I'm kind of a big deal, people know me

I guess I've gone big time. I just got a couple of TC Running singlets- I guess that means I'm sponsored? I got 'em free, so that means something. I'll pretend that means I'm sponsored anyway. I don't get any free stuff, but I do get a pretty good discount. I'll take it, but I mean I want some free stuff. If I'm wearing a TC Running logo on my chest, I need an incentive. I think I'll take that into my next bargaining session. In all honesty though, TC Running's a great store. I feel proud to wear their logo, my brother works there; if you're in the Twin Cities metro area, hit it up.

In other news, I returned my Brooks Adrenaline 9's. I bit the bullet and paid the $20 restocking fee and am going to go out and by a new pair of Adrenaline 8's. Earlier on the blog I was complaining about the stability and support of my then new GTS 9's. 50 miles in, I'm injured. Coincidence? maybe, probably, but a month out from my first half I'm not willing to take any chances.

The best birthday present ever

When we last left you on 'As The World Turns,' our fearless hero was pent- up and crabby with what he thought was a possible Tibial Stress Fracture. Well, I went to the doctor on Friday for a follow up. It turns out that it is Tendenosis, thank god, which means I can run on my birthday at the very earliest, July 5. That's exactly what I'm going to do. Now, Tendinosis is a partial tear of the tendon, so Id be wise to take a few more weeks off, but I only have to hold myself togother until August 1 at 9:00. So, this week I'm definately going to ramp up the intensity on the rehab and hope for the best. Oh, another reason why this week might be the best ever- I'm listening to the Trilogy Running boys while reading Duel In The Sun. My copy actually has some workouts written in the margins, which I'm going to run- I wrote them down in the margin of the sports pag, just like Bill Squires did.

Look ma, I'm a water stop!

Monday I was walking back from my swim session on south campus, and I have to walk across this two lane trail in the median of Summit Avenue. It was 90 or 95 that day, and I just happened to have a bottle of powerade I only drank maybe half of. I was listening to Steve Runner's "be a good animal" episode- the one with Dr. George Shehan. Anyways, I decided I would be nice, and so I waited there. Soon enough, some guy came running along, and I held out my bottle, he took it, drank, and threw the 3/4 drank bottle 100 yards down the trail. Just FYI, I'm not saying this to make me seem all high and mighty, but I just think it's cool the brotherhood we runners have. I didn't know this guy from Adam, yet I felt an obligation to help him out.

Oh, and I was talking to my dad about Triathalons and I decided that a sprint tri would be a piece of cake. Only problem is, I've never rode a bike- never. My balance is all messed up, so I haven't been able to. I was a pretty good swimmer in High School, and obviously I'm a halfway decent runner. I figure as long as I don't crash and burn too hard, I could have a chance to maybe win my age group.

My rehab schedule

I've made the executive decision that I won't update you every day on my rehab process, instead I'll just post my rehab schedule instead. Um, I was planning to go swimming Monday and Thursday, and ride the bike on Wednesday, but I snapped my goggles, so I can't swim anymore; or at least until my goggles ship. Oh, and I was listening to Trilogy Running's episode "Way Too Long" (which is bad grammar? I think yes.) But anyway, that was funny. I was actually glad that I wasn't running because I was doubled over laughing the whole 5 hour episode.

California budget cuts

I was listening to NPR on the way to work this morning because I'm an intellectual kind of guy, and they were talking about California's budget problems. They were saying that California has to lay off so many teachers that there will be 45 students in the average Public High School class. I just saw a guy running past me and it made me sad, this sucks. Anyways, 45 kids in a class? As a political scientist and a future teacher, I can't wrap my head around this one. First, how is one teacher supposed to prepare 45 students to succeed in college? Just think of it from a dicipline perspective; I'm not alone in thinking that's not legistically possible. Second, California's traveling down a slippery slope.
This reminds me of the situation going down in Sub- Saharan Africa. I know it's not exactly the same, but stay with me. Sub-Saharan Africa was facing money problems, so they had to borrow money from the International Monitary Fund. The IMF imposes sanctions on borrowing countries and requires them to open up to globalization and international trade. This is expensive, and so Sub- Saharan Africa had to cut its spending-- which come in the public services sector; healthcare and public education. All of a sudden, citizens have no job skills, turn to lives of crime, the state loses control of all or some of it's territory (because of lack of police funding or what have you) and BOOM! Failed state. Now, that's an extreme, but California better watch itself.

