Swapping

I toyed with the idea of writing a post playing on the various connotations that "swapping" contains, but I really don't have the energy.

I just walked all around town in the rain, in sandals (slimy... yick) and now I'm home and I feel like I've been out in the rain enough for one day, so I'm swapping out my run and will have a yoga practice at home later tonight.

I'm trying to be flexible (literally!). There'll be enough time for hard-assness when official training starts this summer.

Reconnecting

I have been busy lately. New friends, old friends, friends in town. This afternoon I played some tunes at a friend's house - there were about eight of us, and I feel like I'm getting back into the swing of practicing my banjo.

I had a terrible run on Thursday and lost a lot of my confidence, so I took it easy this morning and gained some of it back. My diet is super-clean and super-strict right now - I need to seriously detox from the Evil Pastry Table that lorded it's ubiquitous presence over my training class these past two weeks.

On Sunday night I am reconnecting with one of my friends who interprets sign language. Hopefully she can introduce me to a few deaf people who can become friends. I miss signing.

Well, I just finished a film and now I'm going to play my banjo for a while and maybe do some reading. I won't mind falling asleep a bit early tonight.

Not in the mood

I am in the worst mood. Class today was deathly boring. I quit my run with a mile and a half to go and walked home. I didn't feel strong, I had a persistent cramp, I felt bloated and slumped over. Partly because of this training class I have been eating like CRAP for two weeks and I feel hideous because of it.

I just want to get back into my routine, into my diet and training program, into my regular sleeping pattern. I feel like this break in my routine has taken me a giant step back. So demoralizing.

Excuse me while I get into bed for an hour and try to regroup before the Wings go on. Let's just hope to God they win...

Last Night's Fun

I think this photo (courtesy of Matt) says it all:

Run Interrupted

The weather getting warmer is causing me to adjust both my pace and my clothing. Between that and my injury I wanted to take it really easy this afternoon. Despite attempts to moderate my pace, I was flying along my route feeling really good when I noticed that traffic was stopped at the intersection ahead of me. Two police officers were standing in the middle of the street. They motioned me to stop, too.

I looked around. Were the traffic lights out? Was there an accident? Nothing that I could see.

Then, ahead, coming toward me were three police motorcycles followed by three black SUVs. Yep - the Papal Motorcade! Motorcycles, SUVs, ambulances (two!), marked police cars, and somewhere in the middle a long black limo with the Vatican flag flying true. The windows were tinted but the limo was moving slowly and I'm pretty sure I got a glimpse of the Pope inside! I'm not sure which one of the white-robed figures he was, but I bet he was one of them!

Yes, dear readers, my run was interrupted by the Pontiff himself. Only in DC - or Italy, I guess.

Injury Report and Misc. Photos

I am injured. I don't quite know how it happened, but I seem to have strained my entire right quadricep from the knee all the way up to the hip flexor. DEEP within the hip flexor I have pain and it's a really difficult place to isolate for a stretch. So this has thrown my training schedule off a little... I took Monday off instead of running 4 miles, had a light yoga class last night instead of a tough one, ran 2 easy miles today instead of having it off. I hope that I will be back on track for tomorrow's 4-miler. In the mean time I am applying heat, gentle massage, and stretching/walking to keep the muscles loose.

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Last night I went out to McGinty's Public House in Silver Spring for some much needed tunes!! Even though I felt way out of practice I had a great time reconnecting with my friends and sharing in the craic. Here is a picture of me and Doc at the end of the evening after many a Guinness.

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A few weeks ago, I talked about purchasing new beds for my kitties and their subsequent turning-up-of-the-nose at my offering. Well, as I predicted, a sufficient amount of time has gone by and they are finally venturing into the beds for their little naps. I caught each of them trading off snoozes this morning.

A Basic Dilemma

It's NHL playoffs time and the Red Wings are, of course, in the number one spot in the Western Conference. We clinched that spot almost as soon as we could.

Most of you who know me know that I love hockey. I love hockey and I love the Wings. I grew up watching hockey at home and have great memories of going to games. But when I moved to DC, I lost a lot of my hockey-watching capabilities. DC isn't much of a hockey town, and the games aren't on the local channels. Not being a digital cable subscriber, I was left listening to the games on streaming radio. I grew to really enjoy that - it's old school, and anyway, I've been watching hockey long enough that I need to hear the game OR see it, but not both.

