Ghent and compressions socks

Ghent Belgium - late in the afternoon.


I recently attended a seminar in Ghent, Belgium. A coworker and I drove together which made the trip more fun. It’s only about 2 ½ hours from here. In the northern half of Belgium, they speak Dutch. In southern Belgium, they speak French and I think the French have had a far greater influence culturally than the Dutch.

Here’s a French joke (don’t worry, it’s clean): What’s the difference between a Dutch breakfast and a Dutch lunch? Answer: 4 hours. Yes, bread and cheese with a glass of milk for both meals.

For the seminar, I was surprised that they served us a full, three-course meal for lunch on the first day. There was wine on the tables, possibly to give us a good excuse for nodding off during the afternoon sessions, but I had to ask for a Diet Coke. The second day, we had a Dutch lunch – cold sandwiches eaten standing up. But they still served wine!

Ghent is a beautiful city with several old cathedrals in the town center – all with working bell towers that ring all night long! There are restaurants and bars along the canals serving typical Belgian fare like mussels, French Fries, and local beer. It was too bad we didn’t have more time to see the city. Dennis and I definitely have to get back here!

So, it’s the weekend and we’re at home. Dennis is on-call and has to be available within 15 minutes to reset the website if it should crash. Fortunately, they take turns being on-call and he gets paid for it, too.

On Saturday, we managed to run out to the farm that we visited last weekend to buy some beef. During the week, we had gone through the price list and translated the cuts of meat into English. I made a list of the cuts that I wanted and how much. Since we have the huge freezer in the garage, I figured we could stock up. The farmer, who doesn’t speak English, was there when we pulled up. He recognized us and seemed very relieved when I handed him the list! He pulled all the meat from the freezer and weighed each type. When he was done tallying the total, he just showed me the slip. We paid with exact change and were happily on our way. I think the farmer was happy, too!

We also went for a long walk on Saturday afternoon. The sun was out and it was mid-50’s so it was nice for walking. We’ve really had a quite a stretch of sunny days. Fall seems to be a nicer time of year than summer here. Summer was rainy and muggy. Yuck! Today, it’s raining again…

I managed to get out for a short run today despite the rain. As some of you know, I stopped running completely last summer. It’s been over a year since I’ve run at all. I was having serious pain in my lower legs. I went to several doctors and made sure that it was nothing serious, but stopped short when they wanted to stick a large needle into my shin muscle while I was exercising to measure the pressure inside. Running is not THAT important to me.

But I recently read MJ’s blog about her compression socks. I was intrigued and read more on-line about how they work and what they are supposed to do. One of my co-workers here also runs with compression socks. So, I asked her where she got them. She gave me the name of a store in Utrecht, the city where Dennis works. So, on Thursday evening, I went to Utrecht and Dennis and I went to the running store. The lady at work had warned me that you have to get measured to determine what size socks you wear so I had even shaved my legs that morning. I wasn’t exactly prepared for the high price of the socks, but I figured I already spent more than that at the doctor’s office. I figure the socks are worth a try!

For my first run in over a year, I went around the block. And I had to walk some of it. I couldn’t tell if the socks were helping or not. I think I was breathing too hard to notice! Since I’m totally not a natural runner, I really have to start slow. This was how I started running in the first place. So, this is how I’m going to start this time. For my second run, I went around the block and was able to keep running the whole way. Maybe by next week I’ll be able to go around twice! I’m still not convinced that the socks are helping, but I’ll keep trying until I know. Wish me luck – this is my last chance to get back into running.