Elipses (Dedicated to John)…

Dinner with John. Craftbar. 

After 30 minutes of acupuncture which left my right hamstring throbbing, I limped four blocks east and met an old friend (who, very conveniently for me, is also my best friend‘s boyfriend) for dinner. Jay Dub, as I like to call him, writes the blog A Special Way of Being Afraid, and is the dude I stole the Elipses post idea from.

He greeted me with, “You look skinnier than usual.” Smart boy. We then proceeded to laugh our entire way through the meal, so that by the end he had me holding my stomach and wiping a tear from my eye. Ever the gentleman, he let me bully him out of half his salad, and point out that his pasta looked like mealworms. I cooed over photos of his adorable nephew, and he assumed an appropriately stricken look when I told him about the distances I’ve been running.

…..Alan Culpepper and his wife will open SolePepper, a running shop in Louisville, CO, the next town over from my brother, this October. I’m so going there when I’m in Colorado this November. Maybe Matt will check it out for the rest of us, and post a report on the DRC? RunColo also has an opinion about the shop…. In this post a few months ago I bravely threw down the gauntlet, and I am happy to report that I’ve successfully transposed the last two digits as of yesterday’s weight-in. Now I have to go buy all new clothes…. Running Times magazine is now reviewing books, and thank god for that. They panned The Runner, and totally called out author David Samuels for general ignorance about the sport. Thank you, RT, for saving me $20 and 5 hours of my life….. and, last but not least, faithful commenter EN sent in a dispatch from Eastern Europe, for which I owe him a beer:

I was 4 miles into a 12 miler today when i found out nike was doing a 1/2 marathon that day in budapest.  i had no money on me so i’d have to bandit but i thought of you and chose not to do it.  instead i ran my 12 miles and cheered for everyone as i ran the other way.

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Feets Don’t Fail Me Now

A black toenail, no biggie (even if it is on my left big toe).  Two black toenails, a minor inconvenience during sandal season.  A sprained muscle in the bottom of my foot, along the arch, now that is something worth limping for.

Saw the podiatrist this morning about the black toenails.  It seems I have elfish big toes, in that the bones naturally curve them up at the ends, so that it looks like they are always pointing at what? My nose? My large breasts?  At least as far as the structure of my toes are concerned, my ideal running shoes would be made in the North Pole and have bells on them. Anyway.  Was advised to “watch for pain” if I run long. Ri-ight.

But, I also asked him about the dull, achey tiredness in my right arch.  No problem, he said, I strained it and it needs some support so it can rest and heal.  He taped up my foot, saying I could run on it.  At first, this tape job felt snug and supportive.  But then, after about two hours of walking around on it, I realized it was completely changing my gait, making me limp and totter around, as I could no longer bend my foot.  I realized, how was I to run if I can’t bend my foot? Other parts of me started hurting, including another section of my arch.

After work, I’d an appointment with my acupuncturist.  Told her my podiatrist story.  Acupuncturists are all about blood circulation, and warmth.  I took off the tape, she nodded in approval.  Ah! No more limping.  Then, she examined me and located the strained, weary muscle in my foot.  And proceeded to try and find the center of it with her needles, so as to release it and get the blood flowing.  On other occassions, in other parts of the body, this has been mildly uncomfortable but the recovery afterwards was more than worth the needle insertion.  But this time, my injury was elusive, and even now, three hours later, my foot still throbs in offense. She had to stick the sensitive sole of my foot approximately ten times to find three good insertion points.  I know the acupuncture did its job — I could feel the blood coursing through my foot as I laid there, warm and immobile, a little pin cushion.  But, now I am afraid I should have never taken that tape off, as its supportive bind would feel very comforting right now.

We will see.  Tomorrow I’m slated for speed repeats on the treadmill for 30 minutes (both podiatrist and acupuncturist both agreed: no hills!), but I wonder if my right foot will still feel bruised.

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