Sunday walk at WFG

Wow, it has been a long time since I went out to Waterfall Glen. This is a forest preserve off of I55 and Cass Ave. in Darien, Il. It is about a 20 minute drive to get there. It is a great place to run, bike, hike, walk or do what ever it is you want to do. The path is crushed limestone and the total loop is just about 9 miles with some hills. This is not a flat loop. I ran it a lot when I was training for the half marathon.

I went with Chief today. He usually runs there once a week. With the injury I am suppose to stay on flat surfaces but I felt that since I have been walking everyday for almost a month it was time to give this a try. We decided to go separate directions and I would do a 45 minute walk out and back for a total of 90 minutes.

So, I head out and felt really good. I got pass the 2 mile marker and decided that I would try to run just a little bit. That really hurt but I needed to try it. At about 40 minutes in I was looking to get to the 3 mile marker by my 45 minute turn around point. I knew it was close so as time kept ticking, I decided to jog to find it as I knew it was close. After getting to the mile marker I turned around and jogged back for a few minutes. I knew that I was being stupid with the jogging so I made myself stop. It is so hard to be out there with other runners and only walk. I kept thinking that I use to be able to run to the 3 mile marker in 30 minutes and this took me 47 minutes! Yikes...well, you can't live in the past can you?

On my way back I saw two 6 point bucks. God, they were beautiful and so close! I saw blue jays, bunnies, and heard angry bull frogs. There were a ton of slugs on the trail. That was kind of gross. Chief caught up with me and I told him I would be 4 minutes late. When he was far enough a head of me I jogged some more. I completed 6 miles in 94 minutes. My best run there was 9 miles in 89 minutes. I wonder if I will ever get to run again.

On the bright side the ITB is not too bad. It stings a little but with some stretching I think I will be okay. Also, I walked hills today! There is nothing flat about WFG so I have something else to be proud of!

Progress

Progress has been made be it ever so slow. I have been able to walk for 30 minutes everyday for two weeks. Today I was able to hop on the trainer and ride my bike for 30 minutes. I know it is not running but I am on my way. I even enjoyed the trainer because I could watch an episode from the first season of "House".

I still have pain everyday but I am able to manage it with Advil. I had my physical last week and my doctor agreed with the sports medicine physcian that I should see an orthopedic surgeon. I probably will but for now I feel that since I am making some progress let's just keep going and see how far I can make it.

I am also on a diet. I have lost some weight and I think that is why my knee pain is more tolerable. I need to do some simple quad strengthing exercises and will probably work this in next week.

I know it is best to move slowly and this time I am going to keep up the snail pace. Even though it's hard it is best for now.

Independence Day Reflection

I got to thinking about my childhood and some of my favorite memories are about the Fourth of July. I grew up in Two Rivers, Wisconsin (a small town on Lake Michigan and proudly the "Home of the Ice Cream Sundae") and we celebrated every year with day long anticipation of the fireworks display. I was so fortunate to have a close knit family and tradition. My family...I could go on for days about them. I have 5 sisters and when I was young my mom and dad. Dad died when I was in 8th grade and sadly so did some of the traditions that I miss.

Every July 4th our cousins from the "country" would come and spend the day. They had 3 boys and 1 girl and luckily for me Dawn was my age and I loved when we got together. The day would start with a trip to downtown to watch the parade. Afterwards we played and rehearsed our annual "firecracker boom, boom, boom" cheer while my God-parents and Dad went golfing. When they returned my dad would "fry out" which is barbecuing for the rest of the world. That was always a sight. He had 2 bottles of beer - one for drinking and one for "putting out the flames" which I am pretty sure actually did have water in it.

The town shot off the fireworks from Neshota Park which is near the lake. We had a perfect view from our back yard. The older kids got to climb on the roof of the garage and watch. The rest of us had lawn seats. When it was over we would watch our dads light off our little firecrackers on the street. We always had the crowd favorites of snakes, smoke bombs, and sparklers.

And then tradition went away. I don't know why and it doesn't really matter. There were years that we stopped celebrating the way we had in the past. This year my family got together on the fourth and did things the old way. I just hope that my sisters continue this with their families forever. We don't get up north as often as we used to. We blame this on holiday traffic and there is never enough time to spend with everyone. I guess if I miss it so much it must be time to go home more. It's time for me to pass down the "firecracker cheer" to my nieces. Maybe next year I will be back.