Marathon Man, Busted?

Hey folks. I've had a crazy idea recently. My friends at work are seriously mocking me for this idea. But oh well, they usually do that anyhow!!!

Recently I was in London with my wife celebrating her birthday as we walked the town. It was a great day and we very much enjoyed the sights. Well, the next day the annual London Marthon was scheduled to take place. It was VERY interesting to see the preparations being put in place. And then a couple days later on Monday, I had some interesting discussions with some coworkers about the marathon and someone made an interesting comment to me. They said, "Hey Paul, do you run? You look like the kind of guy that would run a marathon."

Ok, done laughing now?? Let me give you a moment.... Ok, bottle it up and keep reading!!!

Ah, nice comment I assume. Except I truly know that it couldn't be anything further from the truth. I haven't purposefully ran for fitness in about 16 years. And since I am 30, I realised that this is OVER HALF MY LIFE. What a LAZY BUM am I!!! :)

A little more background. I have a father that I prefer to think of by first name only now (as opposed to anything related to "dad") because, well, he's pretty much a loser. Yeah, harsh... He did take good care of us as kids, provided for us in every way physically needed and he didn't beat me or anything bad. However, he also never formed a real relationship with me or any of my siblings. Some of them really ended up quite emotionally scarred from this. I think I have gotten over that pretty well. And he was a crap husband to a really great mother and wife.

He also a handful of years back went through a divorce with my mother. And rather then staying nice and civil - as she DID support him domestically for 30 or 714 years or some long period of time - nah, he got nasty. REALLLLLY nasty. Not only that, but the punk was seeing someone else while still married, bought a house in Texas and forged my mother's signature on the mortgage and quite a few other things that nasty liers do.

Anyhow, this crazy nutcase of a man apparently started running during that phase. This is probably good as while I don't particularly like the man, I don't really wish him badly either. And I would assume starting to run is a good healthy thing to do (if it doesn't kill you). And not just little bits, but perhaps half marathons or even marathons, I don't really recall.

So. When my friend at work so complimentarily suggested that I could be the sort that ran, it occurred to me that I SHOULD be the sort that ran. What more then laziness (which I am REALLY good at) stops me from getting off my bum and keeping fit.

So I dreamed up one of my classic instant crazy plans.

I would train for and run a marathon!

Well, as I chatted with folks, I came up with the more short term plan to train and run some 10Ks with the goal of running a half marathon around the end of the summer. If all goes well, I would love to run the London Marathon 2009. But that's probably getting ahead with the plan.

So I chatted with a couple folks, did a bunch of internet research and started to get excited about this plan. And to mix it up a bit I thought I could do some cycling as a bit of cross-training, which I think is recommended.

Well, this is where, as my older brother would like to point out, I realise that I am getting old. Ok, maybe at least oldish.

Last time I ran 16 years back, I had not a problem with the whole thing. However, last Wednesday my result was somewhat less successful. I had a nice run. Ran about 1.5-2 miles and then walked another 4 or so. However, about a mile in I started experiencing this knee pain that I used to feel when I did anything athletic about a year back. Unfortunately it got to the point that I pretty much had to stop running. I kept trying, but it just wasn't working.

So I did some more internet research and discovered the root of the problem - the dreaded Iliotibial Band Syndrome. Basically, long story made short, there is a tendon in your leg that stretches from your hip to right below your knee. When this is too tense (or something), it rubs against the base of the femur and becomes quite a bit inflamed and fussed up. And I can tell you, it really sucks.

I am pretty sure this is the root of the problem as there is this test called the Noble compression test which is quite easy to perform. So my wife and I applied pressure at the right place on my knee and yep, it sure hurt at the 30 degree point. And the more I examined the documentation regarding the problem, the more it really actually made sense with the physical pain I was experiencing.

So what do I do now? Is this the end of my grand plans?

Well, perhaps. The right advice out there is to ice it and take anti-inflamatories and such. However, you also need to stop activity until you find out what is really going on. This usually involves going to a physiotherapist so they can do a biomechanical examination and figure out what is causing your particular case of ITBS. If you ask my peers at work, they seem to think it has something to do with my legs being different lengths. But what do they know. :)

So I went to my NHS General Practitioner today to see if I could get a physio referral. Even though I was advised that this might be unlikely, I actually managed to get the referral! Very cool. So hopefully sometime in the next couple of weeks I will get an appointment and make the visit. I may also go ahead and buy myself some decent running shoes after payday next week as I have heard that this will likely help as well.

