The Weekend

What a busy weekend! Saturday morning Mike and I had breakfast with his mom at Mimi's Cafe where we counted the Bump Its that we spotted on waitresses. I think the Bump Its must come with the uniform and they are strongly encouraged to wear them. Some of them look pretty ridiculous and the last time I was ther eI overhead this old man tell one of the waitresses that she looked "so classy!". Too funny. After breakfast we did a little bargain shopping and hit the gym.

Later I went over to hang out with Annie and her two beautiful daughters. Reagan was asleep when I came over but when she woke up she was a little energetic spitfire.

It is so fun to see what her new thing is everytime I visit. This time it was belly buttons (she wants to see yours) and dancing. Well I say dancing but really it is just jerking her hips from side to side which is great because I can totally do that with her and I look like I am just following her lead and no one knows I really can't dance and this is probably as good as it gets for me. Anyway those children are a joy and I love being their honorary aunt.

Sunday we woke up early to tackle our first long run of training, an 8 miler. Unfortunately Mike did not have a good experience. He almost immediately felt a pain on the outside of his knee and it slowed him way down. I felt really good, I seem to run well in cold weather so I went ahead and finished the 8 miler. Mike was able to do about 6 before he had to stop, which is good considering the pain he was in from the very start.

I looked up his symptoms and I am quite sure that he is suffering from a very common running ailment, Iliotibial Band Syndrome. ITB is inflammation of the thick band of fibrous tissue that runs down the outside of the leg. The function of the band is to help coordinate with the thigh muscles to stabilize the knee. Mike's is inflammed which causes him pain when he flexes his knee. We started training this week so his milage was increased from maybe around 10-15 miles to 26. Fortunately it won't end his running career and he needs to cut back on his mileage and there are specfic stretches and strengthening activities that can help prevent it from recurring. He was bummed but when it comes to distance running these things happen and he will bounce back.

After the run we worked in the yard raking leaves and mowing the lawn and did some housework. Since I had been gone the past two weekend things really piled up around the house and it was a lot of work to catch up on. We didn't finish everything we needed to but I didn't want to put it off until next weekend because next weekend I want to get to Christmas decorating and putting up lights for the first time ever on my new house. I can't wait!