Magic Shave

I saw a guy shaving in the locker room at the Y last week. Nothing unusual about that, lots of guys shave there. In fact, the bathroom area in the locker room is equipped with 3 sinks, a wall to wall mirror and even a built in hair dryer, all supporting male grooming. But, this guy was shaving with a paring knife.

He was a young black man, maybe in his twenties. He was stocky and shorter than me, maybe 5'9", looked like he could have played nose guard on his high school football team, but was now a bit softer and rounder. And he was definitely using a paring knife. I know because I glanced over at him twice, since I couldn't believe what my eyes registered the first time. The knife had a brown handle, and a rounded tip. My mind wanted to make it into a straight razor, as that would have been unusual but within my realm of experience, but my confirming glance ruled that out.

He was using shave cream, but there was something funny about that, too. The puddles that lay in the sink weren't white, but shades of gray, almost running to blue, with dark flecks in them. The dark flecks I understood to be the remnants of his beard, but the other colors I didn't understand at all - the cream appeared white on his face.

He returned my second glance, and I didn't look over again, not even obliquely, or in the mirror. Three things darted through my mind.

"That knife must be really sharp!"

"Maybe he can't afford a razor"

And I'm not proud of this but "I hope he's not pissed that I looked over, because I'm a little afraid of a big black guy with a knife."

I left the Y with a story about a strange guy to tell to my friends and family, and some material for a blog entry. Thankfully, I did not get around to writing right away, as there was more to the story.

Saturday I went on a "man date" with my friend Rich, over to the Prime Outlets in Lee, MA. I wanted to go to the Rockport outlet store to take advantage of their "buy-two, get one free" deal on shoes. In addition having good prices (and no sales tax in MA on clothes), the Rockport stores also have a good selection of wide shoes for my stubby little feet. I hate shopping, but I was convinced that the worn down heels on my shoes had contributed to the stress fracture of my left foot, and I wanted to replace them.

On the way back home from our successful shopping, Rich and I got talking about the high cost of everything, including razor blades, especially the Gillette Platinum Plus blades - over $10 for 4 blades, and that's at the new Super Walmart in Albany, with a $2 off coupon. This lead me to my tale of the strange guy shaving in the locker room with a paring knife, causing Rich to blurt out, "Magic Shave!"

Earlier in his career, Rich had worked in an institution, and one of his responsibilities had been to help the residents with their grooming needs. One day, one of the residents sidled up and asked, "You down with Magic Shave?"

Rich was puzzled, until the guy, a black man, explained that he, like many black men had easily irritated, sensitive skin, and that traditional shaving frequently caused bumps on his face. Instead of using a razor and shave cream, he, like they, used Magic Shave a depilatory. Kind of like Nair for the face, I guess, but milder. The product is applied to the face and beard like a traditional shave cream. But, after it's been on the face for a while, the hairs dissolve, and the residue is gently scraped off with a dull instrument - like a paring knife. One of the more popular types of cream is blue, which could certainly look gray if it were mixed with stubble and sitting in the bottom of a sink.

Thus, at 59, I learn that I am not as cosmopolitan as I would like to think, and that I am not free of bigotry as I would like to imagine. A little humiliating, for sure, but at least I got a blog entry out of it.

See you out there.

Tattoo: Tin Man for a Tinman

"Schubin, you have any tattoos?" This was my friend Kevin.

"No. I've thought about it but every time I mention it, I get too much flack at home:
'How do you know that the needles are clean? How can you be sure they don't double dip in the ink? Suppose you're wrong?' "Why? You thinking of getting a tattoo?"

"Yeah, I want to get a Tin Man tattooed on my butt."

Kevin is a Tinman
and has done this event 4 or 5 times. He's pretty good, too - did a 6:27 or so last time out.

As you might imagine, he's wiry - almost skinny. I told him it would have to be a very little Tin Man if it was going to fit on his scrawny butt.

I, on the other hand, am not skinny or wiry or lithe or anything remotely connected to thin.

See the picture below, which was taken at the Cazenovia Tri a couple of years ago. See if you can tell which one is Kevin and which one is me.


I'm Going to Put the tattoo Right About Here!


I told Kevin that I, on the other hand (or cheek), could have the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow, the Wizard, and all of the Munchkins tattooed on my butt.

