Monthly Archive: February 2010

Slip on the ice

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Sun. February 28, 2010

Interesting how I spoke about bad footing last night. During this morning’s run the temperature was hovering at around freezing. Due to the wavering temperatures there was an inordinate amount of ice and slush on the ground. The route has this long downhill aspect to it. I accompanied someone at the back of the group. As we were going down the hill we were careful to avoid the pools of cold water that were collecting at street corners. At one point, I ran around one of the puddles while the other person jumped it. Due to the slippery conditions though she ended up jamming her right foot. Brutal!

I immediately had flashbacks to last year when I slipped on an ice patch myself. We stopped, then walked it out for a bit. She tried to start going again, but the discomfort was just too much. I tried to be positive about it: at least we have a week to go before race day. She has an opportunity to ice things down and get her feet back into good condition. So, all isn’t lost, right? Still, I recognized the sudden sense of panic that came over her. I did my best to get her to relax and refocus. Yes, we walked back for the majority of the route, but I think I did a good job getting her to not feel sorry for herself. Injuries are a fact of this sport, yes? We can do all of the preventative things possible, but every now and then something will sneak in there and throw you off course. All you can do is just deal with it as best you can, then move on.

We still have a week left. I do not want to be injured.

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Fear of bad footing

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Sat. February 27, 2010

The weather outside is rather mild. On my way to the subway station earlier today, as soon as i stepped out of my building I was greeted with a couple of drops of water on my head. At first I assumed I was just getting hit by water dripping from the power lines up above, but I quickly realized that it was actually light rain; it was far too warm for the moisture to actually be snow. The day before, the sidewalks were caked in snow. Back then, as I walked my ankles were being bent this way and that. It’s a wonder I didn’t break anything because the thick unshovelled snow was making my ankles bend in ways that they were not meant to bend. Well, today, with the milder weather, the snow on the sidewalk turned into pools of cold slush and collected water.

My biggest problem with all of the weird weather at the moment is the general fear of stepping on something that will cause me to lose my footing. How, or why is this even a fear? Well, I’m getting really close now to the Chilly Half Marathon in Burlington, and after last year’s disappointment I really don’t want a repeat of what happened. If you recall, after months of dedicated training, I had slipped on an ice patch just outside of a subway station. I wasn’t even running at the time. I was just walking along minding my own business, then *BAM*. I thought I’d be able to continue but the act of limping to the hotel to pick up my race kit on the day before the race was enough to make me reconsider. And so, that’s why I have this fear this year.

As a result of me teaching the clinic, I’ve really trained cleanly this during this cycle, making the majority of the required runs. I’ve put much effort into getting things just right, and I’ve made so many improvements. We’ve been so fortunate weather-wise this year. Instead of getting beaned continuously by volley after volley of heavy snow like last year, or like the United States this year, we’ve gotten off fairly lightly. That’s part of the reason why I’ve been able to train like I have. And now it’s getting so close to the time where I have the ability to test out how well I’ve trained. Perhaps I’m putting way too much pressure on myself. Sure, it’s rather normal to want to do well, however, more than ever I just don’t want to fail due to something out of my control. I don’t want to be disappointed again. Yes, maybe I could just hide out at my place and not venture outside for the next week, but that would just be silly, would it not? All I can do is trust that I’ll be able to make it to next Sunday without any issues. No injuries, right?!

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Just another rough day

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Fri. February 26, 2010

My head is positively muddled with not-so-happy chemicals. Far too much shit went down at work today and I feel very much weighed down by everything. I was hoping for a feel good Olympic event to buoy my mood so I was hoping Cheryl Bernard and her crew could win the women’s curling gold medal, but she choked and ended up with silver. That didn’t help me out a single bit.

So.

I’m going to spend the rest of the evening playing video games and then sleeping things off. I’m glad I don’t have any particular vices, like smoking, drinking, or soft drugs because I’d probably be in a bad place by now. I just need to see tomorrow come around. Maybe cooking something and improv will help me out.

Tomorrow.

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Chick peas and bloating

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Thu. February 25, 2010

Strike 1: ordering a chick pea roti.

Strike 2: ordering it at Indian scale medium spiciness

Strike 3: taking a good walk and long train ride to let it all brew

Now, I suppose none of these factors is enough to create horrible side effects on their own, but combined together the results are just terrible. All throughout the walk I was feeling like there was a veritable fire in my gut. When I was on the subway, I felt like my insides were going to explode. I had to loosen my belt a notch to get some room for bloat. And now that I’m at home, I swear, it’s been a really noisy night. This level of gassiness is high, even for someone with a reputation like me. I mean, wow.

What, TMI?

If you plan on being around polite company within a few hours, I would highly recommend staying away from anything laden with chick peas. Just saying.

