The continuing (mini)saga of my bum left leg.
I had a great hike/run on Sunday with Jim. We went up Table Mtn on the Washington side of the Gorge. We ran about half and hiked (though at a good clip) about half. Needless to say, I am sore today.
Not sure if it was being hopped up on Naproxen (generic Aleve) or if it was the method of alternating walking and running, but my leg did pretty well. I don't mind the dull ache of soreness, it's the accute pain I have to watch out for when I run.
In the meantime, I read in the latest edition of Trail Runner magazine about the benefits of several supplements. You've likely heard of anti-oxidants which fight anything from arthritis to cancer (no sarcasm here.) They "eat" free radicals, which as I recall from my Organic Chem days are cells with an unpaired electron. The cell then keeps grabbing electrons and making a lot of other cells unstable. Bottom line: Tissue damage.
I read about a couple other supplements as well which help with tissue regeneration and joint lubrication. All this to say, Sarah good-naturedly helped me find several supplements yesterday so I could try one more thing in the battle to get my leg to heal.
One of those supplements is fish oil. Can I just say burping up the taste of fish bait all morning has not been fun! I don't like "fishy" taste to begin with, so this has been doubly disturbing for me. I just hope my fish-burps mean the supplements are working!
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Watermelon Crawl
I love my wife.
The other day Sarah decided to make Watermelon Lemonade. I figured "yum" so I was all for it.
She cut up the watermelon and blended it with sugar and a few strawberries. It was at this point she realized she needed to strain the pulp out of the watermelon juice and we didn't have anything thin enough to strain it with.
Brilliantly - but not before some experimentation with the cheese grater - we decided she could use paper towels. She draped one over the pitcher and poured pureed watermelon over the towel. Then she watched and waited. Waited, waited. I stretched for a run, and she waited. Finally came the acknowledgement this was going to take a while.
I suggested a watermelon/lemon smoothie, but Sarah would have none of it. She decided she'd wring the juice through the paper towel. So one at a time, she'd place the paper towl, pour some puree on it, wring it, and go to the next towel.
After about 10 minutes I gave up trying to convince her to just make a smoothie since I could see she was determined. At about 15 minutes, with Sarah still wringing watermelon pith, with drops of juice all over the counter, and with watermelon rinds and microwaved lemons all over the kitchen, the camel's back broke, and suddenly my mind grasped the humor of the moment.
I started giggling as I stretched on the kitchen floor. Sarah started giggling and suddenly a frustrating experience was a memory. I love my little "Martita".
Oh, and the lemonade was great! Should be a fun summer treat if I buy her a citrus juicer and a small strainer!
The other day Sarah decided to make Watermelon Lemonade. I figured "yum" so I was all for it.
She cut up the watermelon and blended it with sugar and a few strawberries. It was at this point she realized she needed to strain the pulp out of the watermelon juice and we didn't have anything thin enough to strain it with.
Brilliantly - but not before some experimentation with the cheese grater - we decided she could use paper towels. She draped one over the pitcher and poured pureed watermelon over the towel. Then she watched and waited. Waited, waited. I stretched for a run, and she waited. Finally came the acknowledgement this was going to take a while.
I suggested a watermelon/lemon smoothie, but Sarah would have none of it. She decided she'd wring the juice through the paper towel. So one at a time, she'd place the paper towl, pour some puree on it, wring it, and go to the next towel.
After about 10 minutes I gave up trying to convince her to just make a smoothie since I could see she was determined. At about 15 minutes, with Sarah still wringing watermelon pith, with drops of juice all over the counter, and with watermelon rinds and microwaved lemons all over the kitchen, the camel's back broke, and suddenly my mind grasped the humor of the moment.
I started giggling as I stretched on the kitchen floor. Sarah started giggling and suddenly a frustrating experience was a memory. I love my little "Martita".
Oh, and the lemonade was great! Should be a fun summer treat if I buy her a citrus juicer and a small strainer!
Thursday, May 04, 2006
My left stilt
For a long time now I've had a recurring dream once every few months. I am either running or walking and every time I step with my left leg it is about a foot longer than my right leg. In the dream this causes me to walk with an exaggerated, strange limp. I lift up high on my left leg as though I were stepping up on a stilt, and nearly pause at the top. Then I crash down on my right leg and keep going. It's a bit like a square tire might make a car look. Lift, thump, lift, thump, lift, thump...
