Change Of Plans

Running has been going so fabulously for me, I was sure I'd be able to run tomorrow night's 7-mile race in less than an hour. 

Then I saw the weather forecast. At the beginning of the weekend, they were saying Thursday's high would be 85. Then it became 87. Then it became 89. Then it became 92. And as if that weren't bad enough, it's also going to be extremely humid. 

Granted, that forecast is for Providence and the surrounding area, and we'll likely be a tad cooler here by the ocean, but not much. And it'll still be plenty humid. So my new goal for the race is to finish without collapsing from heat exhaustion. 

I have no time goal whatsoever anymore. I don't do well running in weather like this (not many people do, do they?), and I don't want to be miserable for the entire 7 miles, so I'm just going to treat it as a training run - a training run with a whole bunch of other people : )   

One other running-related note - I had my first PT session this morning, and it went wonderfully. I went to a new physical therapist - one who came recommended by the local running club - and I'm sooooo glad I went to him! The last time I went for PT for this shin issue, they told me to stop running, and focused solely on treating the symptoms of the injury. It worked fine, but didn't get to the root cause of the problem, which, happily, is exactly what the new guy did. 

And as it turns out, the root cause of the problem is that my left hip was all out of whack (there was some fancy medical term for it, but I think 'all out of whack' describes it much better). The hip being messed up caused my left leg to be significantly shorter than my right leg, which, obviously, can cause major issues when you're subjecting that leg to close to 20 miles of running a week. 

He had me walking up and down the hallway when I first got there, and he watched my stride to try to figure out what was going on. Then after he had made a few adjustments, he had me walk again, and I totally felt the difference. The way I was walking before hadn't felt weird, but that's just because I was so used to it. But as soon as it was fixed, I realized how much less 'clunky' my stride felt - and that's just with walking. I can only imagine how much better running will feel! 

We still have to treat the symptoms (icing, Advil, etc.) for my shin pain, and I still have to go back to make sure that my hip stays where it's supposed to be, but hopefully now that we know what's causing this, and how to fix it, we can stop it from happening every time I ramp up my mileage. 

The best part of the appointment, though, was when I asked him if I could continue running, and his answer was "Hell, yes!"  Now that's my kind of physical therapist! 

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Dante has been going to a mini-camp this week - they're learning all about dinosaurs, and the camp is held right at his preschool, so he's been enjoying that. And the afternoons have been all about pool time. He loves being in the water, and is so good at making up all these crazy games. Yesterday's games involved something called a "stinky pitch" and a "digger catch." I have no idea what either of those things were, but he was having so much fun, I didn't even question him.

This morning, Gabe's school had a talent show, which Carmine and I went to. We only stayed for the kindergarten performances, though, since they held the show outside on the blacktop - one of the last places you want to be when it's hot and humid. It was cute, though, and Gabe seemed very happy that I was there. 

It made for a busy morning, though. Gabe usually takes the bus to school, but I had him bring in all his teacher gifts today, and since he gave two of his teachers potted plants (he painted the pots and signed his name on them), I didn't want him carrying them on the bus, so we dropped him off. 

Then after we got him and all his presents into school, we had to run back to the car so I could drop Dante off at camp, then I went BACK to Gabe's school for the talent show, then to the gym for a quick workout, then to pick Dante up from camp, then home for the rest of the afternoon, where I had the pool set up for the boys to cool off in. I'm glad our hectic morning was offset by a relaxing afternoon. 

And tomorrow is Gabe's last day of kindergarten!!!! It still doesn't seem possible that he's going to be a first-grader!!  I talked to his teacher today, and the 1st grade teacher she had hoped to place him with is actually no longer going to be teaching 1st grade, but she feels pretty good about the teacher Gabe will end up with. And the woman who was his Kindergarten teacher's aide is moving up to be the aide in his first-grade class, so having that continuity will help him a lot, I think. 

She went on and on today about how much Gabe has grown up this year, and although it's hard for us to see that at home sometimes (when he gets all whiny and fights endlessly with his little brother over ridiculous things), when I think about it, he really has grown up a lot. He's still a silly, goofy, crazy little boy, but he's learned a lot and grown a lot, and has a lot to be proud of. 

It still amazes me that the little boy who could barely write his name or sound out words when he started Kindergarten last August can now write sentences, and do picture crosswords, and can read just about everything he picks up. I'm so proud to see him growing and learning, but it's all just happening way, way too fast........

Comments

[Mom and Dad]

Dad and I have been talking about how much Gabe has grown-up since he began school in Sept. .... and yes, time does go by WAY TOO FAST ! .....you five grew up so fast and now, the grandchildren are doing the same ! p.s. please take that race real slow tomorrow, we will be thinking of you !

[Wes]

so, you've been doing all these killa runs with a clunky leg? Amazing :-) Hope your race went well...