My Kryptonite

The more miles I run, the more...

... confident I feel.

...strength I feel in my legs.

... motivated I am to keep running.

... my heel hurts.


Wait, run that by me again? My heel.... hurting.... oh yeah. It's not hurting me now but it definitely has greeted me this morning.

Well, I suppose this heel pain not all directly related to running more miles. Or is it? My heel and I have a history together. Technically it dates back to 1975 but for the purposes of running this "history" dates back to 2010. In spring of 2010 I started to experience a lot of heel discomfort, some pain, to the point where I would limp around the house. It's strange because it has never really bothered me while I run, and not even immediately following a run. But when I'm just minding my own business, at the store or cooking dinner or what have you, I would feel discomfort.

Now, this heel issue started to arise in spring of 2010 mostly because I was running hills. I was training for the San Francisco Marathon as well as the Run Through Redlands, hilly courses both of them, so I needed to train on hills. That and the many miles I was running following my first marathon... well, that was a bit of a volatile combination apparently. About seven weeks before the marathon, I shut it down for one week, ran fewer miles and fewer hills but still did well in San Francisco.

I haven't logged as many miles as I was logging then until now. I believe in May of 2010 I ran something like 130 miles, which was if not my high close to my all-time high.

I have run 153 miles in October already, and I'm in the midst of my first 50-mile week (fingers crossed). I ran 47.85 miles last week and through Tuesday I have run 17 consecutive days.

I love to run. I am setting lofty goals and meeting them. I am entering new territory as a runner and it feels quite motivating to be able to do it.

Will this heel stop me from doing more?

I don't want to overreact. I'm not going to disrupt everything I've worked for because of one or two incidents. But I also need to be cautious.

I thought avoiding hills would help, and I suppose it has. I haven't done any hills with any regularity for a while because of that. Well, I take that back. The Lopers course is a bit hilly. But that's just once a week and it's not as hilly as Mt. Rubidoux and some of the other courses I'd run regularly when I was training for San Francisco.

We'll see what happens. I will, as some of the coaches I interview regularly say about their players' injuries and health and fitness, continue to monitor the situation closely.

Anatomy Of A Bike Crash

On Thursday, I was excited about going on a bike ride. I went and bought a helmet, put air in my bike's tires, set off for a 6- to 10-mile bike ride.... and promptly crashed about a half-mile into the ride.

That's the short story.

Here's the pictorial version.



I'd been riding for two minutes, had traveled a whopping .37 miles and was traveling at 14 miles an hour. And of course, I felt happy.

But then...


I went into the turn and noticed water. I tried to slow down. But...

... it was too late.


I was thrown off my bike, smacked my head on the asphalt, crushed my knee under the bike, scraped my arms and thumped my chest.

According to micoach app then, I was thrown off my bike at about 14 miles per hour.

I'm okay. Getting better, both physically and mentally.

No Heel Issues... Yet

Mt. Rubidoux and I have been friends for a while. I started running Mt. Rubidoux with regularity in March 2010 and for a solid two months was going once or twice a week. Heel issues forced me to scale back on my running in June 2010 and part of that was giving up Mt. Rubidoux. I was going there every once in a while, off and on, nothing with any consistency. I was worried the heel pain would come back.

Lately, however, I've thrown caution to the wind. Since San Francisco is coming up soon (I'll have some more thoughts on San Francisco in another blog post), I kind of have to start running hills again. So lately I've been hitting Mt. Rubidoux hard. I ran five miles there on Monday, four on Friday, six the Monday before that and I went at least twice the week before that.

How's my heel? Well, so far, so good.

I was worried that I would be hobbling around once more, or at the very least feel some discomfort when I wasn't running. But there hasn't been anything out of the ordinary thus far. I'm not going to celebrate too much, though, because this could turn into a problem as it did last year. I wasn't really feeling a whole lot when I first started running hills in 2010 but after a few solid months of pounding, I was feeling it.

I'm going to be more cautious this time, though. Well, that's the plan. I'll try and listen to my body more this time than last year and if I feel the onset of such heel pain, try and ease back a little. But Mt. Rubidoux is intoxicating! That's the only problem, of course. It's always a challenge, always a fun challenge too. I can't think of another 4-mile route, or 5-mile route, or 6-mile route, or 6-plus-mile route around here that is so enjoyable and so challenging.

I'll probably go out there once more this week as Mt Rubidoux won me over a long time ago. Hopefully it's also won over my heel as well.

Painful Reminder

I forget.

Sometimes I just go about my business without thinking twice about certain things.

Sunday was one of those days. A little before six in the morning, I was mentally going over everything I'd need for my 14- to 15-miler I'd planned to run.
Fuel belt. Okay, got that. Garmin. Gu. Check and check. Watch, yeah might as well take it. Oh yeah, grab the phone holder and headphones, probably going to need those.

Nowhere in there did I say "What about your nipples?"

I'd had tape on them for a few days, which usually works best for me. If I tape them just before a run, they don't always stick that great and then they become exposed. And when they are exposed, I'm susceptible to injury.

So, somewhere in between the Gu and headphones, I should have said "Well, just in case, let me check my nips."

But I didn't.

And I paid for it.

I knew I was in trouble at about Mile 7. I didn't feel the tape on my right side. I felt it on the left but not my right. About a mile afterward I noticed some blood. I had two shirts on, a long-sleeve undershirt and a gray shirt over that. A few miles after that, I noticed a lot of blood. Throughout the run, I would try and put some pressure on the area, but that didn't really work that well.

When I was done with my run - a tough 14.39 mile run - I lifted up my gray shirt and saw the extent of the damage.


My nip was in pain so I took my shirts off in the parking lot and snapped that picture.

If you haven't read this blog for a while, this is an ongoing problem. Well, it was at one point but I fixed it. Mostly. As long as I use the tape that works best for me - medical tape - then I'm fine. I just have to include them on my checklist.

It's actually good this happened now. Every now and then I need a reminder, a hard slap in the face, to keep the nipples in mind.

With Surf City just around the corner, now's as good a time as any to be reminded of that.

Sidelined

Wednesday was National Running Day... or was it National Day of Running?

Whatever the occasion was, it was a day meant to have encouraged running. So what did I do to "celebrate" the occasion?

Nothing.

What have I done since running 13.1 miles on Sunday?

Nothing.

What will I do Thursday and Friday in preparation for Camp Pendleton?

Nothing.

