Just another link in the chain...

I generally dislike these things, but just to be nice to sister smile, who is ill at home, and often way nicer to me than I deserve most of the time, I'll respond to being "tagged" by her:

4 Jobs I've had: 1)Basic Training in the Royal Canadian Navy (Military Reserves), 2)Deckhand on a Paddlewheel Riverboat, 3)Pub Cellarman in the UK, 4)Photographer.

4 Movies I watch over and over: 1)Star Wars Trilogy, 2)It's a Wonderful Life, 3)Office Space, 4)The Shawshank Redemption

4 Places I have lived: 1)London, UK, 2)Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, 3)Montclair, New Jersey, USA, 4)New York, New York, USA

4 TV shows I watch: I don't have a TV.

4 Places I've been on vacation: 1)Vancouver, BC, Canada, traveling through Western Europe, 3)San Francisco, California, USA, 4)Calgary, Alberta, Canada

4 Websites I visit (almost) every day: This would be a much better question if it asked to list 4 websites among your favourites. This is a daily grind list: 1)New York Flyers, 2)Yahoo!, 3)Hotmail, 4)CBC

4 Favorite Foods: 1)Ice cream, 2)Chocolate, 3)Pizza, 4)Beer (it is TOO a food!)

4 Places I'd rather be right now: 1)Outside, running, 2)Winnipeg, Canada, 3)The White Horse Pub, London, U.K., SW6, 4)In a tent somewhere, camping.

4 Favorite Bands/Singers: 1)Wilco, 2)The Weakerthans, 3)U2, 4)Radiohead

Bloggers I'll tag: 1)Not a soul, 2)Nobody, 3)No one, 4)NONE.
The chain dies here.

For Pete's sake, I'm moving again!

Yesterday I signed a lease for a new apartment. Yep, I'm moving downtown, all the way to 123rd St., the heart of Harlem.

I've only been in my place since December 1st, so I really didn't want to move again so soon. But a good buddy of mine, who's apartment I've coveted for years, decided to abandon Manhattan for Brooklyn, and as well as getting his apartment, I'm doing him a big favour by helping him get out of his lease. He's a star tenant in that neighbourhood, and by bringing someone in that is responsible, trustworthy and rent-dependable (me), the landlord will release him from his lease without penalty. My problem is that my lease ends at the end of August, so I'll have one-and-a-third month of rent overlap to shoulder. My landlord gave me a good rental reference, but was unsympathetic to allowing me to sublet for a month, or letting me out of my lease early. Others have suggested that the friend getting out of his lease should have made an offer to split it with me, but I wouldn't expect that, and frankly, if the shoe was on the other foot, I doubt that I would make an offer like that myself. The financial burden somewhat reduces the excitement I might otherwise have for moving into a new, and hopefully better, address.

And it is a better address, I think. It's less than a half mile from Central Park, so when I am finally on my feet again, there will be a lot fewer streets to cross to get there. Access to 125th St. Station and the 4,5 & 6 will be more reasonable for getting to east side events, but I'll still be closer to the west side subways, which I like better. The neighbourhood is about the same quality as where I live now, which isn't great, but it's getting better: "The New Harlem".

My current apartment is 275 square feet, with no closets. When one walks in, just about everything I own is in full view. It has a wardrobe unit bolted to the wall, inconveniently in the middle of the room. The bathroom is 2'9" wide, with a shower stall at the far end. Imagine yourself using the bathroom facilities as I say the words "knees against the wall". The new place, although I'm not sure about the square footage (and it is still a studio) is somewhat larger and, seriously, has more closets than I will know what to do with, 5 of them. It also has a large bathroom and separate kitchen, all for only 55 bucks more than what I pay now. If I include the rent overlap for the year, it's much more, but still not really expensive, and rent stabilized to boot. I actually am getting excited.

