The Life of an Average Runner

I'm Still Alive

2011-05-28T12:39:00.000-07:00

Well it has been quite a while since I've last posted on this blog. It's a shame, I really do enjoy interacting with my readers, but it can be hard to find things to write about sometimes. As running has been moved aside for other things going on in my life, the subject matter has been increasingly difficult to address.

Since my last post, my Track season has ended. It ended on a pretty good note, I PR'd on the 800 at JV Kingco. I've been less stressed with times this season and more focused on enjoying my last season Senior year, and its made it all a lot more enjoyable. I also started shying away from the mile, when it finally hit me that the 800 is two less laps.

Aside from running I've been approaching a new stage of my life, and the end of an old one. I only have 11 school days left until graduation. Its strange to think that I won't ever be in high school again. I turned 18 recently, which also happened to fall on the day of my senior prom, so that was cool. I had a good time and went pretty hard that night, hehe. My classes are becoming increasingly less important to me as the days go by. I literally cannot make myself do anything for school and have altogether stopped doing homework.

I'm really looking forward to my next stage in life, and kind of starting over in a sense. I'm going to be an Honors student at Western Washington University this coming fall, and I'm really looking forward to it. My dream is to major in astrophysics, but unfortunately Western doesn't offer it as a major. Probably what I'll do is take lots of math, astronomy, and physics classes at Western, and then transfer when I need to or stay if I find another major that suits my ambitions. I've come to realize, especially these past several months, that my life is my own and that its mine to control. I can go where I want to go and do what I want to do. It's a really amazing and liberating feeling.

Oh and one last thing, there are some ads on this site now. Now that I'm 18, I'm eligible for Google Adsense, so I though I'd give it a try. I'll be sure to keep them as unobtrusive as possible to keep the nice aesthetics on the site intact.

Thin Air is Thin

2011-04-18T21:33:00.000-07:00

Before I explain the meaning behind that totally ingenious, original, and non-meme-influenced post title, I'll give you a quick[ish] update on my running endeavors here in Maui. Since my last post, I've done only one real workout (and by real I mean one prescribed by my super duper official track pre-season conditioning sheet that I'm supposed to use over break).

It was 2 days ago, and I ran over to some spiffy resort named The Ridge, which is on top of a large hill. Surprising, I know. Around the resort and on top of the hill is a series of smaller, rolling hills. I found one that was a pretty slight grade and not too long that I could do hill repeats on. It was about 150-175 meters, and I tackled it at 400 pace (I apologize for my odd units of measurement, Track takes its toll on me). As I mentioned, the incline wasn't too steep, but it was hot, and I was doing the workout by myself. I only did 4 repeats of it, had I been with the rest of my team on a Monday work-out I probably could have squeezed out a couple more.

The next day, yesterday, is what this super witty title applies to. We drove several hours from Napili (where we're staying) up to Haleakala Crater, which is 10,000 feet above sea level. Atmospheric UV protection is minimal and the air is thin. From the top, one can hike like 7 miles down into the base of the crater. I have younger siblings, so unfortunately I didn't get a chance to make the whole trek. Instead we hiked down only like a mile and a half. Well I ran down, but I'll get to that in a sec. First feel jealous about the beautiful picture I've embedded below.

Looking down into the crater.

Jogging down the trail wasn't too bad. I barely even got winded on the steep decline. Going back up was a total different story. In that air its impossible to get enough air, especially when going uphill. I could only run like 40 or 50 strides at a time before switching to a brisk walk. It was pretty weird getting completely out of breath that fast.

Look what the low pressure air did to this bag of chips!

So yeah, that's about it for running related stuff. Because its a sign I'm getting off track when I start discussing explosive bags of chips. Tonight once the sun goes down I plan to go for a long run at a nice and slow pace.

