Julian agreed to be my sous-chef for dinner tonight, though he had a little trouble saying it. He started out as my "shoo-sheff," then "soup chef," then finally, something close to "sue sheff."
And he did an admirable job. I must say, I'm getting better and better at finding stuff for him to do. He cut open a bag of french fries (in teeny little bits of course!) and dumped them onto a cookie sheet. Then I had him "paint" slices of zucchini with olive oil (lending a whole new meaning to painting with oil). Then he sprinkled salt on the zucchini, as well as the steak I was grilling. Then he took handfuls of broccoli florets and put them into my (!brand!new!great!) steamer pan. I ran out of jobs appropriate for him by then. The bigger and heavier and more dangerous knife I'm holding, the more both boys want to use it.
My sports medicine podiatrist appointment today was anticlimactic, because my self-diagnosis was correct: tibialis-posterior tendonitis. There's no quick fix for overused tendons, but time, physical therapy, strengthening exercises, gradual re-introduction of use, adjusted insoles, and eventually, custom orthotics, should get me back on the trails again (yay!). The podiatrist himself is a marathoner, and when I briefly described my running ascension, he shook his head and mentioned something about too much too soon. This hit when I told him all my 9+ mile runs had included the PG&E trail, legendary among runners, and not many tackle it in their first 5 months! Those hills by themselves didn't cause the tendonitis, but apparently my tibialis muscle and its tendons weren't in the same condition as the rest of me.
(But really, was I ever in condition to run 10 miles? Mostly, it was angst and a need for accomplishment that pushed me. After all, my first time up the PG&E trail was minutes after I'd dropped my firstborn "baby" off for his first day of kindergarten. If that isn't angst, I don't know what is!)
I was determined not to leave the doctor's office with any unanswered questions, but of course, I still did. But the big ones were answered: how to help it, I can run again, it's not bruised or swollen (not trauma, in other words), swimming and elliptical won't injure or strengthen it, hills are fine, and the odd sensations I feel all around it are normal. My feet do pronate somewhat, nothing unusual, and it's possible that my right leg is a little longer, which would also explain my tricky right sacro-iliac joint. Mostly, I just ran too long too hard too soon.
Running all started with the Big Bunny Fun Run, Cupertino's 5K the day before Easter, so my goal is to rehabilitate until then (early April, over 2 months away), and that will be my first race and re-introduction back into running. I must do it gradually, but it is not going to be easy holding back, 'cause that runner's high thing is powerful stuff!
It rained all day here. I don't say that lightly, because that is a very rare occurrence. It had to be a day when I had a lot of driving to do, too.
But I did one other thing today I'm really excited about, to my surprise. On complete impulse, and based on a little email note Betsy sent the 2006 group, I signed me and Katrina up for Music Together!! I have NO IDEA how on earth I'm going to fit this in, but I almost don't care. I miss doing things like that, and I always liked active ways to spend time together, when I have no other distractions or temptations. And, the teacher is my all-time favorite, and it'll be fun to be in another MT class with Betsy again, we've done this many times over the years. And, most of all, Katrina will probably love it (though I'm not looking forward to when the instruments get put away....) I can't wait until next Thursday! (Oh yeah, Mom, you know how you're going to be all tired from just having flown in the night before....?!)
I've been an aunt for 6 years today!
1/25/08
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