Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Back in the real world, day one.

Although I've pretty much decided that I will start 2011 off freshly tomorrow. I call a redo of 2011 real world day one. Today was not all I had hoped it would be in terms of getting things done, in part because I was super sleepy. Like, reaaaaaaaally sleepy, sleeping-through-the-alarm sleepy. I think it was a combination of getting  attempting to get back on a regular schedule, lots of traveling and the realization that it's not only back to the real world (where sadly, my fave peeps don't get together every night for games and spiced rum + vanilla coke zero and ensuing hilarity; and where, also sadly, people don't make omelets for me in the morning and cut up all manner of veggies for me to munch on all day) but the new year, and high time for me to broaden the scope of my job search while buckling down into it.  I was really missing the good life:


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! :)

1 comment:

  1. 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.

    I'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

    ReplyDelete