Not Dorothy or Glinda or the Wicked Witch though. I've already got enough women on my butt!

See you out there.

A Break from Running?

"Yes."

and "Probably."

As in, "Yes,I have not run in the last 5 weeks" and

"I probably have a stress fracture of my left foot."

First, "What's a stress fracture?" Here's a definition from an article about Yao Ming, whose season for the Houston Rockets ended this year with a stress fracture:

"The typical stress fracture results from an accumulation of stress on the bone that exceeds the bone's ability to heal that stress.

The bone then develops microscopic cracks that go on to yield a complete crack."

Basketball's big men, who do a lot of running and jumping on hard floors, are often prone to stress fractures. Bill Walton, the former UCLA and NBA star, and current TV commentator, is a prominent example.

Army recruits who are suddenly called on to do a lot of marching, and runners who dramatically ramp up their mileage, are other common examples.

I guess I fall in the latter category. Because I really wanted to become a better runner this year, I had been running very regularly, trying for 3 times a week. I was able to go about 2.2 miles on my LSD runs without stopping, usually running outbound, and walking or walk and running inbound, so the whole workout was around 4 miles. I felt pretty good about that, too, since I have never been able to run that long without stopping in my entire adult life.

The thing about LSD runs is that you are only supposed to do them once a week, and the goal is is gradually increase the distance run during each session - gradually meaning no more than a 10% increase per week. But, I felt good, and being a typical Type A, I began doing that distance during each workout. In addition, I began adding bursts into the inbound portion of my LSD's, and I began running up the hills. Hey - if some is good, more is better! The final ingredient? My running shoes were over a year and a half old. The recommendation for runners - especially for large runners like me - is to get new shoes at least every 6 months.

In one of my earlier posts, "DNS" I mention that my foot hurt while running, and that I reluctantly decided to skip a sprint tri and a road race. What I didn't own up to is what finally got me to go to the doctor. The day after my last running workout, I went for a walk on the bike path along the river - and just that easy walk caused burning pain on the top of my left foot.

My doctor listened to what was going on, and sent me down the hall for an xray. Xrays are not conclusive for stress fractures of the small bones in the feet, but this one showed a "callus" which is often an indication of a fracture which has begun to heal. After seeing this, he requested an MRI, which is more definitive. It is also more expensive, so I had to get pre-authorization from my insurance company before I got it done.

Two days after the MRI, Dr. Arnold got the results from the imaging lab, which he discussed with me over the phone. The report had a lot of medical terms - "edema of the bone marrow" is one I remember - that strongly indicated a stress fracture, but were not 100% conclusive. The imaging guy suggested that I go for a CT scan.

Kip and I talked it over - he is a really practical guy and I like him a lot. The discussion went something like this:

"Does the foot feel better since you stopped running?"

"Yes. And I did 35 minutes on the elliptical last night, and it's ok today"

"I don't see any need for a CT scan at this time. I suggest you continue not running on it. You can bike and swim and use the elliptical as long as they don't hurt your foot. Call me if it doesn't continue to improve."

"OK. Suppose it doesn't get better?"

"I will probably refer you to a foot doctor."

So, that's where we are. I must have gotten addicted to the running because I've been feeling pretty funky since I haven't been getting my fixes. Haven't felt too motivated to do any biking or swimming either. Got a lot of "Why me?" and "It's not fair!" stuff going on, too.

I'm not a total slug, though. I have continued to walk during lunch a couple of times a week - the company and walking up the hills are both good for me. And there are always chores to complete around the house - hey, you get 300 Fit Points for pushing the lawnmower for an hour. I hit the weights last weekend for the first time in 6 months, too, and I've made an appointment to see one of the coaches at the Y to make sure my form is good. Best of all, last night was Swim Night and even though I missed the last two weeks, and wasn't exactly Michael Phelps in the water, I did ok.

The Pinebush is coming up in 5 weeks, and I am registered. If my foot heals and I can start to run again in a couple of weeks, great. If not, I can still train for the bike and swim, and I can always walk the 3.25 miles. Given my blazing foot speed, there's not that much difference between me running and me walking, anyway. Sounds like a plan.

See you out there - I promise.