Not. An. Effing. Thing.

Sigh.

I'm sidelining myself for the week. See, for a while now my heel has been feeling a bit tender, a bit strange. I first started to feel it around late March or early April. It always just felt tender, never really any pain save for once. I whacked it really hard getting out of a chair a few days before the Run Through Redlands. It was a piercing and splitting pain, so much so that I wondered for a bit whether I'd be able to run the half-marathon or not.

A few other times my daughters have hit me in the heel and have caused me to writhe in pain. Aside from that, it's mostly discomfort.

However, discomfort can quickly turn to pain and that can lead to injury and a layoff from running. And since I'm signed up for the San Francisco Marathon on July 25, I don't exactly want to take an injury-related layoff now, or ever really.

On the weekend, though, I had the chance to talk to my sister-in-law, my brother Danny's better half. She's a physical therapist by trade, has some piece of paper she calls a Master's Degree that says so, so I figured I'd ask her about my heel. She told me that she'd recommend taking two weeks off completely to rest it.

I felt like asking her if she was insane but thought better of it. Instead I told her that I didn't think that was possible given my Marathon training. She suggested I go ahead and run the Mud Run on Saturday (which she's also running incidentally) but not to run anything on Sunday.

"Damn," I thought to myself. "There goes my scheduled 12."

I asked for and received some advice from one of my super-duper blog buddies and she suggested not running this week as well, in addition to some other super tips.

I don't want to stop running and it's been tough this week not running. But I know that it's for the best. I'm not sure yet what I'm going to try and do next week, whether or not I will run some or if I'll try to get to an elliptical or bike or whatever. I don't anticipate feeling any pain after the race Saturday but again, it's not any sort of injury that could derail me soon that I'm worried about, it's something that could render me obsolete come July 25.

So what is that I have? Well, I guess I should have already mentioned it. It's possible that I have Achilles teondonitis. Common causes include running hills, overtraining, change in mileage, things like that. I don't think I'm overtraining - I haven't run more than 35 miles a week since January - but I have been hitting the hills hard. It's tough because I need to train on hills for San Fran but if that's causing me problems, perhaps I'd be better off staying away from them, or at least not including them as often as I have been.

This time of me not running will pass. It's been just three days since I last ran but I don't think I've gone three days without running since... don't recall, December probably. And the last time I went five days with no runs was in September when I got sick and was laid out for a week.

It's not fun, sitting on the sidelines, but it's better to ease up a bit now than it is to eat the San Francisco Marathon.

18-Miler: Revenge of the Bloody Nipple

The day started off with such promise. Actually, it was almost like any other Sunday - ready for a long run - and there was no reason to think this Sunday would go any different.

I decided to run alone, run the 18 miles around my house. It was a unique course for me as I would try to run from my house to Mt. Rubidoux and back. I'd actually have to make up miles as a direct shot from here to the top of Mt. Rubidoux would have been less than 18 miles, but no bother. As long as I got my mileage in and did so with Mt. Rubidoux in there somewhere is all that mattered.

Now, on Saturday night I'd worked late and did not get home until 1:20 a.m. Since the Lopers were meeting at 5:30, I figured I could use the extra sleep which is why I ran here around my house, but four-plus hours didn't seem that great when the alarm woke me up a few minutes before 6.

Oh man, is it time already?

I gathered up all my stuff: ate a Clif bar (although I wasn't hungry), filled up the bottles on my fuel belt with Gatorade, grabbed three GUs, strapped on my phone, the Garmin, the Polar, grabbed a hat and sunglasses... did everything well save for the nipples. I haven't found my tape and didn't check to see if we had Band-aids, so just didn't think too much about it this morning.

I stepped outside and it was almost foggy. Very overcast, to the point that I couldn't see Mt. Rubidoux. Usually I can see it from my house, but not this morning.

I set off and was more excited than worried. I just tried to break the run apart into portions. The first one would be at around the three-mile mark where I'd turn onto a main street that would take me to the foot of Mt. Rubidoux - Mission Boulevard. I got there soon enough, probably took it a little too easy on Mile 3 as I came in with a nearly 11-minute mile. I wanted to take it easy, wanted to negative-split in the run but this was too easy. Mile 4 was at about 9:50 which was better.

Before I knew it, I'd eaten a GU and had finished one of my four water bottles. I was feeling good, strong, and waiting to see the top of the mountain - or any part of it.

Ouch.

I looked down at my shirt and a small red spot was visible. It was around Mile 5 or 6 at this point and I wondered how much longer it would bleed. I also wondered why I hadn't done anything to them, just had walked out of the house without thinking much about them.

Finally, around the end of Mile 6 I saw Mt. Rubidoux. It pushed through the low-hanging fog and stood ominously before me. I was on a bridge crossing over a small river...

... trickle...

... when I saw it. And then on my headphones

Dejate caer, dejate caer
La tierra es al revez
La sangre es amarilla
Dejate caer


Maybe that's not the best song to hear when I'm over a bridge.

Translation

Let yourself fall, let yourself fall
The earth is upside down
The blood is yellow
Let yourself fall

I focused on the other side of the bridge and figured I'd power through this part, but thoughts of letting myself fall from the bridge zipped by my mind regardless.

Finally I made it across and wondered where the sidewalk went. I'd only ever driven past this part of Mission, which takes you into Riverside city limits. The sidewalk runs a bit higher than street level so I found my way without too many problems. Up ahead of me was a small tunnel in which I would run through and thought how long the tunnel had been there (probably since the 1930s) and thought it would be cool to run through it.

Ack! That smells disgusting!

I've been in some awful bathrooms that didn't smell as bad as that tunnel smelled, so I chalked that up as a loss and tried to not breath until I was well away from the tunnel.

Eventually, I swung a right and then another and then I was at the base of Mt. Rubidoux. I went through the gates and started my usual Thursday-morning routine on Sunday. It was still overcast, still cool but comfortable, and I was still feeling good. I was at 7.3 miles when I ran through the gate and all was good.

Oh, it's a little more red.

My shirt was brighter than before, not much, but noticeable. Several people walking opposite of me gave me a double take and I tried to ignore them. I mean, it's tough to see someone wearing a white shirt with blood stains on it and not look twice. Still, I tried to hide it as much as possible but that was too taxing.

Eff it. Let 'em stare.