Third, I posted this from my iPhone. I'm so cool.

Rehab, day 1

Post- date this one for Thursday because I can't seem to get these things posted on time. Anyways, on Thursday I hit the pool for the first time since I blew out my ankle, and it felt really well. I put in some yardage, which was nice, plus my ankle didn't hurt that much- I mean' I could feel it, but it was just annoying; not painful. I didn't do flip turns, and I pushed off with my right leg in fear of hurting something, but it felt great anyways. Somehow, when I put my workout into Buckeye, it messed it up, or I messed it up, one of the two. I did 50 minutes, consisting of three sets of 200 free, one 600 free, and I finished off with three five minute kick sets.

John Stevens what are you thinking?

This happened a while ago, but I think its worth being skeptical of, so I'll make it quick. On June 10th, my favorite hockey team, the Philadelphia Flyers, took a turn for the worst. They signed former Ottawa Seniors fasionista and goalie Ray Emery. He played over in Russia last season BECAUSE HE SUCKS. So why did we ever pay him the one year 1.5 million dollar deal?

Karma's a bitch

Well, you haven't heard from me for a long time because I was in a lot of pain, still am in some. You know how last post I said I was getting yelled at by guys in bus stops? Well, now, I'm the guy yelling at guys in bus stops. I could feel something going wrong in my ankle about two weeks before it happened, but I was two stubborn to do something about it; I figured it would fix itself without a day off. Last Friday I was running on an easy 4 mile recovery tempo run, when my ankle just exploded with pain two or so miles into the run. I finished the run, but it hurt like crazy- that was honestly one of the hardest things I've ever done, those two miles. One more thing, I said my ankle started hurting two weeks ago-- notice something? I started running in my Adrenaline 9's two weeks ago. Coincidence? maybe, but something to note.

I went to the doctor last Saturday, and they did some x- rays, which were inconclusive, so they gave me a walking boot- cast thing to wear and told me to cone back in two weeks (one week from when I post this.) The doctor said it was ether Tendinosis or a Tibial Stress Fracture. Initially, I thought it was for sure a fracture because I was getting stabbing pains around my anklebone area until Thursday, but now its feeling a lot better, so I'm staying optimistic.

I am the reason America is fat

I've been swamped with work lately so I've been MIA as of late. Funny thing happened yesterday, and it probably wasn't the right thing to do in hindsight, but you don't think real clearly when you've just run a few miles in the heat. So get this: I was running down Ford Parkway and I went past this bus stop, and this guy yells at me. It wasn't even a catcall or something, he just straight up wails on me. I think he was trying to get me to jump, but I was listening to my music pretty loud, but I still heard it. I kinda look over my shoulder, and see he's this 250 pound guy just munching away on a hoagie. I yell out at the guy "hey fattie, have another cheeseburger!" Not the greatest idea I've ever had, but whatever.

Other than that, just a mediocre running week. I'm pretty impressed with myself, putting up 30+ mile weeks without a long run. My group run was awesome. I went the usual six mile loop, doing 8:07's, paced beautifully, and felt like I could easily go three more. That was the highlight of my week. Today I'm going on a four mile recovery- tempo run, tomorrow's a day off

Review of the Brooks Adrenaline GTS 9's

19.76 miles, thats how long it took my Adrenaline 9's to settle in. This is my fourth run in them in four days, so I think I can give an adequate review of them. It kind of disappointed me that the shoes took so long to open up, they felt really narrow for the first three days I wore them. I physically couldn't go past five miles- my feet hurt like hell around the ankle area, but that might just be the way I laced my shoes.

