Andy Gapin

Because of the weather, tonight’s run was pushed to the gym. I was a bit scared of this because running the treadmill always seemed to aggravate my ankle more than running outside. I decided to try running with my Vibrams which I’ve never done on the treadmill. I’ve always been a bit scared of the rubber on the treadmill and had visions of making an ass of myself. Luckily, I was fine, but my feet definitely seemed to be hitting the treadmill hard and it was loud. My feet also felt a little sticky on the rubber belt of the treadmill and I could feel the friction heating them up a lot. In the end, it was okay.

I got through the first 5k without any pain at all, but after that, I started to get a little bit of pain. I stopped at four miles as I had planned while keeping an acceptable treadmill pace.

I picked up this shirt from Tee Fury a couple weeks ago. It was one of those shirts that you know as soon as you see it that you just have to get it. As a nerd and lover of Back to the Future as well as a runner, it’s a great fit. Love it!

Tonight’s run was a four-miler at a swifter pace than I meant to do. I really felt like I was crawling in the first mile, but I turned out to be at about 7:25 (not at all a crawl). It really didn’t feel like it and there also wasn’t really any pain, which was surprising considering that I had some very light pain my ankle all day. I slowed things down a little for the other miles, but not much. I felt good running faster though.

I had a little bit of ankle pain come in around 1.75 miles, but it went away by the time I hit 3 miles. I was good after that. I gave my foot another ice bath after the run and I’ve been feeling pretty good since then.

This is the slowest six miles I’ve run in…well, I don’t even know. My pace today was very, very slow, but it’s also the longest run since coming back. Since the pace was so slow (8:42 overall), I had plenty of oxygen in my lungs the entire time which was nice.

Unfortunately, the first four miles, pretty much from the getgo, were pain-ridden. The pain quickly got up to a 3 or 4 out of 10 and just kind of stayed there for a while. This was much more than I would have liked, obviously, but I ran through it with the intention to stop if it increased. Once I hit the fourth mile, it started to subside a lot. It dropped to about a 1 and stayed there for the rest of the time. I can live with a 1 right now.

When I got home, I plunked my foot down in an excruciatingly cold ice bath (in a small trashcan from the bedroom) and left it there for about 15 minutes. After that, for the rest of the day/night, my ankle felt okay…much better than after my previous runs, but not 100%.

I don’t really know what to make up this.

Today’s run was pretty much exactly the same as Tuesday’s run was. The pace was almost exactly the same, my legs felt about the same, and I had the same pain creep up in the exact same spot.

I’ve been icing a lot, but I need to do my exercises from physical therapy more and do more strengthening, I guess. I’m not sure what to do at this point, I’m obviously not healed yet and two months off with physical therapy, anti-inflammatory meds, and a cortisone shot wasn’t enough. I also don’t like my doctor much so I don’t want to go back to him again.

I guess I’ll just have to deal until after the half marathon and then consider going to a different orthopedist. Ugh.

Some readers of this blog, and most people that know me for real, know that each and every year, myself and a small gang of my friends participate in an awesome act of gluttony that none of us are truly proud of. We may act like we are proud of it and are true American heroes for pulling it off, but we all know the truth is far from that statement.

Annually, on the first day of Spring, Rita’s gives out free ice all day long. It’s just something they do. It rules too. I’m a big water/Italian ice fan so I look forward to this day all year long. On this day, this aforementioned group plans out a tour of local Rita’s locations in an attempt to try as much ice as possible. This is not at all about trying to take advantage of a free thing. This is about camradery. This is about adventure. This is about trying as many new flavors as possible. This is about overcoming adversity and triumphing in the face of evil! Okay, that last one…not at all. You get the point though, it’s about having fun and going for an adventure.

This year, was our biggest tour yet and, by far, the most successful. We hit 13 locations. It was impressive! We started early and learned from mistakes made in years previous. When trying to pull of a successful Rita’s tour, you must start your day early, drink plenty of water, eat a sugar-free breakfast, stop for a solid lunch, opt for sugar-free flavors at about a third of the stops, and NEVER (never) eat more than half an ice. Actually, try to keep it to about a quarter to a third of each ice. Ask for a kid’s size. We learned last year that some locations won’t give you a kid’s size and insist that the only way to get the free ice is to get the regular size. Doesn’t make sense, but that’s the way it is. Not all locations say this though, so it’s recommended to ask.

By the end of the day, I was glad to know that I wouldn’t be having anymore sugar. My blood was crying out for insulin, but I felt better than some previous years. Still, I felt accomplished.

We tried a lot of flavors throughout the course of the day, many new ones that we’ve never had before. Butterscotch Krimpet was excellent, I didn’t even know it existed. However, the best flavor of the day was Iced Coffee. I believe it’s a new flavor and only one location we hit had it. It tasted like a Dunkin Donuts Coffee Coolatta. It was heaven in a cup. If you see this flavor at a local Rita’s, get it. Trust me.