Two miles later and I was at the top of Mt. Rubidoux. I was surprised that I hadn't felt too bad considering I was at 9.3 miles in. In fact, I felt pretty stinkin' good for where I was. I stopped at the top to GU up and drink some Gatorade, then went right back down. Home didn't seem like a long ways away and I took that as a sign that I felt good and not quite longing to go home.

On my way down I drew more stares. What else are people going to do? The fog minimized the views of the surrounding area so people had to look at something, and the big red spot on the white shirt of the runner heading downhill was just as good as anything apparently.

I wish they knew I was running 18 miles.

Frankly, I didn't care but I felt like telling them there was a reason to the madness.

When I got to the bottom and out the gate I was relieved. There werent' too many pedestrians out and cars on Misson weren't going to slow down and stare at me, so I figured it was just me and the road for the next seven miles.

Still feeling good.

I took my final GU at about Mile 14 and felt strong, and felt like giving one last good push. I ran across a Swap Meet which was hopping, and of course the increase in people meant an increase in stares. I just put my head down and ran past people whenever I came up to any of them.

I don't give a *#^@what they think.

I was powering through an 18-mile run - AN 18-MILE RUN - so why would I give a crap what some random person saw or thought?

Finally I was down the last three miles, and this was a pretty lonely part of the run. I'd wanted to run sub-10-minute miles here and I did well to that. Mile 16 was 10:02 but Mile 17 was 9:38. Mile 18 was not as tough as I would have thought, though my legs felt heavy and I was ready to stop. The burning sensation on my chest was becoming too much to handle.

That spot is huge.

I was lucky I hadn't been running past any large crowds because the stares would have turned into pointing at this rate. Instead, I was almost home and when I hit the stop button on The Garmin after Mile 18, I was able to slow to a walk and really assess the damage.

At home, I drew gasps from Mrs. LB and the girls.

Damn. I guess it was more noticeable than I thought.

Then I had Yvie take a picture.

At home, my initial reaction was that of disappointment. I was not happy about my 18-mile run, but rather embarrassed becuase of how I looked. I thought about for a while (and I'm going to have much more thoughts on this on Monday's post) but I think what bothered me the most was that I was unprepared and it showed. That and I looked like a fool.

But the run itself was great. I felt very strong, was not wiped out, was happy with how the GU worked, with how the Gatorade worked, with having run to Mt. Rubidoux from my house, with having finished in a little more than three hours, with a lot of things. But that one thing bothered me for a few hours afterward.

Still, it's all a learning experience, every run is. And while you'll have to wait for Monday's post for all of my feelings, I'm certain I'm going to overcome this and will be better because of it.

The shirt (and white undershirt) though might be a different story...

Friday Leftovers (Feb. 19)

My weekly post of random items and thwarted blog posts.

Word Association

Play here.

1. Suitcase :: Trip

2. Exhaust :: Fumes

3. Olympics :: Coverage

4. Video :: Game

5. Cargo :: Ship

6. Previously :: Viewed

7. Wild card :: Game

8. Artificial :: Turf

9. Gambling :: Casino

10. Exhibition :: Game

Explanations: Man, I'm just thinking about games today apparently. All sorts of games: exhibition games, wild-card games, video games... funny how I didn't say games for Olympics. If it would have been Olympic, I may have. Instead, I went for coverage because that's how my mind is wired.

Last week, I failed to explain Heels :: Tar, so I'll do it now. That's in reference to North Carolina, the Tar Heels is their mascot.

Sticky Souvenir

Long after the aches and pains from Surf City wore off, I was still left with a souvenir from the race, if you will, on my body.

The tape I used to tape up the nips was still there about a week later.

When my dad went into the hospital in November, I managed to, um, borrow some tape. I figured that the tape used to hold down needles to skin and such would do well to hang on and protect the nips. It did and has worked wonders since, worked better than anything else I tried.

Worked too well.

That tape has a bit of a death grip sometimes. Honestly, it doesn't bother me too much until I go to take them off. And they won't come off. Well, Mrs. LB helped me take those off. She did a sneak attack and ripped them off while I wasn't paying attention. The first one actually was part me, part her ripping it off but the second one, she distracted me and then RIIIIP! off came the tape. ouch

Anyway, on Thursday I ran six miles up Mt. Rubidoux. It was a great run and I had a good strategy. I wanted to run six miles but from the bottom to the top is two miles, the path I take anyway. I ended up running one mile up, then ran back to the entrance and then back up all the way to the top and then all the way down. I've never really figured out The Garmin but I tried to keep my mileage stats, so my miles were sort of like this: 8:50, 8:13, 9:55, 10:25, 8:53, 9:00. I don't know if that adds up to my total time of 55:15, but it's close enough. I don't know why I went so fast the first mile, but I hit a wall when I went back up the same path. Overall I had a decent time, and while I wasnt' trying to run my hardest I did feel like I needed to get a decent time, which I did.

The only setback was the pain from my nips! I felt them early on and I instantly got frustrated. I had no tape, hadn't wanted to tape them up but apparently they aren't toughened up anymore since I've been taping them so much. Grrr. Luckily I had the ointment my buddy anne had sent me, and I put that all over and it worked to take the edge off.

Blog Biz

I know this is mostly a blog about, well, I call it my motivational/nutritional/fitness blog, but sometimes I don't blog about anything that fits that description. I've got some posts coming up next week that have nothing to do with running or anything. Don't be alarmed. It's just me and my world. I've always felt that I wanted to offer all my readers something from each post, whether runners or non-runners read it. It's tough to do sometimes but I try - if nothing else I try and spin a good yarn each and every blog post.

Dentist Trip

Last week, I blogged about my dentist woes. Seems like we just can't get away from the dentist these days. On Wednesday I took Yvie and Kennedy to the dentist. Kennedy's visit was her first-ever while Yvie had to get a filling for a cavity - dang it. Not sure how that happened but it did.

Funny moment (and if you're on FB you may have seen it): Kennedy was sitting in the chair and the dentist was getting settled in. She asked Kennedy how old she was and Kennedy responded "Four." Then the dentist asked Kennedy when she would turn five. Kennedy paused and said "On my birthday."

Anyway, Kennedy did well. I was a bit worried that she would cry or otherwise freak out but she was a trooper. She didn't flinch once during x-rays and did well with that suction thing that sucks up your drool. Yvie also experienced her first foray into novacaine. She received praise as well for her own behavior. For about two hours after, though, she complained that her lip felt funny. I told her not to bite it or anything because she might not feel it but that when the novacaine wore off, she' would and it might hurt. She didn't bite down and was happy when the numbness wore off. We scheduled another visit, for six months from now, and we hope there are no cavities then.