When I was in Montclair, I was in the same place for 5 years. It was a sweet little apartment, and I have great memories from living there. Then I decided to move into the city in '04. This will be the third time I've moved in less than two years. Ugh. I suppose one good thing about being in this teeny place, is that I've purged a LOT of stuff, so the move shouldn't be that bad. Plus I have many friends who owe me moving help that hopefully I can cash in on this time. Hopefully I'll stay in the next place for awhile, but you never know, I might end up in that sweet little penthouse in Tribeca. Yeah, right.

Terry Fox

Most of these posts are just my ramblings to myself about myself. They help me clear my head, organise my thoughts a bit, and serve as therapy in some way, while dealing with the crap that I deal with in the office, in the field, in my social life, or at home amidst my clutter. All this stuff falls away when I am reminded of someone who demonstrates, with their strength of character, what is truly meaningful in life.

When I was sixteen, I wrote a biographical paper about Terry Fox. It was one of the few times in my life when research that I did in high school actually influenced who I became. I was eleven when he attempted to run 5000+ miles across the continent to raise money for cancer research. It was the first time running really touched my life. Terry's focus and determination under the cloud of having lost a leg to cancer, was and still is something to be truly emulated.

Terry died 25 years ago today, June 28th, 1981, not even halfway through his "Marathon of Hope". He started his run with a support van, three rudimentary artificial legs, little fanfare, and a dream: to raise a million dollars. While he never finished, the runs that have taken place since have raised over $400 million, and the legacy he left behind goes beyond what words can describe. There are now runs to honour Terry and his cause held annually all over the world. I'll be doing my Terry Fox Run again in Central Park this October.

The CBC has a special online tribute to Terry in their archives, and there is no shortage of information about him on the web, from Wikipedia to his own foundation site. Whether you're a runner, you know a cancer survivor, or you're just curious, it's worth a read, if only to remind yourself what's important.

Grumpy

First of all, it feels like Saturday today, and I have to constantly remind myself that it's Sunday and I have to work tomorrow.

Second, I thought that the Flyers's TGIFs were supposed to take place every other week... Apparently, though, the two weeks that we're currently in have 21 days in them. So the next TGIFF is on July 7th, and thus, what I thought would be a Boat Basin night, the 14th won't be. My plan was to fold my birthday celebration that night in with the Flyers's Happy Hour, but it seems meant not to be. Guess it'll just be me and Three-Buck-Chuck celebrating alone. Ugh!

Mostly, though, I'm up to four weeks on the non-running training schedule, and it looks like it'll be a lot longer before I am able to run again. Being on my feet all the time on West Street construction has slowed my healing progress I think. I won't be doing Chicago this year - that seems obvious, as it's less than seventeen weeks away now. And the Bronx Half is just two weeks away, so that's out, too. So much for doing the Grand Prix. If I'm up for it, maybe I can train enough to run part of NYC in November, but we'll see. I'd rather just stop running altogether for awhile so that I'm fully recuperated.

I don't believe the physiotherapy is helping much, if at all, but I still go. I have a follow-up with the orthopedist in mid-July after my 6 weeks of physio is over, and if she thinks I should continue with the PT, I'm prepared to veto that proposal.

So I've been thinking about swimming lately. It's pretty much the only exercise that one can do with hip bursitis, and I've always wanted to learn. But where? I've looked online - the YMCA has children's lessons, but I haven't found any references to learning to swim for adults, save private instruction, but I'm thinking that might be too expensive. Everything's too expensive these days, especially now that I'm expecting to move again. Someone remind me -- why did I move to Manhattan?

And yesterday while moving around some furniture in my apartment I put two gouges in my (crappily-finished) hardwood floors. So much for my damage deposit. Grrrrr!

Rain Day

Well, as I was getting ready for work this morning at 4:45 AM, the contractor called me. He was cancelling because of the rain in the forecast. And, if the landscaper doesn't go in, neither does the architect (me). So I slept in, and am finally able to have a full weekend off, for the first time in awhile. Nice.

The Reconstruction of West Street and Battery Place

On top of not running during my off-work hours, which is a drastic enough change by itself, life has also recently markedly changed during my work hours. Both of these changes have turned me into more of a hermit than usual, and made me feel a bit like I've dropped off the face of the earth.

