PipesDreams

Well, I ran my first half-marathon this morning. I’m sad that my time wasn’t better – I finished 21.5km in just over 2:20 (I think: chip results aren’t in yet, so that was just my iPod’s estimation) but my left thigh injury is really quite bad, so I’m happy to have finished at all.

I started to feel a distinct twinge in my left hip about 14km into the race, and it just got worse from there. The last 3km saw me crying all the way to the finish line. There was a genuine sense of kinship with Terry Fox as I limped my way home. I am now in bed with an ice pack, rather than joining my Mum for her mother’s day brunch. Oh, the guilt. Still, she’s out wearing my medal, so a little bit of me went with her.

I thought I had ilio-tibial band tendonitis, but the more I read about injuries on the web, the more I think it’s one of the following three things, based on location, duration and strength of pain: 1) hip bursitis, 2) labral tear, or 3) stress fracture of the hip. Although the last option is the worst, they’re all bad in terms of recovery time, which ranges from 6 to 8 weeks with little in the way of therapy options beyond rest, icing and stretching. Where are my miracle cures? Come on, people, I can’t stop running for two months! Plus, I have viking boating starting tomorrow! I need legs for that!

In other news, yesterday was the Sante wine festival, which was a blast as always. There were about 15 folks out and about, enjoying the goodness of the grape, including very few “regulars” ( was one of the few and the proud), but lots of newcomers this year: , my friend Butler, several of ‘s Waterloo buddies, and my mates Alex and Josh, who brought along their friend Chris, who quickly became the life of the party. Some would say Chris was offensive, but I considered the butt-grinding, hair-sniffing, remarks of dubious taste and repeated photos of my cleavage as just his personal expression of enthusiasm for the event. Different strokes for different folks. Much wine was had by all, and many amusing photos were taken. I really need to do some photo updating for the poor LiveJournal – everything is on Facebook, but that’s no help to you now, is it?

I also see that I neglected to blog about last weekend (have been very strung-out about this thigh injury, especially since I’ve got a planned two-person race in late August and am currently experiencing difficulty hobbling to the toilet). Last weekend was also raucous and totally awesome. A big two-birthday evening on Saturday, with ‘s big 4-0 celebration where I got to see ‘s beautiful, funny and touching video celebration of his girlfriend/baby momma – a labour of love, to be sure. I also got to play with Attila and Cass and baby Momo, which was great fun. Did I mention there was a chocolate fountain at that party? Yeah, C. and I spent a LOT of time dipping things in the fountain. Anything, really. I know for sure I had at least one chocolate-dipped baby carrot, but I may have eaten someone’s finger or a chocolate-dipped barbie doll without realizing it.

Later, after about 4 hours at J&J’s, when the birthday girl was looking a little overstimulated and ready for a nap, we nipped out and got a cab to Chris’s sketchy warehouse/home for Josh’s big “30 is the new 40” party until about 3am. Sunday was the start of the kickball season, so I hung out with and all afternoon, listening to Amy Winehouse and buying hysterically matching sweatsuits from American Apparel to look ultra-nerd-coordinated for our inaugural soccer-baseball game.

That’s about all for my news at the moment. Still trying to get my 6 months of travel planned. Have decided to move my trip to North Africa back to October/November since has advised me that I will “evaporate and die” in the heat of Aswan in September. I have also been roundly mocked and jeered at by my friend Darcy for my planned trip to see the Grand Canyon in August, where he states unequivocally that the soles of my shoes will melt to the cement sidewalk, but what the hell, I’ve already bought that ticket so too bad. September will now be Italy/Greece, and October is firmly plotted for Turkey with Jen.

I’ve been given raised eyebrows for going to Turkey during a period of protesting and apparent “civil unrest” due to the threatened military coup in the event of a non-secular President taking over the government, but honestly, given that this is a country that borders 3 seas, 8 countries (two of which are Iran and Iraq), and is a predominantly Muslim nation populated by Kurds, Circassians, Roma, Arabs, Greeks, Armenians and Jews, I’m satisfied that their largest political concern is about remaining secular. Absolutely! Stay secular! Keep religion out of state matters! And how can I not want to visit the Celsus Library in Ephesus, the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, or witness the chimaera fires that dance eternally about the Lycian Way on the hillside above the Temple of Hephaistos? How often do you get to see the breath of a creature that’s part lion, part python and part goat spew out of the rocky ground? It’s a must-see.

Hope you are all well. Will post more now that I’m gimped up in bed with a terribly sore leg and no entertainment but my laptop and Doctor Who.

Dammit. It’s 12:45pm and I should definitely be asleep, but Chrissy has me feeling guilt at my lack of posting since she has finally also rejoined the LJ universe. So, an update!

The past few weeks have been a mix of terrible and great news. Three good friends have had close family members pass away, one very unexpectedly, two not so unexpectedly. Death is a private pain, so I choose not to disclose names, but you know who you are and I have been grieving for all of you. In the midst of all this loss, I’ve heard both good and bad baby news from several other close friends – two have just discovered they are with child (again, not my place to say who: they’ll announce in their own good time) and two have found they no longer are, alas.

I’m working a lot of overtime, and trying to make it out to birthday celebrations and other get-togethers as well. A lot of running fills in any random gaps in the schedule.

The Mississauga Marathon, where I hope to be running my first 21.5km half-marathon is in 2 weeks and I managed to injure my left hip somehow on last Sunday’s prep run on the course. After completing around 21km in 2hrs17mins, I’ve pulled or cracked or sprained something and am now going to see a sports therapist for physio on Friday. Was also persuaded by to join her Viking Boating league for the next two months (No, this is NOT rowing. No, I will NOT be “erging”.), and am joining forces with to get on board for Toronto Kickball to fill in my Sunday evenings this summer. Am also buying myself a new mountain bike this week, because the one in the garage appears to have died horribly over the winter.

Had the pleasure of several visitors from afar this weekend, including the impulsive yet intrepid Dave who flew up from New York on two days notice. I’m glad we got to spend a bit of Sunday afternoon together, reclining on a grassy knoll together with Lena, having a quiet, sunny picnic on the waterfront. I needed that time away from bad news and computer screens badly.

Have also begun to more seriously plan my 6 months off. So far, the schedule is shaping up like so: August – see Grand Canyon, Rockies then off to Casablanca, Morocco; September – from Morocco over to Egypt; October – to Turkey to visit Jen and see the Hagia Sofia, then over to Greece; November – possibly run the Athens Classic Marathon on November 4th, then rest up and get to Rome to meet Chrissy for a tour of Italy; December – over to Geneva to stay with Brett while he’s performing Mozart for Opéra de Genève in Switzerland, then home for my birthday on the 19th. January – hopefully sequestered away somewhere mountainous (BC?) to write and think before returning to work on February 1st.

So, that’s my life in brief. Sorry to have been away so long. Will post photos soon showing the last few weeks for folks that aren’t on Facebook so you can see where I’ve been and with whom.