MY BIRTHDAY!

(For those of you that sent puppies I haven’t received any yet, so I’m extending my birthday through Thanksgiving to account for extra shipping time.)

In honor of this momentous day in my life, I have bit of fun news to share….

Running on Hungry will here on out be known as Vine to Wind.

(So if you’ll please do me a solid and update your Google Reader/bookmarks/etc, I’d greatly appreciate it.)

Why the change?

When I started Running on Hungry about a year and a half ago, it was all running and a little healthy living- I felt like if I went outside of the constraints I had set for myself, and wrote about anything else happening in my life (San Francisco life, wine, travel, other workouts, daily life, humor) I was losing direction of my blog.

The Bay Area is such an incredible place, that I wanted a blog title/direction that would accurately portray all aspects of my life – not just the running part.

So Why Vine to Wind?

Contrary to popular belief, the “Wind” isn’t referring to air blowing in a rapid direction. It refers to the windiest street in the world, Lombard, in San Francisco. And that vine? The vineyards of Wine County about an hour north. (So quite literally encompassing life in the Bay Area – I’m so clever it hurts sometimes.)

With this title, and new direction I hope to share more – still plenty of running, healthy recipes (coughmealideascough), travel, SF life, restaurants, pilates, spinning, and so much more. Nothing will change on the blog aside from the title, URL and the look of it (goodbye free WordPress generic theme that I loathed from Day 1), it just makes me feel like I have more of a creative license to talk about things aside from running.

And it looks so much prettier too.

Also a HUGE THANK YOU to Jenny from PeanutButterJenny Designs for creating the best blog design I could have ever asked for. She literally read my mind. Highly, highly, highly recommend her if you are looking for an amazing web designer.

Hope you continue to follow along… but if not… well there’s really nothing I can do about it. But I’d love it if you did.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend.

Cheers!

It was an incredibly triumphant and proud moment mixed with a post-run feeling of extreme frustration.

The good:

• 8 minutes, .6 miles NO PAIN
• Upped the speed from 4.8 to 5.0 (watch your back Kara Goucher, there’s a new speed demon in town)
• FELT SO FREAKING GOOD

It’s just that it’s shiny, it’s new, it’s exciting, and it makes me feel amazing.

Guilty.

Since “the day which will never be spoken about, ever” occurred I’ve had to get a bit… creative with my workouts.

Week 1 was a lot of sulking, pity partying, crutching, and a little half-assed stationary biking.

Week 2 brought more stationary biking, a few swims, and some abs. (Okay, one session of abs. For 5 minutes.)

Then Week 3 happened. Week 3 meant the end of the boot. And the intro to “The Week of Running Shoes”. I added Pilates back into my life, some extremely unsatisfying Arc Trainer-ing, more upright biking… and a walk at an intense incline for a mile. The last day of Week 3 brought the introduction of my new workout fling.

I joined a spinning studio and proceeded to get my butt whipped. I haven’t worked that hard for 40 minutes… ever. Not an exaggeration, not being dramatic. I’ve literally never exerted so much effort without stopping. This is basically my life during spin class.

Minutes 0-38 went like this:

I internally cursed the instructor (about 11 times). I hated her music. I hated her face. I hated her stupid microphone. I hated everything about her. I hated spin. It wasn’t fun. It was never going to end. I couldn’t breathe. It was too sweaty. Why didn’t I bring WATER?

Minutes 39-41 were more like this:

I. LOVE. YOU. You are perfect. Your music is just right. That microphone is genius – we can all hear you so much better. Spin is glorious. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done. I feel alive. I feel strong. I’m STARVING. What should I eat? Endorphins I’ve missed you so.

This is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

A relationship I continued leading into Week 4. This is what I’m working with thus far:

Sunday - Spin

Monday - 30 minutes cardio (4 minutes running, 26 minutes ArcTrainer-ing), Pilates

Tuesday - Spin

To add to my spin loving week, this was just announced:

SF is finally getting a SoulCycle! I can’t tell you how long I’ve been reading about this workout, hearing about it from my NYC and LA based friends, and getting more and more jealous of their love affair with this sweaty, ridiculously hard indoor cycling workout.

I want in.

