Been a good last week without traveling this past week. Starting Saturday I will not have a full week without travel at LEAST until January, possibly (but not likely) beyond.
On the running front, all is finally well. I ran 5 miles on Sunday, which felt great - the most I have done since the Long Beach Half Marathon. Although, as I came around to the final stretch at the 4.9 mile mark, the breeze in my face and euphoria of a great long run at its peak, I felt a leaf fall in my hair. Instinctively went to knock it out and BAM! Sharp pain shooting up my finger, hand, wrist, all the way into my upper arm. What the heck? In the midst of the sudden pain I looked over and saw a stupid ass bee fluttering to the ground. In hindsight I do regret not going over there and stomping the thing to pieces, but it is dead anyway. Plus, I was in full stride as this all happened in a total of maybe one second, so by the time I realized what had happened as with what I saw, I was already a good 30+ feet ahead, towards the finish. In the next two seconds, I looked at my hand, saw the stinger lodged inside of it, right at the base of my middle finger where it meets the palm, and mid-stride took it out. I sputtered over my makeshift finish line and instead of stretching and walking around for a cool-down, got straight into my car. Cranked the A/C and had a sip of water, my left hand now bright red and a tingling sensation of pain shooting through it.
On the running front, all is finally well. I ran 5 miles on Sunday, which felt great - the most I have done since the Long Beach Half Marathon. Although, as I came around to the final stretch at the 4.9 mile mark, the breeze in my face and euphoria of a great long run at its peak, I felt a leaf fall in my hair. Instinctively went to knock it out and BAM! Sharp pain shooting up my finger, hand, wrist, all the way into my upper arm. What the heck? In the midst of the sudden pain I looked over and saw a stupid ass bee fluttering to the ground. In hindsight I do regret not going over there and stomping the thing to pieces, but it is dead anyway. Plus, I was in full stride as this all happened in a total of maybe one second, so by the time I realized what had happened as with what I saw, I was already a good 30+ feet ahead, towards the finish. In the next two seconds, I looked at my hand, saw the stinger lodged inside of it, right at the base of my middle finger where it meets the palm, and mid-stride took it out. I sputtered over my makeshift finish line and instead of stretching and walking around for a cool-down, got straight into my car. Cranked the A/C and had a sip of water, my left hand now bright red and a tingling sensation of pain shooting through it.
What now? What do you do with a bee sting? I have been stung a couple dozen times (mainly on my hands, as with this case, but I have some fun stores of bee stings behind the ears, under the shirt... yeah, they like me - wonderful), but it has been a number of years. Called home, decided to run over to the pharmacy, and then realized I had no money. I had left my wallet in the apartment and only drove with my license. So, ran home, grabbed some frozen peas, which instantly made my hand feel a whole lot better, then at the pharmacy got some pepto bismol, and basically retired for the day.
All of that happened on Sunday. Today is Thursday. Yesterday was the first day the swelling was truly gone, and while there is still a nice mark there, today is the first day it isn't painful to put pressure on it (washing my hands has been all kinds of fun this week).
In any case - overall, minor thing, but one of those stories I deemed worthy for the blog. I digress...
The running part has been great. Did a 5K on Tuesday and hit a distance-accounting milestone of an 8:54/mile for the whole thing. Nowhere near my true fastest, but without a doubt the fastest I have run at that distance in a good 5 months. Yesterday I had an appointment with the podiatrist, who confirmed I am 100% healed from my little foot procedure three weeks ago. No need for any more medicine, protection, etc. Great news all around! Today I have a short little 2-miler to run, looking forward to it. :)
In other news, it has been an extremely hectic but rewarding work week. Tuesday night I was up working until 2:30am. Yesterday morning I was back cranking out paperwork at 6:45am. Just a small example, but really, I enjoy the crazy hours sometimes, especially in a great situation such as the example from this week. On the We Heart It front, it has been a great week as well. It looks like I will transition to start a hiring process for a few jobs within the organization. If you (or anyone you know) have skills in the world of social media, online advertising, possibly marketing, or even some really good core business experience, please shoot me an email and let me know if you are interested. Finer details coming soon!
On the hockey front, longtime readers will note that I withheld from hockey references in my last post, which is actually rather uncommon. Without scientific data to back this up, I would guess that 80% of my posts have some type of hockey references. Well, the background is at the time of posting last week, the Hawks were doing a decent job of stinking up what had been a pretty good start to the season. I figured the post was long enough as it is, and didn't want to get into it. In reward for my withholding a scathing attack on the defensive capabilities of Niklas Hjalmarsson, the Hawks have won four straight games, all by significant margins. Last night they went into Vancouver and sufficiently obliterated the Canucks in their own building. A (perhaps strange) hobby of mine is to read the Vancouver beat writer posts after their team manages to fail at every turn. Good stuff. The Hawks now lead the NHL standings and power rankings.
On the once-a-week intellectual/philosophical debate, many thanks to good men Adam S. and Alex F., who brought attention to the question of the impact of photography on travel. James Durston, of CNN, wrote a piece two days ago: "Photography has ruined travel." Mr. F (no, not the AD reference), inquired as to my opinion, and after reading, I obliged:
"Really interesting article and something I have toyed with myself. I guess I divide my actions based on a few different things. First, if the trip is a week or longer, and you are in some type of group, I always take every third or fourth day and leave the camera behind. Other people have great cameras, know how to take pictures, and I will end up with copies of anything. In place, I get to actually experience the places I visit with a more profound intimacy. Now - that said, I also consider photography to be one of the funnest parts of travel, especially if going solo. There is a hell of a lot to be said for taking a 12 mile hike through Anchorage by yourself, and taking a few minutes every half hour to snap some of the best pictures you will ever get. It is an art form, and in those experiences, the travel is both defined by the raw experience AND the photos you have taken. I think the overall point is to ensure you are properly balancing yourself - if you are behind the camera all day, you are really losing something, as evidenced by the writer's story (and, I confess, a few of my own). As for using your phone/google maps/yelp for good restaurants, again I think it depends on circumstance. For example: some of the best hole-in-the-wall restaurants I've found in NYC are thanks to Yelp. Indian in LA? Same deal. When I'm in Florence for four days? Not a chance - go with the locals, as that is part of the fun. I guess in short, I tend to rely more on these things within the US, and avoid them religiously while traveling internationally."
I still agree with my above take from yesterday, on reflection.
Wrapping up, should be a good afternoon and day tomorrow to wrap up the week, looking forward to getting home on Saturday and for some Turkey next week, running a 10K in the freezing sleet should be a ton of fun! :)
Here is some good reading on "Why firms go green," G Adventures Seven Wonders, and for your viewing pleasure, an INCREDIBLE mind-blowing video of our planet from the International Space Station, embedded below.
Have a great Thursday/Friday/weekend everybody and will try to post from Chi-town.
Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.
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