Kenna, Part Two

Kennedy and I had the chance to lay down for a nap on Thursday. She didn't want to but I knew she was tired since she got up at 5:30. I was tired too since I ran six miles and barely slept the night before. I climbed into my bed and Kennedy followed, reluctantly. I'd left my awesome Dodgers blanket out in the living room, though, and while I didn't really need a blanket, I kinda wanted one so I was reaching for something to cover myself with. I must have dozed off because the next thing I remember was Kennedy covering me with my Dodgers blanket, and then she gave me a little kiss on my forehead. That little girl is so awesome.

Of course, she fell fast asleep and I had to wake her up a bit later since we had to go get Yvie from school.

I don't know why she is so stubborn when it comes to napping. I tell her all the time, "If I was four years old, I would have a party every day. Naps whenever I wanted, food prepared for me, all the books and toys I could want, no school, sleep 'til whenever, Disneyland... I'd be living the life." She goes to preschool twice a week but still, that's not the five-days-a-week grind kindergarten can be. You know, the tough days of kindergarten.

She doesn't realize how great she has it, apparently.

LB's Song Of The Week

My weekly nod to children's music.

The girls are FORKs, apparently. That's what Randy Kaplan calls his fans, Fans Of Randy Kaplan. He's actually kind of a divisive character - either you like his stuff or you don't.

Kennedy had the chance recently to buy songs of iTunes and she chose two Randy Kaplan songs. This one wasn't one of them, but she ran out of choices before she got back to this one.

Friday Leftovers (Dec. 4)

Another Friday, another batch of thwarted thoughts and blog posts that didn't make it to the big stage.

Word Association

Play here.

1. MacGyver :: gum
2. Garter :: belt
3. Wedge :: drive
4. Inches :: feet
5. Code :: Morse
6. Water :: vapor
7. Running :: shoes
8. Curly :: cue
9. Turkey :: feast
10. Stupor :: drunken

I used to watch MacGyver all the time. I guess the joke was that he could make anything out of gum and a paper clip, or something to the effect. And as for the belt... hey now!

Issues, Issues and More Issues

I have a confession to make. I've had tape on my nipples all week. It's not by choice necessarily but they've been covered with tape nonetheless. I put tape on before Saturday's 10-mile run in the rain because, well, because that's what I've been doing lately to prevent bleeding. And I didn't really want to rip it off and then repeat the process for Sunday's 10-miler, so when the tape didn't budge in the shower I left it alone.

After Sunday's run, I tried again to yank it off but the tape must have grown roots because it was grabbing hold like no other tape has done before. I've tried numerous times this week to ease the tape off in the shower but to no avail. The last time I had tape on the nips and took it off forcefully was a day or two before Thanksgiving, and it took about 20-30 minutes of me being a sissy, I mean, me gently tugging at the tape and trying to pull it off. I felt frustrated afterward because it took so much stinking time and it ended up hurting anyway.

In case you're new to Muddy Runner, these Nipple Chronicles have been ongoing. This particular post has pictures that Tats referred to as gnarly. The pics aren't of the actual nipples [you have to pay to see those ;) ] but some of the stuff they leave behind, the fallout if you will.

I feel like I'm just getting to my wits end again. So much tape has gone on and come off and gone on and come off recently that it's just frustrating. But that's the price I pay, I suppose. I know other male runners are not as affected as this as I am so sometimes I feel sort of alone in my plight but then again I don't get blisters or other things (knock on wood) so I can't complain too much.

Once this tape comes off, and it's coming off today no matter how hard I have to pull, I'm going to stick with the skin-tight undershirt that worked well for the most part. It started to not work well last month but I want to lay off the tape for a while. My awesome blog buddy Tahoegirl sent me some really cool stuff that helps take the edge off. It's like Body Glide, which I also use. Both really do help with the pain but the nipples still bleed unless I run a really short run or I use tape.

Oh yeah, one other issue. Remember my black toenail? The one that appeared here? Well, it has a dancing partner now. The same toenail on the right foot has started to go black.

It's actually not new. That one, the tonenail on the right foot, went black first, I believe sometime around January or February. It left for a while as it was back to normal but now it's returned and singing... cue AC/DC...

Back in black
I hit the sack
I've been too long I'm glad to be back...

...'Cause I'm back; Yes, I'm back
Well, I'm back; Yes, I'm back
Well, I'm ba-a-ack, ba-a-ack
(Well) I'm back in black
Yes, I'm back in black

Dog Pile

What's up with my dogs? I swear, these face-lickers just can't calm down. They have to be right up on me, right in my face. I'm only sorta mildly irritated when they do this. I mean, I don't really care most of the time but it would be nice to have some $#@&*!# space.

The dog looking at you is named Rooney and he's kind of a scaredy-cat. He is actually scared of cats. Seriously. Well, except for our cat, who is literally twice his size. The dog behind him, Tevez, is the food-eater and more aggressive one. He's like a sausage with legs, although we've worked hard on him being less aggressive with food, and it's worked.

The dogs are about two years old, both chihuahuas. They don't bark up a storm because we worked very hard with them to avoid them becoming the kinds of dogs that bark at every little thing. Nothing annoys me more than that, and what's really great is we have dogs on either side of us that bark a lot. Cool.

Oh, and notice the sticker on my laptop behind Rooney? I know, you're jealous.

Yeah, I was trying to blog when my dogs decided to make themselves comfortable on my lap. So I took a picture of them. And then I chased them away.

LB's Song of the Week

This might be my favorite children's artist. TMBG is making a strong case, but before them there was Dan Zanes.

Dan Zanes was actually in a "real" band, something called the Del Fuegos. Not familiar with them. But now he's a children's artist. He got into kids music because he realized that, when he had his own kids, there wasn't much out there that both the kids and parents could enjoy. There are some CDs the girls have that are excruciating, like I-want-to-rip-my-ears-out excruciating. So I naturally gravitated towards stuff like Dan Zanes because can not only get through it just fine but I actually enjoy some of it.

Like this one.

Friday Leftovers (Oct. 9)

As I head out to Nevada for the Ragnar Relay, here are some of the leftover thoughts from my week.

Word Association

This week's Word Association.

