Torn & Frayed

I'm feeling a little banged up these days. Last week at hockey, I collided with another player and hyperextended my elbow; it's still sore. Then when I was out doing a 15-mile run on Sunday morning, my left hamstring tightened up around mile 4. I kept going because I was four miles from home and it was raw out. I stopped and stretched a few times and walked a little, but I ran the rest. It only really bothered me on hills, but I knew that I would need to rest it this week. I've been stretching the last few days and tonight I iced it. I also booked a massage for Thursday, so hopefully that will help. Today I would normally run, but instead I did 40 minutes of cardio at the gym. I'm going to skip hockey tomorrow and we'll see how I feel later in the week. I'm supposed to do 20 miles this weekend as my last long run, but if I'm still sore, I may just skip it or do a lesser amount. No sense aggravating the injury at this point.

Pass the Ben Gay...

• Many happy birthday wishes went out over the last few days, to my brother, my bro-in-law Steve, and my buddies Briggy and Dr. Doobs.
• Check out some classic Chris Elliot clips from the old Letterman show on NBC. That guy was (and still is, actually) frickin' hilarious.
• The NHL playoffs start tomorrow night and I, for one, am psyched. It's the best time of the year for me, at least in terms of sports viewing. Unfortunately, we're down to one TV because our main living room set crapped the bed last week. Another bummer is that the Leafs missed the playoffs for the third straight year, but that was no shocker. I'm rooting for Joe Thornton and the San Jose Sharks to win it all, but there should be some great battles along the way.