starts to brighten up gradually to be at full brightness the time you need to be up. You can also choose add sounds like waves or rain to this process or for falling asleep, but the majority just sound like a flushing toilet and increase middle of the night bathroom trips. This morning the light was set for 6:45am, so naturally I turned it off and slept until 7:15, and was a few minutes late for practice (Note to self: maybe you should look into relocating this lamp across the room). Each practice we have a person or two who tells us a little story of someone they are running for with blood cancer and dedicates our run that day to them. During the dedication, the person usually breaks out in tears and often times this causes the team (or softies like me) to get a little misty... just in time to get up and run double digit miles.

Today I ran with one of my mentees Stephen and his buddy Bobby who have both been on Team in Training for 16 years... Stephen even used to coach TNT's hiking team while training for Boston every year (and I'm his mentor?). Stephen is an avid "Chi Runner" and he gave me another lesson during the run. Chi Running is a form of running where you lean forward slightly and are basically in a constant fall. Your legs automatically move forward to stop you from falling, in theory taking little to no effort. This is a theory, of course, because I still can't seem to get the proper "punching" arm motion down and fall out form when I get too tired. And my core is too weak. Even so, it was quite entertaining to run between two fifty year-old men joking about man-girdles.

These past few weeks have been tough on my body--I have been having pretty bad pain around the insertion of my IT band and the lateral tendons of my biceps femoris and soleus on my right leg (the outer side of my knee for all you lay people). After waking up to pain while turning over in bed, I decided that I should probably get it checked out. I have a new "soft tissue guy," a chiropractor who specializes in Active Release Techique on muscles and I'm a big fan, especially since we mostly talk about the Celtics and who had a crazier weekend. Last time I saw him a few weeks ago, he told me Santa should have given me coal because my left hip flexor (which I was supposed to be stretching) was a solid rock. This tight right hip flexor along with my tight left hamstring has made me over-compensate, causing lesions to accumulate around the origin of my right soleus (calf). This has in turn rotated my spine and is probably the reason it feels like I have a rib out of place. Treatment for this is an adjustment and Dr. Mike digging like hell into the problem area while moving the muscle through full range of motion, causing me to cringe and yell while it leaves me with giant bruise (this is a good thing I swear). So now I have a bruise the size of Texas on my calf, but I guess it's better than last time when Dr. Mike made that size bruise on my ass (piriformis problems). My coworkers swear I live in an abusive household when I show them. Isn't marathoning great?


This week during an Economic Recovery House Meething, Obama said, "We hold within our hands the capacity to do great things." I will think about this now every time I get up too early on a Saturday and run on the Boston Marathon course. It is truly motivating knowing that my time with the Leukemia & Lyphoma Society makes a difference in the lives of others.

Saturday 15 miler

Half way through the season and its not getting any easier...

Its that time of year again. The time of year where it is pitch black by 5pm, icey sidewalks challenge your ability to stay vertical while you're walking to work, and your mental thermometer has been skewed to make you believe that "warm" is anything over 20 degrees. It is the time that I plead temporary insanity and recommit to run the Boston Marathon again with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training, or TNT.

I have come to the conclusion that running a marathon must be like giving birth (or so I've heard)--you forget the pain of the first when you decide to try for a second. All signs point to hell...the Saturday morning training is way too early and way too far and way too cold; the last few miles of the race itself have you wanting to die; the stomach cramps that manifest the next day keep you in the fetal position, only moving to alleviate sore muscles. Right after, you swear off running or any sort of physical activity for the rest of your life. Until something happens that makes you want to do it all over again.

This past summer, my reason was clear when my "Uncle" Jim Bruce passed away from small cell carcinoma lung cancer. I had learned the previous semester in one of my rehabilitation therapy classes that lung cancer is the hardest cancer to control. Because of its promixity to the alveolar capillaries, lung cancer can easily be carried in the blood stream and metasticize anywhere. If someone is brought in for a seisure with no prior incidents, the first thing that they check for is lung cancer (I think I am remembering this right... then again, it has been a while since I studied for a science exam). It just seems right to run Boston for Uncle Jim since he grew up just north of Boston. So when I would normally be chanting "I hate my life, I hate my life..." running up Heartbreak Hill on a Saturday long run, I now just think of Uncle Jim and his enthusiasm for life and it makes it a little bit better.

This year I decided to become a mentor for my team and in doing so, have made new friends and running buddies. I have around 12 people that I keep in touch with regarding training and fundraising. It so happens that most of my mentees are TNT or marathon veterans. One of my mentees even ran the 2007 Boston Marathon two months after finishing radiation for lymphoma. He's way faster than me. What a stud. Some mentees I haven't yet met face to face, but I run with one often after work, have met one for drinks (we excuse it as "carbo loading"), have personal "Chi Running" lessons at practice with another, and email a bunch with yet another who is training alone up in Maine in the negetive temperatures and likes to refer to himself as the marathoning snail.

Since I never knew my mentor last year, I strive to make my mentees feel included and part of the team. For what I know, they appreciate it. Or are just entertained by my wonderful sense of humor and openness. Some snippets from emails they have sent to me:

"I am happy that you feel comfortable enough with me to say "buttcrack" and "shoot me in the face" in your emails."
and
"Thanks for staying in touch by the way. It helps to stay connected, especailly with someone who is not afraid of mocking Jesus and likes to plan bar nights. "
and
"I think tomorrow we should have good weather. Nonetheless, remember to stop drinking and smoking by about 3am tonight just to play safe."

As for the training, easier said than done. Last Saturday I ran at practice with a teammate Cheryl from the Wellesley Community Center where we meet to BC over the Newton hills and back. Well, due to lack of guidance (or so I'd like to say), we missed the turn around and added an extra half mile. Which is all fine and good, except for when you are already running just over 13 miles and it is 20 degrees (rather warm...) with a huge headwind on the way home. I map many of my runs on mapmyrun.com which is awesome, so I'll paste those into later blogs.


The plan is a 5 miler tonight on the treadmill. Lord give me strength, for the treadmill is the devil.


Thank you again for all of you who have donated this year or in the past. I truly appreciate the support and the encouragement keeps me motivated as I run after work in the dark in this land of ice and snow.

If you are still interested in donating, it's not too late! Check out my fundraising site for info on donating and to see my progress... I'm just over $800 to my goal!
http://pages.teamintraining.org/ma/boston09/lvwolfe


Stay tuned... more posts to come!!

Always, Lauren