Wednesday, April 22, 2009

dead legs

as soon as i lifted my leg into the first stride of the run, i knew it was going to be a slow run. from the holiday inn express, weighing in at a combined weight of 482 pounds, ms. right and left legs! they face off against their competitors sore core, cardiovascular system and whatever else is semi-functioning today. ding ding ding.

(if you didn't place your bets on the legs, you're a moron.)

my legs were seriously heavy, tired, and slow. my lungs did ok, my hr was normal for an easy run, but my legs were dragging. perhaps i should have stretched more after yesterday's run or taken an ice bath... too late now. i thought i'd get in 7-8 miles but (after a mid-run pit stop) i settled for 5. not a big deal, i can swap today with tomorrow. i was a little out of it mentally too, almost ran into a parked car. those things jump out of nowhere. i happened to snap out of it just in time to realize the car was there and step to the side.

i saw the first active kentuckian today - some chick out running! whoa, didn't know anyone around these parts knew what exercise was beyond getting up to grab another beer. i waved but got the shaft in return. whatever kentucky girl, it's not like there's even a song about your type.

i was fed up with my stupid, enormous blister/tumor/sixth toe today (it's grown even more), and decided to woman up and drain it. i got a sewing kit from the hotel desk, sterilized the needle with hot water from the coffee maker (ghetto but what can i do), and took a stab at it. how the heck are you supposed to do this? i poked like 91 holes in it, smushed it, blotted away some blister-juice, poked at it some more, and it still didn't look any smaller. my ankle started hurting from being propped on my left knee so i decided that it was still so big because of all the extra/loose skin and covered it up with a "blister bandaid". here's hoping i did a good enough job, it's not like there's a hospital around here and i don't think i can handle self-amputation.

wednesday (4/22) pm run: 5.2 miles, 43:53 (avg pace 8:26), avg hr (155)

23 comments:

  1. well at least you sterilized the needle! I can't believe you had so much patience to wait that long to perform surgery. ;)

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  2. Have to agree with Melanie that you have me laughing out loud on this one!

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  3. The tri is in Wheeling, WV (near Pittsburgh). Its a short sprint. 400M swim, 15 mile bike and 3 mile run. Everything is good. But the swimming is terrible. My goal for May is to hire a swim coach for a couple hours....maybe that will help. I am going to check out Dave's advice too. Sounds like the books/dvd's wouldn't hurt either.
    Might as well try a Tri, it could become another addiction! Goodluck :)

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  4. Ugh, don't you hate those freakin blisters. I always pop them though.

    What part of KY are you staying in?

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  5. Hey Lindsay,

    Thanks for dropping by my blog and leaving such a kind message! Great to hear you inspired your sister by the sounds of things!

    I'm loving reading your blog. It really is blogs like yours that make it so much easier to get out there for each session. At the moment, I'm loving the achievement of completing a run... working towards actually loving the running past the first 10 minutes!!

    Hope your 6th toe gets better soon :)

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  6. Ha! I hate when you know a run is going to suck by the very first step.

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  7. kentucky? i feel for you. i lived in tennessee for 4 years. have you run into a food called stric-o-lean? hope the rest of your trip goes well and you don't have to perform any more surgery on yourself!

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  8. well glad you were able to get you run on and dang with run times like Mondays, Your going to be in Boston Next year!! nice job.

    rockon`

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  9. Brave! Good luck with the blister bandaid, should do the trick.
    A lighter works too. For the needle, not the blister ;)

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  10. I'm with Melanie. I was chuckling (guys chuckle, girls giggle) through the whole post. I couldn't even stop during the detailed surgical procedure. I was thinking,

    "This is absolutely disgusting! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

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  11. Dead legs are the worst....unless they're a good excuse for an easy run lol!

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  12. I loved that you had to "woman up"... because we all know we are the tougher sex!

    You may call it ghetto, but I think that was pretty smart to use the coffee pot to get hot water. I once popped a blister after a marathon by just running a race bib safety pin under the hottest water I could get from the tap... probably worse!

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  13. Glad you recovered from the minor surgery you had to do on yourself. funny post. just huhhhh-larious!

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  14. i hate dead legs!!!

    lol you sound just like me and my blisters :) thats what i do! lol

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  15. Pah ha ha!
    482lbs...sore core...
    Hope today's run is better!

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  16. You totally crack me up.
    Can you come do surgery on my 6th toe??

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  17. Haha on the parked car and non-waving Kentucky girl.

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  18. That other runner was probably too shocked to see someone else to respond.

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  19. I hate those hey-how-did-my-feet-get-sewn-to-the-pavement runs. Good job for not bailing and getting pie. Not, that I would ever do such a thing. ahem... anyway.

    Dude, you are so Boston bound! I can't wait to go along for the ride!

    I loooooove the blister bandaids. Those suckers heal them up faster than anything.

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  20. Yesterday I turned and ran into a doorway. These things happen!! Glad to hear you made it out of the car's way just in time..!! :)

    Nice job on the blister drainage. Your technique sounds pretty good!

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  21. LOL! Very funny and also, very effective, methinks!

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  22. Your running in a town like that reminds me of when my brother and I had car trouble in a town called Tucumcari, NM and he went for runs around town. He said "of course they look at us like weirdos and know that we're strangers, I'm running and we're walking everywhere!" (Seriously it was clear the town didn't know what exercise was.)

    Too funny - "kentucky girl"!

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