Park to Park . . . to Park . . . to Pain

I'm starting to really feel like a multisporter.

On Saturday, I swam the Park-to-Park two miler.  It's a swimming race in the Hudson River from 125th Street to 165th Street.  The two mile swim was my longest open water swim ever, and probably longer than  most of my swim workouts in the pool, so I was pretty nervous about it.  Fortunately, I was able to talk Peter into doing it with me, which definitely calmed me down before the race.

Since it was so warm, I was thinking that I'd be the only person wearing a wetsuit, but a good number of people were swimming in them.  The water was 68 degrees, which is right at the cutoff for eligibility to win awards while in a wetsuit.  But I am more concerned about the buoyancy that the wetsuit adds rather than any warmth that it creates, so I was definitely wearing mine.

It was a treading-water start, which I hate since your arms and legs get all tired before the swim even begins.  But once I jumped into the water I could feel the effects of the wetsuit and the salt water keeping me afloat--I didn't have to work that hard to tread water.  This definitely helped to calm my nerves a bit, as I tried to convince myself that the wetsuit, the salt water, and the tidal assist would make the swim easier than swimming in the pool.

When they sounded the start horn, I had positioned myself towards the back of the swimmers to avoid getting trampled.  What I didn't think about was positioning myself away from the big buoy that marked the start.  Instead, I ended up having to swim around it, getting swept by the current and crashing into it, getting entangled with the rope that anchored it to the bottom of the river, and getting trampled by the few swimmers behind me.  Ugh, not a great way to start!

After that minor hiccup at the beginning, though, the rest of the swim pretty much occurred without incident.  I had made sure to listen to the pre-race announcements, when the race director said there would be eight buoys on the course; we were supposed to swim out to the first one, turn right, and then pass seven more buoys to the end of the course.

From that starting stretch out to the first buoy, I felt calm and collected.  I was able to focus on my stroke, my rotation and my glide.  Determined not to veer off course, I was sighting about every three or four strokes.  Every time I sighted, that first buoy was noticeably getting closer and closer.  I felt that I was making good progress, and I soon reached that buoy and made a right turn.

After that, things got slightly more difficult.  I have not mastered bilateral breathing, especially in the open water.  I find it MUCH easier to breathe on my right side.  But the sun was on my right side.  And even though I just bought some nice tinted goggles to protect my eyes from the sun, it still felt like every time I breathed I was starting directly at it.  Also, the buoys seemed a lot further apart than that first one was.  I was having a little bit of difficulty swimming in a straight line.  And when I tried to make an adjustment to the direction I was swimming in, I think I overcompensated and got way off course in the other direction.

But I just stuck with it.  It wasn't about the time, but about just finishing the longest open water swim of my life.  It felt very tranquil, actually.  After about the second buoy, the field was pretty thinned out, so I just concentrated on my form and swam. Slowly, the buoys came and went, and eventually I made it to the end.  When I got out of the water, I felt exhilarated.  Peter and Tom Malcolm were there, along with Steve from TNYA, cheering me on.  I was so excited that I didn't even realize that I hadn't crossed the timing mat yet--Peter had to shout out to me to keep running, haha.

My finishing time was 56:23.  This was way faster than my stated goal of 1:12:00.  However, I guess there was a really substantial tidal assist this year, and I didn't quite make my other goal of being in the top 70%  (I was 123 out of 150 finishers, so 83rd percentile).  Oh well, I least I know I can swim two miles now.  The Avon Ocean Mile Swim on July 11th should be a breeze.

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On Sunday, I did the NYRR Father's Day Race Against Prostate Cancer 5-miler.  Not much to say here except that it was hot, humid and miserable.  The air had that feeling where you knew it was going to rain any second because it was so saturated with humidity, and you wished that it would just break and start pouring so that at least the rain would cool you down.  But instead, it stayed hot and gross through the whole race.

I didn't really have any expectations going into this race.  I'm obviously not training, and I'm still nursing this butt issue, so I just set out to do the best I could without feeling any pain or messing up my butt.  I was lined up with the same group of blue corral Front Runners I always line up with, which probably wasn't a good idea since they've all been doing workouts and running a lot more than me.

