Speaking of which...I have to really watch what I eat for the next few weeks, because my appetite from running is still huge, but actual activity is next to nothing, so I don't want to overdo it. With that said, I guess it is not surprising that I have to announce in here the demise of my half-marathon training. After Nolan's exam of my knee and his opinion, and after trying to run 4 miles again after letting it "heal" for a good many days, and having to stop before I even got to 2 miles...this all proved to me that it truly isn't a good idea for me to do long distances. I even told Nolan that maybe I could switch the half-marathon to the 10k on the same day, but he looked at me icing after failing to even go 2 miles and said, "Uh huh. I don't think so." My feelings on this have ranged from sadness and feeling depressed about it, to frustration and mild anger (at nothing or nobody in particular). In short, I am MAJORLY bummed, because it feels like what happened with swimming all over again (in fact, it is the SAME joint issue--as if I didn't already know I have joint problems in all major joints in my body). When that happened, I went to see a Sports Medicine doctor, and he told me almost exactly what Nolan told me this time--that physically he supposed I COULD run, but it would result in trashing that joint and maybe requiring surgery in a few years, along with being extremely painful. Basically, my cartilage gets very inflamed upon impact (this happened with my shoulders too while swimming long distance and butterfly races, so I wonder if it is actually impact or just pressure during intense movements), and the bone begins to erode away at it. Eventually in some places, the bones begin to grind against each other, which is very painful. I tried the knee brace on that last run, and it helped for a few minutes until I realized that the reason it helped was because my leg was numb. It had swollen inside the brace so that I couldn't feel anything! Anyway, all this is to say that despite my hopes, I won't be able to do this race or very long distances anymore (though secretly I am hoping to let me knee heal and be able to do a 10k again at least someday!). But I will still be in Santa Cruz on that day, cheering on Sarah as she runs an ungodly distance and feasts on sport beans while sweat is pouring down her back. Woo!
Last night we went to PF Chang's for a dinner date, and since the wait was over an hour, we put our names in and walked around the Bay Street (Emeryville) shopping village, which is pretty much like its own little town, but complete with every shop you could want. Everything from designer boutiques to Old Navy and Sephora. I'll tell you, we hadn't had lunch, and when we got in and our food arrived, it was the most amazing food ever. And it was great to go out to a nice dinner out of the city and enjoy some quality time together! So THANKS, Senior Caldwells, for a night out on the town; it was fantastic!
I also got to hike up a bluff near Rockaway Beach in Pacifica yesterday with Ash U, and seriously - along with the uncharacteristically beautiful sunny weather (Pacifica is one of the foggiest cities in the nation), and the big surf under the cliffs, it was absolutely gorgeous! And nice to feel totally removed from busy SF.
Goal of the day: fix my bike so I can still get good exercise...OR find another way to stay in shape (outdoors) during the weekends when I don't want to go back downtown to my gym.
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