Most people think that as a landscape architect, I have this great outdoor job that involves moving around greenery into position to create attractive, appealing environments. Unfortunately, the truth is that normally I sit in an office all year staring at a computer, save for the odd monthly visit to a project sites for a field meeting. Lately, however, I've been given the role of a site inspector, overseeing the construction of the landscape design of West Street (known as State Route 9A) and the new urban plaza across from Battery Park, at 17 Battery Place. Suddenly, I fit the landscape architect stereotype!

First of all, I didn't design any of it - so if you don't like the new configuration of streets, public walkways, and the new bikeway - I don't want to hear it. My job is to make sure that they're putting the soft landscape materials (trees, shrubs, perennials) in the correct placement, according to the plans and specifications, i.e. making sure the plant goes in the right spot, green-side-up. There are other inspectors on site in charge of the hard landscape materials (Paving, lighting, retaining walls, crosswalks, etc.).

Early on, this change in routine was pretty stressful, as my time was split between this new role and the office, as I had to juggle the demands of a many different projects. This is not unusual, but doing it between two geographic locations is. However, in the last few weeks, though, due to on-site staffing, I've been solely dedicated to the West Street project. This is good and bad. The bad is the 60-hour week that starts at 6 AM, which means I have to pry myself off my mattress shortly after 4:30 AM. It's been very exhausting, just because I haven't kept up with my sleep needs. Twelve hour days four times a week, and two days of eight hours. No wonder this blog's been so inactive.

On the other hand, being outside has been a welcome change from my cube and its flourescent lighting. Overseeing construction is not extremely demanding, but you do have to be on the ball to catch anything that's not happening according to the drawings and specifications, and it's such a large project that can at time feel like you need to be in many different locations at once, and then at other times, you're just standing around waiting for the workers to finish planting a certain area just so that you can inspect it and check it off your list.

It also brings some of my personal experiences full circle. Putting myself through university, I did a lot of landscape construction, and being back on a worksite watching others work is a strange turn of the tide. I'm a physical, hands-on kind of guy, and sometimes I'd rather just be doing the construction.

Obviously, I'm not at liberty to go into the decisions made about the design or construction of the project. I can tell you, though, that there are 22,937 trees, shrubs, perennials, and annuals on the site, and that I've had to account for each and every one of them. I also foresee some good running in the future, as the bikeway/promenade is further constructed during the next phase, north from West Thames Street along 9A. And in the meantime, I'm just happy to be working outside in such beautiful weather.

The official ribbon-cutting is on July 5th. Hope you can get down there to enjoy it.

Meanwhile, three weeks later. . .

I ran today, for the first time since the Vermont City Marathon fiasco. I ran about 4 or so miles of the Father's Day race in Central Park, just jogging most of that distance, and briskly walking the rest of the race. Somehow poetic, the weather in the park today was much like the marathon three weeks ago.

I felt fine during, but stiff and sore later. My hip was sore, but not quite in the same place as before, a little higher, and it felt more like muscle soreness than the bursitis acting up, but I'm not sure. I couldn't tell if this was just due to not running for awhile, or running after the deep massage at physio a couple of days previous.

Anyway, I finally feel like I can start to rebuild again, and maybe show my I'm-so-embarrassed-that-I'm-injured face at Flyers's events and runs, and maybe even go to the next happy hour.

Slowly but surely, I'll be back. I hope.

Physio

I went to my first physical therapy session yesterday. That phrase still throws me a bit, as I'm so used to the Canadian version. . . "physiotherapy". I would say I was "going to physio", as opposed to "going to PT."

Anyway, whatever the word, I'm not happy about it. First, I was nearly ten minutes late, and the physical therapist seemed perturbed and impatient through the duration of the session about it. Plus I was getting perturbed in return by her questions. Please don't ask me what my goals are for physical therapy if you are going to tell me what they should be anyway. Then she told me I could use her favourite pen to fill out my forms, and handed me one with the NY Jets logo on it. Ugh, we are just not going to get along.