I'm a severe overpronator, and a forefoot striker, and I will admit towards the ends of today's run, I defanately felt it. That said, the GTS 9 is a great shoe. Its my fault because I could really do with a shoe with more support, but since my foot is shaped so weired and the GTS 8 worked so well for me, I might as well stay with the Adrenaline line.

Structurally, the 9's are just like the 8's. They are a great combo of cusioning and support, but are a cut below the GTS in terms of quality. Honestly, and maybe its just the 9's being new, but if I could order the 8's again I would, I think the 8's provide a better overall fit.

Weekend non- long run

I was meaning to go short, or at least thats what I'll keep telling myself. I really was, because I wanted to make sure my shoes felt really good- they did. I went 6.5, so not really short, but I should probably get some long runs in order. My shoes felt great, which is a bit of a relief because they were tight on my other three runs previous. Anyways, this was by far the best 'feeling' run I've had in a while. I went 7:59's, allthough the run felt really slow, and I was okay with that. I ran a two mile loop around the park twice, with a 1.5 mile route there and a one mile route back. I ran there and the first loop in around 26 minutes, but I wasn't too woried about my splits. Last week I put in 30 miles without a long run, so I'm not too concerned with my base milage, but I am going to throw some long runs in there next weekend.

Lots to catch up on

Well, the last three days have been pretty action packed in the running department, so lets get to it. Wednesday night my new shoes came in, so after work I cruised into Marathon Sports and picked up my new Brooks GTS Adrenaline 9's. There will be a review of them forthcoming, whenever I fee like posting it. I've heard that the best way to break in shoes is to go short, so I did. I went a 5k at my lunch break and showered at my buddy's house, but I really didn't feel tired after that one, so I went and did a 4.5 miler after work. I thought another run would really break in my shoes because they still felt a little tight after the first run, turns out it doesnt really work that way. They loosened up a little bit during the last bit of the 4.5 miler, but not really.

Friday I ran 5.6, and it was cooler than Thursday (72 as opposed to 76), but still pretty warm. I ran a decently fast time, 8:20's (I believe), but it really didn't feel that fast at all, my pacing was terrible. My shoes feel kinda tght up around the ankle though. I wonder if that's just my shoes not being broken in yet, me lacing them up too tight, or whatever, but I've put 13 some miles on them already and they should be broken in. I'll run some tomorow and see how they feel. If they still don't feel great I'll go into Marathon and see whats up.

TC/RC run & Natn'l Running day run

I was out late last night, so I didn't post. I ran with my group Tuesday night, and we went 6 miles, and it felt great. I ran the first two or so at a fairly good clip, then had to slow down and wait for the pack because I knew that pace would kill me had I kept it up. I finished doing 8:01's. Today I ran over my lunchbreak, and did 5 and a half quick miles. My times weren't really that quick, but thats okay because it was a recovery run. I went 8:44's, and my feet hurt. Two days till my new shoes come!

Back to my home course

After an off day on Sunday (which I really didn't want to do,) I decided to run after work at UST instead of going home and running. I figured I knew more distance routes in St. Paul, whereas in my hometown I know exactly 2 four mile routes, one seven mile route, one nine mile, and one 10.5 mile route. Whereas in St. Paul, I know at least a million by memory. St. Paul's also a lot flatter, so my times will be a bunch faster. Today was the six mile river route, and I ran 8:10's. It felt great; its an amazing feeling when your shoes fall apart faster than you do.

My new Adrenaline's come on Friday. I had to get them custom ordered by Marathon Sports, and I'm fairly sure their GTS 8's again, allthough they might be 9's. Doesn't matter, I'm eager to get my current 410mi GTS 8's off my feet.

Also, something cool happened to me on my run. I was running up this quarter mile set of two hills, and I was feeling prettty bad, I was feeling like I needed to walk. Well, then, the Chariots of Fire theme came on my iPod, and all of a sudden I was Eric Liddell coming down the backstretch into the streightaway. It was cool.