I also want to spin next to the numerous celebrities my friend sees at her NYC studio every single day, but baby steps. Just give me the class.

Does spinning replace running for me? Not a chance. I’ve never wanted to just bundle up, throw on my favorite running tights and zip-up, hit play on my Shuffle, get outside and move more that I do lately. But that will come. In time.

For now I’ll just have to hop on the bike, crank up the resistance, curse out some innocent instructor for 38 minutes, then profess my undying love for their profession 2 minutes later.

Endorphins are endorphins, and as far as I’m concerned… this is the closest I’m getting to a full on runner’s high. And endless running hunger. (Do yourself a favor and make this - I did a gluten-free version last night and wanted to hug every bite.)

Besides, Lululemon just came out with a Spin line. Frankly, it seems like fate.

It’s officially been 28 days of ZERO RUNNING. Minus the “practice stride” I took in the garage on Saturday to find out if I still remembered how to run. (Good news – initial reports say yes.)

Today I marched over to the gym at work (in normal shoes – thank the heavens above) determined to show Stella a thing or two about getting your groove back. (See what I did there with the movie title pun?)

The Pure Flows were laced tight (the right one was actually too tight and I lost circulation in my baby toe shortly thereafter but that is neither here nor there), the latest issue of Runner’s World was propped up, I set the speed to 4.8 (yes, really), and I “ran”.

FOR 4 MINUTES.

Let’s ignore the fact that some people can walk at a 4.8 pace. I WAS RUNNING (okay, jogging) for 0.25 miles.

Is it possible to get runner’s high after less than 4 minutes of actually running? I SAY YES.

And then I panicked, walked at an incline to round out a mile and moved on to my new frenemy the Arc Trainer for another 25 minutes. Let’s talk about the most unsatisfying workout in the entire world – Arc Trainer. I would rather have been at Mile 24 in a Marathon and forced to consume steamed broccoli mixed with Gu (BARF) while running than spend another minute on the Arc Trainer. (I’m honestly not exaggerating in the slightest either.)

In an ironic twist of fate, the zip-up I got after the NWM Half Marathon (also known as “the day that will not be spoken about ever again”) was the zip-up I had in my bag. So I flipped off fate and destiny, and pulled it on, feeling all the more triumphant for doing so.

(Let’s insert a refreshing dose of honesty here: Am I scared I’ll never get back to my comfortable 8:30/pace? Sure am. Will I put in the work to get there?  Sure will.)

But let’s ignore all that and focus on the important stuff.

Run. 4 Minutes. NO PAIN.

I think I’ll get all crazy tomorrow and go for 6.

What’s up now stress fracture?

I work approximately one hour (sometimes +) from where I live, so grabbing the early shuttle is necessary 4 out of 5 days a week. This means waking up at 5:15am to attempt to put some semblance of effort into my appearance – run a flat iron through my hair (the keratin treatment I got a couple of weeks ago has literally changed my life and I will never go without them again), throw some tinted moisturizer, eyeliner, and mascara on, get dressed in a pre-selected outfit from the night before (I have a slight “shopping addiction” – some may call it “shopaholism” and I do not take getting dressed lightly) and run out the door to catch the 6:20am bus.

Yes I just made up “shopaholism” but in my opinion, it works.

Only lately it’s been all of the above… minus the “run” out the door. The word “run” has been entirely abI don’t want to constantly be thinking about it. Some people may also call this “DENIAL” but I am not one of those people.

Week before last, I was able to function at work without crutches. By the end of the week I was booting around like I owned the place. I had a follow-up with the Foot Doctor (I believe we call them Podiatrists) that Friday afternoon and I went in with very little expectations.

He squeezed the living hell out of my heel, and, much to my surprise, I had no pain…. not even the slightest hint of discomfort.

He explained that with stress fractures it’s not so much the actual bone breaking, but the fibers that make up the bone breaking down. The recommended treatment is to rest, stay off of it, and cross train to allow the fibers that build the bone back up to replenish and take over the fibers that break the bone down. Basically there has been World War 3 happening in my heel the past 3 weeks.

