Blood, Sweat, but no tears (yet)

Thank God I can run myself out of trouble. My foot has more or less stopped hurting after only five runs last week in four days. It was a recovery week, so I'm not too concerned. On my Friday run, I got run off the trails by a couple bikers, took a spill, and kept running. I didn't think anything of it, except some people were looking at me weird, but I blew them off. I went a couple more miles, ant then somebody passed me and was like 'are you okay?' I told them I was, why do they ask, and they kindly explained that I was going to die from blood loss because my knee was gushing blood. I don't want to get really gross, but I had to throw away the socks I was wearing that day because they were pretty bloody. I cleaned myself up at least a little bit, and the carnage really wasn't that bad; I had just let it get out of hand. I had to run home without a shirt on, because I used that to dab at the blood so it didn't get too crazy, which was okay because it wasn't that cold, but I got more than my fair share of weird looks. I got some blood splattered on my Adrenaline 10's as well, which I think looks pretty bad assed so I can fool people into thinking I'm a serious runner.

That was my fun for the week. This morning I ran 12, down to Lake Nokomis and back. I've never run that loop before, but now I'm going to more frequently, it was beautiful; like 50 degrees, and I felt great. No pain at all. I also tried some Sport Beans instead of my usual Power Bar Gel, and they worked okay. My one gripe is that I had to stop to take them, which once I stop its tough for me to get going again, but I did, running sup 9 minute miles, which I guess is okay for a long run.

Oh, I was going through the Brooks ID discussion group, because it is about time to re- up again, and I came across the Brooks Running Club facebook app. (http://apps.facebook.com/brooksrunningclub/) Its got a training log component, which is awesome, as well as a discussion board and a shoe tracker thing so you can track the milelage on your current pair of shoes. I currently rotate between the Adrenaline 10, Adrenaline 8, and Mach 11, but you can only have one pair of shoes, so I am supplementing it with my buckeye outdoors log so I can keep track of individual shoe mileage, but once the gurus at Brooks figure that out, its going to be so cool!

So this week is I week for Sigma Chi. Basically what that means is that I have to live in the ∑X house for the week until Friday when I get initiated. The purpose of it is to get in touch with yourself and your brothers in a more intimate sense. Straight from the I week packet:

This includes abstaining from television, music, newspapers, magazines, internet, alcohol, tobacco, masturbation, and cellular phones. Also, to obtain the optimal effect, a personal vow of silence is required. This is not an absolute silence, but serves to cut out needless chatter, in hopes of aiding the development of deep and meaningful conversation.

So that means no posting for this next week. I have a XC race on Saturday, but I've heard through the grapevine that initiation goes until 10:30AM Saturday morning. I'll talk it over with the Magiester and Consul, but if you're on my team know that its a gametime decision. Also, this most likely means more running. I'm a devout believer that running is a way to 'get real with yourself,' reevaluate your priorities, clear your head, and pray, so I'll probably up the time on the road this week, for the sole purpose of getting myself in order.