The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner

I've been a bit of an emotional mess the past couple of days for a number of reasons (non-running related), and reading Molly's post pushed me towards penning one of my own, one from the perspective of someone who was never quite good enough to actually make a career out of running, yet still feels compelled to, well, train like it's my job anyway.

Homecoming Weekend at New York Chiropractic College

This weekend (well, all of last week, really) was homecoming at New York Chiropractic College, and seeing as we have no football team, it was a week for networking, continuing education for alumni, and getting current students thinking about their professional career. So here's the deal: This is my brand-new LinkedIn account. You can also click on the picture below. I want to make a career out of treating athletes...people like you guys. I want to help you squeeze every last bit of performance possible out of your body, and I want to help you keep your body running like a fine-tuned machine so you can keep doing the things you love, whether it's competing at a high level, getting that new PR, finishing your first 5K, or getting back out there after a tough injury. I've been that person who was told that my running was done, yet I just ran 101 miles last week. I want to help you do that too. So I want to network with you.

Second order of business is a question for you. This weekend, I talked to a lot of people about different treatments available for both prehabilitation and rehabilitation for patients (athletes in particular!). Many of them are working off of similar principles, though obviously there are small differences to differentiate each of them. I want to know how important a name is to you. For example, I use both Graston Technique and Active Release Technique (A.R.T.) as part of my prehab. Are you loyal towards a specific technique, or are you eager and willing to try new treatments that are based off of similar principles? Put another way, if you've had Graston work for you in the past, are you more likely to search for Graston providers in your area, or are you more likely to get recommendations for good healthcare providers, and then utilize whatever their treatment of choice (assuming it does the same job, like ConnecTX or FAKTR?). Please let me know in the comments. Thank you!

One final order of business: my friend Brendan maintains a blog that actually talks about what goes on in chiropractic school, if this post piqued your interest and you're curious about that aspect of my life (since this blog tends to focus mainly on running and running gear).

Life update

My apologies for disappearing the past few weeks. I had finals and was swamped with work, then I was running like crap and avoiding my blog, then I finished up track season and took a downtime, and there's nothing to write about on downtime, sooo...

Anyway, as for my life, it's back to school (honestly, what's with only getting two weeks between semesters?) and back to the road. Track season was fun, but let's face it, I'm no 5K runner. I disagree with everyone who says that marathons are harder than 5Ks, since I'm currently at 50% for good vs. bad marathons, but my good to bad 5K ratio is probably 1:10 or possibly worse, and while I've only run two marathons, I spent 8 years focused on the 5K. Not that marathons are easy, because they're not at all, but the idea that 5Ks are a beginner's distance is a load of crap. The only way you "move up" to a marathon is in distance...the challenge is no lower. So, 5K, you've won this round, but I'll be back. Eventually. For now though, it's road half time! (Well, not quite yet. I'm not about to begin training for a September half yet...I'll do a mini cycle for a mid-summer race, then take a mini-downtime, then gear up for the half.)

So, what are everyone's summer/fall racing plans? 

Totally not running related

But in case you guys were wondering what I'm up to. Besides running, obviously. But all the TV shows I was watching are done now (whose names I will not be posting, since no one would ever take me seriously again, with the possible exception of Molly Pritz, who got me hooked on this current lineup), and I ended up busting out the old Smallville DVDs. And apparently I forgot that Smallville episodes are one of those things where you can't just watch one. So here's some new art for ya:

Oliver Queen (Justin Hartley) and Tess Mercer (Cassidy Freeman) of Smallville

Usually when I draw, I have problems drawing women (if you look at my running pictures, I won't even tell you how much longer it took me to draw Rowbury than the guys), but for some reason with this one, it took me at least ten times as long to get Ollie right than it did Tess. His face anyway, God knows I have quite a bit of practice drawing shirtless men. Considering this was the island scene, I was *really* close to going all Castaway and making his head into a volleyball. Still not perfect, but I think they're both recognizable enough.

