Keeping it Short and Sweet

Y'all. I defend my thesis in three days. I'd say that I'm calm, cool, and collected about the whole thing, but I think y'all know me well enough to know that that's not the case. I've also started planning my move out of Portland. Not to mention this job search that seems endless. Between all of that, I'm surprised I haven't melted down yet. I may have procured a pint of Ben & Jerry's Cannoli ice cream the other night to help with stress relief. Bad news, people. Especially when you have lactose issues. (Damn you, Ben & Jerry's! Why do you have to be so delicious and irresistible in my times of stress??)

I will, however, say that I'm ready for the thesis dreams/nightmares to end, and to stop thinking about this presentation on my runs. (Yes, that did happen.)

Last week's workouts (week ending 6/2)
Running - x5 (30.34 miles total)
Cycling - N/A
Core - x2
Strength - x2
Foam rolling - x3
Salt bath - x1

I met my goal last week of doing two strength workouts and two core workouts. I ended up using one of my days off from running to focus on core. I think it worked out nicely.

The weirdest thing happened on Wednesday. I was running, and after about mile 4.9, my right heel felt like it had rubbed against the back of my shoe too much. I was only planning on 10K, so I decided to tough it out. When I finally stopped, it looked pretty raw. I was wearing my PureFlows (which I've used since March without issue), so I figured it was the socks (they were very worn and thin).

My heel, post-run

Fast forward to Thursday. I used thicker socks and my Mirages. Same thing, except this time, the damn thing bled on my shoe. And with the exception of a few hours on Thursday night, I wore my Birkenstock clogs exclusively between that run and Saturday morning.

Fast forward to Saturday. I decided to wear a pair of Balega socks, because they cover the affected area. Still pain, along with a bloody sock and shoe. I had to Google "removing blood from clothes" to find a good laundry trick for getting the blood off of my sock and shoe.

Fast forward to Sunday. The masochist in me decided that I didn't want to miss a day of running for something that doesn't even seem like a legit injury. Before I left, I had the brilliant idea of putting vaseline (and by vaseline, I mean antibacterial ointment, because that's what I had on-hand) on the scab. And you know what? It worked. Now if only I knew what caused the issue in the first place.

And with all of that being said, I'm off to try and keep myself relaxed. And (hopefully) not aggravate my lactose issues.

PS "Spirit of the Marathon II" comes out on June 12! Who wants to come see it with me??

How do you deal with stress (other than running, of course)?