1. Yacht :: Boat
2. Paula :: Abdul
3. Delete :: Erase
4. Auto :: Mechanic
5. Obsolete :: Useless
6. Dedicated :: Committed
7. Old :: Fool
8. Convince :: Persuade
9. Poster :: Child
10. Erase :: Mark

Nothing out of the ordinary. No subliminal messages I'm trying to send to myself, though I'm not sure I've called anyone an "old fool" lately.

Long Beach Marathon

Sunday is the running the Long Beach Marathon, the one I briefly flirted with before ultimately deciding on the Ragnar Relay.

Anyway, I would be remiss if I didn't give a shout of support to my blog buddy and fellow Loper Angie Eats Peace. Angie joined the Lopers in 2008, ran her first marathon in February of this year (the 2009 Surf City USA) and Sunday will be her third marathon. She's an inspiration for certain, and I'm excited for her.

School Start Daze

Next school year will be monumental. Kennedy will start kindergarten next year, and Mrs. LB and I will officially begin a long life of having both of our daughters - ie all of our children - in school.

But when that year will begin remains to be seen.

Earlier this week, we got notice from our local school district about three possible drafts for next school year. You see, our school district has always started school the week of Labor Day. This year, that was on Sept. 10 as Labor Day was on the 7th. The drawback with that is that school won't let out this year until June 23, and I'm not exactly crazy about that. Apparently I wasn't the only parent who wasn't feeling this journey into summer.

Hence the need for a possible change.

The first one has the school year starting as it always has, on Sept. 9, the Thursday after Labor Day and letting out on June 24, 2011.

The second one has school starting a bit earlier, on Aug. 24 and letting out on June 9.

The third one is probably the most drastic, as school would start on Aug. 11 and let out on May 26.

I'm torn. Of course, it's not my decision but I might be willing to have school start early if it means they get out early. The May 26 end date is appealing. We'd have all of June and all of July off, that's June/July 2011. That would be much better than this year, when Yvie didnt' get out of school until June 18, and it'll be worse in 2010.

But Aug. 11 would be awfully early. That would mean Yvie would have about six weeks of summer vacation, and while she likes school and everything - she was begging for school to start so she could go to first grade - I'm not sure that would leave a lot of time for family vacations. But then again I might be in South Africa next June so I might prefer a quiet summer at home after that.

What will the district decide? Unfortunately, we won't know for a while. Well, they might decide something soon but the info may not make it to parents for a while after that. Stay tuned.

Nippin' Out

Guess what this is?

This is the inside of my Lopers shirt. Yes, we run in pink and yes, I've been running in pink for months now. I'll have to take a picture of myself with my pink running shirt on sometime soon.

Anyway, the stain you see on there is blood. It's courtesy of my nipple, and this is just another part of my neverending saga.

What happened a week ago was that I couldn't find the one thing that has worked for me thus far. I couldn't find the medical tape that I used successfully for my 11-mile run two weeks ago. And I didn't have my Body Glide, so I had to tough it out. I did, and it wasn't too bad. I "only" had a little bit of blood after my run. If you look closely on the far left of the picture, you'll see another tiny spot of blood.

So after I showered on Sunday, we went out to the zoo. The last thing I wanted to do was to walk around with tender nipples all day so I put on some band aids.

It worked, but it had a price.

There's some tiny bald spots on my chest. Luckily only my wife and daughters see me without my shirt on :)

Oh yeah, and TG I'd be happy to try out your suggestion. My e-mail address is buenodad at gmail dot com. Gracias!

More Word Association

A few topics here for you this morning...

I had fun with this Word Association on Saturday so I'm going to try it again. Here's the link in case you wanted to have a go at it yourself. This blogger does this once a week apparently. Anyway, if you do try it, of course I recommend not reading this first so my awesome answers won't influence you.

1. Abusive :: Strangle
2. Psychotic :: Neurotic
3. Parents :: Grandparents
4. Yell :: Rebel
5. Amulet :: Romeo
6. Sandstorm :: Iraq
7. Amusement :: Park
8. Imitation :: Fur
9. Baby :: Crying
10. Rainbows :: Colors

Sorry but amulet didn't ring a bell when I did this. Juliet Capulet popped into my mind. Apparently, an amulet is sort of like a talisman. I must have missed that day in English class when amulet was on our spelling list.

Oh The Pain!

On Sunday, I ran 9 miles with the Lopers. It was a great run but had two consequences. First, it left my body depleted and I came down with a fever on Sunday evening. I think, though, that the fever had more to do with my daughters' respective health (they were not feeling well last week) than the run itself but I do think the run played a role, no matter how small. But my fever broke during the night and I suffered through only a sore throat on Monday. Only... as if that didn't bother me...

Anyway, the second part of the run was my bloody nipple. Body Glide (not to be confused with the other glide) took the pain element away but it didn't prevent my nipple from bleeding. My shirt had a large red spot from the blood. Luckily it didn't hurt during the run. Nor did it bother me too much after the run (believe it or not) but it still frightens me.

I don't know what to do about that. If nine miles is enough to make it bleed, what will 26.2 do to it? I guess I should ask the Lopers. They seem to have answers for everything.

Fuel Belt? What's That?

Last week, I'd intended to get out and buy a fuel belt. In case you don't know, a fuel belt is a belt that has small water bottles and pockets so you can store water, Gatorade and other small items on your respective runs. They help you hydrate yourself which is important particularly during long runs.

I went to the local running store, where I got my shoes. No luck. All they had in my size was purple. Then we went to another sporting goods retailer and they manager there said they didn't carry them. Instead of hitting up another store, I decided to call ahead to save myself another trip.

LB: "Just wondering if you carried fuel belts."

Dunce On The Other Line: "I'm sorry. What?"

LB: "A fuel belt for runners. Do you guys carry them?"

DOTOL: "I'm sorry. Say again."

LB: (with increasing irritability) "A belt for runners."

DOTOL: "I'm sorry. Could you explain..."

LB: (laughing, an angry I-can't-believe-this laugh) "Nevermind. If you've never heard of them, you obviously don't carry them."

So what did I do on Sunday? I filled up a 16-ounce water bottle with Gatorade and ran with it. I needed the extra fuel during the run to keep from getting too depleted. It worked. I'm still lost with what to do about a fuel belt. I might try ebay. Or maybe I'll get the purple belt.

Pain Free

After last Sunday's 7-mile run, I had some lingering nipple pain all day. It was pretty bad. Not constant but whenever my shirt rubbed on them, I got nice jolt of pain.

