A Letter to My Sciatic Nerve

Dear Mr. Nerve,

I know I pissed you off.

Too much, too soon! you said.

For a month at you I scoffed

Believing you were hambutt, instead.

But that was three months ago

And still you are irritated

I can't even run slow

Without being berated

Can we please work this out

before the season starts?

That gives you one more week to shout

Then we must stop falling apart.

I've iced, and ibuprofened

but you still protest all motion

Even sitting makes you mad

and you make me very sad

You've even called upon immune

so you two can work in tune

to keep me from training at all

but still you won't hear my call

For all of us to work together

despite Stanford's crappy weather

To run, to play, to get my training on

so I can kick ass at collegiate triathlon.

This is the only year we can compete

so I'm begging you to be happy

and drop this mad rage that you're on

so we can race the Treeathlon!

Thank you, and I look forward to your positive response.

Best,

Erin

Hilly Stanford Run Directions (10+ Miles)

Once upon a time, when I could run freely without protest from my sciatic nerve, I used to do this run all of the time, throwing in multiple dish loops to make it take 2 hours. If you're ever around Stanford, you must at least do the dish loop part--it's a rite of passage. On a clear day, you can see from San Francisco, across the bay, and to the mountains south of San Jose. Pretty sweet stuff.

View Xtreme Dish Run in a larger map

P.S. If you've ever beaten an unruly and genuinely pissed-off sciatic nerve, please let me know how, without actually beating it. Or ripping it out with your bare hands. I'm told it's a required body part, unlike an appendix.

Ironman Arizona 2009-The Photos

While I was running around shooting video, I shot a bunch of photos, too. Here are some of my favorites from IMAZ '09.

Beat the Rain with an Animal Bike Saddle Cover

I was locking my bike up outside my apartment when I looked over at the bike next to mine and saw this:

I immediately came down with a case of bike-saddle-cover envy. Big time. I was entirely wrong to attach a plastic grocery bag to my pants before hopping on my rainy Raleigh.

And not only because grocery bags aren't stylish.

I spent an entire hour in the gym on Thursday night with a Vons bag stuck to my butt; I forgot to pull it off before jumping on the elliptical and lifting weights. I have clearly not learned proper rain-commuting etiquette.

For only about 10 euros, I could've avoided the gym gaffe by dressing my bike up with a funny plastic animal.

Vinçon, a design firm based in Barcelona, sells the cover above (also in black, see below), along with this dog cover on their website.

And for riders who think these shouldn't be used by anyone over the age of 10, check out this saddle cover at REI. Not nearly as cute, but it'll get the job done.

Now please, rain, go away!

Ironman Arizona 2009--Spousal Competition

When Iron-couple Jim and Meredith Davidson take on IMAZ together, competition takes a back seat to love.

Or does it?