Say, 'Cheese,' Long Beach! and Sole Runners Run

The Green Girl has been on a bit of an emotional roller coaster the past couple of weeks.

After a successful 17 mile run a couple of weeks ago, I managed to twist my right ankle as I was doing household chores.

Instead of containing itself to a particular location, this injury would present differently each time. I would go an entire day without any pain or discomfort and then I would feel a sharp pain in a random location. Since it didn't hurt when I ran, I simply went on easy runs sans Mr. Green Garmin.

With 15 miles planned for this Saturday, I decided it was time to pay my podiatrist, Dr. Richard Graves a visit after work on Friday.

He patiently listened to me babble on about my poor foot and my inability to Internet self diagnose due to the fluidity of the pain. He said his best guess was that I managed to tear my plantar fascia. I was thrilled that he didn't think it was the posterior tibial tendonitis since that was one of the places I had been feeling some pain.

As a runner, he understood my need to get this mileage in. He asked me when was Athens. He said he would tape me up and I could see how I felt on Saturday and go from there.

He suggested I come by each week to get taped before my long run and just listen to my body. He said, if possible, to try to get in my long runs and then instead of tapering, rest as much as possible in the last three weeks leading up to the marathon so I can give my foot a chance to heal.

Friday evening, my Sole Runner friend, Michelle, joined me at First Fridays for the Say, 'Cheese,' Long Beach! photograph competition results.

I didn't end up winning in any of the categories but I was thrilled to see a number of my photographs featured in the exhibit.

When I woke up Saturday morning, I held my breathe as I stood up and put weight on my foot. I didn't feel any pain so I headed out to join the Sole Runners for my tentative run.

I talked to Coach Steve about my foot and he suggested I look into getting a plantar fasciitis splint to wear at night. He explained the importance of applying dorsiflexion at night so the fascia heals in a flexed position.

I gingerly headed out with Mentor Barb, and her dog, Sassy.

My right foot felt good but the inside of my left knee was hurting so I put on a patellar strap and the pain went away immediately. I had brought the strap because I'd been feeling a pulling sensation and thought I might need it.

A few miles in my left hip flexor tightened up and became sore.

At the marina, Barb pointed out the boat she sails on, the Yippee Kai Yay.

Mr. Green Garmin ran out of juice towards the end of my run so I'm not sure what my exact mileage was but I did around 14.5 miles. I didn't have it in me to try to do another half mile.

It never felt so good to sit down on my yoga mat and do post-run yoga. I felt so much better as I headed back to my car.

My right foot is feeling good today but my left hip flexor is still sore and very tight.

I will try and make an appointment for another Active Release Techniques session this week. I also wanted to follow up with Dr. Gonzales on the results of my running gait analysis video.

Say, 'Cheese,' Long Beach!

The Green Girl entered her first photography contest this weekend, the Say, 'Cheese,' Long Beach! competition.

The contest was sponsored by Justin Rudd's Community Action Team (CAT) organization.

The challenge was open to both amateur and professional photographers. The goal of the contest was to visually record aspects of the Long Beach community life in a 24-hour period.

I've never considered myself to be a photographer and instead have always referred to myself as a picture taker. To me, photographs are less of an art form and more of a documentary of my life.

My very first 'camera' was a Fisher-Price 110 Pocket Camera that allowed me to pretend to take pictures. With each click, the fake flash spun around and a new stock image appeared in the viewfinder.

My parents eventually got me a real camera. It was a giant leap technologically from my static 'A Day At The Zoo' pictures.

I was fascinated by the rolls of 110 film because they looked nothing like my dad's 33 mm cartridges.

I loved when my dad would take me to get my pictures developed. It amazed me that my pictures even turned out smaller than my dad's pictures - I was certain that the dimensions of a picture were directly proportionate to the size of the film.

In the course of the 24-hours, I learned a few things about myself. I discovered I am definitely not a photographer. If you were to apply a label to me, photojournalist would be much more accurate.

I never manipulate my pictures. When I see something I deem worthy of documentation or visually interesting, I will snap a shot. I rarely delete pictures and I never edit or crop.



I learned I prefer to take pictures of inanimate objects. I don't mind taking pictures of family and friends but taking pictures of strangers feels overly intrusive.

I struggled a lot with this challenge on Saturday because I was trying to force myself to capture possibly award worthy images.



I decided to take another approach on Sunday. Instead of trying to find places to take pictures, I just did what I'd normally do and snapped shots - like I normally do - along the way.

I submitted my dozen entries last night. The best photographs will be showcased this Friday in Bixby Knolls at First Fridays and $100 cash prizes will be awarded to the winners.