Weekend

Well the one nice thing about having an injury is that you get to sleep in on the weekend! There's no pressure to wake up at 6:00 AM or earlier to get that long run in before it gets to hot! The gym doesn't open until 10 and the pool doesn't open until noon. On Saturday after a nice little lay in Dan and I went to the gym. It was the first time I've been to Helen Newman in a while. They have a new elliptical-like machine that's awesome! It simulates stair climbing or running. It really got my heart rate up and I felt like I got a much better work out on that than the normal elliptical.
On Sunday we spent the afternoon stuffing our faces at Leslie's house. It was great! Her house is right on the lake and the rain held off. When we got home I went up to the pool and ran for an hour. Today the physical therapist informed me that I should only be doing deep water running. So I have to go get a pool noddle and just do a running motion in the deep end. She said that if it didn't hurt to run in the shallow end it was ok, and so far it's been fine. But I really don't want to take my chances. My legs still hurt when I get up from sitting or first thing in the morning and it's uncomfortable to walk long distances. Going down stairs sucks. So basically I'm only 100% pain free when I'm sitting.

Air Cast

So I had my Sports Med Appointment yesterday with Dr. Getzin at Cayuga Sports Medicine. As you can see I'm bound to air cast for at least the next 3 weeks. He diagnosed it as stress fractures, they are very low grade. It could have been a lot worse. The good news is that the NYC Marathon is still happening. For the next three weeks I can run in the water, swim, bike, anything non-impact. I'll be going to physical therapy, I don't know how many times a week though. Dr. Getzin has run the NYC Marathon twice and he said it's a hard one. I have an appointment with him in three weeks, so we'll see how my legs are feeling then and get back to training. I might have to shift my goals and I might not get the time I wanted, but I'll finish. With a marathon finishing is the most important part, but I just wanted to do better than last time. That would have been hard either way though because there are a lot more inclines in NYC than Tokyo.

Sports Med Appointment

I have my sports med appointment this afternoon. My legs are feeling pretty good, but I haven't tried to run at all. I've just been swimming and running in the water. The physical therapist on Monday said that inserts in my shoe might completely correct the problem because I pronate in SO much. She also gave me some strengthening and flexibility exercises to work on. So we'll see what the doctor says today...

The Weekend

So I took it easy this weekend. Obviously I didn't run the Laurel Festival 10k. We actually didn't even end up going to Wellsboro. It was Ithaca Festival this weekend, basically the same thing as the Laurel Festival but here in Ithaca. So we went down to that on Saturday afternoon. I also got a membership to the Ithaca College outdoor pool and went running in the water on Saturday and Sunday. My legs actually felt really good after that. The front of my legs still ache, but my calf muscle seems to be doing ok. I have PT this afternoon so hopefully they'll be able to tell me some more.

Medical Update

On Thursday the pain in my leg was so bad, I called the doctor to make an appointment for Friday. When I explained the pain in my legs to the nurse on the phone she got worried and said to go to the ER and have a Doppler test of my legs because it could be a blood clot. So I got a little scared but about a half hour later, after talking to the doctor, she called back and said that it probably wasn't a blood clot and made an appointment for me to come in the next day. By the next morning my legs were still in pain, but the swelling in them had gone down. The doctor looked them over and is pretty sure it's a stress fracture so she gave me a recommendation to a sports med doctor. But she didn't want to ignore the possibility that it might be a blood clot because my calves were very warm and my feet were cold. So she sent me right over to the hospital for the Doppler Test to rule out DVT. When I got to the hospital they said they would do the test and after look at the images. If it was nothing I could leave, if it was something I would be going right to the ER and probably have surgery that afternoon. The test was just an ultrasound of my legs looking for clots and checking the blood flow. Everything was normal, not like this picture. So I just got to go back to work. Now I have a sports med appointment on Wednesday. Seems like a long time to wait... The doctor I'm seeing though also does marathons, triathlons and Ironmans so getting me back in the race is the first priority. I really didn't want to go to someone who would say that I couldn't do it, because that's not an option for me. Today my legs are still feeling a little achy, but not terrible. So I'm going to go up to IC's outdoor pool and run in the water. I shouldn't loose much ground by doing that and it'll be no pressure on my joints or bones. So we'll see how that goes, and I also kept my physical therapy appointment on Monday.

