Random Friday thoughts ( running and non-running)

1. Personal:  I haven't been updating recently, simply because I've had too much to balance.  When life gets hectic, social media falls to the wayside.  I do have quite a few topics to bloviate on (love that word) and will be doing so in the near future.  Promise.
   
   
2. Helpful running hint: if you are taping your feet before running, it can be near impossible to don a sock, especially a compression sock, without disturbing your careful taping job.  The solution?  Take a trouser stocking (made of pantyhose material and available at CVS), and cut it so that it's ankle height.  Then, after you tape your foot, pull the cut stocking over your foot.  Then put on your normal sock/compression sock - the compression sock will slide on without disrupting the tape job.
3. Personal:  I ran my cat to the animal hospital back at the beginning of December when I noted she was acting a bit odd (sluggish, hiding).   Glad I did.  It turned out that she had a major kidney infection, requiring 4 days hospitalization. 
   
   

   

   Kitty daily hydration. 
   My hand for scale.

   

   Mina in her hospital "room"

   
   Now she's home -- it appears that in addition to the acute kidney infection, she has some chronic kidney disease, requiring permanent management, including daily subcutaneous fluid injections to hydrate.    Fun times.  Luckily, my cat is cuddly, affectionate, and dumb, and hasn't yet figured out that 6 pm playandhug time is also shot time.
   
   Any runners dealing with chronic hydration issues are welcome to reach out to me for help - I've become quite an expert at finding the right fold of skin.  It can't be too much different for people, can it?
4. Helpful running hint: have difficulty keeping your hands warm in the winter?  I have a fairly severe case of raynauds, and this is something I've had to figure out.  Here's my secret: 
   Layer 1: thin combination mitten/gloves;
   Layer 2:disposable handwarmers, inserted into the mitten fold of your combo gloves;
   Layer 3: Crew socks over the mitten/handwarmer combo.
   Keeps your hands nice and toasty, and if they start to overheat, just toss the socks and maybe the handwarmers.
5. Worlds colliding - CEP, maker of compression running socks, apparently also makes socks for riding boots.  This threw me for a loop.
6. Personal: I just finished "Heads on Beds" - great read.  It's the hotel equivalent to Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential," but I like the writing style a bit better.  Highly recommended.



It may be Morton's toe,
but it's also mine.

7. Helpful running hint: The Strassburg sock is really helpful in combating plantar fascitis - it causes you to sleep with the fascia stretched out, so that you don't tear it when you take your first steps in the morning.  However, the sock works best when it pulls the most on your big toe - that gives the fascia a good stretch. 
   
   However, if you have Morton's toe (meaning that your big toe is shorter than your second or third toes), the sock pulls the hardest on those longer toes, meaning that you don't get the same good stretch. 

   

   Twisty!

   
   
   Solution?  Twist the sock!  Move the strap to the outside of the big toe, twist it once then strap as normal.  Works awesome.
8. Personal:  I cook primarily by microwave, and so I have two of them.  I see nothing unusual about this - stoves have 4 burners, serious bakers often have two ovens.  I cook (in the most lenient sense of the word) almost exclusively by microwave, and so I have two of them.  One died at the beginning of the month, and the other is on its last legs (8 minutes to burn Brussels sprouts?  Seriously?).  So now I need to buy two microwaves.  I'm working under the assumption that the best time to buy is just after Christmas.  I think I can make it until then. Maybe.