My stress fracture was a repetitive overuse injury. The constant motion of running (lately in less than how do you say “supportive shoes”) lead the fibers that break down the bone to overtake the fibers that build it back up… and here we are.

Needless to say my Brooks Pure Flows are now a permanent part of my wardrobe and will be the only shoes I run in (whenever that happens again – really any day now foot, I’m waiting on you) . Sorry Vivo Barefoots, but we can still walk together. Preferably with a dog.

At the end of the appointment the doc said those magical words: “I WANT YOU OUT OF THE BOOT.”

Say whaaaaat?

Evidently if you wear a boot for too long you start overcompensating on your right side (I already was because I have little to no coordination in life in general) and run the risk of injuring your other foot. He didn’t want that. I certainly agreed.

So last Saturday morning, for the first time in 3 weeks… I walked normally.

I  put on my running shoes, and made a slow, but pain-free walk up a few blocks to meet my mom for brunch. As the weekend went on I walked more and more (still slowly) without pain. Brooks Pure Flows I’ve never loved you so much.

Oh look another completely unrelated picture of a dog that isn’t mine on this blog. I don’t even care, she’s so darn cute and will soon be at my desk on a daily basis.

The caveat was – I had to wear running shoes last week. My beautiful shoe collection has never felt so neglected.

I took “wear running shoes this week” to also mean “wear Lululemon with your running shoes this week”. And so that is exactly what I did.

My office is pretty casual so I wasn’t crazy out of place in my active-wear best, and I won’t lie, it’s been pretty cozy and lovely and all… but I wanted out of workout clothes/shoes and into my clothes.

I was in a state of denial last Monday (weird I know) and wore a low wedge to offset the pressure to the heel. Then I just accepted it and went with the running shoes the rest of the week. I’m happy to report that in my running shoes I can walk at a bit faster of a speed (like 3.1 miles an hour instead of 1) without any pain. Today I’m finally, finally wearing normal boots. Not the kind you pump up with air that weighs 10 pounds. That makes me happy.

Something else that makes me happy? A totally original photo of the RED CUPS Starbucks has finally started handing out. (In my opinion this should be every season.) I also realize I’m the first person to post a photograph on a social networking site of said red cup. I march to the beat of my own drum.

Dr. Foot Man also told me I could try jogging for 10 minutes on the treadmill on Wednesday. That would be ~5 days ago. My foot was a little sore so I’ve been opting for Pilates, Barre, Arc Trainer-ing (I refuse to Elliptical), and upright Stationary Biking.

I walked for a mile on Friday on the treadmill (while watching our new obsession Breaking Bad on the iPad), and then completed a circuit of Arc Trainer-ing and biking. Saturday was Pilates and Sunday was a spin class. I’m thinking today may be the first attempt at a 10-minute jog… depending entirely on my foot. I want to heal fully and completely before I remotely introduce running back in.

Especially because I may or may not have 4+ half-marathons that I’m already registered for in 2013. But that’s for tomorrow’s post.

Heel it’s time to heal. Go Time. Let’s do this.

I will leave you with the single greatest iPhone application I’ve found to date – WEATHER PUPPY.

You can thank me later. In the form of puppies.

Happy Monday

I lasted approximately 6 hours.

And 3 Green Juices.

Then I broke. And had a latte and a Lara Bar.

NOT STRONG ENOUGH.

I was dying without caffeine/solid food!

For some reason my will-power just wasn’t there. Not for any reason, I just simply wasn’t feeling it. So I just decided to “modify” the cleanse a bit… and drink 2 Green Juices a day, and replace 1 meal with the Cashew Milk drink.

Then since I figured I was on the straight and narrow, this happened.

No your eyes aren’t deceiving you – that is PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE, CHOCOLATE CREME BRULEE and TIRAMISU. Also known as heaven.

Sorry I’m not sorry.

Why?

Oh just because the GIANTS SWEPT THE TIGERS TO WIN THE WORLD SERIES IN 4 GAMES.

Posey running to the pitcher’s mound after the final out is my all-time favorite moment of the World Series win in 2010 and 2012. It just doesn’t get any better than that.

Boyfriend and I watched the game at Nick’s Crispy Tacos in Russian Hill with some friends, and a few hundred other Giants fans. Once the final strike was called… well Polk Street pretty much exploded in celebration.