Running in Hawaii

2011-04-14T17:59:00.000-07:00

So my family is on a much needed vacation to Hawaii, Maui specifically. There gets a point for Seattlites when you simply have to get away from the elongated winter that seems to absorb fall and spring. That image embedded above is a photo I just shot from our balcony at Napili Point. It's absolutely gorgeous here, and the lack of air-conditioning isn't even bothering me much after the shitty excuse for light we get in Seattle.

Besides snorkling, swimming, and simply lounging in the sun like a content cat, I've been running. Or have run, rather - I went for my first run here today. After all, I gotta keep in shape for Track. It wasn't a particularly long run, 3.5 miles at the most. What made it hard was the heat and humidity, neither of which I am used to, and my shitty pacing. For some reason I can never pace myself, and end up going way too fast running solo. I probably averaged 7.5 minute miles. My run was also up this huge hill, I ended up turning around a bit after passing some resort named The Ridge.

All the things I'm bitching about accounted for, the run was hard. Oh well, when I got back, I literally ran straight to the pool. I didn't even go inside to change, I simply took off my shoes, and flopped into the deep end. It felt amazing.

March 24th Redmond Meet Re-Cap

2011-03-30T20:03:00.000-07:00

Me running the 800. Probably the first bend - I still look attractive.

Shit, its been awhile. I need to get back to posting on here more regularly. Anyways, I'll give you an update from last week's meet. We have another tomorrow - hopefully the re-cap won't be so belated again.

Last Thursday's meet was decent for me. I didn't perform as well as I'd like to, but it was better than the Jamboree. Instead of the 1600, I actually ended up running the 800 as a result of my coach randomly putting me into it. I actually really liked it, despite my shitty time of 2:30. I don't know what is up with me. I should be faster than this. Something happens to me in the second half of the race - the last two laps in the 16 and the second lap in the 8. My coach thinks I might have an iron deficiency or something as I look anemic. I dunno about that but something is definitely out of place. Or maybe I'm just not made to be a competitive runner. That's also entirely possible. But its whatever - I enjoy running. Yeah I'm not that great and shouldn't be performing so poorly but its still fun for me. And that's really all that matters anyhow.

Last week wasn't all bad, though. My shins felt fine after the 8, and I was more than able to do a 4 by 4 at the end of the meet. So that was nice. If you wanna see Roosevelt's times go here.

March 17th Nathan Hale Jamboree Re-Cap

2011-03-18T12:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had pretty shitty and frustrating race. I ran the 1600 (mile) and didn't do so hot. My first problem was that I went out WAY too fast. After I heard my first 400 meter split (1 lap) I knew that I was going to have a shitty race. I clocked in at 72 seconds for my first lap. I should have been a good 10 seconds slower than that so I could have a good kick my last 400. I wasn't that far behind Daniel and Hart for the first lap (they get 4:30's, 4:40's respectively on the mile) which was a huge red light for me.

I ended up finishing with a 5:37. I was hoping for a lot better for my first race this year. Oh well, I know what to change next time. I was feeling like I was about to pass out the 3rd and 4th lap. My coach even mentioned that I looked a little anemic there. Oddly enough, I had the same problem my first race last year. History apparently does repeat itself - even in high school track.

Luckily my tendinitis wasn't too bad during the race, but my knees hurt like a motherfucker directly after and for the rest of the evening. To the point where I actually pussy-footed out of the 4 by 400 relay. Oh well, it wasn't worth making any worse.

You can check out all the meet statistics here as well as my Track & Field Athletic.net profile here.

Homemade Tarahumaran Huarache Running Sandals

2011-03-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

Daniel be working tha' numkeg.

A runner friend of mine made Tarahumaran Huarache running sandals for his senior project. This guy's a boss runner and his dad is a cobbler/shoemaker, so this project was perfect for him.

He made everything from scratch and documented his efforts in a blog he kept as a project log, Making Tarahumaran Huarache Running Sandals. The pictures I have here are just the tip of the iceburg, click on the link for much more information written and documented by Daniel himself!

The finished product tied two different ways.

