White Like Me

"Stuff White People Like" is my new favorite blog. Its my daily Starbucks. While a little cliche at times - I picture the Tracy Jordan stand-up act from 30 Rock, "White people dial a phone like this, Black people dial a phone like THIS - most of the time its hilariously self-deprecating, usually because they're indeed things I like.

Three of my recent favorites:
"#62 Knowing Whats Best For Poor People"
"#69 Mos Def"
"#44 Public Radio"

Katie and I saw "Spirit of the Marathon" last Thursday. I thought it was very well done, as it served to highlight the struggles of both the back-of-the-packer and elite. Flocast, Youtube, etc are great for videos, but there is just something about seeing a feature film on the big screen. Of course it was really big for us because we got there just before the show started and were relegated to the second row. Those seats should be outlawed.

Could it possibly be in theaters a third time? If so, make sure you show up early. If not, I would guess it would be out on DVD (or should we be buying Blu-Ray now?) soon.

"Spirit of the Marathon" sparked some inner dialogue as I contemplated what my long term goals are and how this year fits with them. The first thing I realized was that I really, really love running. The simple act of running brings me a lot of joy. When things are going good, the ratio of positive energy created:energy expended is quite high. That brings me to my second thought/realization: this hamstring injury is taking a little bit of that joy away. I thought if I could continue to run at a moderate level while stretching, lifting weights, and getting therapy, I could heal thyself. But the fact is I'm approaching a year of dealing with this particular hamstring issue and I've had hamstring issues dating all the way back to high school. I have a bunch of theories that I won't detail at this time, but suffice it to say, I need to focus on the healing and less on the running right now.

That may seem obvious to an objective observer (Katie?), but I think I, like a lot of running addicts (and thats what we are), have a hard time being objective.

When pouring over what I would like to accomplish running-wise over the next 3-4 years and what it will take to do it, I kept coming back to the fact that step 1 is get healthy. So I've stopped running for the moment. I've been doing the elliptical machine most days and I've been piecing a good routine of weights, core work and stretching. I've also made a slew of PT appointments with people recommended by some of the Team USA Minnesota members (many thanks to Jason and Kristen).

Too tell the truth I would say with the exception of my left hamstring and gluteus, I feel great. Aerobically I was really starting to come around. I'll almost certainly lose some of that by cross-training, but in my mind my efficiency was compromised by the hamstring anyway, so why not remove that obstacle?

So it seems like this is the 100th time I've written "I'm taking a break from running" in this blog, but it is what it is. We'll see where this one goes. I hope everyone else is hitting the ground running as spring approaches.