Shin splints, BOSU, and Halloween

So, I am sitting here this morning wondering if the pain on the front of my left shin is in fact shin splints, a malady I haven't suffered since I started running eight years ago or so. (Well, at least as far as I can remember.)

It's nice when a marathon hands out
ice packs in their goody bags.
Sure beats my frozen peas,
 and it's a nice, if not ironic
reminder of the race.

I've kind of had this pain off and on over the course of this crazy past summer.  It comes and it goes, and - frankly - because it mostly goes again, I haven't really given it much thought.  This latest resurgence came on after my eight-miler on Sunday.  I felt fine during the run, but when I finished and started stretching I could feel it.  I spent several minutes poking at the sore spot to figure out exactly where the irritation was coming from and it's been bothering me ever since.  Now, I don't know if it is the "poking at the wound" part that actually made it as bad as it is, or if it was bound to be that way anyway.  In any case, I am trying to ice my shin regularly and hoping for the best.  I know I haven't done the best job of keeping up with calf exercises or stretching, so I hope that adding those back into my regimen will help out.

In other news, I finally made it to my yoga/BOSU double feature at the Y.  I've been doing the yoga class for about a year now, and it was great as usual.  The BOSU cardio conditioning is new, and - holy man - was that a disaster!  First of all, I lack all coordination necessary to do these types of aerobic-set-to-music-step-pattern type classes.  Secondly, adding a bouncy BOSU to the mix I have decided is just malicious and sadistic.  Even when I managed to follow along with the instructor for those 2.5 seconds at a time, that

blue !@#$%& BOSU conspired to throw me off every time.  Talk about adding insult to injury.  I was so disgusted by the class that when we went into the storage room to get jump ropes halfway through, I had to ask my fellow torturees how long did the class go again?  Much to my relief they responded 45 minutes.  I had feared it was an hour.

As for the exercise value of the class, I imagine it would be a great, heart-pumping workout.  The instructor sure seemed to be working up a sweat and could hardly breathe.  For myself, I spent a lot time just marching in place trying to figure out the pattern of the moves.  I guess I'll give the class another shot.  Next week I won't wear my huge Nike Pegasus shoes, though.  I think I'll wear my Vibrams.  At least that will take away some of the bouncy element, and maybe being a little closer to the BOSU will allow me to feel my way a bit better.  I am a little concerned about hurting myself in this class, what with all the jumping involved. With any luck, though, this all will strengthen my legs, not cause more grievous injury.

Halloween 2011

Yesterday was Halloween, and we had a great time with the kids this year trick-or-treating.  Once again, I made their costumes, and I keep wondering when that will end.  As it is, this is the one time of year I allow myself to be creative. I imagine at some point, though, what I manage to put together will not be as cool as what can be bought in a store.  As it was, we had a great time with everything this year.  As the kids get older, it does get easier.... We hit three different Halloween events this past weekend, allowing the kids to get more use out of their costumes.  The little guy won second place in the pre-k/k costume contest at one.

And, both had a blast trick-or-treating.  They literally RAN the whole distance and came home with way more candy than we need.  I foresee a couple of days of gorging, and then we'll send what's left off to Andy's work for his co-workers to enjoy - because they don't get enough candy of their own.

And, to add to my enjoyment value of the holiday, I actually won a chili cook off at one event.  Granted, it was the vegetarian category, and there weren't too many entrants, but still!  Not bad considering I decided to do this the day of the event.  Yes, I am a nerd, but I'll take what I can get.