Damn, It's Been a While!

2011-03-12T10:46:00.000-08:00

Wow, so I was just checking up on my blog and realized that I haven't posted since February. Holy shit! That's way too long. I hope none of my religious readers went crazy without my awesome posts... :D

All egotistical douchebaggery aside, my life has been pretty busy as of late and I haven't been able to find much time for extra indulgences like writing. My senior project is due this coming Tuesday and I'm not nearly as far as I'd like to be. Calculus is picking up again, as is my Government class. Track started a couple weeks ago, which has actually been pretty damn awesome. It's such a chill sport, and after doing the main workout (for distance runners at least), you get to just kinda chill and do whatever - whether that means going to lift some weights, do some core, or bitch at the trainer about your leg problems. I've actually been doing a lot of the latter as of late as some obnoxious tendinitis has sprung up right underneath my knee-caps on both legs. It's been a pain in the ass to say the least.

So yeah, hopefully after this Tuesday I'll start having more time and motivation to get one here more often. Also, we have our first "meet" on this coming Thursday. I put meet in quotations as its a jamboree and doesn't really count for anything. It's really just a big organized practice race. I'll be sure to post a re-cap on Friday if not Thursday evening.

I Love Running at Night!

2011-02-27T13:51:00.000-08:00

Last night I was feeling good. So I did some abs. Because I always do abs after Track/XC practice, I always associate pain in my mid-section with running. So I started craving a run, I'm just programmed to think that way I suppose. Mind you it was 9:30 PM. And about 30 degrees F outside. But that didn't stop me!

Last night's route

I had an absolutely AMAZING run. To the left you can see my route. According to GoogleMaps it was about 4.7 miles. Not too bad for a 40 minute run that had a lot of hills! For those of you who are familiar with the area or are just in love with me enough to care (so basically everyone), you can explore my route here on Gmaps Pedometer.

The run itself was fan-fucking-tastic. The cool air felt wonderful and was like that feeling of drinking cold lemonade on a hot day all over and inside my body. And despite my fairly brisk pace (for a "just for shits" run, that is) I felt really good throughout. Though the last mile and a half or so on 35th I was wheezing pretty hard and I was starting to get a little dizzy. But I pushed through and actually sped up, because in my experience the dizziness is usually indicative of a kick-ass runner's high. And BOY was I right!

When I got home I kicked off my Asics, ignored my parents inquisitions as to how the run went, and sprinted to my room. Endorphin rushes only last like 10 minutes at best, you know. I quickly put on some Chili Peppers and jumped into bed after turning off the lights. It was awesome. One of the best highs I've ever gotten from my body's natural opiates! My face was tingly and I had a HUGE euphoric rush all over the top of my head. I was also in an excellent mood the rest of the evening, as anyone I was texting afterward can tell you. Needless to say it was amazing.

What about you guys? Does anybody else like night runs in sub-freezing weather or am I just a freak? Anyone else ever get such an awesome runner's high? I'd love to hear what you have to say!

SEO Tool for Running Bloggers

2011-02-21T11:05:00.000-08:00

I came to the conclusion yesterday that getting backlinks for running blogs is a pain in the ass without a good list of dofollow running/exercise blogs. So I decided to make one. Enjoy!

Experimentation with Barefoot Running

2011-02-19T01:54:00.000-08:00

Today, during school, I decided that I kind of needed to go for a run. For various reasons, I hadn't run since last Friday until today... that's a whole flippin' week! So during my lifting/conditioning class, I just sort of slipped out and went onto the track. It's all good though, my teacher and I have a bit of an understanding - in general he'll just let me leave class and go run instead of lifting if I feel like it.

It was sunny outside, despite the fact that the temperature was lingering in the upper 30's. It was brisk but also very pretty and the sun gave me a [possibly false] sense of warmth and happiness. First I ran a couple laps on the track. Then I stopped, and thought for a second. I quickly proceeded to take off my shoes. I then ran about 5 laps on the inside of the track, on the astro-turf football field.