I finally decided to get myself checked out by an orthopedic specialist since I've had so many problems in my left leg (which I thought were caused by my hamstrings and/or IT band). Turns out my left leg might be about 1/4 inch longer than my right. Now it's on to more specialists.
The orthopedic sent me to the orthotics guy, he'll send me to a PT, and back to the orthopedic to reasess. We'll try orthotics and PT, and if that doesn't help it's on to MRI's and injections of isotopes to see what's going on in there.
As annoying as it is to play the bureaucratic insurance/referral game, I'm still relieved that I haven't heard anyone utter the words "you should stop running" and I feel like I may have finally begun my journey to recovery.
Anything has to be better to the 24 hour a day pain I have had in my leg for most of the last 6 months.
I finally decided to get myself checked out by an orthopedic specialist since I've had so many problems in my left leg (which I thought were caused by my hamstrings and/or IT band). Turns out my left leg might be about 1/4 inch longer than my right. Now it's on to more specialists.
The orthopedic sent me to the orthotics guy, he'll send me to a PT, and back to the orthopedic to reasess. We'll try orthotics and PT, and if that doesn't help it's on to MRI's and injections of isotopes to see what's going on in there.
As annoying as it is to play the bureaucratic insurance/referral game, I'm still relieved that I haven't heard anyone utter the words "you should stop running" and I feel like I may have finally begun my journey to recovery.
Anything has to be better to the 24 hour a day pain I have had in my leg for most of the last 6 months.
Friday, April 28, 2006
IT = Stupid
IT bands (or whatever it is that feels like rotting acid in my leg) are really stupid.
Jeremy Riddle is really cool.
Someday I pray my leg will heal (8 months and still counting) and I will be running in the wilderness early in the morning, topping out on a ridge with the sun coming up. Jeremy Riddle's "At the cross" will come up on my Mp3 player and I will stop to enjoy the moment.
I'm having serious doubts this will happen though...
Jeremy Riddle is really cool.
Someday I pray my leg will heal (8 months and still counting) and I will be running in the wilderness early in the morning, topping out on a ridge with the sun coming up. Jeremy Riddle's "At the cross" will come up on my Mp3 player and I will stop to enjoy the moment.
I'm having serious doubts this will happen though...
Monday, March 20, 2006
The opposite of Funless
Saturday Jim and I took what was one of the least funless hikes I've ever had. (Jen/Mike, before you get all booky on me, Jim and I decided it's a word and I opted for the double negative intentionally.)
We drove down to the Bull of the Woods wilderness around the Sawmill Falls area where I like to go fairly often.
We drove to the Henline Mtn trailhead where it had just snowed the night before. The trees were dusting us with their dropping snow as we grabbed a few things out of the car. We laughed a little as bits of snow fell down the other guy's neck.
About a half hour into the hike we got to a viewpoint and decided to stash our snowshoes. We'd carried them to that point, and with the snow only a few inches deep we decided to leave them. Should have known that would be a foreshadowing. Sure enough, 10 minutes later and we were taking turns leading the way. Fortunately there wasn't much of a crust layer of snow. It was mostly powder so the "assumption flex" never came too much into play.
We followed the trail pretty well for quite a while, chatting and enjoying the beautiful scenery. There aren't many things as wonderful as a fir/pine forest freshly painted white with snow. Apparently we enjoyed the scenery too much, as we eventually couldn't decide if we were still on the trail or not. That'll happen when there are 3 feet of snow covering the ground.
We started picking our own route up the mtn. Something happened along the way, and the day became less about getting to the top of Henline mtn and more about two boys playing in the woods. We definitely became just that...a couple 28 year old boys.
We came out of the trees, spotted a ridgeline and decided we should attempt to "purchase" it.
Problem: when you attempt to climb straight up an exposed face of a steep ridge with 5 ft deep snow, and no snowshoes, it can be quite difficult.
Solution: Laugh yourself silly by watching your hiking buddy look foolish trying to gain a couple inches up the hill with each step.
The only effective method we found was to lift your foot as high as possible, so it was lined up in front of your chest. Follow that motion by beginning to place your weight on the uphill foot, and it will sink and slide in the snow until it is 3 to 8 inches higher than the downhill foot. At that point you will likely have enough packed snow to step up and repeat with the other foot.
For about an hour or so we comically pieced our way up various pieces of the ridge. Each time we'd reach a sheer rock wall, the foot lift method would fail (since the face was vertical so the snow couldn't pack down on it), opt for the next runout over, try it again, and get stopped. At one point, I think I mentioned to Jim this was the most futile hike I'd ever been involved in.