Since we are taking a family trip to the beach tomorrow, I won't me able to go with my Lopers so I ran the scheduled eight miles today, on my own. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to make the distance but I managed fine. I ran The Hill, ran three miles on the other side and scaled it again, so my total time was 1 hour 22 minutes.

I didn't want to experience any pain so I applied the Body Glide liberally before my run. It hurt a little when I got home though, but I showered and applied some more. Its the afternoon now and I haven't felt any pain.

This constant pain is infuriating, mostly because its a relative small area but causes an annoying, lingering and stinging pain. If one thing will chase me away from running long distances, it is this dreaded nipple pain.

But so far, so good. I'll have to keep the Body Glide handy. Not 100 percent worry free now, but also far more comfortable today than I was a week ago.

Bumps and Bruises

Lately I haven't had any setbacks with injury (knock on wood) but I thought I'd update my list of ailments to kind of help me gauge where I am with things and try and prevent injury. I think the one thing I'm most scared of right now is getting injured and having to miss Ragnar and/or Surf City. There's really no reason for this fear other than that it could happen, and while it's not exactly a predominant fear, it exists somewhere in the back of my mind.

* Foot: My feet are fine. I had some pain on the top of my left foot for a few weeks but it's been normal for weeks now. No pain, no nothing. I think the new shoes help. I bought me some new shoes and have worn them for about five runs now, and they seem to do well to cushion my feet.

* Heels: For some reason, my heels have been tender. Not really painful, and I don't feel them when I run, but there is definitely discomfort there mostly when I'm walking around the house. I have been wearing my sandals around the house as walking barefoot can lead to some discomfort. I'm really bummed that I won't be at the Lopers meeting Sunday because the topic is plantar fasciitis.

* Toenails: Sadly, my toenails are almost back to normal. I figured my black toenails were my badges of honor, but the right toenail is completely back to normal. You can't even tell which toenail was jet black not too long ago. The damaged toenail on my left foot is still damaged but it looks like before too long it too will be back to normal. No more black toenails for LB. Sad.

* Nipples: I bought me some Body Glide recently, actually when I bought my shoes. Body Glide helps stop chafing. I've used it a couple of times. On Sunday, I used it when I ran seven miles. There was no immediate pain but my nipples bothered me quite a bit the rest of the day. I don't know what to do to prevent it. I will give this Body Glide a try and then we'll see what happens.

This pain of mine

I mentioned briefly at the end of my second post Thursday about pain I've been experiencing on the top of my foot.

The pain hasn't really gotten any better or worse, but my fear of it has increased substantially. I fear that I did something wrong to my foot and now I won't be able to run for a few weeks or longer.

Of course, I've been known to play the role of Chicken Little before, so I'm not exactly looking for crutches or making arrangements for a walking cast. But still, the pain is there and Thursday was the day I felt it the longest.

On the top of my left foot, there is a constant discomfort/pain. It's increased in feeling as I didn't notice it much until recently. It's on the top of the foot, kind of behind the big toe.

I punched in my symptoms on Web MD and this is what it spat out (aside from 'You should go see a doctor') as possible ailments:

Broken Foot
Sciatica
Peripheral Neuropathy
Corns, calluses
Metatarsalgia
Stress fracture
Poorly fitting shoes
Lumbar spinal stenosis
Multiple sclerosis
Bone infection
Thoracic spinal stenosis
Shingles

Nice list. I can instantly eliminate several. It's not fractured (I'd be in much pain). I doubt I have a stenosis (blood vessel type of ailment) or that I have corns or calluses and my shoes don't fit poorly.

I'm actually worried that I have a stress fracture. Yikes. Again, this is me playing the role of Mr. Little. The sky is falling and it's landed on my first metatarsal. Stress fractures are pretty bad. They can knock you out of action for 4-6 weeks, and I don't need that right now or ever.

Now, the pain hasn't really lingered before Thursday. And even then, it's not something that is keeping me from walking or anything. I ran on my foot just fine on Wednesday. But the discomfort did not go away, hence the worries. Still, stress fractures can sometimes make walking unbearable, and I've been on my feet a lot these last... well, I'm always on my feet.

I suppose one thing I have going for me is the Lopers. With so many runners far more accomplished than me in the group, someone has to have had the same symptoms before and might be able to help me narrow down what I've got.

UPDATE: Okay, I woke up today (Friday morning, wrote this really late on Thursday) and felt dumb for having posted this, making it seem like I have a serious injury. I don't know what's wrong with my foot (I can feel it still) but it's probably not a fracture or anything too traumatic. I probably tweaked it somehow, got a bruise or something and it's just been lingering a little too long. I need to calm down about things sometimes :)

The shirt

Per my previous post about my bloody experience, here is the damage left behind.

That spot there is blood. It must have bled for the last couple of miles. It's been about eight hours since the race ended as I type and the nipple still looks raw.

Body Glide is starting to sound better and better. Thanks Angie for your suggestion. I'm on it.

Injuries galore

After blogging about my respective injuries, I consulted The Book to see what other types of injuries are discussed.

I quickly realized that my injuries aren't all that damaging in comparison to what could happen to a runner. Now, I didn't exactly ever feel like my injuries were severe but they still cause me a bit of discomfort and pain.

Here are some other injuries that can cause more pain.

Achilles tendinitis, ankle sprains, back pain (sciatica), ball of foot pain, cramps, hell bruises and spurs, hip (piriformis), iliotibial (IT) band syndrome, runner's knee, runner's nipple, plantar fasciitis, shin splints, delayed onset muscle soreness, muscle strains, stress fractures, the stitch, blisters, damaged nails, Athlete's foot, calluses.

That sort of runs the entire gamut right there (on a quick aside, if you want any more info on what The Book says on any of the above injuries, feel free to drop me a note and I'll gladly give you the lodown).

I'll give you the info it says about the IT band since my brother Danny started to come down with some pain there a while back.

According to The Book...

The IT band is a tissue that goes from the outside portion of the hip over the thigh and crosses over the knee and into the tibia. Pain is felt outside the knee and up to the hip. Pain may stop as soon as the running stops.

Some of the causes include downhill running, improper shoes, over- or under-pronation, inadequate warm-up or cool-down, a sudden and excessive increase in mileage, one single excessive workout, inflexibility, hills.

