This week in training and stuff

I had an appointment with my hand specialist scheduled before my last fall, so I got it looked at unusually fast. Most scaphoid fractures require a cast that go over the thumb and all the way to the elbow - I don't need one! The swelling has already dropped and the bruising is reabsorbing quickly; I can hold 1 lb. for a minute already, so I'm hoping I can be able to carry a water bottle soon.

Monday: 8 in 74. Beautiful day. Saw the North St. Paul track team practice in front of my house; one of the true signs of spring.

Tuesday: 10 in 73. Having problems with sore throat and digestive trouble, but managed a good fast run and felt like a runner again.

Wednesday: 6.5 in 73 on the trails at Battle Creek. Saw the first butterfly of the year. There was a lot of ice, but I managed to slip and slide without any falls. There's some new single-track I followed - went past the "No hiking" sign, past the logs dropped to halt erosion (and creating a nice waterfall), past the remnants of yellow Caution tape and didn't worry until I saw the deer tracks. A deer slid and fell there! It's not safe for deer?! What am I doing here!? Tore my legs up in the thistles and raspberry bushes, trying to extricate myself. This is... fun.

Thursday: 3 in 29. Planned on doing intervals. Did 1/2 mile in 3 minutes and felt my left calf tear. Not serious, but I quit while I still could.

Friday: 8 in 79. Very fatigued. Calf pain in the last mile. Looked forward to Afton Saturday.

Saturday: 15.5 in 3:12 at Afton, with Matt, Bill P., Zach, Carl, Karen. Having navigated the ice at Battle Creek, I decided not to use traction - big, big mistake. I had a fall, on my bad hand, and shook it off. On the snowshoe loop, I had a bad fall, also on the bad hand, and this one was serious. The rest of the way, I had to navigate very carefully and there were places where the only way to go required using that hand for support. Afterward, had x-rays which showed a break in the scaphoid bone of the wrist.

Sunday: 3 in 27. Wrist is a real problem.

Stuff

"A man can get through anything if he can jest keep on walking." - Wm. Faulkner, The Mansion.
That was going to be my first line for my Zumbro race report.

On Monday, I ran past the Channel 9 news team at Phalen Park (where runners have been attacked lately). On Tuesday, they were at the library as I returned The Mansion. On Wednesday, as I drove back from Battle Creek, they were at Hwy 61 and Burns, where they were doing another live shot. Hey, KMSP, I should be getting screen credits!

Grammar lesson. There are two different commercial campaigns that both irk me for the same reason. One is Gardasil's "I could be one less" adds. If you can enumerate it, it's one FEWER, not one LESS. The other is Gatorade G2's "Less calories." You can count calories, so again, it's fewer, not less. If you have a heap of sand and remove some of it, you have less of a heap and fewer grains of sand. Fewer than three weeks until Zumbro, less time to prepare!

Meeting chefs
On Thursday, I was in a Cantonese restaurant. I know almost enough Mandarin to order in a Chinese restaurant, but Cantonese is different. I asked how they make Hon Sue Gai and was answered in Cantonese (they assumed that, as I could pronounce it, I could understand it). The chef came out to see the American who ordered in Cantonese. This is the third time that this has happened to me and it's a special joy.

The first time, I was in a family restaurant in Wenatchee, WA and wasn't hungry, so I ordered the children's breakfast. The waiter paused. "The... children's... breakfast... yes, sir." He went to the kitchen, the chef looked out at me and the two of them started having an animated conversation. After what seemed like a long time, my breakfast came: Orange juice, milk, coffee, waffles, pancakes, eggs, bacon, ham, grapefruit, hash browns... "This is the children's breakfast?" I exclaimed. "Well, yes sir," the waiter answered, pointing to the menu, "the meal is scaled to the size of the child. You're at least 4 times the size of anyone else who's had it!" We all laughed; they would never do that again.

The next time, I was in a truck stop in Indiana. I looked at the menu and everything was standard truck stop fare until I saw they served menudo. Other than the name of a boy band, I had no idea what menudo was, but I knew that the odd things on menus are usually specialities, kept on because the loyal customers demand it. So I ordered it. It's tripe in marinara. After I ordered it, the chef looked out of the kitchen, back and forth across the place a couple of times. I asked the waitress what was up and she said that only the Mexican truckers who bring in their supplies ever order it, so the chef was expecting his friends to be there and was curious because he wasn't expecting a delivery.