I am back (to running and to the US). Toronto trip.

Wow, this was the most stressful vacation ever (yes, I decided to treat the visit to the US Consulate in Toronto as a vacation). Vacation for me means a subway sandwich and a smoothie every day. Yeah, I am probably the most boring and serious 25-year old you ever meet. My mom says that she is already sorry for my kids because I will be way too strict with them and they will have no fun with me. My sister agrees with her. We shall see.

But lets start from the beginning:

Sunday: Got up at 4:30am, a colleague gave me a ride to train station, took train to Detroit, spent 3 hours at the train station because it was raining, walked 3 miles to bus station, took a bus from Detroit to Toronto.
Toronto is a nice city. I hate huge cities but this one was ok, probably because I have not visited "bad" neighborhoods in Toronto.
Anyway, checked into my hostel (I was on the 13th floor and could see the whole Toronto right under me! Cool), went to find the shortest way to the Consulate and went for a run. I found a small park right by the hostel where I could run on grass. I wanted to try 4x10min with 2min walk but I only managed 3x10min and then ITB started to bother me a bit...

Monday: Consulate interview. They canceled my current visa but agreed to give me a new one for UCLA. However they told me that I should be able to enter the US back and continue the internship on this visa. I SHOULD?!? WTF! They were not sure?!? So first I was stressing out about my passport getting lost somewhere in mail and now this? But at least they told me that since I live int he US I can come pick up the passport on Wednesday.
I walked in town for the rest of the day and was burned out by the evening.
However something cliked right that evening. I ran 3x12 min w/ 1min rest PAINFREE and no pain afterwards. Way different than the day before. I was sooo happy.

Tuesday: Toronto Islands!!!! I knew that Toronto is about the same longitude as French Riviera but though that that's all they have in common. But I actually felt like at the French Riviera! Ontario lake is so huge that one feels like by the sea! It was awesome. I took ferry and then walked around the island occasionally stopping at the beach to swim and read. Such an awesome day! I ran 2x15min w/1 min walk on the island. Again pain-free. It was sooo cool. I wanted to swim afterwards and went to the nearby beach and soon realized that it was a 'clothing optional" beach so I did not swim just took a ferry back.

Wednesday: Was my day off running and I basically spend it reading. I went to book store and sit on floor and read for couple hours. I read the book "Ultimate runner" with runner's stories (did not like it that much though) and then chapters from couple other books about ITB and some training tips. At 3pm I went to pick up my passport just to learn that they had lost some of my paperwork. I waited for almost an hour till they found it. Another stressful moment. I know that there are much more horrible things happening but since I do not have anything else to worry about I worry about this. Then took a bus back to Detroit.
As we were approaching the border I got more and more stressed out. But everything went smoothly, they let me in without any problem. Such a relief!

So this visa trip costed me couple gray hairs and approximately $800. For 3 days! It means that I am eating bread and drinking water for next few weeks...Oh well, I am used to that being a student from eastern Europe living in Paris.

More running news:
I decided that I will try to get fitted for real running shoes and see whether that will help with ITB problem. I went to the specialty running store. However it was not what I expected, I have not learnt anything new really, except for not to wear. I am sure I have high arches and supinate and I was hoping to get shoes that will help me to pronate a bit. However, the guy told me that I have neutral feet and showed me some neutral shoes. I tried couple of them and took the least expensive one. They are Nike. I do not like Nike, but these fitted me pretty good. Asics he gave me were too heavy, Mizuno felt too hard, New Balance felt like racers and I wanted something with cushion. So I took those Nike for $90.90. But honestly I do not thing that shoes cause my problem but one never knows. I decided to take them for a spin immediately. I ran 20min straight. No problem at all! I will take a day off running tomorrow and run 25min on Saturday. Or maybe will try 30min.