Rest and wait...

I took another rest day from running.  I don't know if it was the right thing to do.  My knee seems much better.  Now it is my calf muscle that is continuing to give me grief.  It hurts to the touch and even when I walk.  I am continuing my roller stretches 3 times a day and icing it.  I am also going to try out these on my next run.  http://www.amazon.com/SpiderTech-Calf-Arch-Spider-Kineseology/dp/B003CMCPMY

  Hopefully by tomorrow I will feel healthy enough to do some kind of run.  I am HATING taking this much time from running.  It is so close now.  I just need my body to hang in there a little while longer.

I am watching this tv show called "World Without End".  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1878805/  
I am up to the 4th episode.  It's a great show.  It inspires gratitude.  Gratitude that I was born in the 20th century and not the 14th century.  At the slightest hint, by anyone in at any level of power, that a woman might be a witch...she was hanged.  In a previous episode a woman is legally sold to another man by her father because she wouldn't allow her father to rape her anymore.  I think (Gov.) Mitt Romney may be a producer/writer on this show ;)

Sanity-cation from Facebook

I was finding that every day I was logging onto facebook it wasn't fun anymore.  It made me feel bad about myself, sad, angry and a little lonely.  Despite the fact that I had "access" to hundreds of facebook friends on a daily basis.  I was shocked at times what people were willing to post, including myself.  So I will be posting here for at least the next few months, and if I find that I don't miss FB, I may discontinue using it altogether.

I am still training weekly for the Chicago Marathon which I will run on October 7th.  Recently, (the past two weeks or so) I have been suffering from some running injuries.  First it was my hip.  So I listened to my body and took three days off in a row.  Which is difficult for me to do anytime, but really difficult for me to do without feeling massively guilty because the race is so close now.  The hip issue cleared up and I ran my 20 mile run without a problem a week back from last Sunday.  Then earlier this week my left calf muscle began to give me grief.  So I gave myself two days off.  Even though it was still a bit sore I ran my scheduled 13 miles this past Sunday.  While I was running my right knee started to get stiff.  Not enough to make me stop the run, but it got my attention.  Today it really hurts.  So I am taking today and tomorrow off and will reassess after that.  The worst possbile thing that could happen now is to get a permanent injury that takes me out of the race.  I would rather lose a digit.  I have been training since February (you may have noticed one or two posts on facebook ;)  ).  That is a scenario I am unwilling to accept.  So if it means I don't do another training run until race day...so be it.  I am running that marathon dammit!  I have a roller and have been rolling out my legs and hips and butt several times today and stretching.  Send me good running/health vibes.  This is a bucket list dream of mine to run this particular race.

Last week we took a trip to Chicago.  Finn and I took the Loop train into downtown Chicago to go to the Shedd Aquarium.  We had quite the adventure getting there.

As wonderful as the Shedd Aquarium is I was a little shocked by the entry price.  I know they have overhead/operation costs but $26 for a three year old and $35 (plus tax) for me seemed a little excessive.  Charging this much makes it cost prohibitive for many households to visit any of the Chicago museums.  That's sad.  Think of all those children that would love to experience such a wonderful place but their parents have to decide between a fun/educational experience for their children or food/shelter.  That's not right. 
We had our snacks in the park outside the aquarium and took the pic above.

Finn is super interested in going to school and being with other kids in his age group.  He mentions it every day.  If anyone has any suggestions for good preschools or playgroups lay it on me!

Peace