Out for the Laurel Festival

Well I'm not going to run the Laurel Festival 10k this weekend. I was really looking forward to it. From my knee to my ankle, front and back is just in pain. I tried to run 5k at lunch and I made it little over half way, but had to stop. I've never had pain that's made me stop before. I've been soar and just been able to push through it, or once I've loosened up it's gone away. So I'm really worried. I'm going to rest it until Monday when I have my physical therapy appointment.

ouch

So I've been complaining for about two weeks now about "shin splints." Which I've found is a very broad term. So my self diagnosis has been that my calves are not strong enough. So yesterday morning I woke up and did P90X legs and back plus ab ripper. Then I was going to go for run after work on the treadmill. Thinking that the treadmill would be easier on my legs/joints/muscles than pounding the ground. Well I took about two running steps on the treadmill and though I was going to die. The pain in lower leg was so sever. So I though well maybe it's just the pounding, so I did the elliptical for thirty minutes and then I thought I would try to run again. No way. I stepped off the elliptical and was in so much pain, it took me 15 minutes to walk to where I was being picked up. Normally it would take me less than five. More so than the front of my legs, it was my calf muscles. They were on fire. As soon as I got home I iced them and took Aleve. I'm scared it's compartment syndrome. First thing this morning I called and made a physical therapy appointment. I have an appointment on Monday and I'll just have to see how I feel this weekend for the Laurel Festival 10k. I feel worlds better this morning than last night and we're suppose to run 5k at lunch so I'll test my legs out then.

I didn't run today. My calves are a little soar. I tried to run but it was just uncomfortable. So I think I'm going to try to make a PT appointment. I'd rather have it looked at now than get injured later. What I did do, was Core Synergistic from the P90X series. Prison cell push ups are a killer!

http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/?l=runners,avatar_viewer,1352364867

Check out my cute little avatar on Nike+
:)

Nike+ Human Race

So I'm adding one more selfish thing to Dan's birthday, I'm going to run a 10k. But it's not going to be a virtual one for me. So I can just go outside and run for an hour and have it over with. So no traveling or waiting to start. I did Run London when I was living there. That was before the Nike+ clip so I think this is just the next step in that series. It'll be fun to be one of the million people that day running a 10k!
Anyone want to do it with me?
If you do, go to
http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/humanrace/index.jsp
You just need an ipod nano and the nike+.

In just two days I'm 15% of the way to my goal! Thank you so much for everyone who has donated.

Shout out to Brendan!

Props to my coworker Brendan for being the first to donate! I really appreciate it. This is adding a whole new dynamic to the race that I've never experienced before. Not only am I running for me and A Running Start but all the people who are showing their support through donations. Thank you!
http://www.active.com/donate/nycmarathon2008/terryconiglio

Fundraising Page is up!

My fundraising page is up and active! My goal is $2700 and any contributions will take me one step closer to my goal. To make a donation please visit
http://www.active.com/donate/nycmarathon2008/terryconiglio

THANK YOU!

A Running Start!

So I found out on Friday that I didn't get a spot in the lottery for the NYC Marathon but I've registered with a charity called A Running Start. I'm very excited to run for them! It's already bringing back memories from Semester At Sea and when I had the chance to visit that part of the world.
Formed in 2004, A Running Start is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation dedicated to using the power of sports to improve the lives of young East Africans. This region, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, is impoverished yet is home to the world's greatest store of running talent. Our mission is to harness this talent in order to allow more East Africans to earn a U.S. university education from their athletic gift, to leverage sports to inspire local children to stay in school and to enable more talented young athletes to earn a living from the sport. Sport is an increasingly popular tool for youth development and social change in developing countries. In early 2008, Nike and the non-profit organization Ashoka selected A Running Start Foundation as one of 16 finalists out of over 380 applicants for its Sport For a Better World charity competition.
For more information about them, check out www.arunningstart.org

I'll be send more information out soon about how you can help suport me in my fundraising efforts to run the NYC Marathon with A Running Start.

I also found out on Friday that I've gotten the galarie opening that I wanted downtown in NOvember. So for the month of NOvember my travel photos will be exibited in the Clinton House!

Live like Liz

I've been really bad about keeping this updated. As far as my running progress goes. I'm on track. On Sunday I completed 16 kilometers so that's been my longest long run yet. It wasn't too bad except someone or something stole my water bottle. Every time I go for a long run I bring sports water bottle with me. Not a plastic disposable one but a sports water bottle. I always leave it by the gate at the entrance of the trail so when I double back I can take a drink. Well I was just a little over 8k's into the run and ready for my water and it was no where to be found. I'm guessing someone just thought it was trash but it was only there for about 45 minutes. I was so pissed so I ran home to get a drink and then ran back out. I'm surprised I completed the work out. It's hard to go home in the middle.
Last week I went to the running store downtown. They have a group of people who run out of the store on Tuesday nights. They were all a LOT faster than me but it was fun to run with other people. I want to keep going but I'll miss the next two weeks. I'm going to FL tomorrow for Andrea's baby shower and I have to leave the house at 4:00am. So I'm going to skip the group this week. I get back from FL late on Monday night so by 6:00 PM on Tuesday I'll probably be ready for bed.
Another thing I'll be missing this weekend is Leslie's first 5K! :) She's running the Live Like Liz 5k on Sunday in Watkin's Glen. I know she's nervous, but I know she'll make it. http://www.livelikeliz.org/index.html