Corkscrews & Cadence: “Forceps, please.”

That’s a phrase I heard all too many times a few days back. Hi, hello, hola amigos and amigas. We’re back with another entry for your reading pleasure. I know, we haven’t been super active. It’s hard to think up things to write when you’re not actively training. If you can hang on for at least a month, I swear, things will be ramping up all too quickly again.

Anywho, back to the reason the word forceps made it into the title. Raise your hand if you still have your wisdom teeth and you are more than capable of being called an adult? While the second half of that may be questionable to many people I’ve met that are my age, the truth is I held on to mine as long as I could. The time came, though. After 2.5 hours in the chair of death, many thousand squeezes of a stress ball, and like 27 shots of Novocain, I said Godspeed to those mothers. I had the procedure done right in office, no anesthesia required as they were erupted. I wouldn’t have wanted it anyway. I like to know what is going on at all times, who’s hands are in my mouth, and what tools are being used. I feel like if I didn’t explain things first before that last line, we’d be diving into Fifty Shades of Gray. I also don’t want to see them after they come out. “But you worked in the medical field, how does that gross you out?” I mean, I’ll look at your super gross, bloody wound and I’ll want to see the x-ray of your completely fractured clavicle but teeth are a whole other level of nope. The timing couldn’t have been better, though. We’re set to leave for California in a few weeks and, as already mentioned, race training is around the corner. I’m not in pain, just really sore and really tired, probably from the lack of food. I feel like one of those women on those “cleanse” diets who thinks they’ll magically lose a bunch of weight by not eating or restricting themselves of a food group. News flash, if you eat like a human being, you’ll be fine.

Let’s reel it back in and talk some running, eh? I mean, I’d like to think that’s one reason you’re here. Running has occurred. If you remember me saying May was a strength focus month then you know the mileage has been low. There are two workouts I’d love to showcase, though.

First off, a hill repeat workout. Who does those willingly and also isn’t currently training for a race? Apparently I do. My friend and fellow Nuun Ambassador buddy, Lauren, invited me along to this one. While I thought it was going to be death do us part, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Our paces really impressed me, especially for not being prepared. I mean, if you’ve never been to Arizona, or at least to my town of Fountain Hills, no run is flat. You will encounter an incline and decline multiple times. It’s seriously unavoidable unless you find a track or a straightaway like I had to during my Fartlek workouts back during 5K training. The second run felt like the strongest one I’ve had in a while. Maybe it was because it was 20 degrees cooler than normal and I was like a gazelle in the headwind. Either way, I was galloping around the lake with all of my 5’3” might. It’s funny to look back at my training from last year’s half and full and how I thought running 9:15-9:30min/miles was slow but now I think that’s fast to me. Heck, I’m proud of just putting one foot in front of the other nowadays. Alas, I did put in a 5 miler the day of surgery and now, it’s questionable as to when I’ll go back out. I hope to after a week. I’m not rushing this.

I’m not one to just sit on my ass all day without a purpose so this recovery is not exactly my definition of a good time. I have, however, been able to finish another book! I don’t think I’ve ever done that in two days. I’m not a fast reader. With nothing else to do and not enough mind power to focus on studying, I busted out “The Incomplete Book of Running” by Peter Sagal.

I’m a huge NPR fan. I hate normal radio and prefer talk radio over anything most days. If you aren’t familiar with Peter, he is the host of NPR’s ‘Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me’ show. Someone had posted an excerpt from it in one of my running groups (The Badass Lady Gang), so I had to check it out. First of all, I had no idea Sagal was a runner, let alone a finisher of multiple marathons. He was present the day of the Boston bombings, providing guide to a blind runner, and barely made it across the finish line with a few minutes to spare before the first bomb went off. It’s an incredible, humorous, and humble story. And yes, the library is still a place I frequently visit.

Is it recipe time? Yep! If you know me well enough, you know my love for burritos is high up there. I honestly love food wrapped in tortillas. I had never made them for meal prep but long and behold, the time came! While I’m no chipotle-wrapping pro, I will say they were quite easy to make and tasted rather delicious. They get a little soggy, though, so we’ll have to figure out how to not make that happen. Nonetheless, I’d make them again in a heartbeat. A great mix of carbs and protein. These are vegetarian, too! You can find the recipe linked here.