I knew pretty immediately that I had started out too fast and there was no way I could maintain it.  My first mile was 7:02, and it was pretty much all uphill from the West 69th Street start until 86th Street.  I haven't run a sub 7:00 anything since last year, and definitely wasn't going to do it today.  And honestly, I wanted the race to be over because there was no way I could see myself doing four additional miles feeling as bad as I did.

Mile two, from 87th Street to the 102nd Street transverse was 7:08.  I had slowed down, but still not as much as I thought I needed to, and really didn't think I could maintain this either.  After a half mile, a spectator shouted, "You're halfway there!"  This didn't help.  I didn't want to know that I just had to repeat those brutal 2.5 miles again.

Mile three: 7:20.  Ugh, didn't mean to slow down that much.  This wasn't even a hilly part of the race, I think I just lost focus.  For mile four, I try to regroup myself.  I became intent on breaking out of the group I had settled into, and see another runner in the distance who had been about 50 yards ahead of me the entire race.  So I ratcheted it up a bit, and set off to catch up to him.  I mile later, I made it, in 7:07.  One mile to go.

That last mile was tough.  But all I wanted to do was just get the race over with so I could stop running.  One by one, I pick people off, until I finally see the finish line.  I made a final push to the end, which I didn't realize I had in me.  Final mile was 6:48 for a total of 35:25 (7:05 pace).

I was actually very pleased with this time.  I am just not a very strong runner in the heat and humidity.  But I was able to run a strong second half of the race, and pass a bunch of people at the end.

Here's a picture taken by Ted Paszek, our team photographer.  I love it because I think it captures the one second during that whole race that I did not feel completely miserable and dying.  I'm even smiling.  Thanks, Ted!

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OK, I saved the bad news for last.  Yesterday, I went to see Dr. Degis about the MRI results.  He told me pretty much what I expected, that the MRI didn't show anything wrong with my hamstring at the ischial tuberosity (pelvic bone).  He also told me that the MRI went all the way from the hamstring's insertion point in the ischial tuberosity to the middle (or "belly") of the hamstring, and that there was no evidence of any kind of tear or anything.  Nor was there any edema anywhere (edema I guess is swelling caused by excess fluid, which would be present if there was some sort of tear).  So he gave me the following three options;

1.  Do nothing and live with my pain.  Not recommended, and not likely to either end the pain or make me a happier person.

2.  Go to a physiatrist, which is a specialist in non-operative pain management, and see if I can get some sort of injection in my problem area anyway.  He did give me the numbers of two doctors at HSS who are apparently the most respected physiatrists in their field, Dr. Gregory Lutz, and Dr. Joseph Feinberg.  (I guess a number of physiatrists are quacks who deal mostly with no-fault insurance patients).  He said, however, that insurance may not cover an injection since there was no evidence of anything wrong in my MRI.  Also, any injection would just mean that the doctor would blindly poke around and shoot me somewhere hoping it's the right area.  I'm not sure how I feel about a doctor putting sh-t into me not knowing if it's even the right place where it should go.  

3.  Doing the one thing that I haven't tried yet.  Wayyyyy back in November/December, I took about a month off from running.  It didn't help.  Then I did several months worth of "passive" physical therapy, which included lots of stretching and ultrasound.  That didn't help.  Then I saw Dr. Degis and started doing lots of intensive "active" exercises to strengthen my butt muscles so that there would be less strain on my hamstring while running.  That didn't help either.  But, through all this time, I haven't combined complete rest with active physical therapy.  After Boston, I drastically cut my running down to 12-15 miles a week.  But he thinks that's still too much.  I really need to cut it down to zero, and do intensive exercises with him twice a week.  He thinks I should try this out for three weeks, and see if there's any improvement.  Oh, here's the kicker: he recommends also that I refrain from biking during this time.  One thing he said, though, was that I could wait until after the Metroman Triathlon (July 18th) before I embarked on this no-running-heavy-PT treatment.  However, obviously, the longer I wait, the longer it'll take to heal.