Now, though, playoffs are here and I decided to bite the bullet and order digital cable so I could watch the games on the Versus channel. This was a really conflicted decision for me, as I tend to eschew technological upgrades (or even initial purchases!) on the grounds that it draws one to the world and away from more important spiritual pursuits.

So, in typical style, I struggled and vacillated about the decision to upgrade to basic cable. I called and made an appointment, cancelled it. Called back and re-submitted my request. And contrary to my fear that having digital cable would draw me to the TV more, I think that the upgrade actually make my TV watching more mindful since I now have the option to flip through the guide (no more channel surfing) and I also have channels that could actually be meaningful to watch, such as the Independent Film Channel.

So now, as this post has been typed in several short spurts while playoff game three goes to commercial, I will end it and go back to supporting my team, who are well on their way past the quarterfinals to the semis...

Huh.

The strangest thing just happened. I got dressed for yoga, walked outside, and at the end of the block I calmly turned around and came home again.

I guess I'm not going to yoga class tonight.

Last night my friend Danny and I took a Level One class together and then went for a nice four-mile jog. I felt great last night and this morning - light and clean. But now I feel heavy and tired, my hamstrings are tight, and I'm just worn out.

Maybe my double workout was a bad idea. Or maybe my body just needs a rest regardless of last night's training. It has been a long, hard week both at work and in my personal life.

Still, I'm stymied.

Oh well. It is what it is. Tomorrow, a 10k.

Phrases that don't make sense if you think about them

"used to" as in, I used to be a runner.

"for starters" as in, for starters you can buy me a drink!

"good people" as in, he's good people. HE (singular) is not PEOPLE (plural)

I'm sure there are more that really get on my nerves, but I can't think of them now.

Good Luck Matt

Today is the culmination of months of training, as Matt heads downtown to run the Cherry Blossom 5k. You can read his pre-race (and, I assume, post-race!) report on his blog, Still Waiting For the Runner's High.

Yesterday he went to the Expo and found a t-shirt that made him think of me. It says, "In my dreams I'm Kenyan" - he was nice enough to buy one for me. He also had the immense privilege of meeting my favorite runner, Catherine Ndereba, aka Catherine the Great. Here is a picture of the two of them:


He taped her whole talk and asked her a couple of questions. I can't wait to hear the tape. She is a freaking LEGEND in the running world. I'll never forget watching her run Athens, and I can't wait to watch her run Beijing this year. ::swoon

Today we are finishing up the birthday celebrations with brunch on the Old Town waterfront and, later, dinner at my brother's. Tomorrow my mom, her husband, and my oldest brother fly back to Michigan and I go back to work.

Surprise!

This weekend my mom and her husband, along with my aunt, are in town for a wedding. It also happens to be my mom's birthday, so as a surprise we devised a plan to bring my oldest brother to DC from Northern Michigan! Yesterday the boys, Mike's finacee, and I gathered at The Dubliner on Capitol Hill to wait for my mom's husband to lure her down to the bar for a pre-rehearsal dinner drink (cause who doesn't need one of those?) The look on her face when she saw me there was slight confusion, then she saw my brother and was uncomprehending for a second before the shrieking and hugging and picking up of jaws off the floor started.

I love surprises like that :)

Then they went off to their dinner and we started the serious business of whiskey tasting and burger-eating. I became a bit distracted around 9pm when my left ankle started to swell and ache. I'm not sure why, exactly - the only thing I can think is that, since my running shoes are completely dead, my form was off earlier that afternoon and that may have put undue pressure on my tendons. Some ice last night, an anti-inflammatory, and more ice this morning seems to be settling things down. I'll replace my shoes on Tuesday and in the mean time try to take it easy.

Today is the wedding and reception, tomorrow is the birthday brunch and then dinner at my brother's pad in Arlington. Then, it's back to the daily grind.

I Need Goals

I feel stagnant.

I mean, I'm happy generally, life is good, I have a lot going for me in a lot of different areas....but... I don't know!

I think I'm finally over all the stress of grad school and missing the constant learning and testing of the intellect.

My New Year's Resolutions don't really count as goals per se, I am thinking of more intense self-improvement oriented things to work toward.

My running has been going great, and I have the goal of running the Detroit Half-Marathon in October. I'm a little averse to the idea of taking a class of some kind, only because I think it would be expensive and I'm not sure what sort of class I'd want to take. But maybe I will look into that more.

I could set a goal of reading more, but I read a lot already. Maybe a good goal would be to incorporate a more "academic" book into my stack. I read non-fiction already, so I need to take it a step further, maybe, and read something... schoolish.

Thoughts?