This was my first semi-legit experience running barefoot. Sure, I do barefoot strides during the Track season after particularly hairy speed workouts, but nothing serious. Not that the 1 mile or so that I ran barefoot today is serious per se either... but it was still probably the longest I've ever run barefoot. And let me just say - it felt great. The dew on the grass, glistening in the sunlight, felt absolutely wonderful on my feet. I also realized a few things about barefoot running...

This picture probably best explains what I realized. When running barefoot, I noticed this (yesterday) morning that I would land on my forefoot or at least land more flat-footed, where as with running shoes on, I tend to strike with my heel. It feels much more natural to land on the forefoot, and actually is. It's how humans would (and did) normally run in a state of nature when shoes wouldn't even be an option. Our bodies have evolved around this, and indeed our ankles and legs are set-up in such a way that they can better absorb the impact of the foot strike. As shown in the picture, heal striking, something that shoes induce, sends the impact up to the knees and hips, neither of which are designed to take such a beating. That's why shin splints are so common - our knees never evolved to take the abuse of repeated heal strikes.

Not only that, but running shoes have a tendency to have a lot of padding. Sure this lowers the amount of force being shot up through your leg, as the time that the force is applied is longer. But it doesn't change the total amount of energy that your legs absorb, it just seems to hurt less while running. Not only that, but the extra padding gives a false sense of comfy-ness, and runners will tend to foot-strike harder than they really should be. So actually more energy is being shot through your lower body, and into the wrong areas (because you're heel striking).

All this aside, I'm not going to start running totally barefoot - its just too inconvenient for me to do all the time. It's just an interesting concept to think about, and I certainly will do more of it on the turf when I get opportunities to do so.

Mind Your Own Business, Please?

2011-02-13T11:58:00.000-08:00

On Friday I went running with a few pre-season Track buds after a leg day in the weight room. Even though my entire lower body was shot from lifting, it was a totally bitching run. We ran at like an 8 minute mile pace for 4.5 to 5 miles or so. Most peaceful way ever to end a stressful school week. Seriously, running just to run and not to get faster is so unbelievably awesome, especially when you're used to running a lot faster. But that's not the point of this post.

During the last mile, we came up this really steep hill (for those of you who live in the Seattle area, it was the Ravenna Boulevard hill that comes up from Ravenna Park, winds past Candy Cane Lane, and then comes up onto Frat Row). At the top of the hill there is a short segment where the sidewalk is offset by several feet from the street. I chose not to go up a set of stairs to go onto the sidewalk and instead ran on the right side of the road.

Expert illustration of the situation

While on the very far right of the street, a car pulled up to me with its window down. Some old hag in the passenger seat told me that I shouldn't run on the road. Running tends to cloud my judgment, especially if I've been going at it for a while. Needless to say, I responded in a very... "colorful" manner. Probably didn't give the best name to runners. Oh well, she was totally out of line. I was way to the side of the street, look at my expert Photoshop render of the situation (the setting is actually where it happened, I pulled it from Google Maps street-view).

Anyone else ever have annoying experiences with drivers while running? Be sure to share them in the comments section!

Together is Better

2011-02-10T17:20:00.000-08:00

Wanna be like this guy?

Let's face it - running alone is some serious poop. It's boring, even with an iPod (FACT: the Chariots of Fire theme song does indeed get old). There's also no one else to bounce thoughts off of besides your own cynicism. Even if you think you're an optimistic person, believe me, you're not - the devil in you WILL surface during a long run done all by your lonesome. So it kind of turns into a "I'm bored, what am I doing, why am I running" sort of thought process. And then there's that horribly counterproductive urge to go faster than you really should be going. More runs than I can count that were intended to be 5 or 6 milers turned into 3 or 4 milers when I run alone. Especially when there's a lot of other people around (read: women)... There's no better way to show off your dick size than by running faster than everyone else on the trail and in general coming off as an egotistical douche!