More after the jump.

Clothing Comparison (or how drivers react when I wear less clothes)

Yesterday, I wore:

 + 

And drivers were nice to me. They gave me space, they didn't fly by at Mach 12, they stopped at stop signs and waved for me to go, no one honked or cursed at me (although I did get one wolf whistle), etc. Also, the construction workers stopped traffic for me. Huuuge difference from the winter when I was bundled up in lots of clothes and people were mean. I figured it was nice outside and maybe people were happy that the weather was warm.

Today, I wore:

And some ridiculous baggy Brooks singlet that is so old that I can't even find a picture online. Drivers did not move over or slow down for me, I waited forever at stop signs until there were no cars, I got honked at and cursed at (but at least no one threw anything, I guess), etc. It was basically what happened in winter all over again, despite the fact that it was just as warm as yesterday, only sunnier (yesterday saw some light rain), so apparently it wasn't just people being happy about the weather. I hate using girliness to my advantage...but sex sells, and if it keeps me from getting hit by cars, I may have to wear booty shorts with 2" inseams more often...

Alright, random post, sorry. I do have another shoe review, just need to find time to write it.

Internet Memes

I posted this on Facebook on Wednesday, which was kind of late. By that point, the joke was already pretty old and people were getting pretty sick of it (only in the digital age does a joke get old after two days). So now I'm really late. And I think Flotrack or someone beat me to it. But oh well, I liked mine better. If you can't read it, click for full-size.

All of the pictures came from Google search and none of them are mine. Bottom left is from Running Times, bottom right is from LetsRun, and I don't remember where the other three came from, sorry. If they're yours and you want credit and/or me to take it down, just email me and yell at me.

More on Footstrike and Some Other Random Stuff

Actually I lied with that title. I don't really have any comments on footstrike. Just some fun with the video camera after the jump. Video was taken after a run, so I was tired enough that this is my natural stride, not some stupid thing I decided to make up for first five minutes of running. All of this was done at my relaxed easy day pace. There were also a lot more run-throughs than the eight here, but I just grabbed one from each direction/view/shoe when I was editing. Camera is a Canon something or other (that really narrows it down...I feel like the people who go into a running store and say "My current shoes are Brooks."). Shoes are the Brooks Launch and Brooks Pure Connect.

Departure from the Norm...Seven Random Facts

I do a lot of serious posts, and not nearly enough "fun" posts. So I decided it's time for a fun post. Leah at Chasing Atalanta just tagged me to write a Seven Random Facts about myself post. Thanks for the link, Leah! She herself was tagged with a Versatile Blogger Award (well deserved), but my blog is not very versatile, so I'm not sure that part was actually intended for me. Since all my readers actually know about me are my shoe preferences, here's a chance to get to know me a little better. Plus maybe it'll help me make this blog more versatile and/or get me more internet friends and readers.

Brooks Pure Project Contest

I'm ridiculously proud of this picture for some reason, so I'm posting it up. Came out almost exactly how I had it pictured. This is the effect I was going for (alright, so theirs is better, but those are professional graphic designers who made that. I am a physical therapy grad student with no formal graphic design or art training who did this between classes, and Facebook compressed it all funny on me). View the full size here or by clicking on the photo (it's worth it for full size, I swear!). More after the break.

Artwork

New artwork tab added to the top. Check it out. DO IT DO IT DO IT.

In case you need some encouragement, this one's my favorite:

Running Playlist

The big news today is the new Boston qualifying standards. Kudos to the B.A.A. for taking action so that there's not a repeat of 2010 in the future. I think rolling registration is the fairest way to go. I know a lot of people are upset about the standards being tightened, to which I say, train harder! It'll make you a better runner, I promise. Anyway, I've ranted on marathons enough in my last post, so I'll refrain from commenting any further on the Boston situation.

I feel like I wrote a lot of heavy stuff lately, and I feel like putting up something fun.