So I'm not really sure what to do now.  I'm starting to realize and accept that I will need to stop running at some point, and it will likely be much more than just three weeks.  I have so many races planned for this summer and the fall, and I'm feeling like they may all slip away.  I was excited to do my first Half Ironman in October.  I'm captaining a Reach the Beach Ultra team in September.  I already signed up for Metroman and another Tri in Asbury Park on August 7.  And Derek and I were talking about getting some people to do a 100-mile relay in his home town of Lockport, NY.  And am I going to have to skip what would be my fifth year doing the ING New York City Marathon?

This Saturday is the Front Runners New York Lesbian and Gay Pride Run.  The five-mile race is FRNY's biggest event of the year, with over 3600 runners last year.  There's no way I'm going to miss that.  But come Sunday, I will have to reassess my running for the summer and fall.  I'm trying to realize that although it sucks in the short term to have to take time off, this will ultimately make be a better, stronger, healthier runner.

New MRI and Front Eaters New York

I got another MRI yesterday, my fourth one since November.  You'll recall that my first three MRIs were on my ankle, my back and hip).  Yesterday's MRI was, believe it or not, the first MRI I've gotten in the actual location where I'm feeling my butt pain, that is, the "right proximal hamstring @ ischial tuberosity."  (The ischial tuberosity is the sit bone of the pelvis where the hamstring attaches itself to via a tendon).

Dr. Degis had me get this new MRI.  His plan is for me to get a steroid injection into my hamstring, and the MRI will pinpoint the exact spot of the tear where the steroid will be injected.  Once that is figured out, I will be working with Dr. Ronald Adler of Hospital for Special Surgery, who specializes in radiology and imaging, to perform an "ultrasound guided steroid injection."  I'm not sure what that means, but it sounded really promising.  I even did some research on my own and I found this article which recommends ultrasound guided steroid injections for "high hamstring tendinopathy in runners," which is what I think I have.

Well, I just got the results of the MRI back.  Apparently there is nothing f-cking wrong with my hamstring.  "No fracture, periosteal new bone formation, or marrow edema."  "No muscle tear, contusion, or hematoma."  "No associated marrow change."  Everything's frigging normal.  Yeah, that's why when I sit down for 10 minutes, it feels like my leg is getting attacked by a million pins and needles.  That's why I can't do a frigging speed workout without limping for the next week.  That's when when I stretch my hamstring after even an easy run, it feels like it's on fire.  Cuz everything's normal.

Ugh, all I want is for someone to figure out what I have, and for them to fix it.  This butt pain has been going on for eight months now, without any sign of it going away.  I'm starting to wonder if i should reconsider my fall running plans, maybe not doing a marathon or Reach the Beach...I feel like that would be devastating.  I can't begin to say how frustrated I am.

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Tomorrow I'm doing the Park to Park Swim.  It's a two-mile swim in the Hudson River, from 125th Street to 165th Street.  It'll be my longest open water swim ever (if I finish, haha).  I'm excited but nervous.  Last year, I did the Great Hudson River Swim, a 1.3-miler from Christopher Street to Battery Park City.  It seems a little odd that this time I'm swimming northward, but apparently the Hudson River Swim Series are all timed to have a tidal assist.  My goal tomorrow is first to finish without drowning, and second, to finish somewhere in the top 70%.  The 70% is kind of an arbitrary number, but it would qualify me to swim in the Liberty Island Swim on June 25th (I don't even want to swim it, it would just be nice to qualify).   Last year the 70% finisher completed the swim in 1:12.  My one-mile swim last week was 32:18.  So in theory, with a tidal assist, I think I can break 1:12.  We'll see.  At the Great Hudson River Swim, I was 140 out of 171, so that's 82%.  But that was before I learned how to swim.

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I've been skipping the outdoor speed workouts with Front Runners over the past several weeks.  On Thursdays and Sundays, the club does workouts on the outdoor track, and on Tuesdays it does hill workouts in Central Park.  I really like the Tuesday workouts, but I've been skipping them because of my butt.  One good thing to come out of having my Tuesdays free is that I've gotten a chance to eat with Front Runners, which is just as fun as running with Front Runners.

My friend Fatai, who often appears in this blog (see here and here), has started a new business venture.  Fatai is a Ph.D. candidate in Food Studies at NYU, so he's an expert in all things food-related.  His new business, Budding Taste, takes people on "Taste Excursions" in restaurants all over the city.  The excursions are based on a unifying theme, like Chinese food or spicy food, and we get to experience the city's diverse food flavors and learn how to taste critically.  Of course, that means we get to eat really tasty food!