Or these guys/gals?

And then there's running with other live, sweating, conversational human beings. A revolutionary idea, I know. But bear with me here. Running by yourself isn't even comparable to running with even one other individual. Here's why:

You don't get tired as quickly, or at least you don't notice it.
There is now a social dilemma should you choose to to start walking - a good incentive as any to man (or woman) up and take the pain.
You can have some kick ass conversations, made all the more enjoyable by the fatigue-induced silliness inherent to distance running. One of my running buddies always has some enjoyable conversations about film and television with me on runs together. Lately we've been discussing my new love - Arrested Development. Another of mine is great to talk politics with - we had a really awesome gun control debate a couple weeks ago.
Your friends are more fun to listen to than your iPod. At least most of them are.
You don't over-pace.

The list goes on but I think I touched on the main points. At least those important to myself.

Running for Tension Release

2011-02-05T15:52:00.000-08:00

Photo Credit: darkchild69 of Flickr

I had a regrettable and not so great Friday night. This morning I woke up feeling quite literally like a dried up piece of shit. You know that kind of crumbly dog shit you find in parks during the summer that's all dried out and looks like a dehydrated segment of brown chalk? That's exactly how I felt this morning.

But instead of just puttering around all day and doing nothing about my mental state, I decided "Hey, why not go and see just how much negative energy I can drive through my legs and implant into some hills while I'm sprinting up them?" So I did exactly that. And let me tell you it was awesome.

Before setting out I took an exceedingly cold shower as per a friend's suggestion. My blood was flowing and I was ready to go. I set out for View Ridge Park, which is like 1/3 of a mile from my house. Across the street from the park is a steep and nasty hill. The image above is actually of the stairs on the adjacent field (you go up the stairs I used, cross the field, and then go up the stairs shown above that the photographer is looking down). However, the engineer did both sets and they are identical. So the picture works.

ANYWAYS, I did 10 sprints or so up the stairs and then would jog down on the other side of the handrail. I found that the stairs limited my speed going up. They were slippery and I still needed to work out a bit more tension. So I just moved to the field and sprinted up that another 10 times or so. It felt absolutely wonderful. I just got home and wrote up this blog post. Then I plan to work out a ton of shit I have for AP Comp Gov. But now I actually can - I'm in a significantly better mood. Yee running!

Another Post-Run Rush? Yes, Please!

2011-02-01T17:31:00.000-08:00

Just LOOK at that beautiful sunshine!

Today I just had to go running. I've kind of promised myself that I'm going to run at least 5 times a week to get in better shape for Track, which now starts in just under a month. And today we miraculously had some sun. Yes, Seattle can be not overcast. Sometimes.

Anyhow, I did the boring old Burke Gilman loop (probably a little under 5 miles). At first I felt great. Then I got frustrated with my out of shape-ness and stopped after a little under 4 miles. Then I walked for 8 or 9 minutes. Luckly, The Final Countdown came on just in time, and pumped me up sufficiently to run for the last 6 minutes or so. Thank you, Europe!

The real good part was when I got home. As soon as I got home I felt a good runner's high coming on. So I ran to my room, got Otherside by the Chili Peppers cranked way louder than is probably healthy for my ears, and laid down in bed. It was an excellent 5 minutes or so of blissfully just floating along with the voice of Anthony Kiedis. Actually, though, that guy's voice is a fucking instrument. Hit him up.

Boss Runner's High & Shoes

2011-01-30T20:10:00.000-08:00

This evening I did a hill work out. I ran up this 250-300 meter segment of a hill at like 800 race pace. The hill grade was probably about 10% or so. To my amazement, I convinced my lazy ass to do 4 of them! But the best part was when I got home - I had an INTENSE runner's high. I literally just went into my room, turned off the lights, and flopped down on my bed. My head felt all floaty and awesome. When it was mostly gone I glanced at the clock and realized I had been laying there for over 15 minutes. You know you're having a good endorphin rush when that happens.

