Crossing my fingers (and toes, and legs, and eyes, and...)

Ran 4.2 miles yesterday without pain. My leg still aches frequently but it may not be directly related to running. Running itself doesn't hurt.

Of course I'm also getting up early every morning to do a half hour of stretching and icing, doing another half hour of stretching and icing at night, icing before I run, and going to physical therapy once or twice a week.

I told Sarah...if it gets me running, it's worth it!

I tend to jump ahead of myself in running too. I've run a grand total of 11 miles since I've started my therapy and already I'm thinking about whether I can start really training enough to be ready for a half-marathon next May.

It's nothing compared to the ultra-marathons I hope to do someday, but it's light years ahead of wondering whether I'd ever run again.

Keep praying for me!

My brain is running already

I always know when I'm obsessing about running when the dreams start. They always involve me being back in a race or hard work-out and being nervous since I haven't been running in a while (see previous posts about my injuries).

Then in the dream I find out Im actually in pretty good shape and do really well. These dreams also usually include my high-school and college teammates running with me. The last two nights were no different. First I was running a trail ultra-marathon (anything 30 miles and up) with high-school teammates and I dominated, winning the race. Then last night I dreamt I was in a really tough hill workout with h.s. teammates again.

I still have daily pain in the leg, but the physical therapist has me trying running a little. It doesn't seem to be the act of running that hurts, so that might be a good sign. I've been surprised to find how excited I am just to get to run 2 or 3 milers (when I've done more than 33).

It's true what they say..."you don't know what you've got until it's gone". I want to run so passionately I'm not even sure I could describe it...

That's a sa-picy Cookie!

***editor's note. Several folks have commented that I need to explain one piece of this story. (for those who have read the story, the chocolate chips were in the same cupboard as the paprika, thus they were themselves "paprika chocolate chips").

Now that we are so richly blessed with Ethan in our lives, Sarah and I try a little harder to connect from time to time.

Tonight we decided to make some home-made cookies. Sarah found a recipe on-line and we gave it a go. Ooey gooey chocolate chip goodness or something like that...

We realized we didn't have quite enough chocolate chips, and didn't have any desire to miss out on the ooey or the gooey. Really, can you get enough of either?

Sarah remembered we had some old chips in the cupboard. I call this the baking cupboard (I'm not claiming to be clever, so just go with it). We have sugar, corn-starch, flour, baking powder (not to be confused with baking soda I've learned!).

(I realize Jim and Mike are already chuckling at my classic overtelling of this story, so let's move it forward). To give the full effect of our experience I should also share that the baking cupboard contains our collection of spices in addition to the ingredients mentioned before.

After Sarah stirred in the chocolate chips I helped myself to a finger of dough (with a chip or two of course!) This was followed by me tasting my own after-bite breath, another of Sarah's favorite habits of mine, though another word might be "quirk". I ascertain the ingredient list to a recently chewed item, by "tasting" my breath. You can make fun of me later. "Uh-oh, baby" I said. "I think the chips taste like chili powder!"

We decided I might just be a little crazy and we cooked the cookies. (Who ever made up that name anyway? Couldn't they have been more clever than to say..."we cook them, let's call them cookies"?)

After I pulled the warm cookies from the oven Sarah and I took a big whiff and let out a big sigh. There was a definite pungency to the kitchen. I dug around the spices and we discovered the culprit...Paprika in a baggy. All the other spices are in hard containers (let this be a lesson to you!)

Now you'd think we would throw the cookies away. You'd be wrong! We were set on having some cookies, paprika be darned!

So we got milk and a few cookies , brought them upstairs and popped in a DVD. We giggled with each ooey, gooey, chocolaty, paprika-y, bite. We were tempted to be bummed when we realized we'd have to throw out a bowl of dough from the fridge, but then we realized we got exactly what we wanted out of the experience...

We laughed. We spent time together. We enjoyed each-other's company. We made a memory.

I'd like to say we discovered the secret recipe that will take the world by storm. Let's just settle on "We made a memory" and call it good.

Great Pics Uncle Mike!

Thanks to Mike for some great pics...

A boy and his dog

See bottom for the pic related to the title. In the meantime, here are a few fun pics Sarah took Monday in the back-yard





What, we're lounging...just pass the chips will ya?