Category Archives: chi running

Green drink

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I think I mentioned that I was reading one of Montel Williams’ books. The book was a little too much for me, a bit too rah-rah for my taste and need. But the fellow mser had some good things to say in it. The one thing in particular that I took from it was his goal of incorporating more fruits and veggies into my diet, something I have been trying to do myself. He makes these fruit and veggie smoothies every day which he claims actually give him an energy boost after he drinks one. And he is right! I totally notice the difference after downing one. Here is his basic recipe: an apple, an orange, a banana and a head of lettuce all blended together. It is thick, green and gooey, but totally good. I added a peach and strawberries to mine. A full blender makes 2-3 drinks that you can keep refrigerated for a couple of days. This morning I had my first second round after mt run and it was awesome.

Today’s run went well, 6.5 miles. Nothing too exciting.

Speaking of running

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Today I am trying out the speech recognition that comes with Vista. I took the tutorial and was really excited to speak my blog post today. Apparently I can’t type into firefox, but I can speak and have it type into wordpad. So then I guess I would need to copy and paste it into the browser. It is still pretty cool, I wish you were better in firefox.

Today I went on my normal run and I decided to go on the Springwater Corridor. There is a neighborhood in the area that I’ve always wanted to go to but I don’t know where it is. I have been there before and gone running there. But it has always been a mystery to me as to where it is. I knew the general area but not exactly. I love the neighborhood there are lots of trees perfect for running. It’s very small maybe a square mile. The house is a very nice, very expensive, lots of ranch homes. There is not very much traffic which is obviously perfect. And of course I love the shade.

So I went down the three bridges trail and after the end where I normally turn right into East Moreland. But instead I kept going straight thinking that eventually I would find it. After a block the road turn left and if I were to go straight out would be running on railroad tracks. I don’t like running on railroad tracks as they use large course rocks, I guess to offer stability for the tracks. Not the best running surface. Sometimes I have found a trail along the tracks so I continued with high hopes. As I got closer to the tracks lo and behold there was the entrance to the neighborhood of mystery. So I headed in to the shaded blocks. It was just as I had remembered. The people must like living there as there were not very many for sale signs. The entire south side is abut a golf course. As the road swung around to the north I followed it until I reached the north west corner. There was an entrance or I should say exit that let out to the neighborhood of sellwood. I found an Italian restaurant that I want to go to, they appear to have a number of vegetarian options. I also ran by a music shall that does repairs. I think I will bring my sax there.

At this point I decided to head east toward home. I crossed the bridge into east Moreland. That neighborhood was having a neighborhood wide garage sale or I should say sales. They think their junk is worth more than others. I didn’t find anything, but I didn’t really look. I did scout out some free boxes but found nothing I wanted to carry with me. I was getting pretty tired at this point but I still wanted to run in the canyon. So I get back to my normal route and headed for the canyon. As usual it was wonderful down there. Out of the canyon I was really pooped. I thought about walking home but I wanted to push myself. So I continued running. I actually felt pretty good for the full run despite being a little tired. All in all I ran 11 1/4 miles. It was a great run my feet hurt a little bit but not to that bad. I was telling myself to make sure that may be landed properly, a focused on a heel strike and tried to minimize my impact on the balls of my feet. It seemed to help quite a bit.

So this experiment would speech recognition has been kind of interesting for the blog. I wish I could’ve just type it right into firefox, but that’s OK. I wonder if I could use this for my class, I hope I don’t have the same problems that I had with firefox. I wonder if Internet explorer would make any difference.

Speaking of running

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Today I am trying out the speech recognition that comes with Vista. I took the tutorial and was really excited to speak my blog post today. Apparently I can’t type into firefox, but I can speak and have it type into wordpad. So then I guess I would need to copy and paste it into the browser. It is still pretty cool, I wish you were better in firefox.