I went on the Chinese tasting series, which took people to restaurants in Queens and Manhattan serving Sichuan, Cantonese, Northern Chinese, Fujianese, and Taiwanese food.  I've actually learned a lot about the different cuisines of China, and really enjoyed the chance to sample them all.  Here are some pics from the Northern Chinese place we went to in Queens.  (Sorry for the crappy Blackberry photos, they don't do justice to the food!)

Fatai's taking reservations now for his next series, which will be spicy foods.  We'll be sampling the food of Korean, the West Indies, Sichuan Province, Ethiopia and India.  I'm really excited.  If you let him know that you're a reader of Running to Dinner, I'm sure he will give you a discount!

PS: Like the Budding Taste website?  Fellow Front Runner John MacConnell designed it!

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I've been obsessed with flank steak lately.  Flank steak is usually what goes into fajitas and sometimes asian stir-fries.  I like it because it's a relatively inexpensive cut of beef, yet it's very lean, easy to make and flavorful when done correctly.  It also lets me break out my cast-iron skillet, which I like cooking with.  

Ideally it would be good to marinate a flank steak, but sometimes I get lazy and just rub some salt and pepper onto it, maybe some Worcestershire or soy sauce, a little mirin.  It's best to have it sit on the counter for a little while for it to reach room temperature so it cooks quicker.  The cooking part is easy, I just put it in a HOT cast iron skillet, for about 4-5 minutes a side, depending on the thickness.  It ends up getting my house super smoky, but I can live for a day or two with the smell of meat if it tastes good, which this definitely does.

After a 5-10 minute rest wrapped up in foil, I'll slice it up.  The key to flank steak is you have to slice it very thinly, across the grain.  The flank is pretty much the cow's abdominal muscle, so the grain runs the long way down the belly.  Just like the ab muscles of a runner are always engaged, the flank is always working for a cow too, and thus can be extremely tough if you cut it like a normal steak.  But, cooked quickly and cut thinly across the grain, flank steak is super tender and delicious.  Yummm.

5 Weeks Till Boston; 6 Weeks Without a Kitchen

I've been cautiously trying to ramp up my running as I near the peak of my training for Boston, which is now less than five weeks away.  I usually try to peak at around 45-50 miles a week when training for a marathon, but this time I think my highest weeks are going to be closer to 35 miles.  I'm hoping, though, that my cross-training (swimming, biking, yoga) will make up for some of my lost miles.

One thing I've decided not to do anymore is speed workouts.  Two weeks ago, I went to my first speed workout since November.  I had been running pretty consistently, and figured that if I didn't push myself too hard, I would be able to get a good workout without further injuring myself.  The workout that night was 5 x 1mile (first 1000m @ 10k pace, last 600m faster), with a 3 minute rest / 1 lap jog between sets.

I ran the first set at 4:10 (1st 1000) / 6:30 (total).  It was the fastest mile I had run since probably September or October.  It felt exhilarating--every time I run on the track I feel like I am pushing myself to go as fast as I could go, and with each step, I feel like I want to go faster and faster.  That was a mistake.  By the end of the mile, I felt like I wanted to die.  I had forgotten how nasty and stale the air was inside the armory.  More significantly, I had forgotten that pretty much all of my running over the past several months had been in the 7:45 minute pace or slower.  The fast boys doing the workout (Mikey B, Stephan, Peter Macari, Timmy and Matt) sucked me into their vortex.  But I couldn't keep up with them, and I felt like I was killing myself trying.  Although my butt felt fine, I didn't think there was any way I could maintain that pace for the other four sets.

So for the next set, I decided to let the boys do their own thing while I paced off of Kerstin, who said she was doing 7 minute miles.  It felt much better running with her.  At first, I felt like I was holding myself back, but I quickly settled into her pace, and figured that this would leave me with enough juice to be able to do the last 600 faster.  About the third or fourth lap, she ended up pulling off because of a shoelace issue or something, and all of a sudden I was left without a pacer.  And I suck at pacing myself.  I ended up running the rest of that set way too fast (4:17 / 6:42), felt like crap, and had to sit the next set out to catch my breath.  Ugh.

