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.