Things May Be Looking Up

I had an appointment today with a podiatrist by the name of Kelly Walker.  She was a very nice lady and confirmed what I have suspected for a couple of weeks now.  I have neuromas in both feet.  That is to say that there are nerves in both of my feet that are swollen and enlarged that get pinch and rubbed between bone and tissue that causes the pain and numbness I feel when I'm on my long training walks.

I have not walked in about a month because I knew it would be painful.  My sister finally convinced me that I needed to see the doctor.  Dr. Walker put orthodics in my tennis shoes with an added pat to raise the ball of my foot slightly to relieve pressure on the nerve.  She also prescribed an anti inflammatory to be taken every day.  I was also sent home with instructions on contrast soaking and some toe exercises to help make my toes more flexible!!  I have to go back and see her in 3 weeks to see how everything is doing.

I can't wait to get back out there and continue my training.  The 3-Day is in a very short 71 days!

A Break in the Heat!

Kelli, the kids and I left for Colorado on July 27th around 6:30pm.  Our plan was to drive through the night so the kids would sleep.  It was a good plan but boy were Kelli and I both zonked when we got to her parent's house in Monte Vista.

We had a really great visit and the weather was just lusciously cool.  However, I don't remember being as homesick as I was this trip except maybe when I first arrived in Germany when I was 19 years old! It is a strange feeling to be in a house with great people, people that you love and feel totally alone.

We took Justin and Jasmine to the Rodeo while we were there...that makes two rodeos for us within the short time of two weeks!  It was lots of fun but the best part was the parade that Emily marched in with the high school band.  Bianca also rode her horse in the parade too.  It reminded me of when I was in high school and in marching band and "doing" parades.

It rained in the afternoon almost every day that we were there and it got almost cold when the rain rolled in!  One of my favorite things to do was to sit out on the back porch in the swing and just soak in the coolness and the view of the mountains in the distance. 

It is wonderful to visit different place around the country but it is always and for ever will be wonderful to come home!

Getting ready for a long journey!

A belated bithday party for Justin and Jasmine!

Emily in the parade

Bianca in the parade

The view from the swing on the back porch

afternoon rain is a comin!

sink baths and brushing teeth time

riding the 4 wheeler with Bianca

On the road again...going home!

Family Photo Walk!

Deon and Karah love to take pictures!  This being said I love my family and I love to spend time with them so when Deon suggested that we all do the photo walk last weekend I was all for it.  The only thing that could have possibly made it more fun was if William and Amy could have joined us too!

We met about 24 other people downtown on the square in Waxahachie at 7am on Saturday and spent 3 hours shooting photos of everything you can imagine!  It was a lot of fun.  Deon took almost 400 pics, Karah took over 400 pics and I even took a little over 200 pics!!!  At the end of the walk we all met at the 1879 Chisholm Trail Restaurant for breakfast, it was very yummy!  There we shared our pics an were instructed to upload our 5 favorite shots we took to be voted on.    Here are my 5 favorite ones that I took...

Problem Solved!

My new shoes were better this morning on my walk than they were on Saturday.  I had them tied too tightly and I was cutting the circulation off in my feet.  That is why my toe were hurting so badly!  However, I noticed a new problem today, not a serious one but a problem none the less.  My heels were sliding around and if I had gone more than the scheduled 3 miles this morning I'm sure I would have had blisters on the bottoms of my heels.  Ouch!  I have to go home this afternoon and see how the "heel lock" is done with the shoe strings of my other pair of shoes and lace these up like that too.  That will allow me to loosen up my shoes so my toes don't fall off while keeping my heel from sliding around in my shoes.

Traded One Problem for Another!

I tried out my new shoes this morning on my 4 mile training walk (it was a very easy training week this week) and found that I traded one problem for another.  The bottoms of my feet did not sting from the socks digging into my feet but my toes hurt.  I am not sure why my toes were hurting as they were not hitting the toe of my shoe.  I'm perplexed!  I will just give it more time and see what happens. 

As I mentioned earlier, this was an easy training week...3 miles on Monday, 2 miles on Tuesday, 5 miles on Wednesday, 1 mile on Thursday, off on Friday and 4 miles on Saturday.  I decided to try something different this week and walk on Tuesday and Thursday too and take Friday off.  I won't be able to do that this coming week because the mileage is much longer on Friday and I won't be able to divide the mileage between Tuesday and Thursday due to time constraints!!  So the schedule this week is 3 miles on Monday, 5 miles on Wednesday, 8 miles on Friday and 6 miles on Saturday. 

New Shoes Are in My Future!

It has come to my attention that the shoes that I have right now may not be the best for my feet.  How have I come to this conclusion you ask, well my feet are screaming at me ever training walk I take.  I really need to have the proper shoes in order to walk 60 miles in November.

So, to that end....Vivian and I are going to head to Luke's Locker tomorrow.  They will access how I walk and tell me the exact shoe I need to be in.  Kelli called me earlier this morning to remind me to take the shoes that I am wearing now with me so they can look at how I walk in those as well.  They can look at how worn they are and where they are worn to help determine the proper shoes for me.  I won't be purchasing these shoes tomorrow because Kay, my dear friend and Pastor's wife wants to buy them for me as a way to support my walk.  Golly, I love her!

This week has been a real accomplishment for me on the training walk front.  I have walked every morning this week and I will also be walking tomorrow.  It has been an easy week walk wise though.  This weeks schedule was and is 3 miles on Monday, 5 miles on Wednesday, 4 miles tomorrow and 3 miles on Saturday.  Since I walked 2 miles on Tuesday and 1 mile today I'm going to take Saturday off.

More Training Walks!

It seems right now that my time is spent in training for the 3-day and that is as it should be! I have gotten in some good walks in the past few weeks and some not so good walks! I let myself get discouraged a couple of weekends ago when my team, the Front Yard Flamingos went on our first training walk together. The other ladies walked so much faster than I did and they soon left me behind. Matt Oyervides walked with us that day and he stayed back with me. I really let that discourage me when I should have let that motivate me. Now I'm motivated and I'm ready to hit it!

Matt and me

Tammie, Susan, Doris and Kitty

Saturday, June 19, 2010 - 6 mile training walk in Midlothian

This past weekend I decided to tackle a 6 mile training walk again since the previous one didn't turn out so well for me. This time Laci Childers joined me at Lions Park in Ennis at 6:30am on Friday, June 25, 2010. Our strategies was to walk 3 miles (6 times around the little lake) and rest for a few minutes and do the last 3 miles. Even though I ended up with a blister on my little toe again I felt so much better when we were done. I did it! I went my pace and didn't try to kill myself trying to keep up with someone else,s pace!

Laci and me at the 3 mile mark as we were about to take our break....we were hot and sweaty, it was very humid and pretty warm that day.

And that brings me to today. My training schedule for this week is 3 miles today, 5 miles on Wednesday, 6 miles on Friday and 5 miles on Saturday, with cross training on Tuesday and Thursday. I'm doing Zumba and Zumba Toning for my cross training right now.

I met Kelli Anavitarte this morning at 6am in the neighborhood just down from our church and we did a wonderful 3 mile walk. It was a bit cooler this morning than it was last Friday and the Lord blessed us with an incredible sunrise!

A camera just simply cannot do justice to God's beautiful sunrise. Thank you Lord for a beautiful start to our day.

Kelli and me