A bit of running, a lot of walking, and a birthday . . .

Before I dive into this little blog post, I'm just going to briefly say how much I'm saddened by the stupid terrorism that happened in Paris last Friday night. I'm not going to go off on a political rant, or say that I know what needs to be done to stop this crap from happening again. I don't pretend to know the answers. I just feel for those in Paris, Beirut, Kabul and other parts of the world that deal with this all the time. I'm actually going to try and keep this blog nice and light, but I had to at least acknowledge the events of last weekend, lest you think I'm an asshole. And I'm not. At least I don't think I am.


So back to my regularly scheduled blog post.  After my last post (which was last Tuesday), I bought some K-T Tape in an attractive fashion color of coppery beige and taped up the foot.  The kids and I were off work / school for Veteran's Day last Wednesday, so I decided to try out running on a soft surface and with the foot taped.  Connor and I headed down the Outback, and I had hopes we'd be able to go a couple of miles on the grassy trail. Alas, at the edge of our subdivision the powerline easement becomes completely overgrown, so we only went about 1/2 mile before going back into civilization. And that was enough time to realize that the foot still sucked. The tape helped some (maybe??), but it was uncomfortable enough that I was REALLY conscious of the foot the whole time.  So when we turned around we just came back along our usual route. Total Distance:  4.20 miles. Once I realized that running was probably a bad idea, we were basically just out for a stroll. We stopped to pet cats, take photos of spiders and butterflies, etc. It was a nice walk, though.

Connor, after we'd already transitioned to walking.

Giant banana spider right over our heads late in the walk.
These guys are really big (several inches long, when you include the legs).
And creepy, if you aren't into spiders. Which I'm not. 

Random butterfly.

After reading the experiences of another runner who was positively diagnosed with a Plantar Plate Tear (by a an actual doctor, not WebMD), I decided to order a metatarsal pad, which is placed under the ball of the foot and is supposed to position the foot to take some of the pressure off the bad areas. After the tape didn't really provide me much relief on Wednesday, I gave the metatarsal pad a spin on Saturday morning. Yeah, that didn't work so great, either. I didn't find the pad comfortable, at ALL. Walked most of the 4.35 miles.

Ducks, seen on the walk portion of my Saturday jaunt.

After my week or so of self-experimentation, I've decided I need to lay off the foot for a while. I still intend to get to the running store and check out some Hoka's, but that won't happen until next weekend at least, so I'm just going suspend the running until then.  It's not like I'm training for a marathon next weekend or something. And frankly, this week promises to be fairly busy in the evenings with homework, and other miscellaneous stuff going on.

On Saturday, I celebrated another trip around the sun; yes, my birthday is 11/14, in case you want to pencil it into your calendars for next year :-). I turned 45 years old. Gulp. The funny thing is, I still kind of feel like someone who's in their 30s. I guess I've gotten used to saying I'm 40-something, but I don't feel like "mid-40s". Oh well, as they say, age is just a number, right? It was a nice day, though. Had the run/walk in the morning. Took a long hot bath with a good book. We all went to Ruby Tuesday for dinner (yes, this is "fancy" for us), and then we watched the latest Terminator movie family-movie-night style. All said, a lovely day.

Unfortunately, Sunday we realized Cailyn's hamster was not in her cage. We found her later and our fears were realized. We think one of the neighbor kids must have either dropped her and not fessed up, or didn't close the cage well. It was unexpected, but she had basically lived out her anticipated life-span (she was over 2-years old), so it wasn't a complete tragedy. Cailyn was sad, but took care of burying Peanut herself next to their "fort" out in the Outback.  RIP Peanut.

Moving on, Cailyn has now told me she wants a guinea pig. I said no (at least for now). I'm tired of the kids getting pets and then they become my pet. Though purchased for Cailyn, Peanut was clearly "my" hamster. Same as Sky is now "my" dog. I just don't think my kids are up for the responsibility of a pet. Not to mention the fact that Sky apparently doesn't like any other small furry living things. Basically, her goal in life is to eradicate them from the planet.  She pretty much ignored Peanut as below her dignity, but cats? squirrels? Yeah. I think a guinea pig would fall under the "prey" category.

It's been a fairly busy week so far. Work. Had a site visit to our Fellsmere Grade Emergency Spillway Project yesterday. Lit the firepit and enjoyed the evening with the kids last night. Tomorrow my son has his very first Middle School Band Concert.  And I'm already looking forward to the weekend.  It's Humpday, everyone! We're halfway there!