The last two sets I ended up, again, pushing myself harder than I should have: 4:09/6:33, and 4:10/6:30.  Of course, at the time, I was very pleased that my last set was the exact same time as my first set.  But for the next FOUR DAYS, I couldn't walk without limping, and I couldn't sit without feeling the intense pain in my butt.  I decided then and there that I wasn't going to do another speed workout.

It's funny, though... the four miles of fast running made my butt feel so bad, but four days after that, I did a twenty miler, and I ended up feeling fine afterwards.  The 20-mile run itself, though, was bruuutal.  The plan was to go from Chris's house in Washington Heights, across the GW Bridge, and into the Palisades Park in NJ.  It's a really pretty run, but there's no water, and the hills make Harlem Hill seem puny in comparison.  On the day of our run, though, everything but the very Southernmost portion of the park was closed due to all of the trees that had fallen into the road from Snowpocalypse the week before.  Even the part that wasn't closed was icy and littered with fallen trees. 

We ended up all turning back at around mile 5.5.  Most of the group went to do loops around Fort Tryon Park, but Mikey had a good idea of running North on the Hudson River Greenway, into the Bronx, turning around at the Tortoise and Hare Statue.  I had never done that route before, so I was excited.  Although not as bad as the Palisades Park, this route was pretty hilly too.  And my legs were just about worn out after the heavy climbs and steep descents of the park, even though we only ran about 6 miles in it.  But one of the lighter moments of the run came when, shortly after Mikey and I crossed the bridge into the Bronx, a teenage girl saw us in our skimpy running clothes and shouted out to us: "Work it, Girls!"  Haha, I love the Bronx.

Mikey said that run took us 3 hours and 1 minute, which works out to about 20 miles at 9 minutes per mile.  Considering that six months ago I ran 26 miles in 3:09, I was a little disappointed with our run.  But the good thing about the run was that it made me realize I need to do a lot more hill training before Boston.  Because of the weather this winter, most of our long runs have along the Hudson River or Eastside Greenways, which are both pretty much pancake flat.  But if I'm going to avoid crashing and burning at Boston, I'm gonna need to better train for Heartbreak Hill.

I felt pretty good the day after the 20-miler, although, when I woke up, I was sore, tired, and lazy, and ended up deciding to skip the Coogan's 5k.  I felt bad, since this was the first points race of the year.  It would not have been a pretty run, though.  And I did end up making it to the FRNY brunch at Patrick and Johnny's house afterwards.  :-)

The following days, I felt really good.  So I decided I would give the Armory workout another try.  It was another 5 x 1mile workout, this time with 800 @ 10k pace, and 800 faster.  I paced off of Cenk for most of the sets, except the 3rd (which I sat out because of stomach issues) and the 5th (when he made me go in front).  This time, I felt much better cardiovascularly, and was really happy with my times and how I felt afterwards.  However, starting from my second set, I could feel my hamstring/butt issue acting up, and I knew that wasn't a good sign.  Nevertheless, I completed the workout, which I admit was probably not the best idea.  Here are the splits:
1:  3:22 (1st 800) / 6:22 (total)
2:  3:20 / 6:30
3:  um, quick trip to the men's room.
4:  3:21 / 6:24
5:  3:07 / 6:14
So with my fifth set, when Cenk made me go in front, I didn't have anyone to pace off of, and ended up going out way too fast, and I couldn't go "faster" for the last 800.  Nevertheless, I was happy that I had it in me to do a 6:14.

The next few days meant more limping and more butt pain.  Not good.  So, after that workout, I REALLY decided that I'm not doing any more Armory workouts.  Tonight, though, is the FRNY Track Meet, at the Armory.  I'm only planning on doing one event, the Distance Medley Relay, with Anthony, Da and Tsing (the four gaysians...  we're team "Joy Luck Club").  The DMR is a four-person relay with a 1200, 800, 400 and mile.  I'm doing the 1200...and I'm a little nervous, but I'm not going to push it too hard.