Today I went on my normal run and I decided to go on the Springwater Corridor. There is a neighborhood in the area that I’ve always wanted to go to but I don’t know where it is. I have been there before and gone running there. But it has always been a mystery to me as to where it is. I knew the general area but not exactly. I love the neighborhood there are lots of trees perfect for running. It’s very small maybe a square mile. The house is a very nice, very expensive, lots of ranch homes. There is not very much traffic which is obviously perfect. And of course I love the shade.

So I went down the three bridges trail and after the end where I normally turn right into East Moreland. But instead I kept going straight thinking that eventually I would find it. After a block the road turn left and if I were to go straight out would be running on railroad tracks. I don’t like running on railroad tracks as they use large course rocks, I guess to offer stability for the tracks. Not the best running surface. Sometimes I have found a trail along the tracks so I continued with high hopes. As I got closer to the tracks lo and behold there was the entrance to the neighborhood of mystery. So I headed in to the shaded blocks. It was just as I had remembered. The people must like living there as there were not very many for sale signs. The entire south side is abut a golf course. As the road swung around to the north I followed it until I reached the north west corner. There was an entrance or I should say exit that let out to the neighborhood of sellwood. I found an Italian restaurant that I want to go to, they appear to have a number of vegetarian options. I also ran by a music shall that does repairs. I think I will bring my sax there.

At this point I decided to head east toward home. I crossed the bridge into east Moreland. That neighborhood was having a neighborhood wide garage sale or I should say sales. They think their junk is worth more than others. I didn’t find anything, but I didn’t really look. I did scout out some free boxes but found nothing I wanted to carry with me. I was getting pretty tired at this point but I still wanted to run in the canyon. So I get back to my normal route and headed for the canyon. As usual it was wonderful down there. Out of the canyon I was really pooped. I thought about walking home but I wanted to push myself. So I continued running. I actually felt pretty good for the full run despite being a little tired. All in all I ran 11 1/4 miles. It was a great run my feet hurt a little bit but not to that bad. I was telling myself to make sure that may be landed properly, a focused on a heel strike and tried to minimize my impact on the balls of my feet. It seemed to help quite a bit.

So this experiment would speech recognition has been kind of interesting for the blog. I wish I could’ve just type it right into firefox, but that’s OK. I wonder if I could use this for my class, I hope I don’t have the same problems that I had with firefox. I wonder if Internet explorer would make any difference.

My shade moved

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Today I got out for a morning run after taking four days off. I am not really sure why I took so much time off, I didn’t really have an excuse until yesterday when my upper left thigh was feeling some pain. I think this comes from doing to much gardening of which I did my fair share this weekend. I had been icing it and after a couple of days of ice and rest it went away. This is the second time in the last month or so that I felt this. The pain occurs when I try to lift my leg and is more of a weakness than a pain. Could be ms related, more than likely overuse of muscles I don’t often use (gardener’s thigh). I had no issues with it on my run at all and now after I notice nothing.

My run today went really well, slow pace (9:30) but I didn’t feel fatigued or that I was straining at any point. It was actually a bit chilly today and I wore my new gloves, Manzella Windstoppers. They were a bit much for today. When I bought them from Amazon I though they were like the fleece pair that I have, but they are almost more of a shell(even though the review says you could wear them in a shell.) I’ll reserve judgment for now, but my hands did sweat a lot in them.

Today’s run was the first one in two weeks or so that wasn’t cloudy. Usually I find myself seeking shade on my runs. Today as I was on the final stretch eastbound past 52nd I noticed the shade was on the other side of the street! This was the first time I ever noticed that around the solstice, pretty dramatic change. I actually had a lot more shade on that stretch than I usually do (which is hardly any).

My shade moved

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Today I got out for a morning run after taking four days off. I am not really sure why I took so much time off, I didn’t really have an excuse until yesterday when my upper left thigh was feeling some pain. I think this comes from doing to much gardening of which I did my fair share this weekend. I had been icing it and after a couple of days of ice and rest it went away. This is the second time in the last month or so that I felt this. The pain occurs when I try to lift my leg and is more of a weakness than a pain. Could be ms related, more than likely overuse of muscles I don’t often use (gardener’s thigh). I had no issues with it on my run at all and now after I notice nothing.

