My No Knee Pain Run & Crazy Phone Story

Hi friends.

Run
I ran outside yesterday for 32 minutes! That is a PR for me and even more of an accomplishment is the fact that I had NO knee pain the entire time — or after! My hip didn’t hurt during the run either, although that one did act up when I was walking to dinner later on. But I am SO excited that my knee felt fine the entire time! This is the first time I ever ran outside where it didn’t hurt. About a month and a half ago, after a failed run, I told the boy that I decided running is not for me. I would not try it again, my body can’t handle it. I’m glad I didn’t listen to myself and tried again!

I hope this leads to longer runs in the future. But I will not rush into anything. That was my old mistake! My plan is to run outside once a week — no more. Every week, if I feel no pain and no weakness in my lungs, I will increase my time. Last week I ran for 25 minutes, this week was 32 minutes. Maybe next week will be 40 minutes. Gradual. If I start incorporating spinning back into my routine, I will not do that more than once a week as well. Because really, when I overtrain and injure myself, I can’t do either!

My once concern during my run was my heart rate. I wore my HRM and as soon as I started my run — and keep in mind I run slower than you probably walk — my HR jumped to 170. If there was a slight uphill, it would reach 198. Throughout the run, it remained between 175 and 188. This is even higher than my HR during the most intense spin classes. And it stayed high the entire time. Which is part of the reason I felt so beat after 32 minutes. My knee felt fine but my lungs did not!

I expressed my concern to the boy, who is a doctor, and he explained to me that it was a very hot day and that it is not at all abnormal to have such a high HR during even the slowest of runs. And then I did what we tend to do here in blogland — I compared myself to other bloggers. “Well this girl lives in a hot climate where it is always very hot and HERS never gets this high,” and “This girl lives close to us and hers never gets above 175!” The boy reminded me that everyone is different, that people who live in a warmer climate are more used to running in these temps, we all weigh differently and we all have different cardiovascular ability. You can’t compare!

And then I felt better. And happy, because I RAN FOR 32 MINUTES WITH NO KNEE PAIN! I can’t wait to tell my PT on Thursday, at our final session (for my shoulder though). More on shoulder PT this week!

Phone
Two weekends ago I brought my phone into the Verizon store. I signed in and waited an hour for my turn on the technical assistance line. When my turn finally arrived, I explained to the technician that every time I press the 1 button, a 2 comes up! He told me that my warranty had expired so he couldn’t replace the phone. “What about insurance?” I asked, having paid $4.99 a month for the last 2 years to protect this phone. “Insurance doesn’t cover software,” he explained. I later found out that it was not at ALL a software problem, which you’d think someone in TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE would know. Anyway, he told me I needed to leave my phone there for 45 minutes while he upgrades the software, which might fix the problem. Again, I later found out this was a ridiculous statement as it was NOT a software issue.

I left my phone there and exactly 45 minutes later I returned. I approached the technical assistance guy and he was busy helping someone else. Eventually he looked at me and told me the software upgrade didn’t work (duh) and there was nothing more he could do. I told him I was eligible for an upgrade in a few weeks, could he just move that date up and I would upgrade on the spot? He said no. I told him I need the 1 button! He said he was busy helping someone else and if I want to sign in again and wait for my turn (another hour) he could talk to me more.

I left.

I waited an hour to speak to him the first time, and 45 minutes for him to do something to my phone that was unrelated to the problem. I was NOT waiting another hour! WTF.

I decided I would make do with no 1 button until I was eligible for upgrade. I wasn’t planning on upgrading yet, I wanted to wait until there was a phone I really wanted, but what can you do? I needed a phone. During the week I was talking to my cousin about my problem and she told me that they absolutely lied to me. She went through a similar experience at Verizon with her warranty-expired phone, and they replaced it for her. She explained to me that if their product is defective, they HAVE to replace it. Regardless of warranty or insurance or anything. They sold me a defective product, it is their problem to deal with. She told me she would come with me to the Verizon store that week and make sure it worked out right.

