About that complete and total lack of updates...

Sorry about that, as if anyone is actually out there waiting with bated breath to see what happens next. Ha.

This week has been a total up and down rollercoaster of emotions and other things. And I’m going to apologize now because it might get long.

I think it started Sunday. Since that’s the day the new week starts on the run log I’m going to go with it.  I had a great run Saturday that put me well over 40 miles for the week, thanks to the Mountain Goat falling on Sunday (I technically did 2 long runs last week, which is why the numbers look so weird for my weekly running totals).

Thanks to Marilyn for the picture!

Anyways, Sunday morning we headed to Utica because my brother had a double header. I planned to run between the games but got antsy and headed out about halfway through the first one. I didn’t even make it one loop around Utica College’s tiny campus (less than 10 minutes). The pain in my shins was the most intense it has been in a long time. I gave up and limped back to the game with my swollen shins.

Yea, this is what happens to my shins when I run....

So with Sunday now counting as my off day, I had to run the rest of the week. Well, that was about to get a lot more complicated. Monday morning I woke up and headed off to the gym. Managed to make it about 20 minutes on the treadmill off and on, with lots of stretching breaks mixed in.

Then it was off to work, the straight from work to the airport, for a flight to NYC (both for business and personal reasons). My heels (dumb mistake #1) and I walked from T5 at JFK to the Airtran, through Jamaica station, and from Penn Station to my friends apartment. A huge, huge thanks to a gymnast’s father who happened to be on my flight for showing me how to navigate the trains and of course to my friend whose apartment I stayed at.

We woke up the next morning and went for a run. I loved running through Manhattan – such a nice change! I managed to keep up with her and only needed to stop and stretch my shins at the halfway point. The one thing that alternatively frustrates me and keeps me going is that there seems to be no rhyme or reason to when/how bad my shins hurt. It could be a week of really painful days, or maybe just one or two. We got in my allotted 45 minutes and then headed off to work.

Now, I’m a working-in-Manhattan newbie, so here’s where I made mistake #2. We walked to the first store we were visiting that day. No biggie, it wasn’t far and at that point my shoes were still pretty comfy. Then it was off to the subway to head uptown for a meeting. Tuesday was a gorgeous day in NYC, so once the meeting was over I chose to walk across for a few more hours of work. Well, I got a little mixed up in Central Park and needless to say the walk took a little longer then planned. ;).

Then it was off to pick up food for dinner and change before I headed back to Penn Station for the ride back to JFK. Luckily this time I had sneakers on. Well, in the interest of abbreviating this as much as possible, the trip home was uneventful, and I fell into bed at about 12:45 am. (Really, really late for me)

Needless to say I was pretty much a brain-dead, exhausted zombie on Wednesday. Still, I stumbled over the Y after work and did 30 minutes on the treadmill. I stopped at 30 so I could make it to Fleet Feet before they closed. Ran into Kevin on the way out and couldn’t even string a coherent sentence together when he asked how I was. Fine should have been sufficient but my brain couldn’t put 2 and 2 together. Oy.

Anyways, off to Fleet Feet I went, hoping they might have an answer about why my feet have been in so much pain since I bought new shoes from them about 2 weeks ago. Well, it turns out that after wearing the same size in the same model shoe for like 3 years, I am now a half size bigger. I’m keeping my fingers crossed (and my toes since there’s room for that now!) that it works. I’ve run in them twice and they do seem better. Yay!

I think this might be enough for now, seeing as how this is getting crazy long and I saw the doctor again today so there's way to much left to talk about. If there's anyone left reading this that hasn't fallen asleep on the keyboard yet, I'll finish the story tomorrow after the Race for the Cure!