My run today went really well, slow pace (9:30) but I didn’t feel fatigued or that I was straining at any point. It was actually a bit chilly today and I wore my new gloves, Manzella Windstoppers. They were a bit much for today. When I bought them from Amazon I though they were like the fleece pair that I have, but they are almost more of a shell(even though the review says you could wear them in a shell.) I’ll reserve judgment for now, but my hands did sweat a lot in them.

Today’s run was the first one in two weeks or so that wasn’t cloudy. Usually I find myself seeking shade on my runs. Today as I was on the final stretch eastbound past 52nd I noticed the shade was on the other side of the street! This was the first time I ever noticed that around the solstice, pretty dramatic change. I actually had a lot more shade on that stretch than I usually do (which is hardly any).

Fraternity of the Regular Regulars and sweat, sweat, sweat

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Over the years of running in my neighborhood on the same routes during the same hours day after day I have gotten to see the same people over and over again. I have started referring to us as the Fraternity of the Regular Regulars. We see each other so often that I feel like I know them, or at least know what I think they must be like. I wonder if they feel the same and what they think of what I must be? Several of the runners are much much faster than I am. Today I met one of the faster members at a corner, we waved at each other and he took off ahead of me. Later we met again as he was stopped for a rest. I chided him “No Stopping!” as I slowly crawled by him. I always get the feeling he wants to stop and chat, but that’s against the golden unwritten rule of the fraternity “Thou shall never stop running for socializing.” Later I ran into another favorite, a woman who I often meet in the canyon. We also met at a corner (theme?) she ahead of me. When she saw me on the thin trail, she turned around and went back to a place where she could more easily move aside for me. Usually it is me getting out of the way for other runners, so I was glad to see her facilitate our run. Courteous or not, she is a favorite member for other reasons…

Ok this is going to sound like a “no duh” statement, but I notice a significant increase in the amount I sweat in the summer. It seems weird to me cause even though this morning was very cool, I still end my run drenched in sweat. I am not sure if it is a humidity thing or what. Perhaps it is much warmer and I am just more used to that warmth so in comparison the runs seem cooler. Related, I notice that I lose weight much quicker during this time of year. Even if I am putting good miles in during the winter, I don’t seem to lose weight, but gain it instead. Like I said, no duh.

Fraternity of the Regular Regulars and sweat, sweat, sweat

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Over the years of running in my neighborhood on the same routes during the same hours day after day I have gotten to see the same people over and over again. I have started referring to us as the Fraternity of the Regular Regulars. We see each other so often that I feel like I know them, or at least know what I think they must be like. I wonder if they feel the same and what they think of what I must be? Several of the runners are much much faster than I am. Today I met one of the faster members at a corner, we waved at each other and he took off ahead of me. Later we met again as he was stopped for a rest. I chided him “No Stopping!” as I slowly crawled by him. I always get the feeling he wants to stop and chat, but that’s against the golden unwritten rule of the fraternity “Thou shall never stop running for socializing.” Later I ran into another favorite, a woman who I often meet in the canyon. We also met at a corner (theme?) she ahead of me. When she saw me on the thin trail, she turned around and went back to a place where she could more easily move aside for me. Usually it is me getting out of the way for other runners, so I was glad to see her facilitate our run. Courteous or not, she is a favorite member for other reasons…

Ok this is going to sound like a “no duh” statement, but I notice a significant increase in the amount I sweat in the summer. It seems weird to me cause even though this morning was very cool, I still end my run drenched in sweat. I am not sure if it is a humidity thing or what. Perhaps it is much warmer and I am just more used to that warmth so in comparison the runs seem cooler. Related, I notice that I lose weight much quicker during this time of year. Even if I am putting good miles in during the winter, I don’t seem to lose weight, but gain it instead. Like I said, no duh.