I also fulfilled numbers 2 and 3 today from my new year's resolution post from almost a month ago! A friend of mine got me off my duff and took me to the mall to get some new running shoes and just some street shoes. Because I'm not trying to be some cluck who wears Asics everywhere. I am kind of going through cushion withdrawal, though. There's nothing quite as comfortable as running shoes.

The new street shoes. Thank you Sarah Klein for knowing a shit ton more than me about shoes!


The new running shoes. They're Asics Gel Pulse 2's and are identical to my old ones, even in size.


New vs. the old. Totally had forgotten how nice shoes look when you first get them!

Something funny about my old shoes: my toe had run a hole through the top in the exact same place in both shoes. Need to make sure that my toe-nails are always kept SUPER short!

...It also happened where my pinky toe would dig in.

15-Year-Old Sprinter Hannah Cunliffe

2011-01-28T16:14:00.000-08:00

So after getting a lot of organic search engine traffic from this post about Duane Starkenburg, I decided that posting about local running news every now and then could be a good thing for my blog. Therefore, today I'm going to post about Hannah Cunliffe, a 15-year-old sprinter from Federal Way. I found an article about her in the Seattle Times yesterday, and as a runner I was immediately interested. Let's just say that this chick is FAST!

The picture to the left is of Hannah as she sets the AAU national record for her age group at 11.86 seconds in 2010. She was running with a HEADwind I might add. Damn, look at those quads!

She has since surpassed that time by over a tenth of a second - her current PR on the 100 is 11.71 seconds. Just to give you a little bit of perspective, that time would have easily won state in Washington, would've taken 3rd at the Pac-10 championships, and would've ranked 4th in the University of Washington's women's all-time list.

Clearly Hannah has some serious talent. Already she's looking to the Olympics, and is planning on running in the 2012 qualifying heats. I have no doubt that she's going to make it. A girl running an 11.86 in 8th grade is definitely future Olympic material in my book (and most other peoples').

To the right is a portrait of Hannah when she's not running. Not even that bad looking, hehe... JOKING, she's 15, I know. I'm not getting any ideas, don't worry.

Below I've embedded some videos of her. The first is a video put together with footage from the 2010 AAU event I mentioned earlier. The 2nd is a Seattle Times video that goes along with the article I based this blog post off of. Here's the article: 15-year-old sprinter is on fast track to fame

Greenlake Run

2011-01-27T18:57:00.000-08:00

Today in my lifting/conditioning class we were to run around Greenlake (on the inside path) for our semester final. The inside (paved) loop is 2.8 miles and to get an A we had to run it in under 25 minutes. Which wasn't a challenge at all for me obviously. But I did the same thing last year for the final for the same class, and I wanted to see how much I had improved. So I went all out. Last year I got an 18:26, by the way.

Luckily we had pretty good running weather today. It was a little nippy out, but not to the point where it hurt my lungs to take in deep gulps of air. My only complaint is that my hands got a little numb, but that's barely even worth noting. I also had my iPod, which I always run faster with.

As for my time... I got an 18:13. I was a little disappointed, that's only 13 seconds off from last year's time. Especially considering my 5k time reductions as compared to last year, I was definitely counting on getting into the 17's. Oh well, maybe I'm being too hard on myself. Yesterday I made the moronic mistake of using the leg press, so my quad's were burning today the whole way around. I'm sure that affected my time - especially considering that I felt like I could have been going faster at certain points based on my heart rate and breathing, but my legs were holding me back. Oh well, it still isn't a horrible time I suppose.

Woman Runner Attacked in Lincoln Park!

2011-01-26T19:18:00.000-08:00

Duane Starkenburg, the suspect

Lincoln park is where Roosevelt's XC team runs quite a bit for meets. I know the park well (especially the portion that contains the 5k course) and have mentioned it in past blog posts: here and here.

