Turkey Trotting into a Pothole

Hi Delicious-

Our first Thanksgiving here in Cincinnati, two years ago, we were on our way up to Hamilton to have the Big Meal with family and crossing the River from Kentucky into Ohio I saw thousands of people in a race.  It looked like so much fun and made sense to run right before doing all that eating!  I declared that I wanted to do that.  That was when I ran as exercise...maybe twice a week for 30 minutes and never seriously, as a chore.  Now that I run so regularly and have found that I love it for more than just exercise I remembered that race and was so excited to sign up this year. 

Especially when I found out that this race was the 100th annual running which made it the 6th oldest in the country and at 17,000 registrants, the largest Thanksgiving 10k!

I should have remembered however that 17000 people running means at least 20000 parking and walking around Paul Brown Stadium where it started and finished.  I'm not a fan of groups of people under the best circumstances but a chilly morning when I'm wanting to run?  Even less.  After FINALLY finding parking, getting my race number (don't wait til the day of, ever!) and depositing my warm sweater back in the car I TRIED to get to the start but that in itself was a hassle of a chore.  Finally making it to a place where I could at least stand without being sandwiched between people I had 4 minutes until the start.  When it started I don't know but it was supposed to be 9am.  By the time I got to the actual starting line and could even begin a slow jog it was 9:10.  The first two miles were basically a jockeying for space.  There were walkers and strollers and people with dogs and people power walking.  By mile 2 I feel like I had just gotten my stride and was getting into it about to go over the bridge to the Kentucky side and I went down.

My left foot got caught in a pothole and twisted mercilessly and my right knee caught my fall.  My phone went flying and two people were nice enough to stop and help me up and I told them to keep running.  I limped over to the side of the bridge, trying to get out of people's way and simultaneously NOT bust out crying.  My pants had a tear at the knee and the knee was bloody.  But the left ankle felt like it was going to bust out of my sneaker.  So I had two choices:  I could sit on the side and cry like a baby and then have to walk back to my car anyway, OR I could just try to get through the rest of the race and deal with the sprain after.  I'm dumb and I chose to finish that damn race.  That pothole didn't own me.  So I started walking on or, more acurately, hobbling and that hurt like a bitch.  From my previous shin splints I know once you get running it usually feels better so I started to sort of power walk and then go into a slow jog.  By the time I looked up I was at Mile 3.  I was halfway so I fast jogged most of the rest of the way.  Sometimes I got distracted by the fact that I could see that my ankle was swollen but since I had to get back to the car, I figured might as well do it this way.  And I did, I finished that stupid race running across the finish line and then limped to my car.  No water, no bananas, I just wanted to get home and take my shoe off.  With stopping and crying and walking and slow jogging I finished in 1:19 which really pisses me off cuz I was looking for a good time this go round. 

I guess I should stick to looking at the ground and my feet when I run...

'Boom' makes a big impact at the Know Theatre!

Hi Delicious-

I'm always impressed by what I get for the shocking $12 ticket price of a Know Theatre production!  I am so happy I read the review of their production of Eurydice last year in one of the local weeklies and have been to see each show since, they never disappoint and 'Boom' was no exception. 

I've come to expect that the Know Theatre does a lot with a little.  3 characters, 1 set and some great dialogue kept both me and J completely attentive, and often laughing out loud for the uninterrupted 90 minutes.  The story was pretty unique and covered in write ups all over town so I had a good sense of what I was getting into (you can check it all out at Boom story and reviews).

While the story sounds heavy and the topics have been argued since the beginning of time the telling of it was sufficiently humorous, cynical and lighthearted enough to seem fresh and new.  There were enough twists to keep you guessing until the end.  And despite the prevalent use of the word motherf*c*er and reason she was in the basement in the first place, it never seemed offensive or contrived.

If you haven't yet, make your way to the Know Theatre, you can't miss it in Over the Rhine or if you see it coming to your town it's definitely worth a visit although I doubt any city could put on a production with Know Theatre's charm!

Sunday Fun Day

Hi Delicious!

Winding down another great weekend...hate when nighttime falls on a Sunday evening! But I managed to pack a whole bunch of show-watching, yoga posing fun in so I can't be too bummed. 

First off, the weather...in the 40's and low 50's...IT'S OCTOBER!  And there's snow falling in the mid-east?  Next week we better get the Indian Summer they're promising (although I haven't heard it from Cincinnati's Steve Raleigh, who is only the best weather man on the planet, so I'm not holding my breath).  This weather did NOT make me want to get out of my bed early this morning and dressed for yoga only to put sweats and Uggs over that!  But I did it...the hardest part is getting out of the house...then I'm home free.  Except maybe not today cuz I took an Ashtanga class with a dude, I think that was my first.  He was challenging and very different but it was a great class (are there bad yoga classes?  haven't had one yet!) and I left feeling SO proud. 

I also found two poses that I think my runner readers will appreciate and I can't wait to see how they affect my post-run stretches!  The first he called King Arthur's pose (probably because the real name is Eka Pada Rajakapotasana variation and it was very early!) and it streched my quads more than any other pose, ever!  Here's a great explanation of it, sounds complicated but I will do this after every run now: http://www.ehow.com/how_4444032_do-king-arthurs-pose-yoga.html.
To compliment this pose, he had us do Dolphins Pose which really got my hamstrings.  Yoga Journal has great step by step instructions at  http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/2462.

Yoga took up my morning but (shockingly) football took up my afternoon.  Mention of sports for me is minimal so please don't glaze over just yet.  I don't dig sports and football frustrates me because it's the most stop and start game.  I love to watch hockey because it's fast paced and there's lots of unchecked (pun intended) aggression.  But not so much with the football.  In a town like Cinci though, if you don't know what's going on with the Bengals, you feel left out.  For the first two seasons we were here they sucked too bad for me to have to care.  But football around here kind of is like pop culture...it's what people talk about, it's the clothes people buy, it's what they DO on a Sunday.  And I have to say, it's pretty entertaining.  Because I have a DVR and I can pause, go do other things, come back and fast forward when the other team is in possession of the ball.  I can fast forward through the stupid half time and commentary and now I love it.  Now I can make a game ACTUALLY LAST THE HOUR IT'S SUPPOSED TO!  And I know what's going on.  This Sunday the Bengals did not pull themselves out of their 11 point hole in the last 2 minutes like usual and the stupid Houston Texans (very creative name!) kinda kicked our ass. 

One thing I didn't forward through is my favorite commercial in a while.  The Bud Light "Too Light/Too Heavy" commercials are mostly dumb but The Breakup cracks me up!  "We can still be really good friends, we'll just be together a lot less...like almost never." HA!  I would hope to get dumped so nicely!

Next up, my week's wrap up of the shows I was able to catch up on...