Sunday is the New York City Half Marathon, which I'm signed up for.  I really like this race because you get to run through Times Square, which is closed off to traffic.  And although the first half is in Central Park, the second half is down the Westside Highway, which is flat and fast.  My PR is on this course 2 years ago, although at the time I was a little disappointed with my performance...  I got a 1:31:30, way off my goal of sub-1:30.  I KNOW that I have it in me to do a sub 1:30 sometime; I just have to get back in shape and wait for this damn butt issue to go away.  But for Sunday, I'll be satisfied with a 7:30 pace (1:38:19) if I feel good afterwards.  I'm thinking maybe I'll start there and ramp it if I can, once I get out of the park.  I'll be delighted if I can get a bit faster than that, we'll have to see what happens.

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I got another MRI a few weeks ago, this time on my hip and pelvic region.  The results show that I have a "small superior right hip labral tear," "mild bilateral intertrochanteric bursitis," and a "mild stress reaction" at the "pubic symphysis." 

Seeing these results, Dr. Babiy referred me to Dr. Srino Bharam, a hip specialist.  Dr. Bharam stretched my leg in a bunch of different directions to put pressure on my hip joint, asking me if I felt any pain.  I did feel a little bit of a pinch in the joint when he put me in a certain position, which confirmed the MRI report's diagnosis of a small labral tear.  Dr. Bharam said he thinks that the the hamstring/butt issue that I have is related to the labral tear because of the way my running mechanics are changed as a result of it.  He said that ideally, I should stop running for a while.  But short of that, I should just be careful not to overtrain, and after Boston, he recommended that I take some time off of running.

To be quite honest, though, I think Dr. Bharam is just plain wrong.  My research online shows that labral tears occur in sports with twisting/pivoting motions, like golf or softball, or contact sports like football or hockey...  nothing about how it's a running injury.  The most common symptom of a labral tear is a clicking or catching sensation in the hip joint, which I don't have.

Dr. Degis thinks (and I tend to agree) that I have a tear/strain in my hamstring up by the tendons that attach the hamstring muscles to the sit bones of the pelvis (the "ischial tuberosity").  Because tendons receive less blood flow than muscles, it takes a long time for them to heal.  And because the tear is where it is, the pain occurs mostly when I am sitting, which stretches the tendon out and puts pressure on the exact spot where that tendon attaches to my pelvis.

If you do a Google search for "running ischial tuberosity," the very first result is a Runner's World forum discussion on ischial tuberosity pain syndrome, a discussion which has lasted 4 years with 142 responses.  The postings all sound like exactly my symptoms (pain while sitting/driving, no pain while running, pain while bending over, etc).  Virtually all of the postings make the outlook sound extremely bleak (suffering from the pain for 2, 5, 7 years; getting surgery that doesn't work; cortisone injections that don't do anything; running careers that ended, etc).  Dr. Degis, though, said he knows this condition very well, and he says that he is confident it will eventually go away.  I am currently just seeing him once a week.  He knows that I have the marathon coming up, and my sessions are mostly just to keep myself loose so my injury doesn't become worse.  After the marathon, he thinks I should cut down on my running, and go in 2-3 times a week to aggressively break down the scar tissue and rebuild my muscles in the area.  So that's the plan...after Boston, the running will be minimal, and I will do what I have to do to get rid of this pain in the butt.

Dr. Bharam, the hip specialist, also mentioned mention a treatment that I've been reading a lot about, platelet-rich plasma therapy.  Some of you might recall that Dr. Gallina, the ankle specialist, said this was a possible course of treatment to take if my ankle tendinitis didn't heal.  The New York Times says the following about PRP:

The method, which is strikingly straightforward and easy to perform, centers on injecting portions of a patient’s blood directly into the injured area, which catalyzes the body’s instincts to repair muscle, bone and other tissue. Most enticing, many doctors said, is that the technique appears to help regenerate ligament and tendon fibers, which could shorten rehabilitation time and possibly obviate surgery.

The problem with PRP is it that because it's still in the experimental stages, it isn't covered by insurance, and costs about two thousand dollars.  Still, it sounds promising, and if it means I can run without pain, maybe it's worth it.

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As a way to cut down on my running, I've decided that this summer is going to be the summer of triathlons.  So far I'm registered for the following races:

5/16: Jersey Shore Sprint Triathlon

7/18: Metroman Tri (Intermediate) -- This was the race where I had my disastrous ocean swim last year.  Hopefully this year will be better.