Here is a full list of flavors I personally ordered. I didn’t actually get the Iced Coffee myself, I screwed up big time with that decision.

• Swedish Fish: I’ve had this many times before. It started as a limited time only flavor, but I wrote them and asked them to keep it around. I like to think they did it for me.
• Root Beer: Tasted just like a root beer barrel hard candy.
• Green Apple: One of my favorites, but tasted extra sugary this time around.
• Kiwi-strawberry: I wanted to try Twisted Melon (never had it before), but they ran out before I got to the counter. This was good though.
• Birthday Cake: I’ve only had this once before, but it seemed to taste better this time. Tastes like vanilla cake frosting.
• Key Lime: Tasted just like the yogurts I get!
• Caramel Apple: I love the little apple chunks in it. This has been one of my favorite flavors for a long time.
• Cranberry: A huge burst of flavor in this one. Extremely good.
• Sugar-free Citrus Green Tea: I was the only one that liked this flavor. There’s more citrus than green tea flavor.
• Fudge Brownie Cream: Nope, don’t like it.
• Cheesecake Cream Ice: This is the real deal. Love it.
• Sugar-free Mango Peach: The artificial sweetener is very apparent in this one. Not bad though.

And of course, here are the photos from the day. There’s a lot, enjoy!

Today’s run was much better than Sunday’s four miles. My legs felt more energetic and had much more stamina. My lungs didn’t feel like they belonged to an infant. Nothing felt fully back to where I was, but there was a very big step up from two days ago. I’ll take that. I think starting off with a much slower first mile helped as well.

I wasn’t entirely pain free-though. The pain in my ankle started to creep up around 2.75 miles and stuck around. It hovered at about a 1 (out of 10) and then hit like a 2 and stayed steady there. If it went past that at all, I was going to stop. Interestingly, when I hit the four mile mark and stopped, the pain went away instantly, like a light switch being flicked. Literally, my first walking step was 100% pain-free. Weird.

Thursday will be another four miles I think.

I’m a huge Simon Pegg and Nick Frost fan so a movie that’s finally written by the two of them was something I’ve wanted for a while. Include that with the rest of the list of people involved in making Paul and it’s easy to set your hopes a bit too high. Though, having read some interviews with Pegg and Frost regarding the film, I had a good idea of what to expect.

Paul delivered on those expectations in every way that I could have hoped for and was everything I wanted it to be. There were nerdy jokes and just the right amount of cheese. There was a decent amount of stuff hidden in the movie for nerds, even some stuff that I didn’t pick up on at first. Paul proves that while Pegg and Frost work amazingly well with Edgar Wright, the two of them can survive on their own without him. In fact, the main reason Paul actually happened was because Wright was off working on Scott Pilgram vs the World and Pegg and Frost had some downtime to actually write the script for an idea they collectively had for a while.

Paul kind of reminds me of what I would expect ToeJam and Earl (remember those guys?) to be like if they had become assimilated into American culture and pair with a couple of British dudes. Friendly, a bit rude, and totally hilarious.

Surprisingly, one of the best parts of the film turned out to be an ongoing joke of random profanity that brought back memories of seeing Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back for the first time. Now, random cursing sounds like it could kill the quality of a movie real quickly, but it fits and it’s creativity actually adds to the quality of Paul.

Paul is simultaneously a sci-fi movie, a road trip movie, and a buddy comedy, but it is not at all a parody, instead it kind of tips its hat to these genres and stands squarely on its own two feet.

Paul is highly recommended as a see-it-right-now movie. Don’t wait.

Rating: A-

Today was run number three after coming back and I bumped the mileage up to four miles. I woke up early before heading out for the day so it was still pretty chilly out, about 29 degrees, when I woke up. I saw that and may have overdressed a bit, by the time I was done running, it seemed to be in the mid-30s and I was overheated and tearing clothing off.

I’m still amazed at how much just two months off can really push you back. Again, I found myself seriously having a hard time breathing enough to keep up with what my legs wanted to do. I had to slow down a couple times to give my lungs a chance. My legs still remember the pace that they ran at just two months ago, but don’t realize that they don’t have the stamina anymore that they once had. They fatigued quickly.

I was able to keep a decent pace for the four miles, but was glad when it was over. I didn’t feel entirely pain-free, but things seemed okay enough. I could feel my ankle a bit, but it kept under the level that I set in my head for where I should stop. Today’s run could have been a lot better, but it also could have been much, much worse.

Afterwards, I must have looked like quite the spectacle as I laid on the couch with three bags of ice on me. Oh well.

I went for run number two today after work, I’d call it a success. The pace was much slower than the other day since I was running with the fiancée who is also just getting back to running as well. It’s just as well that the pace was slower though since my thighs are a bit sore from Tuesday. It feels kind of pathetic actually that I was sore after only two miles, but I guess that was to be expected.

Anyway, no pain today so that’s good. Sunday will be a four mile run which should be the first test of my ankle.