She watched me walk, and told me that I was walking a bit funky. I told her that I was unaware of this. Later, she said I could run, but told me not to run if I'm running funky. Huh? And how would I know if I'm running funky, if I can't tell if I'm walking funky. And is "funky" the proper medical term for this? I tried to clarify this by asking if she meant feeling pain, but she said no, she meant if my pace wasn't what it normally should be. Whatever.

So after I got a foam roller massage, a thorough shaking on this weird vibrating machine, and ten minutes of pulsating electric shocks through my legs, I really felt no better, save somewhat more turned on then when I walked in the door. Today my hip was sore, which made me further believe this is a waste of time.

Thus, after visits to two different sports doctors and a visit to a physical therapist, now I'm thoroughly convinced they are all just full of crap, and that I know better than they do. I believe that as long as I listen to my body I'll rehabilitate fine. You might think that I'm wrong here, and that it was my lack of judgment that got me into this in the first place, and you'd be only sort of right. Clearly, I kept training and racing hard, despite what my body was telling me, so the key phrase in the above statement is "listen to my body," which I've always done, and managed to stay injury free, until this recent fiasco.

Don't fret though, I still plan to keep going to physio. . . er, PT, sorry. But despite what she says, I'm not ready to run yet. At least not for a few more days. Better to heal a little more than blow it early.

I'll be back. No worries about that.

Congratulations, me!

Given my recent pathetic physical condition, and the fact that I can't run for the time being, I decided to pick up my spirits and, well, head over to Jersey, of course!

My other club, Essex, had their monthly meeting last night in Montclair. I missed the meeting in April, which is the anual awards dinner, and of course, given that it was the first awards dinner that I missed in four years, I got my first Essex award: Most Improved Runner 2005.

Getting the award placated my need to run for the moment. It almost felt like I received it for just finishing a great race. And it was good to see old friends in NJ again, and hear the many congrats on the award and the great race times I had (You know, back in the day, when I used to run). They also had a good guest speaker: a young elite runner named Aiden Walsh, who shared some interesting running advice and tips. It was interesting to hear that he and Paul Tergat have been to MacDonald's together... something you'd never thing an elite would do.

As a bonus, there were quite a few injuries at our table, where we swapped war stories over beer and pizza. We covered plantar faciatis, trachonteric bursitis, and a broken leg. Normally the PF would be the cool injury in the group, but the guy with the broken leg trumped the rest of us, because he actually broke it on a long run. That's a pretty cool injury, and he should've really gotten some kind of award for it.

He just can't have mine.

