Only one required that I go to a doctor to get some peace of mind

I am VERY lucky because I have had very few injuries. Only one required that I go to a doctor to get some peace of mind. I run one rural roads in Pa with very severe slants on them for drainage. As a result my right hip started to hurt. I went to my usual running injury books and tried different shoes, less milage, heat, ice and advil. It was much better but not perfect so I ran on the other side of the roads. That did work but was not safe up on these roads. This was about a 3 month trail and error exploration.

So I decided to see a doctor to be sure I was not doing myself more damage and I also decided that running was the most important thing. So if I had to cut down on milage and not do marathons I was prepared to do that. The doctor found nothing wrong and suggested that I run on roads that were not slanted at all.

So that meant that I would be always doing hills up here. The only flat roads were in the middle on the rural routes ( difinitely not safe) or run on the side roads. All side roads up in our village are up the side of a mountain. Now I know why they call where our house is the FLATS. So for about a year I have been on hills, but flat, and I am doing fine. Once in a while the hip hurts but it is very managable.

MARGO LONG _ NEWFOUNDLAND , PA

Book Review: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

By Kate George


Perhaps his writing style is too conversational for my taste and his "metaphors" are certainly too literal. Nevertheless, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, is a wonderful book! It's helter-skelter sequencing and repetitive passages are like running itself. Isn't running always the same and always different? Don't runs always seem to meld together yet feel distinctive? I don't think Murakami is deep enough to have intended the book's structure to so closely parallel the experience of running but he accomplished it. It is a book that only a runner could understand.

Murakami's memoir made me reflect on my own running history. When I started seriously running in January of 2009 I wasn't registered for a race or on a team. I had no special clothing and very old shoes. Why did I hit the icy roads morning after morning before dawn? The streets called to me. They did! I would head out and one foot after another I would just lose myself. But at the same time I became more fully aware of myself than ever before- every muscle, every tendon, every heart beat, every breath. My mind emptied but when I returned home that awareness lingered. Sure, I was aware of sore muscles throughout the day especially after a particularly long or hard run. But it was more than that. As I learned to strengthen my muscles and control my breath, things that seemed impossible, like running ten miles, became easy. I was teaching myself control and the courage to press on through difficulties. This idea began to permeate other aspects of my life and things that I'd never noticed began to come into focus. Running taught me to see possibilities I'd never considered.

Murakami spends quite a bit of time talking about what running taught him about writing. It is of special interest to me because I am a runner who enjoys writing, though I am not a writer. The role of talent in an endeavor like writing is a subject that has always intrigued me. How much talent do you need? The question is difficult to answer because talent can't be measured, doled out as we please, saved, or multiplied. Murakami argues that although talent is important it is useless without FOCUS and ENDURANCE. Running taught him both things and made it possible for him to continue a long career as a writer. I agree with the assessment because running has helped me develop my own focus and endurance in writing, reading, problem-solving, and quilting. None of these things are accomplished easily or quickly. Writers have a saying, "Push through the hard parts...and they're all hard parts". Running long distances is the just the same: You run until you can't anymore...and then you run some more.

What I talk about When I talk about Running is a quick read for the season but it will stay with you long after the Summer turns to Fall.

I resumed training (judiciously) in the spring of 2009

After a 10+ year hiatus from running, I resumed training (judiciously) in the spring of 2009. By July I was feeling confident enough to enter the last two Al Goldstein 5Ks and was overjoyed to finish the first at a sub 10 minute pace and knock another 45 seconds per mile off the second race. It was such a great feeling to rejoin the running community that I immediately sent in my dues to both the PPTC and the NYRRC. Besides, I thought I could serve as a role model for slightly younger running fathers (and mothers) of twins who had attended PS 321 in Park Slope!

I kept going and was approaching 10K by Thanksgiving. Then my right knee started to hurt, a lot, more and more, and not just when I ran. I got a fancy knee brace and started icing regularly but soon I was spending more time treating the pain than actually running. I finally dragged myself to an orthopedist who delivered the bad news: torn cartilage. I could do physical therapy, stop running and probably walk around relatively pain free. Or, if I wanted to resume running, it was time to get my knee "scoped" and clean out the gunk. I might lose the summer, but I could be running again by the fall.

So that's why I'm sitting here today, July 14, six hours after the procedure, with my leg up, wrapped in an ice pack, hurting like hell but expecting that, after 4 to 6 weeks of rehab, I'm be back doing my laps of Prospect Park just in time for some beautiful fall running. And I'll still be able to beat my 16-year-old twins! Lucky for me, their 19-year-old brother will be back at college because I don't stand a chance against him anymore.

Murray Rosenblith