I am having a bit trouble with impatience as I actually really want to get running again. I found some great guides for training that I would like to give a go. However, according to what I read, I really need (kneed? hehe) to take it easy.

So, wish me luck and keep me in your prayers (at least my knee)! :)

Unchivalrous Act of the Day

In my last post, I posed the question as to whether or not their was a place for chivalry and gentlemanliness in the life of a modern commuter. Well I write today to suggest that such acts of curteousy are possible, at least in a moderate degree.

Recently I have witnessed behavior which I have decided to call the "Unchivalrous Act of the Day".

A number of times I have been riding the train or tube recently and have seen a seat become available. On many of such ocassions, a man will leap into this seat without thought or concern for any of the ladies (young & old) who are standing nearby. This is shocking behavior.

It is one thing to not give your seat up when you are squashed into place and have little ability to extract yourself without quite a challenge. But when all you have to do is NOT sit down, come on now.

Now, I have been REALLY TEMPTED to make a bit of a photoblogging habit out of these unchivalrous acts. However, I have been advised by my common sense that this is really just a good way to eventually get beated up by a grumpy & unchivalrous commuter. :)

Is Chivalry Dead for the Modern Commuter?

For the last month, I have been participating in the hellishly strange, but somewhat fascinating existence known as commuting. Rather then the "jump in a car and drive forever" variety, however, I have been participating in the rat race of the train & tube on my way to and from work each day.

Now, first of all, I have thus forth enjoyed the process. Yes, I am nuts.

However, from the smallish town American perspective, the concept of walking to the train station, riding a combination of train and tube for the next hour, and then walking (hustling / bustling?) another 5-10 minutes from tube stop to my office desk is quite strange & interesting. Will I still think thus in another month or two? Oh, probably not. However, to this point, Terry Pratchett has been my friend and the commute has been fine.

I should also comment that I FAR prefer this life then that of sitting in the parking lot known as the London motorways. But that's another story... :)

Ok. So now to my point... I have got to ask the question:

Is Chivalry Dead for the Modern Commuter?

This question has rolling around my brain for the last month of train riding.

Now, on the tube, I almost always end up standing anyhow as there usually isn't much choice in between Waterloo and Canary Wharf. However, each day on the train between Ascot and Waterloo, I sit in my comfy seat and try to figure out if there is some way I should be offering up my spot to one of the ladies standing in the aisles. Ok, they aren't THAT comfy....

Now, I am not a sexist. I don't think women are beneath me. But I was raised to open doors for women (and people in general, actually). And I do generally attempt to show respect.

However there are days where I am absolutely knackered, not feeling well or otherwise out of sorts and a part of me feels like I wouldn't give up my seat to a paralysed & blind grandmother. But on most journeys, I could easily sacrifice my seat and stand for half the trip or whatnot.

However, it is just not what people do.

I think people would almost be suspicious if I gave up my seat. Or I'd stand up and another male commuter would take my place (which isn't really the point, though I suppose would be nice as well). Then there is the issue that I am usually embedded between a pile of other seated commuters and would have to pry myself out of that pile. That really doesn't work either, exactly.

So I am at a bit of a loss on this one. Is it actually possible to be a gentleman on the train at 7:30 or 17:30, Monday thru Fridays? Feel free to let me know if you have any ideas. Perhaps today I should give it a try and see what happens. :)

On another note, check out this interesting article by Danielle Clark regarding Underground Etiquette. Thanks for the great read, Danielle! Even though most of what you have to say is common sense, it is amazing how many people completely miss such things. And as a newbie commuter myself, it is nice to see I have figured most of it out nicely.

http://my.telegraph.co.uk/danielle_clark/february_2008/london_underground_etiquette_for_beginners.htm

A New Place to Hide Your Books

I promise, I am not really doing some sort of a London thing here... However, I did come across this really neat story tonight about this staircase bookshelf that someone came up with someone in one of these tiny London houses.

Click the Link Here

I guess when houses are the size of thimbles you have to use every square inch efficiently. What a neat idea!

Building Underground

I am a huge fan of using modern technology to make our world generally more attractive, pretty, etc. I ran into this really cool article today which talked about how current building & engineering techniques can be used to move, well, the ugly bits of our required world underground and out of the way....namely the miles and miles of roads.

Read here: Let's Get Building Underground

I really liked the points in particular about how roads can be SAFER underground due to lack of pedestrians, opportunities for air scrubbing, etc. Way cool... :)