Lazing on my sister's couch, covered in pillows.
Ahh...sweet, sweet holidays!
Which is not to say that life in the real world isn't any good, I just got pretty darn used to spoiled by my ten days of hittin' the gym in the middle of the day, games all night and lots of quality time with the fam!
My favorite thing awaiting me upon return, besides the 30 degree Celsius temperature increase, was a huge stack of mail! I got this awesome Christmas card from my friend Jim in Korea:
So pretty! And thoughtful!
And this one from the contract agency I worked for last year:
Thanks Jenn!
My mailbox - a pretty small one - was bursting at it's welded seams with this awesomeness from California:
It's a training shirt!
I thought it was pretty exciting! And last but not least, there was a copy of the magazine that contains my first long-form freelance article. Here's a sneak peak:
I also got to have a Thai dinner with two of my favorite ladies yesterday in the city. It was especially fabulous because we have only seen each other once since the summertime. We reminisced about how terrific our twice weekly group runs and weekly hot yoga sessions were and plotted how we could get them back this year.
All in all, a great way to start the year, and some pretty good times to come home to. I really can't complain.
After I gave myself a swift kick in the rear, I got my day in gear (ha! I rhyme!). Eight job applications and a smoke alarm test later, I headed to my first physio session. I spent an hour with Nadine, who felt my leg muscles and watched me balance and squat. She noticed a difference between my legs in my medial quad thickness/strength and my IT band tightness. However, the hip and all other things considered, she said she was impressed by my strength and range of motion. Yay! She also said that because I haven't been experiencing any pain (other than the fullness during long runs) and because the differences between my legs aren't dramatic, she has high hopes that a strengthening and lengthening program (to be used in combination with the orthotics I'll pick up on Monday) will fix my knee issues and get me back on the road in no time. She sent me off with a couple of stretchy bands, a daily exercise program for my left side and a reminder card for my appointment next week. My first experience with physio, it's true, but a good one! The only thing I learned today that made me sad was learning that all the ellipt-ing I've been doing might be causing the pain that has relocated to my hip in the absence of running. Yes, it's low impact. But apparently it's high on the hip rotation. Boo.
I'm off to bed now to rest up for a full day of training, fundraising & more job apps tomorrow! Hope you are having a fabulous first week of the year! :)
I happened upon your blog, you seem really hilarious! Good luck with training for the Big Sur marathon, I've heard that is a really beautiful marathon.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if you have ITB pain, but I thought that using a foam roller after runs helped to reduce any pain that I might be having, and so that I don't have any pain in the future.
http://www.healthynomics.co.uk/gear/foam-roller-exercises-for-tight-muscles/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9aJtO0VCqw