Green drink

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.

Another speech recognition test

So I am attempting to write the blog, or I should say speak the blog in Internet explorer and the speech recognition seems to work here. So I guess that is what I need to do if I don't want to type. I think this will be more useful for my class. They think years that IE would work since it is a vista product. So there we go.

Speaking of running

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.

Late morning run

My run this morn was about and hour and half later than yesterday. On my way back home I had lost all my newly found shade. I guess I need to get up early for that. I think I could focus on running earlier. It is enjoyable enough: cool, quiet, less traffic. Still the bed is awfully hard to get out of before I am ready.

I am repeating my pattern of running three days in a row to catch up with my miles after missing Monday. I think tomorrow I will only do a short one, but this weekend I plan to do at least one run. I am liking having my weekly totals get close to 30. If I can get used to it, I'll get closer to getting rid of my paunch!

My shade moved

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

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

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

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.

No run, lost my wallet

Today I lost my wallet after a meeting at a cafe. I figured it out in line at Trader Joes with an entire cart of groceries. I called Ruthann to bring her card. I checked my VM and noticed a message. It was from a woman who works at the Downtown Chapel (check them out!) She said a guest had turned it in and she would be at the front desk until five. And if I needed to pick it up later, they would be doing a soup kitchen until nine and I was welcome to stop by then.

So I announced the good news and Ruthann and I headed downtown. When I got to the chapel another woman was at the front, but Valerie had told her all about it. They actually didn't have my wallet, I was handed a stack of cards, photos and plastic wallet divider. I was really glad to get back my driver's licensee and some other ID. No credit cards, no cash, but that's ok. Quick call canceled the cards. Someone had purchased Tri-met tickets, but I get that back, no biggie.

When I got home I found an email from the woman who found it saying she found me on Twitter and then found my website and then sent in a contact form from my site. Good sluething! I then decided to buy a new wallet to store my new stack of IDs. It was tough finding good non-leather wallets. I eventually bought from the Vegan Store.

About an hour later I got a phone call from the downtown police department. They had my actual wallet and a stack of business cards. Man I can't give those away! Apparently a person who works emptying trash cans found it. Instead of just chucking it, he had turned it in to the police.

What struck me was how many people all did the right thing today and made an effort. It is funny how all of them had the same goal in their actions and I am psyched they were a success.

And if I don't like my new wallet, I can always go back to my old one.

Base run

Today I headed out for a run after dealing with a hangover all day yesterday. Blame my college buddy for dropping in! I started out a bit slow but I brought music as opposed to the radio and I soon found myself picking up the pace. When I was done my pace wasn't a lot faster, but it was a bit (I think I cam in a minute faster than I did the other day when I did the same run. It is pretty amazing the affect that music has on your running. I think a lot of it has to do with matching your pace with the beat. Today I listened to one of my favs, the New Pornographers.

I did something to my shoulder, I have no idea what. But it is really weak and painful to lift. Paul and I camped out in the backyard when he was here for the heck of it. Maybe it had something to do with that? Though the day before my other shoulder felt weird. I had some meds left over from when I got hit by a car. My doctor said for me to hold on to them as they were "gold". He was right, no more shoulder pain.

Springwater Corridor

Today I decided to deviate from my normal route a bit and take the longer Springwater Corridor option. Springwater Corridor is part of the 40 mile loop in Portland and is 21 miles long going from Boring to Eastside Portland across the Willamette river from downtown. The segment I ran today went from 39th over what is known as the Three Bridges, can you guess why? This portion was completed several years ago and connected the bulk of the corridor with the Moreland segment of the loop. The bridges cross railroad tracks, McLoughland Blvd and and Johnson Creek. It is a nice flat run and completely free of road traffic other than speeding bikes who refuse to courteously warn you they are coming "On your Left". Do you sense a pet peeve?

After my journey across the Three Bridges I make my way through W. Moreland neighborhood including a really nice part through a large park complete with a lake and tons of geese and ducks. I like to talk to them as I run, I'm not so sure they enjoy it as much as I.

The next portion of the run winds through the up scale East Moreland neighborhood. Not only is it "up scale" it is also "up", so my pace slowed down considerably as I made my way back to Woodstock. I didn't bring water with me today as it was really cool out so a water fountain in a park on the border was my inspiration to keep going.

Hydrated I continued on with the final two miles through Woodstock and back to the house. All toll the run was just under nine miles. A really nice long run that brings my weekly total to 27 miles, the longest I have done in awhile. Four running days and the opportunity for one more tomorrow though I doubt I will.

I have been working on a project to build a social media widget for a client. Once it is deployed it is easy for someone to get there own and install it on a variety of different platforms from facebook, to blogs, web pages to your desktop. SO I have been trying to come up with an idea for the technology and today it dawned on me that I could make one to track my rebif injections and warn me of the days that I need to do it and where I should inject. Hurray! So look for that here!

Humidity and running

These last couple of days our hot temperatures have cooled a few degrees only to be replaced with humidity. Not much of an improvement in running weather especially when the cool down is only a few degrees. My runs these last couple of days have been really tough. In fact yesterday I had to stop before the park and walk for a bit. Usually I have been able to push through that final mile, but not yesterday, so I cut my run short and walked for a bit (I did end up running the last little bit though.) The amount I sweat when it is this humid amazes me, my shirt looked like I had been squeezed dry. Good thing I have been carrying water, I think it has really saved me. Wait let me re-state that so it is not quite so dramatic: really allowed me to complete my runs.

I do think it is a matter of getting used to running in this, especially the hotter weather (not sure if I can get used to humidity). Already it feels a bit easier, less daunting.

Wammo-Slammo Field Day and today's run

Yesterday I did not run, well actually I did, just not around the neighborhood. I thought I would take in a little cross-training and attended Wammo-Slammo a neighborhood Field Day to bring attention to and gather feedback on what to do with an old school and the surrounding grounds that the city has donated to the neighborhood system to do with what they see fit. There were interesting ideas from making the grounds a place for homeless people to express themselves through art to housing and construction of a community pool. Me, I voted to build a track but I doubt that will happen.

So I can't count my lip flapping about a track as exercise, and the neighborhood associations couldn't get people to just show up on a hot day to talk about an abandoned school. This where the Field Day came in. The organizers had a bunch of different "recess" type games for people to play. I got to play a little volleyball, dodgeball, kickball, silly relay races (I dropped my egg in a furious attempt to bring my team from behind) and a sack race (fell flat on my face right out of the gate.) It was a blast and the heat was pretty bearable until the end when we all pooped out. I wish the organizers had gotten more attendees (and filled out surveys) but it was great fun and good exercise as well.

I was tired and a bit sore from yesterday's fun but I decided to get up and get a jump on my week's running. I didn't have a whole lot of energy this morning and I forgot my water, but I had a really nice relaxing run even though now I feel a bit burned out. I don't think I will go out tomorrow. Then again you never know.