Apparently there have been some sexual assault cases in the area, so the incident set off quite a bit of attention from investigators and law enforcement. The story goes that a 27-year-old female jogger was running through the park yesterday afternoon, when Duane Starkenburg, the accused, tried to tackle her by throwing his arms around her legs. This was at 4 PM in broad daylight, mind you (well, if you can call what we get here in Seattle "daylight" that is). A little creepy if I don't say so myself.

Starkenburg is claiming that it was a misunderstanding and that he fell while trying to pass her. Apparently with his arms around her legs... gimme a freaking break. Read the whole story here.

Not Where I Want to Be...

2011-01-24T15:52:00.000-08:00

Today in my lifting/conditioning class we ran a mile. I decided to give it my best today, after last week I had gotten over 10 minutes on the mile (my pinched nerve was preventing me from going much faster). I got 6 minutes flat on the mile today. I was heated. Several months ago, during the XC season I had done it in 10 seconds less. My 1600m PR from last season is 5:30. I thought I'd be a lot more in shape than I really am right now.

But maybe I'm being too hard on myself. I had about 4 bowls of cereal this morning, and even though I've never blown chunks after a run, I seriously thought I was about to this morning. I also have been really inconsistent with running, getting out only once or twice a week. And I didn't run at all last week because of that nerve issue. I think I just need to really step it up with the pre-season running.

Stereotypical Portrayal of Runners (in The Office)

2011-01-21T22:32:00.000-08:00

I had forgotten about the Office episode, Fun Run, where Michael sets up a charity 5k for rabies awareness. Or I would have blogged about it sooner (I absolutely LOVE The Office, I've seen every single episode in order). Anyway, the 5k was great because all of the characters took a certain runner stereotype...

Here we have the nipple chafer, Andy. Of course The Office took it to the extremes and made his nipples bleed, despite the amount of gauze he taped on prior to running.

And then we have the guy (Michael in this case) who ate the wrong stuff and threw up his lunch at the finish line...

And you can't forget Kevin - the sweaty fat guy that everything thinks is awesome for coming out but is still a really slow runner! (He'll get there)

It was a great episode, you guys should check it out.

Pinched Nerve

2011-01-18T21:26:00.000-08:00

Sunday morning I was in the car (luckily not driving). My adorable dog, Lulu (we didn't name her, stop snickering) was in the back seat. I turned around to my right to pet her, and then turned back around to face forward. Upon turning back around, an intense spasm of pain shot through the left side of my neck, all the way down from my trapezius up to directly behind my left ear. It was totally unexpected and evoked a slew of yelping, followed by a healthy does of expletives (despite the fact that my father was driving and seated right next to me... whoops).

My dad turned the car around to take me home and luckily we were only a little over a mile away (any change in motion and the inherently involved g-forces re-ignited the nerve pinch and sent me doubling over in pain). When we got home, I looked a little screwed up. When I got out of the car, I had to keep my head rotated to the right and craned downwards towards my right shoulder. My left shoulder was hunched up towards the left side of my head. Any movement of my left arm or head invoked a loud curse from me, so I kept as steady as possible (I have younger siblings with "sensitive" ears). My mother, with her tendency to freak at the slightest sign of danger to her offspring (thanks a bunch natural selection, you really make my life awesome) of course immediately came to the conclusion that we had just gotten in a car accident. So that was fun.

Because I doubt anyone actually read that looming block of text directly above, I decided to give you the "too long, didn't read" version of this post in an image below. No, that obviously isn't a 3D rendering of a pinched nerve. I got a legit X-Ray, and everyone knows that pain comes up as a red glowing substance when subjected to cancerous light. Duh.

Photo Source: buzzle.com

So yeah, that's what my neck looks like. Time to continue the story. Skip to the next picture if you want to continue reading this post like a picture book.

