south of the loop

I’ve gotten emails from some of you recently asking how my knees are doing. Although it mostly feels good to get these emails—it means that people actually do read my blog!—it’s kind of strange to get three emails in one week all saying, “How are your knees?” instead of just “How are you doing?”

My knees, I’m very happy to report, are doing pretty well. After several knee voodoo treatments and two weeks of physical therapy (with at least two more weeks to go), I’m as ready as I’m gonna be to run this half-marathon. My right knee still aches, especially after yesterday’s easy six-mile run, but nothing that should keep me from the Mini. They will also provide an excellent excuse for what will undoubtedly be a penguin-like speed. (Don’t worry, Jen, I’ll still be at your wedding at 2pm. I’m not that slow.)

Indianapolis, here I come…

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current book: Nearly done with Slouching Towards Bethlehem.

current music: Inspired by N’s recent California-themed mix, I’m thinking I should make a mix for the three-hour road trip to Indy next week. Although I don’t think that indie rockers or country singers of yore have a lot of songs about running, I’m going to go through my iTunes and see what kind of upbeat, victorious, pump-you-up songs I can find. Leave your suggestions in comments. And assume that I will already be including Prince and Madonna as well as The Bottle Rockets’ “Indianapolis.”

current socks: Easter socks that I never got around to wearing during Easter season.

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I got off the Metra this morning and began my usual brisk walk down Randolph Street. It’s nearly May and I’m still wearing a winter coat; it’s not bitterly cold, but it’s cool and gray and windy. Oh yes, and there is a large body of water one block away that has an exaggerating effect on ugly weather.

There was a sudden gust of wind, and I felt something gritty splatter across my face. Whatever it was had blown right into my lips. My lips on which lip balm had just been applied. Sticky, sticky lip balm.

And then I saw it. The cigarette. The cigarette carried by a nonchalant looking woman—I imagine that she was wearing a fur coat and large sunglasses, but that might be my memory redrawing her in a less flattering light. Because she was walking slightly in front of me and carrying her cigarette in midair, her elbow bent, using the wind as her ashtray. And her cigarette ashes were stuck to my lips.

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current book: Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion. More on this later. I seem to have indefinitely set aside Elizabeth Costello.

current music: Strangely, I haven’t been listening to much of anything.

current socks: Turquoise with 50s-esque abstract zig-zag-dothingies on them.

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To my loyal readership of five,

Sorry I’ve been MIA lately. I’m cranky as hell, so I promise you haven’t missed anything. The knee injury I sustained during my eight mile run a week and a half ago—probably just a particularly evil case of runner’s knee—has gotten quite a bit worse. Like, limping worse. Dragging my right leg behind me worse. 1800 mg of ibuprofen a day worse.

And so I’m cranky as hell. The problem isn’t just the fact that it hurts in ways I cannot describe in polite language (not that that’s stopped me before), but that it’s going to be a pretty serious test of my limits to finish training for and to run the half-marathon on May 5. Not being able to run after this much of an investment is kind of heartbreaking, so I’m not really considering it a possibility. I saw a guy today who does muscle activation technique, which you should just look up on your own, because when I try to explain it it sounds like knee voodoo, but it’s actually extremely effective. And I have an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon tomorrow afternoon. I’d like to be cautiously optimistic, but I’m kind of still limping. Perhaps the good doctor can just inject ibuprofen directly into my bloodstream.

And as long as I’m using my blog as a place to vent, I should mention that I cannot find my Illinois tax returns from last year, my mom is coming into town next weekend and will completely freak out when she sees the state of my apartment, and I am working extra late all this week to make up time from my fourteen different knee-related appointments. 

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In happier news, my parents have adopted a very handsome tuxedo kitty, who might, sadly, end up with the name Bubba. When I tried to step in on behalf of this poor, defenseless cat, explaining that Bubba is a guy with a beer belly and a wife-beater, I was told that I’d clearly been too long removed from my Texas roots. Ouch. But check out Nameless Kitty on my Flickr page. He’s pretty stinkin’ cute.

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current book: *sigh* Is it wrong of me to want to put Elizabeth Costello down? Because I rather like the idea of the book more than the book itself. My recent Atlantic and sort-of-recent New Yorker just arrived (first mail delivery in a week!), so I’ll be putting poor E.C. off for at least another few days.

current music: God, I’ve really been in a funk lately. I have actually watched some movies, though, if you can believe that: Who Killed the Electric Car?, Stranger than Fiction, Mrs. Henderson Presents and Rumor Has It. That is more movies in three weeks than I’ve seen in three years.

current socks: Only the best Easter socks ever! They have chocolate bunnies on the side… with one ear bitten off.

Filed under: life in general, running by admin2
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I just found some 600mg ibuprofens in my medicine cabinet. Score!

We did eight miles on Saturday, which felt good at the time, but was apparently the magic distance for Things Starting to Hurt. Knees, ankles, everything. I am now incorporating ibuprofen as one of my major food groups and icing my knees and ankles on and off all day. My roommate’s girlfriend, who is an ultrarunner (but otherwise seems sane), says that she often experiences knee problems at “lower” mileage (around eight to ten miles), and once she gets through that, everything falls into place. Let’s hope so. 

And bear with me—I promise this isn’t going to become a running blog. I’m just a bit overwhelmed with my to-do list right now. I need to cross a few more things off before I can reclaim my blog and the rest of my life.

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current book: Technically still Elizabeth Costello, although I’ve mostly been reading The New Yorker (which I’m still getting two weeks behind schedule). I just finished “Betrayed,” a terrifying and depressing look at how America has treated its Iraqi allies, and “The Taming of the Chef,” an article about Gordon Ramsay which briefly describes an incident in which a British documentary caught him “mid-torrent, profanities flowing in a diatribe directed at a young intern,” which I can only assume is the infamous cunting monkey incident. I would tell you about it, but only Tim can do it justice. It’s one of my favorite stories.

current music: Have been listening to Quartet San Francisco’s Látigo, and you should be too.

current socks: Stripey Easter socks with little chicks on them.

Filed under: running by admin2
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