Foot issues

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Recently I have been noticing more issues with my feet, well I shouldn’t say “more” as in additional I guess a better word might be heightened. I have experienced numb feet at some level for 2-3 years. It sort of comes and goes. At its worst during the height of my last relapse a year and a half ago I couldn’t even feel my feet. I remember going into work at an agency and being really worried about getting off the bus. I just had to hang on as I got off and trust that my feet had hit the ground, very disconcerting. I had two desperate incidents like this about a year apart, since getting on the rebif these seem to have stopped for the most part or I should say it’s been a year and a half since it has happened again.

As I said the numbness has been sort of off and on and mostly in the background, there but not quite there. And that is still how it is. It definitely isn’t at the level it has been. But I have noticed and increase in the discomfort recently. This morning when I went out for a run my feet felt the numbness pretty strongly (again, not nearly like before, just increased). As I ran (say after 15-20 mins) it did appear to lessen. My shoes felt a bit tight in the front part of the shoe today (even though they aren’t) as they have for the last two runs. My version of the ms hug apparently, I call it the ms shoe too small.

I think this is something I will just need to live with. The good thing is I can convince my brain that even though it doesn’t feel my feet like normal that my feet are there and that they are doing their job. It is that confidence that keeps me going just fine. I concentrate on my foot strike and everything seems to be ok. I actually think the repetitive nature of running is training my brain to operate normally when it comes to my feet. More reason to keep running!

Foot issues

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Recently I have been noticing more issues with my feet, well I shouldn’t say “more” as in additional I guess a better word might be heightened. I have experienced numb feet at some level for 2-3 years. It sort of comes and goes. At its worst during the height of my last relapse a year and a half ago I couldn’t even feel my feet. I remember going into work at an agency and being really worried about getting off the bus. I just had to hang on as I got off and trust that my feet had hit the ground, very disconcerting. I had two desperate incidents like this about a year apart, since getting on the rebif these seem to have stopped for the most part or I should say it’s been a year and a half since it has happened again.

As I said the numbness has been sort of off and on and mostly in the background, there but not quite there. And that is still how it is. It definitely isn’t at the level it has been. But I have noticed and increase in the discomfort recently. This morning when I went out for a run my feet felt the numbness pretty strongly (again, not nearly like before, just increased). As I ran (say after 15-20 mins) it did appear to lessen. My shoes felt a bit tight in the front part of the shoe today (even though they aren’t) as they have for the last two runs. My version of the ms hug apparently, I call it the ms shoe too small.

I think this is something I will just need to live with. The good thing is I can convince my brain that even though it doesn’t feel my feet like normal that my feet are there and that they are doing their job. It is that confidence that keeps me going just fine. I concentrate on my foot strike and everything seems to be ok. I actually think the repetitive nature of running is training my brain to operate normally when it comes to my feet. More reason to keep running!

Mt. Tabor small

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This morning I went for a run to my favorite volcano Mt. Tabor. I was up late and forgot to do my rebif in the early eve, so I did it just after midnight and stayed up till 1:30. So I was tired when I got up at 7:00 to run. I went out without water but turned around and wisely got my hydration. The first two miles to the crater is a slightly uphill but relatively flat two miles. As I started making my way around the west side I started to wear out a bit, should have brought a gel. I walked more than I usually do on one of the trails to the top. Halfway up I started running and finished without walking again. As I got to the top I normally do this 3/4 mile circular road at the very top, but I decided to pass and headed down. The remainder of the run went pretty well though somewhat slow. My total mileage was just under eight. I think I kept my form pretty tight through the entire 80 mins, no slouching despite being tired and I was really conscious of my foot placement.

The last couple of days I have been down to two doses of the dilantin daily. I have noticed a couple of minor seizures when I was really hot after running and cleaning the house and yard today. I am going to stick with that dose and see what happens.