Yoga + Running = Best Time Ever, Apparently

Ultimately, I've decided, there just aren't enough days in the week for me to have an optimal fitness routine. I'm running three days and practicing yoga three days with one day off. The result? Running is improving. My day off activities are improving (heh), but my yoga is really suffering. So, in the interest of not losing my pathetic (but hard-earned) hamstring flexibility, I have begun experimenting with doubling up on running and yoga at least one day per week.

Last week I went for an easy three miles and ended up at the studio for a practice. The result? Decent run, horrible practice. Okay, well, part of the point is to rule out what doesn't work, so fine.

Last night I tried the opposite - I took the 6pm class and planned on finishing with a 3-mile loop home.

WELL. My instructor (who is a MAD RUNNING MACHINE himself - honestly, who runs 50 miles at a time? Or 100 miles? I mean, do you pitch a tent halfway through and sleep the night? I don't get it) gave me the option of only doing the first half of the practice to run, but I wanted to try the whole thing, just as an experiment.

So, practice over, I stepped into the cool mist and embarked. Disaster right away. My legs felt like spaghetti. Weirdest feeling ever. I almost bagged the run right there and just took it home (1 mile) but instead I said to myself, "Hey, it's just an experiment, give it a shot and see how it goes. If you don't finish, so what."

And so I ran! And as I ran, I felt better and better. My core was completely engaged, my body felt light, my head calm. As I ran my legs moved faster and faster and a couple of times I tried to moderate my pace, but my body wouldn't listen.

The result? A 5k personal record and the best night's sleep I've had in a long time!

Countdown!

Well folks, in yet another defiance of my self-imposed technophobia (the first being the installation of Twitter), if you would kindly look to your right, just under my gorgeous face you will see a countdown ticker.

That's right - my father and I are running the Detroit Half-Marathon in exactly 202 days and... well... you can watch the days, hours, and minutes tick down yourself!

"Official" training won't start until July 1. Until then, I'm just logging miles and trying to build a good base of endurance.

Matt has also signed up for the race! And, hey, if you clicked on the link I just provided to his running blog, you should also head on over to his new political blog, the Intelligent Independent. There's always something good to discuss.

Oh what a day

Day from hell is finally OVER. Things don't blow up at work very often, but when they do, it's a total nightmare.

I spent SEVENTY dollars for my kittens' second birthday. Twenty of those dollars were for new cat beds. Currently, they are taking long naps next to the beds. After about a week, they will deign to climb in. Smartasses.


I need yoga, and need it badly. Then, I need wine. And then sleep.

Foodpix

I am so thankful that good produce is finally coming back to my neighborhood Giant. Today I stopped in and purchased apples (Granny Smith and Pink Lady), plums, and nectarines. The combination of colors is gorgeous. Here is a picture of my fruit bowl. Behind it you can see my Precision Nutrition and Gourmet Nutrition books. There is one less plum now than when this was taken:


Dinner was a simple dish inspired by a conversation last night with my muse of food and beauty, Allison. She told me about some fresh peas she steamed, which led to a discussion of our mutually favored essay "P is for Peas" from An Alphabet for Gourmets by the monarch of food writing herself, M.F.K. Fisher.

I steamed peas (shelled) for six minutes and edamame (in the shell) for five, combined with one pat butter and a handful of crumbled feta. Two grinds of fresh pepper. The texture and color really popped - what a lovely, fresh, simple meal.

Run Report

The moment I set out on my hilly 5-miler this afternoon, I knew it wasn't gonna be good. The top I was wearing was too baggy, meaning that all of my jiggly bits were, well, jiggling.

Ew.

And my legs just felt heavy. I felt like I was shuffling rather than running. Everything felt weighed down. Did I have a 10-pound boulder in my pocket and had forgotten or something?

Nope.

But then I caught a glimpse of myself in a storefront, and I was trucking!

Yay!

But I knew that the last leg of the run would consist of steep rolling hills, including The Hill, and I wanted to save some, so I slowed down. I really make it a goal to run a positive split (second half faster than the first) and the best way for me to do this is to start a little slower than I think I ought to.

But:

After a few minutes my pace picked up again, naturally. So finally I just decided to go with it.

Until;

Turning north on 34th St, beginning the rolling hills. Everything ground to a halt: my momentum, my desire, my pulse. Every step was laborious. And I knew, I still knew that after all these hills yet before I could collapse on the floor of my lobby and stretch was...

The Hill.

