Is it starting to seem like all I do is complain in this blog? Well...this week I have an excuse. My sweet little 15-month-old, Rush, broke his leg. Doesn't he look sad? He was trying to climb up on Mac's loft bed when he fell off the ladder. I was there when it happened. I have to admit it didn't look like much, but when he wouldn't stop crying and refused to put any weight on it, I had a bad feeling it was broken (Mac broke his arm last year and he wouldn't stop crying either). I took him to the hospital, and sure enough, SNAP. They called it a tib/fib, meaning both the tibia and fibula were fractured. It sounds awful, but the doc said it should heal fine. The good news is that he only needs to be in a cast for three weeks. It's going to be three weeks of hell. When your 15-months-old, your entire life revolves around the fact that you can now get around on your own. When this is suddenly taken away from you, you're pretty peeved. Runners know how frustrating it is when they get an injury and can't run. Imagine explaining to a 15-month-old why he can no longer walk. He spent the first two days throwing himself down on the ground and crying.

But enough about Rush. Now let's talk about how this whole thing effected me. Rush was supposed to start his one day of daycare this Thursday so I could do my long run. Because he broke his leg on Tuesday he couldn't go, which meant I couldn't run. My husband Rob took the morning off on Friday so I could get my 18-miler in. To save a couple of hours, I decided to do the run in Evergreen instead of going down the hill to do it on a flat and easy course in Denver. My 15-miler at Elk Meadow went well two weeks ago, so I figured adding on an extra three miles wouldn't be that difficult. WRONGO! Two weeks ago it was only 50 degrees. Today it was in the 70s, but it felt much hotter in the blazing sun. I did four laps -- a 4.5 mile loop with a 600 foot elevation gain each time around. The toughest lap was the second, because all I could think about was the fact that I had to do the whole thing two more times. I felt ok for the third lap, knowing I just had one more to go after that. The final lap was killer. My legs were shot. The whole run took me 26 minutes longer than I had planned, and by the time I was done every part of my body ached. It is probably the worst I've ever felt after a training run. The good news is that I'm positive this run was harder than the marathon will be in November.

Speaking of the marathon, I only need a few more donations to reach my fundraising committment to Team for Kids. If you haven't donated yet, just click on the link on the right side of this page.


While most of the week S--KED, one really good thing happened. Mac turned four on August 31, and he started school. He's such a big boy now and I'm so proud of him!

Now if I can just keep my family safe and free of all broken bones over the next few months I'll be happy. Please help me out Mac and Rush, and put all climbing on hiatus until after November 5th!