10/2: Mightyman Half -- This will be my first Half Ironman...I'm excited and nervous!

I'm looking to do a couple more... maybe the Mighty Montauk in June, and something in August / September.

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A few weeks ago, the Front Runners had its First Friday happy hour at RF Lounge, a swanky lesbian bar in the former, less fancy Rubyfruit Bar and Grill.  Afterwards, some of us went to Grand Sichuan Seventh Avenue in the Village.  I had a few drinks at RF Lounge, so I don't remember everything we ordered, but I did snap this photo of the whole fish with chili sauce.  It was very good.

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I'm still working on renovating my kitchen.  It's been about six weeks, and it's starting to feel like the project that will never end.  Fortunately, I think I'm closing in on the finish.  These past couple of weeks, I've installed the oven and microwave, got an electrician to put in some new circuits, had the countertop put in, and did most of the plumbing except for the drain.

The electrician put in two new 20 amp circuits and carried the lines into my kitchen, where there will be two new outlets: one for the microwave/hood, and one under my sink for the disposal and instant hot water dispenser.  I was originally planning on doing the electrical work by myself, but then I got nervous and ended up calling for help.  But when I saw the electrician do it, I was kicking myself after seeing how easy it was...  All he did was run the wire through the five feet of wall between the kitchen and the breaker box, connect it to a breaker, and plug it into the box.  I had to patch up the holes in the wall myself.

With the electricity in, it meant I could install the microwave hood.  This, I really should have gotten help with.  I ended up having to lift the microwave, which weighed like 100 pounds, by myself, hold it up with one hand and a shoulder against a brace on the wall, and screw it in with the other hand into the top cabinet.  If I dropped it, it would have crushed my feet, and I would have said goodbye to my new microwave.  Luckily, it went up without incident. 

The most exciting thing about the microwave is that I installed a duct so that it would vent out the exhaust instead of recirculating it back to me.  I've always thought it was pointless for range hoods to spit the exhaust back into your face, but I think that's what most NYC apartments have.  Fortunately, I already have a vent in my kitchen, which wasn't really serving any purpose.  So I just got some ductwork to hook up and spit out all the exhaust into that vent.  Hopefully, it's not going to spit it out into someone else's apartment...

Then came the granite countertop.  I ordered the countertop from E Stone, Inc. in Brooklyn, which I highly recommended since it was about a third cheaper than Home Depot or even Ikea, and also quite a bit faster (less than 1 week turnaround versus 2-3 weeks) since they did all of the cutting on the premises.  Here's the guys installing the countertop:

And here's the final product:

What do you guys think about the faucet?  I love the commercial kitchen look to it, but it's a little big for the space.  I think the sprayer is going to hit up against the bottom of the wall cabinet every time I use it, which could be annoying.  On the other hand, I think it looks kinda sexy.

With the countertop in, I turned to installing the stove.  This ended up being a really annoying project.  In order for the stove to sit flush up against the back wall, there's a little recessed area in the back of the stove where the gas line coming out of the wall is supposed to fit into.  Unfortunately, my gas pipe missed the recess by about 6 inches, so the stove ended up sitting away from the back wall by about two inches (the depth of the gas pipe).  To fix this, I ended up having to cut a hole in the back panel of the stove to accommodate the gas pipe, and then thread the gas connector through the inside of the stove.  It's hard to explain, but there are electrical wires in the area where I threaded the gas connector, so I don't think there's any risk of that area getting too hot for the gas line.

Anyway, here's a picture of the cutout I made into the back panel:

And here's me connecting the gas line:

But after all that, I actually got the stove to work!  And all without a gas or electrical explosion, haha!

Next up: connecting the dishwasher and putting in a new drain for the double-basin sink.  Then I just have the moldings and trim left....  almost there!

Not Sure What This Means

Right after posting my last post, I called the people who did my MRI, Union Square Diagnostic.  They were able to fax me my MRI report.  I have two "small central herniated discs" but without "significant stenosis or nerve root impingement."  I haven't spoken to a doctor about this yet.  But it sounds like even though I have two herniated discs, which can't be good, they are small and unrelated to my butt/hamsting issue.  For now, I'm taking this as good news.

