pop-ups

No I’m not referring to those annoying things you see when browsing the web that sometimes those gadgets in your browser can’t block.  Or that show on VH1 that would tell everything you ever wanted to know, or didn’t want to know, about your favorite 80’s nostalgia videos.  Or what happens to male runners (or other male athletes, or hell males in general!) when they get, uh, happy and excited, especially if they are wearing tight shorts or pants…hehehehehehehe 😛

I tried to combat taper madness with retail therapy today and was pleasantly surprised that one of my favorite clothing stores, The Limited, which unfortunately I can only shop at online or when I am in NJ visiting the fam, had a temporary “pop-up” store in Soho through today.  And the retail mission was successful as once again, I got my dress for the next Flyers awards gala well in advance 🙂  That was easy!  Now the real tough part will be making sure it will still fit in 3 months!!

So it’s Saturday nite and I’m blogging.  I know I desperately need a life.  Well I’m not drinking right now, so I’ll need another 9 days before I can get that back.  Plus I just want to chill and watch the Yanks hopefully clip the Angels’ wings for a 2nd night in a row 🙂  (well…even though I crashed before the end of the game last nite.)  Plus I have my last “long run” on tap early tomorrow.  The Flyers are running their annual “last 10 miler” and I plan to join them for 8 of those miles.  Here’s hoping the weather isn’t too too bad…

Oh yeah and an update on that other thang.  Had my first PT session on Thursday, and the therapist’s assessment was that I was actually still pretty strong and just needed some fine-tuning in the hip area to take the pressure off the (sh)IT Band™.  So had 1 session so far, will have 3 next week, and have some “homework” exercises to do at least once a day if not more (I’ve been doing twice daily…can’t hurt, right?)  Seems like that, plus tapering has been helping.  I even threw an MP mile into my run last nite (7:50?  eek.  On that note, who are the 2 wiseguys who think I am gonna break 3:30?) and for that mile, I totally forgot that there were even any hip or (sh)IT Band™ issues.  As per usual, no probs when I’m running MP…guess that means I will need to run marathon pace for 26.2 miles then!!  hehe…OK that was bad!  But hey, I haven’t totally lost my sense of humor during this taper!!

pre-taper madness

yeesh, it’s already grabbing a hold of me. and of course, the way i dealt with it was by shopping.

First, the other day I cleaned out my local GNC when I saw they had almost a box full of Plain Energy flavor PowerGel-since it’s one of the newer flavors, it seems like it’s tougher to find… (and yeah, I decided during the training cycle to switch gels. I like the new thinner texture of the PowerGels and that they have more sodium, and the new plain flavor, and I can’t seem choke down the E-Gels any more without gagging-too thick…)

Then last night was another 20% off shopping night at JackRabbit Sports for the Flyers. The damage? A new pair of shoes (I got the white/silver/lime pair) that will hopefully replace my Cumuluses when they’re shot, a new watch (because my current one is 2 1/2 years old, it’s a Nike one and I’ve heard that its a pain to get the battery replaced, I wanted a watch with more laps and I’m paranoid that it’s going to break down in the next 2 weeks or even worse, during the marathon) and a cool pair of not marathon-perfect, but half-marathon (or training)-perfect shorts. I think I needed to be cut off by the end of the night or something.

Oh-and I’m also obsessively checking the NYCM entrant database to see if the bib numbers have been posted yet.

Damn, I expect to be quite a character during the next 3 weeks. Be afraid. Be very afraid.