Lane's Ramblings

This is one of my more artistic photos.. actually, it was completely unintentional.


Last week's answer:
Who (L2R) - Forquer, Rob, Darian, Lane, Lane
When - May(?) 2006
Where - Chad and Tasha's wedding, Flint

Red Sox
You gotta love this...
I turned the game vs the O's on in the 8th. Dice-K held them to 1 run but Bedard didn't let anyone cross the plate. But the Sox are persistent, talented, and resourceful. They're known as a power hitting team but when they need to work some runs and were able to do so by keeping the ball on the ground. Admittedly, Baltimore helped a little but the Sox hitters really know how to place their hits... Tek putting one through the hole between 3rd and short, Lugo dropping the bunt, Pena putting an ugly hit into left after an ugly at-bat, Ortiz putting one into right on the ground even with the shift, and so on. Nice job by the offence.

Now newly acquired Gagne is trying to keep the O's down and he is not doing a very good job of that. I am not very impressed.

... Still in the 8th.. ok, sorry about the language but this guy fucking blows. Why is he on the team? What is he doing? What is Theo's deal with picking up players after major injuries? We know Drew is falling apart, Gagne's off of Tommy John surgery and they both blew the 8th inning. If we lose this game...

Now we're tied. Oki let up a linedrive to left. We're already through Manny and DO going into the 9th... SO for Oki, bad swing by Ramon... Jay Payton, remember this dude? Wouldn't mind having him back instead of any of the Sox backup OFs.. 3 outs.

Top 9.. How about that 4 hour game against the the Angels the other day? Now that's the kind of baseball that you want to see this time of year. Two great teams going at it, late drama.. Fly out for Lowell... Come on Tek.. 99 mph from Hoey? Who is this guy?... SO on a great pitch from Hoey... Also in the LA game, Coco had a SO with a passed ball letting him go to 1st, giving the Sox 4 outs that inning, you don't see that very often... Sox getting on base again, Crisp with a single to right and Drew gets a walk... even Lugo's looking good at the plate - he's doesn't look like a pitcher up there anymore.. Crisp steals 3rd! Damn.. fly out.

Bottom 9.. Oki's still in there.. Roberts with GR double - 32 doubles on the year.. Patterson has a good bunt to push him to 3rd, one out.. Sac fly? What? short CF and Crisp has to hit the cutoff? WTF? Oki let up a couple of runs but Gagne definitely blew this game. I hate that dude. I hope he files out of Fenway in line with Pena and Drew. Sorry about the play by play on the blog.

Running/Injury
Miles this week: 0
Pain: not much better
Plan: new schedule made, starts Monday
Outlook: not looking good

Is the dream dead?

For the past few months I've been working toward one of my life goals - qualifying for the Boston Marathon by running a sub-3:10:00 in Melbourne in October. And I was on my way too - I had some trouble in the GRO Marathon in May but worked pretty hard and had a great time at the Run to the G Half Marathon and I was building from there. What I needed to avoid was injury, extracurricular activities, and peaking too early.

I was doing very well except for a trip to Tassie and one to Sydney. Then everything happened at once.. the Victorian mountains were having their best snow winter in 15 years so I had to hit the slopes but before that I had a breakdown during a speed workout - my body gave up. Then while boarding I pulled a muscle in my calf and with everything else going on it was too easy to take a break. The routine was gone, how was I going to pull out of this? But I was determined and started a comeback. But then I went on another boarding trip and a third...

This is the idea, I just want to qualify for this race and then I'll be done with road running for a while. I consider myself a runner but over the years I've come to despise road running, especially racing. All I want to do is run through the trails while surrounded by trees and run up mountains. Of course I'll still need to run on the road some days but I won't have to train for 2 months just to shave 5 seconds off my 10k time - I'm done with it, I hate it. Add to that boarding the snow, surfing the waves, biking the trails, hiking the mountains and I'm a happy person and still in shape. All I have to do is check the box and fulfill this dream.

On Saturday I was boarding down some good snow on a black diamond run on Mt Buller when I got too far off trail. I came to a stop before going over some boulders just on the other side of some snow covered trees. I had to climb back up the hill a little to get over to the side. The trail was full of uneven moguls and proved to be a bit steep as I slid a few times and even broke a strap on my backpack while sliding on my bum. Nearing the bottom of the trail I caught a toe edge on top of a mogul and fell 4 or 5 feet and landed on my chest. It hurt - bad. (side note - I hit this trail the next day and rocked it... bitch)

The rest of the weekend was rough and I spent a lot of time on the blues to avoid further injury. I was having trouble sleeping and the last couple of days I've been hunched forward but I'll be fine. I took Monday off from running to rest a bit but went out today - my main concern was being able to breathe and the pain caused from my chest expanding. How far did I get? 3 steps. That's right.. 3. Screw the breathing, it can't take the impact from running. I stopped and looked around. What do I do? I held the area with my hand and tried again. I can't run miles like that. Plus, it didn't help. I stopped again and looked around as if someone would be able to help me or tell me what to do or tell me that it would be all right. Then it hit me that I may not be able to recover to run Melbourne.

This wouldn't be the first time. I've dropped out of marathons before due to injury. Bay State many years ago because of my ankle, Detroit in 2004, oddly enough, due to a chest injury (how many people drop out of races because of chest injuries? This one was from soccer - thanks, Darren), and my entire 2006 season was out because of a broken foot (also soccer - I actually thought about all of the races I was going to miss before I even hit the ground).

I could run the race next year but I don't want to be a road runner anymore - I just want to qualify for this goddamn race now. What do I do? I have 9 weeks until the race (not a lot of time) and I have no idea how long this injury will last. Some options:

1) Buy a road bike to stay in shape.
Pros - I was going to buy one anyway to ride to work and as a new hobby.
Cons - Wicked expensive in Australia, not the same kind of workout (Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France how many times? and he runs a 3:15 marathon).
2) Fast walking (not speed walking).
Pros - I can do that, not expensive.
Cons - Certainly not enough cardio or muscle work.
3) Join a gym and get on the elliptical machine.
Pros - Similar cardio, no impact, girls in tight clothing on the machines around me.
Cons - Expensive, I'm not even sure if the injury can handle that.
4) Find a later marathon.
Pros - Gives me more time.
Cons - There aren't many more in Australia after Melbourne and it needs to be accredited.
5) Give in and hit the bottle.
Pros - None.
Cons - Everything else.

Seriously, people, this is killing me. I'm very upset about this. Tell me that I'll be able to run. Tell me that I don't need to check this box. Tell me to just dust off the mountain bike or grab a surfboard and hit the surf, do what I want and enjoy life. Tell me something.

Let's try this one more time. Tomorrow I'll be heading up to Mt Buller for the third time this year. The iPod's charged, the gear is dry, I'm leaving right from work, there should be about 5 of us, we're getting a hotel and staying till Sunday - that's 2 full days of boarding. I'm going to be wrecked. Here's a pic from the last trip:

Look how young.. umm.. this person looks in this picture. Where and when? What clues can you pick out from the picture?