New Year's Run (and Rum)

Holiday Rum Balls

These rum balls are a favorite during the holidays and new year.  I love them because they're easy to make and require no baking.  People always think they're loaded with booze, but there's only a half cup of rum for about 50 balls.  So you'd have to eat about 12 of them to get just one shot. 

1 box of vanilla wafers
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup Dutch process cocoa
1/2 cup dark rum (I use Myer's)
3 Tbsp light corn syrup
powdered sugar

Crush/chop the vanilla wafers into a fine crumbs.  Combine all of the dry ingredients and add the rum and corn syrup.  Blend well.  Shape into one inch balls, and roll in powdered sugar.  Best if made the night before so flavors can develop.

*                      *                     *

I've been trying to get back into running.  Different doctors have told me different things, and rather than sit and sulk about not being able to run, I've decided to run just twice a week at the fun runs.  So I ran five on Saturday and six on Wednesday.

Saturday's run was fine and pretty uneventful.  In the last mile, I started to feel a tingle in my ankle, but it wasn't too bad, and I finished without any pain, and without any change in my stride.  No significant butt/hamstring issue at all.  Saturday evening, though, I realized that I was limping because of the pain in my hamstring.  It wasn't debilitating or anything, just an achiness that felt like it needed to be massaged out.  But when I tried to massage it, I couldn't really pinpoint where the pain was coming from.  Frustrating.

I thought maybe some yoga would help out, so I went on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.  I think all of the warrior poses did help my hamstring, but I realized that every time I do a forward fold, I felt the pain moving into my butt.  I've also discovered, although I'm not sure if this is new or not, that when I lean to the left, I feel a tightness/strain in my right hip that is not in my left hip.  So it's my hip, butt and hamstring that's all giving me problems.

I also went on a run on Wednesday.  Six miles.  Not sure if this was the smartest move.  Pretty early on, I felt my hamstring acting up.  It has never really bothered me on my runs before (just afterwards) and although it wasn't a terrible pain, the fact that it existed at all concerns me a bit.

Tuesday I got an MRI on my lower back.  This was my second MRI in a month (the first one was on my ankle), so I thought I knew what to expect.  But this time it was completely different.  Instead of going feet-first into the machine, and leaving my upper body exposed, I went in head-first.  So for about half an hour, I was stuck in a little coffin-like enclosure.  I had ear plugs on to block the jet-engine noise and sirens emitting from the machine.  The top of the opening was about 2 or 3 inches from my face.  I've never really been claustrophobic, but this was a little too much for me to handle.  I realized it was much more bearable if I closed my eyes and tried to let my mind wander.  To my surprise, the next thing I knew, I woke up to the technician pulling me out of the machine.  I ended up sleeping through the whole MRI experience.  Thank goodness--it would have torture to have to be awake the whole time.

Tuesday's MRI is making me extra sensitive about my back.  Perhaps I'm just being a hypochondriac, but I feel like I'm noticing some new aches and pains there.  I went back to yoga yesterday (Thursday).  Several times during the session, my lower back felt uncomfortable as I was transitioning from upward dog to downward dog.  So now I'm all paranoid that something is really wrong.

Today (Friday), my hamstring still feels a little achey from Wednesday's run, and I have a tightness in my ankle that started yesterday.  Mikey and some others wanted to go on a ten-miler tomorrow.  I tentatively said that I would join them, but I'm wondering if I need some more rest.  There's also a five-mile fun run on Sunday that the club is doing.  The Under Armour store on West 57th Street is sponsoring it, and apparently they've custom printed FRNY shirts for us all to wear.  I've decided to skip the NYRR Fred Lebow Classic 5-miler tomorrow, which is particularly disappointing because it was the first NYRR race I ever ran, back in 2006.

My appointment with Dr. Babiy to get the results of my MRI is not until next Thursday.  I'll try on Monday to see if I can get her to talk to me over the phone.  Chris Stoia recommended that I see his doctor, Eric Degis.  I have an appointment with him next Wednesday. 

I'm about to head out to a FRNY Happy Hour at Vlada.  Maybe then I'll decide if I'm running tomorrow.