So when I got home, I essentially just iced the hell out of the problem area. About 2 hours post de facto ("after the fact" for those of you who aren't arrogant bastards like me who throw in Latin proverbs here and there), I had recovered enough that I could sit up and face forwards. So now I could take a bunch of ibuprofen (pssh, livers are for pussies anyways) and the pain continued to recede. Until the pills wore off that is... Good thing I had a whole bottle on hand.

Now, two days later, I still have some issues with my neck, as Peter Clinkenbeard can attest to. He gave me no end of shit today about my posture and antics. Not that it wasn't called for - I did look pretty ridiculous. I walked around the whole day with my head slightly cocked to the right, kind of like the guy in the picture below (though not as exaggerated). Also, in order to look to the left, I had to rotate my entire body towards whatever I wanted to look at. Which Peter got many a chuckle out of witnessing.

Photo Source: reedleyeyecare.com

So yeah, anyways, hoping you found my little story enjoyable and also hoping that my neck heals up soon. Not being able to run OR lift sucks major nut-sack so close to the Track season. Cheers!

Crossing My Fingers That I'll Win...

2011-01-17T12:38:00.000-08:00

Zapmamak over at Running Naked on Sharp Pointy Stuff (a fun read, I might add) is running (lol @ pun) a really awesome t-shirt contest. You can read more about it in the link I just provided for rules and such. Below I've embedded a picture of the shirt. Ain't she purdy?

Photo Source: Running Naked on Sharp Pointy Stuff

I'm really hoping I win it. I love the design and how it isn't too overbearing - there's nothing more that I hate than clothes that are 100% plastered with graphics. Even though I know it hurts my chances, I'm still blogging about this because I can't just keep something so awesome to myself.

Important Note on Racing Spikes...

2011-01-15T14:43:00.000-08:00

This morning I was invited to play football with some buddies of mine. It was pretty good, we actually dodged Seattle's inherent shitty weather - it didn't start raining until a couple hours after we ended. So that was actually pretty cool.

So, me being a running fanatic and also not doing any other sports (meaning I don't own any real cleats), I made the dumb decision of deciding to use some ratty Cross Country spikes. One thing I didn't really think of until the first time I ate shit this morning (the first time of MANY, I might add) was that Cross Country spikes are made to give you traction in ONE direction. And that direction is forwards. You aren't supposed to be able to stop quickly, juke a defender, and switch directions. For this you would need to have spikes near the heel towards the back of the foot, and that would also slow you down in a race.

Photo Source: Nike

See what I'm talking about? Sure the back has those rubber ribs, which do a little bit, but not much at all on a muddy field where you would do a heel plant to stop quickly. Needless to say, I bit it quite a few times. It was still an awesome time, but also worth noting.

Blog Redesign

2011-01-09T13:41:00.000-08:00

My old blog template was a little... pointy. Not a word you would normally use to describe a site's appearance, but it's fitting nevertheless. All of the corners poked out too much and looked unattractive.

The old template was also a little crammed. Two sidebars surrounding the posts was just too much stuff on one page. So I combined the sidebars and put them all on the right. This allowed me to have some gadgets be wider, and also cut down on margin waste.

I like the new look a lot more, what do you think?

Water Running

2011-01-08T21:36:00.000-08:00

I'm kind of suprised that I haven't talked about this yet...

Most of you probably remember the "Liquid Mountaineering" video that went viral over the summer. If you haven't seen it, you definitely should. To save you from some back-breaking movements of your mouse and clicking finger, I've embedded the video directly below for your convenience. I accept your collective thank-you's in advance.

Of course the video is fake, but that isn't the point. The point is that the video is comical in how serious the "athletes" take themselves, and is worthy of praise in how much free press it gave Hi-Tec, the maker of the shoes in the video. After two weeks of its release, they even put out another video explaining that the video was fake. Water-walking obviously is reserved to stories of an ancient religious figurehead. I've also embedded the follow-up vid.

Check out Hi-Tec's Liquid Mountaineering page for more info.