I haven't been writing

I really don't have much to say. I haven't been running, and its been that way for over a month now. After all, this is about my running, and if I'm not running, then there really isn't a point. So, I was putting off going to the doctor as long as I could by doing all the things that I was pretty sure the doctor was going to tell me anyways, such as: stop running, crosstrain on a regular basis, stretch a lot, ice, compression, elevation, blah, blah, blah. That didn't do it. I tried running two weeks ago in Wednesday, and didn't make it a quarter mile. My knee started shooting pain like it did before, and it felt like the fluid in my knee was boiling just like when it first happened. I finally gave up and went into the doctor. After a 2 hour wait, I finally got some x-rays that were inconclusive and talked to a doctor. She gave me this solid knee brace that I wear every night- pretty much whenever I'm not at work. She also scheduled an MRI for me, but who knows if that will ever get done because my insurance company sucks. So there we go. I feel old, fat, and slow, and all I want to do is run. I feel like I'm wasting my summer.

Phase 2

Phase two is almost over, and I couldn't be happier. I've been biking all week. Well, actually, I shouldn't give myself that much credit. I've biked three days out of the last five, but I'll let myself off the hook a little bit because I worked 12.5 hours on Monday, one of the days I skipped. I still have two days left in the week though. In other news, my butt hurts. Seriously, if I could put my own saddle on one of those bikes I'd go out and buy one today; the ones they have on the bikes are worthless. Whatever though, only two days and I'm running three days the next week. I'm pretty excited- the Ghost 3's I ordered from the Brooks ID site came in the mail the same day I bought some Shay XC 2's. The best day ever, only I couldn't run. Obviously, I'm going to have to build my mileage up slowly. I'm thinking one mile Monday, two Wednesday, and three Friday or Saturday. I'ma do all those runs on a treadmill or indoor track at an easy 8:30 or 9:00 pace. After that, I'm still planning to go up a mile a day, but go four days a week outside. I'll just go like that until I feel overly good or end up running all seven days. There, I have to say that or else I won't follow my own advice.

In other news, I went home for the weekend, and went to a Twins game for the first time this year. My dad got some work tickets in the Champions Club, which is basically the first 20 rows and three sections in front of home plate, plus an exclusive, buffet style fancy restaurant under the stadium included in the ticket. Its pretty cool because there's a panel window into the Twins batting cages where they hit when they can't take on- field batting practice. Its pretty cool, we sat maybe 10 or 12 rows up from home plate, and it was just unreal. I'll never be able to afford those tickets in my life.

In other news, I've just been getting fat and drinking Lipton Green Teas. I've gained 11 pounds since I stopped running by the way, I'm now a whopping 128lbs. I don't know how I feel about that.

I'm currently listening to an episode of the Marathon Show about the Rock' n' Roll Marathon series. They're currently preaching the goodness of the so- called "running buffets" and keeping courses open for 6, 7,8 hours so everyone can be a runner. I'm going to do a post on that subject if I ever get bored one day, but let me just say this: I ran a 4:28 marathon and am not proud of it at all. If I would have got to the finish line and everybody would have packed up and gone home, I'd have been okay with it.