On July 4, the boy and I made a stop at my apartment and since we were by the Verizon store near me, we decided to go in. I figured it wouldn’t be a madhouse like the other one, and when we walked in we were the only ones there! I went to Technical assistance and the girl told me the same thing as the guy at the other store. She said there is nothing she can do. Then I explained to her that I am eligible for an upgrade in a couple weeks, can I just get my upgrade discount early? She said no. I confirmed again, asking if there is any way at all she can allow me to upgrade early. What is the difference if I do it now or then? My phone is broken now! She said no, I could deal without a 1 button if it’s only a couple weeks.

Angry and annoyed, I went back to the boy who was standing at another counter talking to sales people.  I started mumbling about how angry I was and how I was switching to AT&T and how this is ridiculous and on and on and on. After a couple minutes of my grumbling, they asked me what was wrong. I gave them my phone and explained again about the 1 button. The guy played around for a few minutes and told me that not only is my 1 button gone, but my entire touch screen was shot as well.

I was thrilled. First, because I had suspected more was not right with the phone (I haven’t been able to scroll in quite some time and it just didn’t seem as usable as it used to) and second because he recognized and acknowledged the real problem, something no one in Technical assistance there was able to do! He told me it was not at ALL a software problem and he couldn’t believe that guy said it was. He said the screen was dead, that was it.

He explained my options to me, which was this: Pay $50 to have my phone replaced or UPGRADE EARLY using my $50 upgrade credit! After all the arguing I had trying to get them to let me upgrade early and this guy can do it with no problem? GRRR!

But I was happy. I won! I got what I asked for and I would get $50 off any new phone! Most of the phones sucked. And then I saw the BlackBerry Curve.

I had been toying with the idea of a BlackBerry for awhile, but because of money issues I didn’t think much of it. Every now and then I would think about how much I would benefit from being organized, like the time I forgot to go to jury duty in May (oops). But I know the data plan is more expensive, and the phone itself is expensive, and do I really need it? And I heard rumors that the iPhone might be coming to Verizon in 2010, so I wanted to wait around for that. But here I was with a broken phone and a $50 credit. In front of me was a BlackBerry that was on sale for $49.99.

IT WAS FREE!!!! A free BlackBerry! I know that a new one — and better and cooler from what I heard — is coming out next week. But that wouldn’t be free. And whatever the new and better features are, I’m sure I don’t actually NEED them. Not enough to justify the price — no matter what the price is, it wouldn’t be FREE! And my last phone was the brand new original cool version of its kind (LG Voyager) and I do know that after I got it, better versions came out. So really, you can never win! And this one is FREE!

And the data plan? Only $10 a month more than my current one, although the insurance is a few dollars more a month so that will add up. But that’s OK. So I got it! It is light pink and it has a light pink case and it is so pretty. At first I didn’t want pink but the Verizon guy and the boy convinced me to first get the pink phone and then the pink case on top of it, and I am happy I did!

It was SO hard at first! I didn’t have any idea how to do anything. And the keyboard is much more difficult to type on than my last phone’s was. I was a pro at fast texting on my old phone. But it all started making sense. It began to click. The more I played around, the better I understood it all. The guy at the store told me it would take about 5 days, but here I am 48 hours later and I think I get it pretty well! And I seem to know it better than some of my friends who have had theirs for months. 🙂

I have been loving talking to Melanie (and now Jen!) on BBM. Wow, that makes chatting so easy and quick! I can’t wait for the boy to get the new one (as he most likely will) so we can BBM all the time! And I installed Google Talk and Facebook and downloaded a ringtone. Whenever I get a new phone, I treat myself to one ringtone purchase (yes, I know you can do it for free on the BlackBerry but I didn’t feel like going through lots of steps). So every time you call me, I will hear Shake Me Like a Monkey Baby. Every time it rings I am so caught off guard! I felt very cool on the shuttle this morning to the subway when I busted out the BlackBerry. Very, very cool.

And it has only been 2 days and I already don’t know how I ever lived without it.

Gotta run now, but I will be back tomorrow to talk about my 4th of July on the Hudson! With pictures! And as I said, information about my shoulder physical therapy.

Woo! Federer!