Funny thing is at that same moment I realized it was also one of the least funless (as mentioned before). It was in the middle of getting nowehere that we realized we didn't care. We were having too much fun. So we decided to slide back down the ridge, and stop for a quick lunch.
After lunch the fun began again. First we still had plenty of work to do to get off the ridge face we were on. Jim didn't make it any easier when he pushed me backwards and I had to catch myself. Again, since we were in little boy mode, I found the whole thing hilarious and vowed to get him back (his day will come).
We hiked off the ridge face, but not before sinking in to my chest once or twice. When we got back to the trail, we decided it was too soon and too fun to go back, so we went on to the other side of the ridge hoping to find the way up Henline mtn.
Once again we got to a dead end. This time it was a steep rock wall (not vertical) with a couple saplings and again, plenty of snow. We decided to attempt to climb it. We had a little more success, grabbing the saplings and picking our way up. We got to the top of a pile of rock, saw that we were not close to the top of Henline mtn, enjoyed the view, and headed back down.
By the time we reached the car the snow at the trailhead had melted. All in all, the hike was perfectly timed. We didn't reach any of our intended goals and it was perfect.
We drove down to the Bull of the Woods wilderness around the Sawmill Falls area where I like to go fairly often.
We drove to the Henline Mtn trailhead where it had just snowed the night before. The trees were dusting us with their dropping snow as we grabbed a few things out of the car. We laughed a little as bits of snow fell down the other guy's neck.
About a half hour into the hike we got to a viewpoint and decided to stash our snowshoes. We'd carried them to that point, and with the snow only a few inches deep we decided to leave them. Should have known that would be a foreshadowing. Sure enough, 10 minutes later and we were taking turns leading the way. Fortunately there wasn't much of a crust layer of snow. It was mostly powder so the "assumption flex" never came too much into play.
We followed the trail pretty well for quite a while, chatting and enjoying the beautiful scenery. There aren't many things as wonderful as a fir/pine forest freshly painted white with snow. Apparently we enjoyed the scenery too much, as we eventually couldn't decide if we were still on the trail or not. That'll happen when there are 3 feet of snow covering the ground.
We started picking our own route up the mtn. Something happened along the way, and the day became less about getting to the top of Henline mtn and more about two boys playing in the woods. We definitely became just that...a couple 28 year old boys.
We came out of the trees, spotted a ridgeline and decided we should attempt to "purchase" it.
Problem: when you attempt to climb straight up an exposed face of a steep ridge with 5 ft deep snow, and no snowshoes, it can be quite difficult.
Solution: Laugh yourself silly by watching your hiking buddy look foolish trying to gain a couple inches up the hill with each step.
The only effective method we found was to lift your foot as high as possible, so it was lined up in front of your chest. Follow that motion by beginning to place your weight on the uphill foot, and it will sink and slide in the snow until it is 3 to 8 inches higher than the downhill foot. At that point you will likely have enough packed snow to step up and repeat with the other foot.
For about an hour or so we comically pieced our way up various pieces of the ridge. Each time we'd reach a sheer rock wall, the foot lift method would fail (since the face was vertical so the snow couldn't pack down on it), opt for the next runout over, try it again, and get stopped. At one point, I think I mentioned to Jim this was the most futile hike I'd ever been involved in.
Funny thing is at that same moment I realized it was also one of the least funless (as mentioned before). It was in the middle of getting nowehere that we realized we didn't care. We were having too much fun. So we decided to slide back down the ridge, and stop for a quick lunch.
After lunch the fun began again. First we still had plenty of work to do to get off the ridge face we were on. Jim didn't make it any easier when he pushed me backwards and I had to catch myself. Again, since we were in little boy mode, I found the whole thing hilarious and vowed to get him back (his day will come).
We hiked off the ridge face, but not before sinking in to my chest once or twice. When we got back to the trail, we decided it was too soon and too fun to go back, so we went on to the other side of the ridge hoping to find the way up Henline mtn.
Once again we got to a dead end. This time it was a steep rock wall (not vertical) with a couple saplings and again, plenty of snow. We decided to attempt to climb it. We had a little more success, grabbing the saplings and picking our way up. We got to the top of a pile of rock, saw that we were not close to the top of Henline mtn, enjoyed the view, and headed back down.
By the time we reached the car the snow at the trailhead had melted. All in all, the hike was perfectly timed. We didn't reach any of our intended goals and it was perfect.
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