Also the Giants have been undefeated since the boot came on to my stress fractured heel. Coincidence? I don’t think so. You’re welcome world.

After being right in the thick of the revelry in 2010, the boot and I opted to drive home and listen to the madness from the safe distance of the apartment. We had a pretty good view of it all from where the car was parked off of Polk Street (thank you handicap parking placard). Boyfriend stayed out a bit longer to celebrate with the guys and take it all in, but needless to say I was more than happy to not come home covered in beer and champagne. If I have to wear this boot a few more weeks I’d rather it didn’t smell like stale alcohol.

The World Series win couldn’t have come at a better time, since today Jaime and I started a 2-Day Thrive Juice Cleanse!

Jaime discovered Thrive, which operates out of Nectar Wine Bar in the Marina during the day and I’ve been in no less than 10 times to pick up green juices. She did their cleanse, raved about it, and I immediately wanted in.

I picked up my juices yesterday (Megan and Stephanie, the owners are SO NICE), and couldn’t wait to get started. I bought a couple extra Green Dreams and Tropical Greens so that I could get my system used to the juices yesterday, but officially started today.

Last week was full of eating out, lots of wine and margaritas, sweet potato fries, and over indulging for the World Series. Add to it less than usual exercise (stuck on crutches will do that to a person), sitting on the couch for 10+ hours a day, and I was feeling a bit…. blah.

Cleansing seemed like the perfect solution. Detox, flush out toxins, and get back on track.

And really, how could overloading my body with Vegetable Juice for 48 hours not help my foot heal? It’s practically science.

I’m doing the Deep Dive Cleanse for 2 (and possibly 3) days. It includes:

• 4 Green Dreams
• 1 Lively Lemonade (my favorite!)
• 1 Cozy Cashew Milk (which I plan to dump in a blender with a few ice cubes and some nut meg and make into a milkshake tonight)
• 1 Aloe Vera Capsule (benefits of Aloe Vera capsules can be found here)

I also subbed out one of my Green Dreams for a Tropical Green (in which they swap the apple for pineapple for a little change of pace.) Really getting wild over here, I know.

This is my second time cleansing so I know what to expect (being cold, feeling weak, etc), and what not to do this time around (attempt to run or do pilates which I actually can’t do with a stress fractured heel… so that’s a win for the broken foot) so I feel more prepared for what’s to come over the next 2 days.

Workout wise, I plan to rest today (worked out Friday/Saturday/Sunday this past weekend) and then swim on Tuesday and bike on Wednesday. Nothing crazy strenuous, but enough to get some type of sweating into my day. (Stress fracture exercise update to come this week.)

With that, it’s time for Green Dream #3. Woo hoo lunchtime!

And I mean really move.

I re-joined my gym (left when I took my job in Silicon Valley – didn’t seem to make sense since they have gym facilities there) for one very large reason – the pool.

After dropping $70 on Amazon the other day, my swim gear finally arrived on Friday evening. And my career to becoming a professional swimming began yesterday.

You don’t have to tell me, I already know that cap makes me look pretty badass.

Boyfriend and I made our way to the gym, I crutched to the pool area, stuck a toe in the water, thought eff it, and dove right in.

I started with a 200 yard warm-up and for the first time in 2 weeks I felt free. I finally had that feeling I get when I’m on a really amazing run and I feel like I’m on top of the world.

I swam competitively for ~10 years so jumping back in the pool felt completely natural. It reminded me of all those summer mornings spent on the pool deck at practice, hitting intervals, and going through all the kicking, pulling and sprint sets.

It. Was. Awesome.

My workout looked like this:

• 200 yard warm-up freestyle
• 8 x 100 yard freestyle
• 50 fly (just to see if I still had it – and while it’s not as pretty as it once was… I still got it!)
• 200 yard cool-down freestyle

Total yards: 1250

I left feeling friggin’ amazing. The best I’ve felt in weeks. Endorphins I’ve missed you so! (I’m sorry cyclists, but biking does nothing for endorphins when you’re used to a runner’s high.)