How can you treat it? Stretch the IT band, perform exercises to help strengthen the hip, ice down after a run, anti-inflammatories, decrease mileage, run on soft surfaces, run on level surfaces, reduce intensity, outright rest.

It's actually a kind of scary injury. Danny would tell me that he would feel the pain coming on at nearly the same mileage point during every run, and he would go from running normally without pain to experiencing a jolt of crippling pain in a matter of steps. I think Danny's problem was the sudden increase in mileage but there may have been other factors.

Anyway, you can never totally avoid injury so it's just one of the pitfalls of running, one of the few negative effects. It actually is a part of it, something that just comes with the territory. After all, I never suffered from bloody nipples or black toenails when I weighed 300 pounds.

Painful badges

A while back, I took a quiz that tried to figure out what kind of runner I was. One of the questions centered on injuries and what types of injuries I'd suffered through. At the time, I hadn't really gone through anything too harrowing. That question was worth a lot of points in that quiz, and it was the difference between me placing as a 5K-type runner and a middle-distance runner. I knew then and I know now that I'm no way a 5K runner, so I was kind of struck with how razor-thin the margin was.

Well, I've been running a lot longer now and I've put a lot more wear-and-tear on my body. I'd say that if I took that same quiz now, I'd definitely be able to answer with more authority that I have carried injuries before.

Here's a quick list of my running-related injuries, which I actually consider a bit like badges of honor:

* Bloody nipples
* Black toenails
* Strap pain (side)
* Heel pain

I've had some progress and some setbacks. The heel pain that was so rampant during the winter is gone. I haven't laced up my soccer boots since March I think and that pretty much spelled the end of my heel pain. I'm going to have to do something next soccer season though but that's not for a while.

Surprisingly, my nipple pain has gone away as well. I think I may just have finally toughened them up enough. Yes, it's okay to giggle. I can't ever write about this subject with a straight face. But really they don't hurt me much. I don't wear the Vaseline much these days, partly because it was ruining shirts. One shirt, and I'll have to take a picture of it because words don't do it justice, has some strange looking rings, and said rings have demoted that shirt to the point where I might not even wear it around the house. But I think changing my attire has helped as well, in that I don't wear cotton shirts when running at all. Cotton does a number on my nipples... ha!

The two things right now that are bothering me the most are my strap pain and my toenails. The strap pain is, for now, what I'm calling it until I come up with a better name for it. I wear a strap to measure my heart rate and that strap goes around my torso, like this. On my right side I have a mark where it's pretty much worn right through my skin. Whenever I run more than four miles, it hurts. I ran six miles on Friday and it hurt. On Sunday I ran four and I felt it but it didn't hurt, but I could tell that a few more minutes and that would have changed.

Short of not wearing the strap, I'm not sure what I can do to help stop that pain. Now, I don't think all straps would cause that pain so I'm not trying to discourage anyone from wearing one. I used to have it really tight against my body because it would slip and then it bothered me and distracted me during runs so I figured tight would make it better, and it did but I had to loosen it a while ago because I feared some sort of pain, and this might be it.

It's kind of a trade-off, though. I need to monitor my heart rate - I can't let myself run in the high 180s for too long, for instance - so it will stay on my chest. But I think if I only wear it during runs I might lessen the damage.

The other pain is my toenail, specifically the second toe on my left foot. Each of the second toenails on either foot went black a while ago, which I found simultaneously strange and awesome. The one on my right foot has returned almost to normal, and I'm a bit sad by that because I like the black toenail. But the one on my left foot is more than making up for it.

Now, sorry if I give you too much detail but we like to keep it real on Muddy Runner. So, the toenail is strange looking. I tried to trim it with nail clippers but there wasn't much nail to clip. It was like trying to cut a stone, kind of like the nail started growing into a rock-like substance on my toe. Worse, it started to hurt after runs. The other one hurt but once it went black, the pain went away. Same with this one. The pain came, blackness ensued and the pain dissipated. Now, the pain is back.

I asked Mrs. LB to take a look at it and she grimaced and told me it looked like the nail was going to fall off. Great. That's just what I need, 10 toes and nine toenails.

I don't know what to do with it, at this point. I've thought about a band aid or some tape or something but I don't know if that would do any good. It might even do more harm than good since I'd be introducing something into an already cramped space, and that's sorta what led to this to begin with. I trimmed what I could off of it, to try and ease some of the pressure to it.

The Book actually suggested taking a needle or something sharp and cutting the wound to relieve pressure that way, but unless I'm stuck out in the wilderness and it's a life or death situation, like that'd be the only way to stave off gangrene or something, maybe. But right now, that's not a great option.

For now, I'll just have to deal with the pain and try my hardest not to pick at it. When I'm lounging around in my sandals or flip-flops, I have a tendency to want to pick at it, but I'm just asking for trouble there.

Anyway, here's the toenail of honor:

I know the last thing you wanted was to see my toes up close and personal but at least now you have an image of this, and maybe it will inspire you to get some black toenails of your own!

Sibling rivalry

My brother Danny and I have a bit of a friendly rivalry, a long-standing brotherly rivalry. We're always trying to one-up each other, even though he knows deep down inside that I'm superior.

When I was dropping my weight and we started to participate in things together, ie playing soccer, running, just talking about exercise and fitness, it was great to have someone like that around. And it also took our rivalry up a notch. Now, he's always been a bit more active and fit than me... okay, not a bit but a lot... but still I felt like that was a good person to emulate a little and try to reach to his level. I knew I couldn't reach it but I figured if I tried to attain it and fell a little short, I'd still have come a long way.

As it was, Danny got me into racing. He helped me sign up for last year's Mud Run. I was excited about it and I thought about possibly trying to finish near him but figured he'd whip my ass and clean up the course with me.

As it was, I beat him! Okay, it was a bit of a tainted victory - or so he would claim - as he had two things going against him. He promised to run alongside his wife the whole time, and she's not fleet-of-feet; but he also got sick the week leading up to the Mud Run.

Still, I finished in 1:07:44 and he finished in about one hour, 20 minutes or so. Yup, that's me, beating my little bro in the race.

Well, I figured it would be tough to repeat the feat. He had set a goal of finishing under an hour and I have no such hopes of reaching such a finish. No, I'd be happy with finishing under my time from last year.

So this is a slam-dunk victory for Danny then, right? Well, not exactly.

That's Danny in the white shirt. That's his ankle bending in an unnatural position. The result?