This Hill has been my enemy since I began running in Washington, DC. Even during my high-mileage days when I was training for the marathon, I barely ever made it up The Hill without stopping. But recently, and by that I mean in the past month or so, I have made it up The Hill without stopping every single time. Which didn't make me any less worried today because to be honest I wasn't have the greatest run or feeling very strong.

So,

I encouraged my way up one of the preceeding hills by offering myself a bribe: make it up this one and I would let myself walk up That One.

Nice.

But then, when I got to the foot of The Hill, instead of my normal drill-sergeant-esque inner monologue, ("Run your lazy ass up that hill, maggot, if you ever want to see the light of day again!") I said to myself, gently, "Diana, just give it a try."

And!

I shortened my stride, lowered my arms, fixed my gaze, and chugged my lazy strong and sexy ass all the way up that hill and home.

I rock.

Remake!

Hollywood is remaking Michael Haneke's "Funny Games."

I've been a 'fan' of Haneke ever since I traumatized myself and my friend John with "The Piano Teacher" years ago in college. I can't believe John still wanted to be my friend after I subjected him to that film.

Haneke is rough. His films are not for the mentally or physically weak. They will leave you exhausted and wondering if you will be able to crawl the distance from the couch to your bed so you can shudder under the relative safety of your covers until the images go away.

It's not bloody or gory. No gratuitous violence. Just dread. Foreboding. Psychological terror.

I blogged a review of the orignal Funny Games after I saw it. This is what I had to say:

Several years ago, Michael Haneke's film The Piano Teacher traumatized me severely. It wasn't until recently that I was able to sit down and watch it again. I've since decided to face Haneke head on, and a few minutes ago finished his more recent film, Funny Games.

I'm not sure where to start, except to perhaps paraphrase Haneke himself by saying that this is a film reserved for those who need to watch it. If, he says, the viewer is upset with the film by it's end, he would simply ask, "Why did you stay to finish it?" And indeed he presents some interesting concepts that an ordinary person might need to be walked through - or, more likely, might wish he had never be shown.

The genuis of the film is the way Haneke makes the viewer an accomplice in the violence. You'll see what I mean if you watch it. And beyond that, he generates the most acute frustration, as you realize that the victims are acting in a tragedy but the aggressors in a comedy. Watching the interaction is maddening.

Between this film and last night's Janghwa, Hongryeon (A Tale of Two Sisters) I'm in need of some serious comedy.

I deliberately left out any summary of the plot. These sorts of films, "foreign" in genre, don't generally follow the predictable plot arc to which American viewers are accustomed. They're left saying, "I don't get it" or "the ending sucked" or some other comment that entirely misses the point. These films speak to the human condition, that aspect of which most of us prefer to avoid facing. Plot is there, consistency is important, but the plot is not the only genius aspect of Haneke's films, and it's certainly not the most important aspect to bring out in a review.

If this sort of thing confuses or bores you, the film will, too. If you're intrigued, proceed with caution. If you love this line of thought, Haneke's your man, but don't hold me accountable for your nightmares.

On the Importance of Being Flexible

I am home sick from work today. Last night I developed a sore throat, which got progressively worse and woke me up at 4am, throbbing.

I am a firm believe of taking care of oneself at the first sign of sickness. I have staved off several potential colds this winter season using this method. The problem is that I hate taking unscheduled days off from running or yoga, so I need to develop a way to encourage my health while maintaining some semblance of an exercise regimen.

Athletes get sick, they do, and yet they figure out a way to maintain their endurance so that a brief sickness (or preventative rest) doesn't set them back to square one once they finally feel able to get back out there.

So later today, after a couple more glasses of water and tea, some soy protein and ibuprofen, I will go on a long (4.5) mile walk, incorporating one errand, in lieu of the five-mile run I had scheduled.

Walking can be just as good for a person as running. The heart rate doesn't get quite where it should be, but calories are still burned, muscle tone still developed, lungs still exercised. Yet I will be spared the frantic inhale-exhale of cool air that could exacerbate my sore throat.

And, as my mom so wisely said to me this morning, the reason people get tired when they're sick is because the body is expending it's energy fighing the invaders. So it makes sense to try to preserve that energy for the immune system, but at the same time it's important to preserve a certain level of fitness.

Back to the couch now. Here is my map. I hope y'all are feeling okay today and taking care of yourselves.

Need a Break

My social calendar has been quite full lately. I've been out around town listening to amazing concerts, dining with famous friends, flashing my gams around the neighborhood, and playing music.

The result - I'm exhausted. I need a break. I need a weekend.