I’ve certainly had my share of ups and downs while dealing with this injury. It frustrates me to no end that this recovery is (basically) completely out of my control. I can stay off it, rehab it, eat healthy, and get enough sleep, but for the most part it will heal when it wants to heal.

And for a control-freak like myself this is simply unacceptable. I’m used to being independent and self-sufficient. I like to make other people’s lives easier, not burden them with extra responsibilities and tasks. When I’m faced with a problem, I find a solution. I then apply that solution to make the problem go away.

With a broken heel that just doesn’t happen, and it drives me absolutely crazy. I hate feeling like the simplest of tasks – like taking the trash out this morning (after having several friends over for snacks, drinks and the Giants game last night made for quite a bit of it) is impossible to do on crutches and I constantly have to ask for assistance. I’ve never been so reliant on other people to do things for me, and it’s something that is definitely taking some getting used to.

Boyfriend has been absolutely amazing – driving me to and from places, helping me in every single way possible and being so understanding and supportive and there for me 24/7. I literally can’t thank him enough, but I’ll certainly try.

I’m taking it a day (and a swim) at a time, but I’m hopeful I can ditch these darn crutches soon. They’re seriously cramping my style. (Literally and figuratively.)

Also friggin’ amazing? My alma mater Arizona UPSET USC to take the win, and the Giants beat the Tigers to go up 3-0 in the WORLD SERIES.

Vogelsong for the win.

With that, I’m off to the pool again… 1400 yards is the goal for today! (For Game 4 of the WS!)

Happy Sunday! (And GO GIANTS!)

The Giants are going to the WORLD SERIES! Sorry Cards, I bet that was a rough flight back to St Louis. The boot/crutches and I are currently 2-for-2 with Giants blowout wins.

I guess I’ll keep it on for the World Series. I owe it to the team.

But moving on.

I worked from home yesterday and today in an effort to keep my foot elevated, iced, and overall RICE-d. I’m really, really hoping it’s working. Especially because this was announced this morning:

SF finally got a Rock n Roll Half-Marathon! I’m already signed up for a couple of halves in early 2013 and I’m banking on being able to run those… and this. I’ll even “jog”. (I can learn what that is…)

I’m finding that just staying completely off it is the key – it doesn’t hurt that way, the swelling goes down, and I’m less apt to run into a wall, or slam my hand in the car door (that actually happened yesterday) trying to maneuver with crutches.

My mom being the SAINT that she is, drove to SF this afternoon with bags full of Trader Joes groceries, fresh flowers, homemade Chicken Tortilla Soup, and this little gem:

THE GLUTEN FREE TABLE! I can’t wait to make everything in this cookbook.

And yes, I mean everything. 

It’s by Emeril Lagasse’s daughters who both have Celiac disease and everything looks delicious. Next cooking project? found.

This homemade chicken tortilla soup courtesy of my mom did not disappoint.

She also helped me out with a little cleaning and laundry and I can’t thank her enough. Seriously mom you are the BEST.

While it became clear to me yesterday that Pilates classes probably aren’t going to happen (between moving, putting weight on the foot and not wanting gigantic triceps from both Pilates and the crutches – it’s clear I should just wait until my foot is functioning again), and spin classes are pretty much the exact same as riding a stationary bike since I can’t really stand-up, jump, etc… I’ve decided to focus on swimming and biking.

I decided to hit the gym for some biking this afternoon – I covered about 11.5 miles while I read the latest Fitness/Women’s Health (sidebar – I ‘m not a fan of either of these magazines and yet they keep coming) then did a few sets of abs (on my back, no weight bearing don’t worry Mom). I set it to the Hill Program, Level 7, and aside from the fact that my bottom was completely numb at the end of it – I felt pretty strong. Ab wise – lets just say I’m glad I finished both sets of the 3 exercises.

My next endeavor – finding a pool to swim in.

Also buying more of these juices. Jaime introduced me to Thrive juices – they operate out of Nectar Wine Bar in the Marina during the day, and sell juices and cleanses online. I tried the Green Dream today and it was amaaaazing. (And I swear, at one point, actually green.)

I could be up for another 3-day cleanse.

With that it’s time for dinner… and more RICE-ing my foot. C’mon bone… HEAL!