Hangin with Jennie Finch – Olympian, Marathoner, & My New BFF

Over the weekend I was shooting video (I’m a TV Producer) at a Jennie Finch Softball Camp in town.  If you aren’t familiar – she is the face of fast-pitch softball.  She is a wicked good pitcher and has an Olympic gold medal to show for it.

I asked if she could fill in on my coed rec softball team.  I’m still waiting for her response.

Obviously she’s an incredible athlete.  And before I interviewed, her we were chatting.  I asked her about the New York Marathon (which she ran for charity).  She finished in 4:05 despite having a baby 14 or so weeks before the race!  She said it was a blast, but that she also did a triathlon in NYC that she loved too.  And she seemed quite amazed at my Dopey Challenge tale.  So we bonded long distance race stories and became instant BFF’s!   😉

And B to the W, she was very nice and told the girls at the camp some very inspirational stories.  Everyone at the camp was getting some great knowledge and having an amazing experience!

Anyway, the rest of the weekend was pretty good exercise-wise.  I got in an 8 mile run, yard work, a long kiddie/doggie walk, and a very good yoga sesh.

Two feets, one mat.

And since the kiddos spent the night at their Auntie/Uncle’s house, the wife (who is also named Jennie) and I got to actually go out to eat!  What?  A dinner out?  It’s been so long!  Hahaha!

How bout you?  Good weekend?  Hang with any Olympians recently?  If you have kids, ever get to go out to eat (children birthday parties don’t count)?

-Scott

The Running Week That Was

Quick recap of the week.  It all started on Saturday with an extremely humid 7 mile run.  That got me to 100 miles for the month of May…hooray.

Sunday saw another 7 miles, but on trails.  Afterwards we did an hour of power yoga.  That’s when we tried out some experimental and improvised fake partner yoga.

I call this one ‘Egret Getting Sun While Squatting on Uncomfortable Bench”

We call this one the “toddler superman” pose.

Tuesday saw a quick 3 mile run.  Nothing much to report there.

Wednesday was National Running Day and I met up with a group to partake.  I finished off the day with an hour of weights.

Thursday was Social Run day.  Another quick 3 miles followed by some swapping of run stories.

Stretchin back four tables deep yo.

I also ran into an old friend at our socializing part of the run.  We did our best prom pose for a photo.  We thought it’d be funny cause I was so casually dressed compared to her.

I wore the same outfit to my real prom back in the day.

That brings us to Friday.  Rest Day.  But it won’t last long.

Saturday I’m getting up suuuuper early to get my run in before going to work.  I’m supposed to interview USA Olympic Superstar Softball Pitcher Jennie Finch.

Give her a Finch and she’ll take a mile.

If you have any questions you’d like me to ask her, you best hurry up and let me know!!!

Anyway, that’s about it.  Pretty low key, but a good week.

How bout you?  Have a good week?  Any questions for Jennie?  Any ideas for new yoga poses we can try?

-Scott

What’s in a name? We need to call races something else.

I’ve done tons of races.  From the 40 yard dash, all the way up to a full marathon.

Fire bad!

But I think we need to make a change. And so I totes wrote an original poem about how I’m going about it:

*I’m Starting With The Man In The Mirror.  I’m Asking Him To Change His Ways. And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer. If You Wanna Make The World A Better Race Take A Look At Yourself, And Then Make A Change.  Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na, Na Nah*

*©~piratebobcat

I’m in a race.

When I was training for the Disney Dopey Challenge I started wondering.  That’s what happens when you run a lot of miles – you have time to think.  I started wondering why only the ‘Marathon’ has a real name.  As in, “I’m running a marathon.”

And a TBT race.

Now there’s also the half marathon.  And that makes sense because it’s half the distance of a full marathon (coincidentally).

Doin work son.

But what about our other most common races?  The 5k, the 10k, the 15k, the 10 miler, etc.  Why don’t they have names?  Why do we call them by their distances?  Why don’t we call a marathon a “42.195k?”

Trailblazing.

Most of us know the story of the ancient Greek soldier who ran the first ‘marathon’ to relay the news of their victory in battle.  Phidippides supposedly ran just about 26.2 miles to the plains of Marathon to tell the tale, then promptly died.  So yes, that makes sense that we’d call it a marathon since there’s a story behind it.

But what about a 5k?

At a recent Relay Race – We’re totes synchronized.

I did some research and according to the experts at Wikipedia, it’s loosely based on a race from the ancient Olympics called a Dolichos.  Which was about the same distance.  Ok, then, let’s call a 5k a Dolichos.  Deal?

Battle of the lobster backs.

What about a 10k?  Well I couldn’t find crap about it’s history other than it first appeared in the Olympics in Stockholm in 1912.

Running a race with my sis.

Since we name the Marathon after the area it first happened, then maybe we should call the 10k a ‘Stockholm’?

I finished this race despite only having one leg.

But then what about the 5k? Do we call it a ‘half Stockholm’?  Or is the 10k a ‘double Dolichos’?  I think I like the latter better.

Running all the miles.

I still have more research to do about the other random distances, but I think we’re off to a good start.  Until then, I’m getting ready for a Double Dolichos next week.  Bring it!

How bout you?  Any inside info as to why races are called what they’re called?  Any ideas for new names?  Anyone have a Dolichos coming up?

-Scott

 

Knee Update

It’s been a week and a half since my graceful tumble during my run.  The swelling in my knee has gone way down, but I can still feel a little liquid left in there.  I hope it goes away on it’s own soon.  It seems like each day I get a little more range of motion back.

I don’t have any pain walking, it’s just a little stiff from the swol.  It is still a bit tender to the touch to the point of contact, but that’s better too.

I’ve been taking Arnica, as that always seems to help.  And our blogging friend the Holistic Wayfarer sent me a link to a post she had written with some natural remedies.  You can see it here.  She also has Traumeel listed as an option.  I have never heard used, but will give it a try.

My kind of PED’s.

I also went to my chiropractor, who said I was the most out of alignment that she’s ever seen me.  Hopefully her adjustments will hold for a while.

Oh, and I played amateur MD when I googled “swollen knee from fall”.  The good news is that according to the symptoms, it shouldn’t be anything too serious!

I also watched some Olympics and what is up the the moguls?!?!  Besides sounding like something from Harry Potter, it looks crazy!  I’ve seen a few people getting hurt already, and I don’t understand how everyone is not hurt!  That just looks like torture on the knees!  They did say that one of the competitors just had to have a bunch of fluid drained from a knee.  Hopefully I won’t have to go that far.

I shan’t be trying out moguls anytime soon, and I also shan’t attempt to run until it feels back to normal.  Of course, if it doesn’t continue to improve, I’ll have to go see a specialist, but so far so good!

How bout you?  Do you have any go to remedies when you get injured?  Any desire to ski moguls?