This is me not running

I have things to do, things to do, what to do what to do? I don't know, maybe go to a movie, no I have too much to do at home, like what? I can get some work stuff together, I can look at that other apartment application, or come up with a t-shirt design for the corporate challenge, can I run the corporate challenge? that would give me over three weeks off, and I should take six, but six is sooo long, surely three is plenty I could just do that three and a half mile race, and there's President's Cup right around then too, and the Sunset Classic end of June, two of my favourite races. . . six weeks is too long, but Marine Corps site says up to six for full recovery, and I do want to play it safe for a full recovery, don't want chronic bursitis, hip bursitis, Trochanteric bursitis, it would hurt for the rest of my life, that wouldn't be good, six weeks off is best, but six weeks off would mean no Chicago, I can't just start training for Chicago mid-July after not running for six weeks, and I'd have to ramp up the mileage fast and I can't do that, have to ease into the mileage or I would have a relapse into injury bursitis, online info says must take it easy on the mileage and. . . look at that - Medley's chasing a fly - that's so cute! must ease into mileage, or bursitis will come back, can't do Chicago, Need a second 2nd opinion, my mind is thinking too fast this is what it was like before I ran. Need a second opinion, have to make a doctor's appointment get advice, maybe I don't need to take six weeks of, maybe just a couple more weeks, 2nd opinion, running provides me with clarity, I can make decisions better, do I move to that new apartment, do I try to get another job, stay in America, go back to Canada, But my bursitis still hurt today, six days after the race! it's already been six days and it still was hurting, not a lot, but a bit, six days later, so I should wait six weeks, but that's another five weeks it's not even been a week yet, it's only been six days. going stir crazy, can't think, went out to see a movie, changed my mind and came back home, called more friends today than I have in the last two weeks, need to keep myself busy, want to go running... can I do something else? can't go cycling, hip bursitis you know, friend suggested elliptical machine, but hip bursitis you know, and I'd need to get a gym membership, I could go swimming... I should learn to swim first though, maybe I could learn to swim take lessons then running later in summer. should ice hip again (get up, go to freezer, get ice, put ice on right hip, sit down again) , 8:49 pm, cold hip, I could call someone, mom and dad, no they'd say that's what you get for doing all that running you know, other friends, already called many of them, others probably out, it's saturday night, I'm home alone. they're out on dates and stuff, I should be out on dates and stuff, why am I not out on dates and stuff, need to find somebody, "can anybody find me somebody to love?" first song on playlist for Queens Half good race and also for Vermont bad race, why is it called "stir" crazy? I'd like to go out, bu not go out. don't want to see running club, it'll only remind me of running "are you doing the race next week?" no happy hour too many questions, maybe next time but maybe not, don't know if I'll be up for it, man this ice pack is cold, six weeks, not six weeks, can't possibly wait that long, can't take that long, and it's only been a week, should've saw this coming, did I think I was invincible, PR PR PR PR PR PR PR PR started wondering what was happening to me and then breakdown, Flyer predicted it, "keep racing like that and your body will eventually break down", should have known should have listened, pronation, didn't know there was such a thing as hip pronation, can contribute to onset of bursitis, I have hip pronation, should have stretched more, should I be stretching now? what kind of stretches? need to see doctor, get advice. what else can I do tonight, could be a good night to stay up and do some extra work, or surf the web, check e-mail look at some online dating sites should do that, would be a good time in my life to try and meet somebody since I can't go running, not good at meeting women though. why am I not attracted to anybody lately? why am I attracted to everyone lately? need to meet people, get out more, like I don't go out enough, spend too much money always broke, boy do I make a crappy salary, need a new job can't afford to live here in Manhattan even Harlem, I should work on my portfolio, hate working on that thing, maybe tomorrow, and apply for new job, It would be a good time to do that seeing as I'm not running now. do Manhattan yard plan, that would be fun, had pizza for supper, could read magazines, can't read running mags that'll only make me think about running, but I really like running times, could read landscape architecture magazine but really boring, could read New York Mag has Tomorowland feature, which is mostly landscape architecture and that's too much like work and that's blah! maybe New York crossword, I like that, how 'bout a puzzle? Medley laying down, I wonder if she caught the fly. PR PR PR I loved getting those PRs, no getting a PR for a while now, really want to go running, want to keep my training up, train train, choo choo! yep, crazy, maybe surf net, check out cbc news who's playing for stanley cup, what stupid things is Bush doing now, maybe a movie tomorrow, what to do tomorrow, can't go running, six weeks, can't possibly wait six weeks, why hasn't anyone else had bursitis so they can tell me what to do, no - everyone else gets cool runner injuries like ilio tibial band syndrome and plantar fasciatis and other things I can't spell, but I have to get some old lady's hip injury. . . bursitis, limping through the last marathon miles. I have to send my pics to the other runners, just a few pics, everyone had cameras and how many photos of a pasta dinner do we really need? 9:10 PM out comes ice pack. hip should be better soon right? keep Icing, what about NSAIDs? ran out of advil, advil almost spells devil mixed up. what about stretching? ITB related, ITB snaps as it passes over my hip bone (The Greater Trochanter) cause=ing inflammation of the bursa, what the hell is a bursa anyway? I never wanted to learn about a bursa, or that it's plural was bursae, but now I know more than anyone else about bursae and their itis. can only google hip bursitis so many times, but maybe I'll find out a fast way to recover maybe I'll be running again, but I can't I have to wait six weeks that's sooo long, take my mind of of this mind racing, like feet racing? okay maybe I should just make some coffee and get to work, it's late and I'm not running anyway, ouch my hip hurts and I have things to do, things to do what to do what to do. . .?