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Nutella and condensed milk crepes

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Wed. February 24, 2010

Over the past few days, with time off I’ve been taking the time to cook some interesting breakfasts. I hadn’t gone grocery shopping in a really long while so I was starting to run out of supplies. When I looked in the cupboard I found that I still had a box of pancake mix. I wasn’t in the mood to do pancakes so I decided to mod the ratios to makes some crepes. I upped the milk and eggs to make for a thinner and runnier batter. I was trying to figure out what I wanted for some filler. I checked the fridge and found that I had a few teaspoons blackberry jam left over in a jar. I decided to dump that in a pan, add some water, and reduce it a little bit to make a syrup of sorts. So, I cooked up the crepes, spread some blackberry syrup in top and folded them twice. The result was very tasty. At that point I decided to redo it for the next morning.

Today, I made the batter even runnier and added a little bit of vegetable oil. When I looked in the cupboard, I saw a jar of nutella and a can of condensed milk. I warmed the nutella in the microwave, and opened up the condensed milk. I cooked up the crepes, spread a little nutella and condensed milk inside, and folded them once. After cooking three, I plated them nicely, then drizzled the nutella and condensed milk on top. This was the result:

Yes, they were certainly tasty. Perhaps the only quibble is that they were a little bit on the sweet side. Someone on Twitter suggested that I use semi-sweet chocolate instead. That would have been ideal, right? However, warming up some nutella was just convenient. I’m really proud of piecing this one together. I have some leftover condensed milk crepes in the fridge. I plan on eating them in a few days. Two days of crepes in a row is slightly excessive; three is just decadent.

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Is it really a vacation?

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Tue. February 23, 2010

I have today and tomorrow off, but if I have to wake up tomorrow at 7 a.m. in order to do some server maintenance, is it really a vacation after all?

That’s it. I’m charging double.

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Better than drugs

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Mon. February 22, 2010

Last Saturday’s improv class involved a good amount of scene work. I think the teacher wanted us to get used to creating really quickly based on each other’s offers. As a result, the activity seemed to be pretty rapid fire. Basically, she lined six of us up front and we were supposed to step forward two at a time to create a scene. As soon as the teacher was satisfied that we had established the answers to the questions of who, what, and where, she would end the scene.

The whole thing was a little bit chaotic. I mean, often someone would step forward and start to mime out some sort of action. The other five of us would be watching and figuring out how to interact with the other person. Often I’d end up with an idea and moments before I could jump in and join the action someone else would do something. Other times, the first person’s actions may have been less than obvious from behind such that I just couldn’t figure out what to do. One example that comes to mind is a moment where one guy sat on the ground and started rocking side to side. It wasn’t obvious from behind what he was up to, but I decided he was exercising. So, I jumped in with that in mind. You know how Monty Python often did scenes in drag with falsetto? No? They were referred to as “pepperpots.” Here, watch this:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imxb8IShtoc

So, I sat down next to the rocking guy and put on the irritating British old woman accent. “Hello now Mrs. Scum. Fancy meeting you here at the gym! I do so love doing calisthenics!” So I lay flat on the ground and started rolling left and right. The guy laughed and joined in. “Oh yes, it’s great for losing weight!” I replied, “Yes, I noticed you’re looking quite slim.” At that point the teacher ended the scene. I just laughed and went back to the line. I only found out later that the guy was originally trying to be a luger. Oh well. Hahah.

It seems like I have that pepperpot accent in my back pocket. I need to use it sparingly. I did use it one other time during the activity. Someone went up and started fussing with his hair. Not sure how I came up with this so easily, but I put on the pepperpot accent, went up next to him, and started to nag:

“You know your receding hairline is going to stay that way you know!”
“I bought some hair medicine.”
“It’s not going to work!”
“But I spent $80 on it!”
“That’s $80 wasted!”
“Well, at least that’s money that won’t go to one of your damn manicures!”
“AT LEAST I’M MAKING AN EFFORT!!!!”

At that point, the teacher ended the scene. The activity lasted for a good while. By the end of it I was on such a high. I told the teacher that it was better than drugs. Seriously, I felt great. I’m glad I’m enjoying improv. It’s definitely something I want to pursue a little bit more. We’ll see where it takes me.

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A few last words

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Sun. February 21, 2010

My half marathon clinic has ended. At least, according to schedule it’s done. I’ve already sent out my “final” email. I just want to share a bit of that final email here. What follows is the first part of it. As I was writing it out, the words were really coming from the heart.

Hi everyone,

Well, after a long four months we’ve basically come to the end of the clinic proper. Yes, we still have two weeks left until race day, but on paper things are done. I’ll still be sending emails out until the race just to keep everyone informed. Meanwhile, please allow me to use this space to tell you all what a pleasure it was to coach this clinic. I went in not knowing what to expect or whether I’d be able to offer anything of use. However, as the weeks went by I realized that the best thing I have to give is not necessarily information, but encouragement and general positivity. I hope that I’ve been able to serve you all in that sense. It’s not just a one-way thing either. Everyone’s perseverance and dedication has been inspiring, and has made me want to do better for myself.

Many thanks for putting up with me these past few months!

It’s over…

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