Hurts So Good

13. Jul, 2010 1 Comment

Saturday’s 12-miler at Lacamas Lake left me covered in bug bites. Apparently after an extended rainy Spring, the area has had a real problem with mosquitos. That left me to find new routes to explore for the rest of the week that I’m here.

For today’s 5-miler I stayed in the surrounding neighborhood. I ran a mile along one of the main streets that had alternating shoulders (I had to keep crossing the street) and was mostly grass or uneven dirt. I made my way to the local dog park where there was a 1-mile gravel/concrete path surrounding it. Then I went to the middle school where there’s a 1-mile paved path around its perimeter. With the run back, that left me with only 4 miles so I ran down another main street for half a mile, then back. I thought it would be easy to find the distance but I felt like I was struggled just to reach 5-miles. I am definitely not the adventurer.

For the past several days, the inside of my lower left leg (between the calf and ankle) has been really bothering me. I’m not sure what it is, but I really felt it on today’s run; it was so bothersome. Luckily, I had an appointment with my aunt’s massage therapist. She was incredible! Though my hips and lower legs were trouble areas, I also asked her to work on my right scapula (too much computer time). Though it hurt immensely (the good kind of hurt), she found all the troubled spots — on both sides! Turns out my left shoulder was even tighter than the right one and I didn’t even know it. She worked her magic and got all the knots out.

I think she works well for me because we are both petite so her elbows and fingers just “fit.” For example, when someone with a bigger elbow uses it to try to get to a spot on my back it usually is too big to fit the “spaces” and ends up hitting the bone, which hurts (in a bad way). Not the case with Brianna. Its so ridiculously awesome to find a massage therapist who understands exactly where you need to be worked on. She ended up spending a ton of time on my shoulders and only had a few minutes to work on my hips, legs and glutes. So, I am going back for a 90-minute session later this week! Gotta take advantage of it while I’m still here! And by the way, both massages will equal the price of one in the Bay Area…

Later in the day we watched another Columbia All-Star’s game…3rd game in 3 days. My cousin Riley pitched and got the win in yesterday’s game. In today’s 18-8 win (won in 5 innings due to the mercy rule), he went 4-4 and was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. They are the only unbeaten team at 6-0 and have 1 game left before heading into the playoffs. Here’s video I took on my Flip camera of his 3-run homerun:

After dinner we headed for sushi, where all plates are $1. Between 4 of us, we finished 26 plates in 25 minutes…

I guess winnings makes you hungry!

…And now for your daily dose of Chip…

Someone once told my family that they have never heard a family talk more about their dog. That’s how much Chip is loved. I sometimes think he acts more human than dog. So every post I’ll write while I’m here will have a little dose of Chip!

For now I leave you with this photo of him watching us leave for the game…breaks my heart to see him so sad…