The ankle's pretty swollen. His wife's a physical therapist and word from her and her work buddies is that Danny's ankle will require a good eight weeks to bounce back from its massive sprain.

The Mud Run is about six weeks away.

Looks like he won't have an easy victory over me after all.

So to Danny I say, in the nicest way possible, suck it, bro.

Black toenails

Earlier this year, my wife and I went to get pedicures. And as I sat down, I remember th...

... yeah, I get pedicures. What? I like 'em, alright....

Uh, anyway, the lady asked me if I wanted to paint my toenails. I was like, nah, I'm cool. I like to indulge but I gotta draw the line somewhere. But as my feet sat in the hot water and as the lady rubbed my feet and my legs and sent me into a blissful relaxation, I thought that it might be kind of cool to paint my toenails black. It'd be different, something I've never done before and black isn't really girly or anything. I'm not getting a pink flower on it or something, right? So what's the harm?

Ultimately, though, I didn't opt for black. But she slapped some clear nail polish on my toes anyway, because, uh, um... well, I just said screw it, okay? It was just for shits and giggles, I suppose.

Well, my toes have started to turn black and nail polish doesn't have anything to do with it. In January or so, the second toe on my right foot started to hurt, to the point where it bothered me while I ran. For a few days it hurt, and then it kinda went away. And my nail turned black. And it's still black.

Last week, the same toe on my left leg also went through the same process. It hurt for a few days, then the pain went away. And just yesterday, I realized that my nail was all black. Nice.

I showed my wife and she was not very happy with me. I kinda just lifted my toe up close so she could get a good look, so I might understand her initial displeasure. But I think it's pretty cool to be honest. I have matching black toenails. How cool is that?

We were having this conversation last night, and I told her that I felt that sort of made me a runner, an official runner. My bloody nipples are one thing, but to have something tangible like black toenails is pretty cool, like a... well, I called it a rite of passage but that wasn't quite right.

My wife said "like a badge of honor?"

Yeah! A badge of honor! That's it. my black toenails are my badges of honor.

I went and got my runner's handbook and looked up the index.

toenails 567-69

I flipped through there and found that I probably caused the black toenail situation by not having kept the nails short. Apparently, long toenails combined with the constant friction of running can cause blistering under the toenail. Blisters can turn black, and the book says to leave them alone if that happens.

At the end of the section on black toenails, it said the following, which I got a giant kick out of:

"Most runners experience black toenails. Consider it a badge of honor!'

Bump in the road

I haven't been able to update my running progress mostly because there's been no progress. I had wanted to get in some solid runs last week, three midweek runs along with a 10-mile jaunt on Sunday, but that didn't happen.

Life got in the way.

First, Sunday was quickly ruled out so I switched the run to Saturday. I felt good all day Friday, felt like I was going to be able to conquer the distance again. But on Friday night, I had one of those painful calf cramps that come from out of nowhere. I was sitting in my office chair, right here in front of the computer, doing nothing in particular when all of the sudden...

PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN

My calf screamed over and over again. It was about 15 seconds of torture, agony. May have been longer, but I'm just guessing. It seemed like a few minutes but I know I would have screamed or something if it had gone that long. I had to grit my teeth to stop myself from screaming and waking up the whole house in the process.

The calf pain was present on Saturday and I erred on the side of caution. I felt that if I were to push myself through, I might have done more harm than good. By Sunday, the pain was gone, but so was my chance to run 10 miles.

This week, I have a 13-mile run scheduled. I haven't yet but I need to check my original training plan to see if I should go through with it or if I should run 10 miles. For now, I'm planning on 13 but we'll see what The Book says.

Technology don't fail me now

Just got back from a 2.15 mile run. It was the first run since Friday's eight-mile run and I felt good. it felt good to get back out there. Physically everything went well.

But my downfall I believe will be technology. And today was a good illustration of that.

I run with lots of bells and whistles. Aside from the actual act of running and everything that goes with it, I've got plenty to keep me busy during a typical run. Here's a breakdown:

* iPod Part 1 of 2: I'm nothing without my iPod. I need music to run. I tell people all the time that without my iPod I'd still weigh 300 pounds.

* Headphones, Part 2 of 2: I worry about them sometimes. They slip off my ear, or they give out on me.

* Watch, Part 1 of 2: My watch goes around my left wrist and measures my heart rate, time and calories burned, though it only shows either the heart rate or time, not both. It goes with...

* Heart Rate Strap, Part 2 of 2: This attaches around my torso, and the actual part that measures the heart rate sits right underneath my sternum. I lovingly refer to it as my "man-bra" although it supports nothing. (here's a link to a picture of some guys wearing one)

* Garmin: I love it but I'm still trying to figure it out. I try not to look at it too often but it's difficult. The pace is quite intriguing.

Sometimes I feel like I'm going off to battle or something with the amount of gear I have on. Nevermind sunglasses if I need them, the Vaseline to prevent injury, etc. I've got plenty to keep me busy.

Now, lately my heart rate monitor has been irritating me. Not sure why but for the last few months I need to put the strap on about 30 minutes before a run in order for it to register a heart rate from the start of the run. I noticed that during soccer season as I wear it during every game I officiate. It's usually not a problem - I put it on, make sure it's secure and forget about it. I really don't feel it when I run, and I ran the Mud Run and the 10K while wearing it.

But when it fails you, it can throw off an entire run. This morning, for instance, I didn't have a lot of time to prepare for my run. I put the strap on before I did anything else, and by the time I was out on the street in front of my house warming up for my run, with iPod set to AC/DC, Garmin registering the GPS and my vaseline-lubed nips ready to go, my watch kept flashing "00" at me. No heart rate.

Oh well. I left without it. Now, I'd only wanted to run a couple of miles so I didn't want to linger. Had I been running intervals or something longer than two miles, I may have waited. As it was, though, I was irritated and didn't want to give it any more time and/or attention.

I ran for about a half mile before trying again. It finally kicked on and measured my heart rate. I felt more in a groove once that was on, since I got used to running with it and glancing at in order to help me maintain my pace and rhythm. Now with my Garmin, though, I have something else that will help me with my pace.

The run went well and I had no problems with my watch, the strap (sometimes it slips down because it's too loose but not today), the Garmin, the iPod or the headphones (the right one slipped off the ear a few times but nothing big). No, the biggest problem I had with my run today was, in fact, a physical one. My nipple is complaining again.

I guess I can't win for trying.