Dear Shins, I hate you

I found this post on some dude's web log and I thought it was hilarious, and exactly how I feel. Except the having to turn around on his run. I finished mine without much issue. It's after the run when my shins decide to get pissy.

Dear Shins,

I don’t know what I’ve done to you to deserve how you’ve been treating me for so many months. I’m tired of your behavior. I wish you would just tell me what’s wrong. I’m not a shin reader. I exercise you and your buddy My Calves. I put a compression sleeve on you to keep you warm. I ice you. I drug you with aspirin and ibuprofen. I feed you nutritious meals. I have even given you vacations. All you give me is pain.

I wish you’d just tell me what is wrong but you insist on behaving like a new born baby. All you do is cry and scream that you want something but you won’t come out and say what.

Today I took you for a 3 mile run. I was worried about you so I took it slow. After 28 minutes I had to turn around and go home early because of your behavior. I hope you’re proud.

Half-Marathon Training

If my shins cooperate, I'll be running a half marathon in the middle of September. I am experiencing a little bit of discomfort in my right shin, but it's not bad enough to stop my training. I've been icing the area regularly, both after runs and on non-running days, and taking ibuprofen here and there to keep any swelling down. I've also been doing my PT exercises religiously and using my crude slant board several times a day
(http://www.return2fitness.co.uk/Rehabilitation/Stretching/slantboard) to stretch my calves while I wait for Josh to find some time to fabricate me a more useful one. I go back to see my PT on June 4th.

Today, I start week 3, which is a taper week after a mileage increase last week. http://www.feep.org/~nancy/run.png

Minneapolis - Day Five

I did nothing exciting today. Worked out in the fitness center, and killed time in a few stores. The guys took their examination today. Josh passed, woo!

Oh, and we didn't go to the baseball game (sniff). Oh well, traffic was looking awful and we found out later that beer at the Metrodome is $7.00/cup. Hotdogs are $6.00. Include parking and tickets and we would have been pushing $100. We did get to watch a bit of it at the hotel bar and the Tigers won so we were happy.

We had dinner at the Olive Garden (again), cruised around Edina for a bit, hit the hotel bar and the pool then headed off to bed.

Tomorrow, we head home. But, not before we visit Ax Man Surplus and the Radio City, Inc.

Minneapolis - Day Four

Today I did laundry. That's pretty much it. Oh, and I bought a Nike reflective running vest and a Nalgene knockoff at REI.

We had drinks and munchies at Chili's. Nobody was up for dinner at that point so we bought some beer at a liquor store that smelled like hamsters and headed back to the hotel and ordered pizza.

Tomorrow, Tigers game! Well, I suppose it's technically a Twins game, since we are in Minneapolis, but I'm a Detroit fan so go Tigers!

Minneapolis - Day Three...Or, Oh My Aching Feet

My feet hurt. Still. I was trying to avoid wearing my new running shoes for anything other than running, but I have to do something or I'll end up not leaving the hotel for the rest of the trip.

Anyway, I didn't have too much excitement today. Shuttled the guys to the training center, came back and worked out in the gym for an hour then went shopping for a few hours. I picked the guys up at 5:00 and we headed to downtown Minneapolis to buy some space pens. Traffic was horrendous. After that, we headed North to Rogers, MN and the Cabela's store. Traffic was even worse. After a quick stop at Northern Tool, we spent about an hour in Cabela's. The store is pretty neat, but I was not digging all the dead animal displays. Yuck. We had dinner at the Olive Garden in Maple Grove, MN and headed back to the hotel for a bottle of Two Buck Chuck on the veranda.

Suzanne sent me a note letting me know that my cats are still alive (Hi Suz!), which is good because my web cam died the second we pulled out of the yard and I haven't been able to check up on them.

I have no idea what we're doing tomorrow, but on Friday we're going to the Twins v. Tigers baseball game. That should be a lot of fun.

Minneapolis - Day Two

I bought some sweet new running shoes from Run N Fun in Saint Paul. They're Adidas Supernova Cushion. They'll go into the rotation with the Mizunos.

I also hit the mall in Eden Prairie, as well as REI, and TJ Maxx.

We had dinner at a Thai restaurant called Sawatdee in downtown Minneapolis. The service wasn't all that great, the place was filthy and the guys complained that their food wasn't as spicy as they wanted. It was a disappointment because the Minneapolis City Guide gave it the Best Thai Food award.

We had a few drinks at the next door hotel bar before calling it a night. Oh, and we found out that Josh can't wink.

Minneapolis - Day One

Old people who can hardly drive should not be employed as hotel shuttle drivers. Seriously, can't they tend to the shrubbery or something? The shuttle driver to the Mall of America proudly informed me that even though his wife doesn't allow him to drive anymore, the hotel lets him drive on short runs. Yipee for me! I think he had Parkinson's in his hands and feet because we were constantly swaying from left to right and speeding up and slowing down. Also, he was very chatty and insisted on turning around to look at me when as we were zooming down the expressway. Seriously scary. I still think it was a miracle that we arrived safely.

I must be getting older because the Mall of America does not have the same appeal it once did. I could never figure out which side I was on and once I did, I was always on the side which was the farthest away from where I wanted to be. I swear, I walked 10 miles. My feet are sore as hell.

Anyway, we went to dinner at Famous Dave's BBQ (meh), poked around in REI for five minutes before they closed and went to the next door hotel for drinks to wrap up the night.

Tomorrow starts my quest for new running shoes.

Minneapolis - Day Zero

We arrived in Minneapolis around 5:00 local time after an uneventful 7 hour drive. Well, maybe not that uneventful. We stopped for lunch at the Minocqua Brewing Company in Minocqua, WI. The beer was not good and the food was mediocre. Not impressed.

Anyway, after getting settled into our room at Staybridge Suites, we headed out to find some food and drinks.

We ended up at Brit's Pub in downtown Minneapolis. Old Speckled Hen is way better on tap than out of the can. We had dinner there as well, JP had fish and chips, Josh had Guiness pot roast and I had Tandoori chicken. Everything was delicious, although I was disappointed that I didn't hear any British accents.

Our quest for (good) beer continued and led us to The Local, an Irish pub about a block from Brit's Pub. This place was in an awesome old building with tons of intricate wood and glass work. I had a pint of the Finneagan's Irish Amber which was very good.

Continuing on with our American-UK pub tour, we headed a few blocks down the street to MacKenzie's, a Scottish Pub. Aside from a few Scottish beers on tap, I really didn't see anything Scottish about this bar. I had Bellhaven. It wasn't nearly as good as OSH or Finnegan's. JP introduced us to bar golf and the crabby bartender yelled at some guy trying to scalp Norah Jones tickets in the bar.

The Nuvi sent us on a crazy course back to the hotel. We stopped at Major's Bar for one final drink before retiring to our hotel room.

Tomorrow, I'm spending the day at the Mall of America while the guys are in class.

Hello

Blogs are stupid.

Love,
Spencer