Me and pooch went for a 2 miler this afternoon.  I was a little winded, and have lost quite a bit of fitness.  Pooch was exhausted. :).

But the foot felt pretty good, and it is on ice right now.  We will see how it feels tomorrow.

First off… I am going to start running again.  My last treatment was a couple of days ago, and time to get back into the marathon training.  September still looks iffy, but hopefully at least the Disney Marathon is still a go.

Went to Fossil Trace today, and what a beautiful course.  Cut through a quarry in Golden , Co.  Lots of fossils around, including the palm impressions on a wall by one of the greens on the back nine.  Check out the rock outcroppings in the fairway.

What a great day for us to praise God for the 1 millionth child being sponsored through Compassion International.  What a great day to celebrate what God is doing around the world to “release children from poverty in Jesus name”.  In fact, our neighbor, Mark Hanlon was on Fox and Friends today to make this announcement.

He addresses the fact that secular media marketing groups have recommended taking the name “Christian” or “Jesus” out of everything having to do with the organization.  And that this would increase donations.  Well, Compassion is unashamed of our Christian roots, and will, in fact, make Jesus name even more prominent.  Which shows why they are such a great organization.

This is the official announcement from Compassion…………..
It is my great privilege to introduce you to Fellow Blewussi Kpodo, our one millionth sponsored child! Fellow is eight years old and he lives in Togo with his father, two older sisters, and one younger brother. And he now has a very bright future!

 

.       

 

 

And who better to stand alongside this precious little one than the world’s strongest woman?! Fellow’s sponsor is Jang Mi-Ran, a long-time Compassion supporter and Olympic gold medalist weight lifter from Korea. So, the strongest woman in the world is now sponsoring one of the most vulnerable children in the world

I found a picture of mom with us at the St Louis Marathon a few years ago.  Mom and dad stopped by, in St Louis, on the way back from Florida.  She looks good….maybe even good enough to run a block or two with us :). 

I went to my favorite “back cracker” a couple of days ago and got an ultrasound “Sonic Blaster” treatment.  This incredibly expensive machine produces huge blasts of sound waves to break up the stuff in my foot.  And the Chiro says it has an 80% cure rate.  His stretching and manipulation is helping too, and this thing just might work!  I have, however, lost some fitness and the September marathon is pretty much out.  But I am now looking to run the Disney Marathon in January, if/when this heel gets fixed. 

If the Chiro cannot fix it.  It will need surgery, and I will probably get that in the fall.  Details to follow

We went up to Duluth for Don and Carolyn’s 50th wedding anniversary.  Stayed on the lakefront in Canal Park.  It was great to see all the relatives.

Well, this is what my thinking is now………

I will visit my PT/Chiro guy next Wednesday to see what his opinion is of what is going on.  He understands the issue and will look at what he can do.   The thing is, that if I get the surgery done now, then I might be ”out” for the summer, and that would not be good.  There is too much hiking, biking, golfing and stuff going on to be a “no show”.  So my thinking now is to do all the PT I can and to stay as active a possible with a bunch of eliptical work thrown in.  If it doesn’t improve or gets worse, then I will have to do surgery.  But it definitely looks like the marathon in September is out.  Maybe the one in January might work.  We will see.  

Anyway, I still plan on keeping this thing going on.  Keep checking the blog for updates, as I haven’t given up hope yet.  Who knows, the PT/Chiro guy seems to be optimistic.

Went to the podiatrist today and I found out that I have osseous equinus on the upper part of my ankle.  This bone growth at the top of my ankle has caused my ankle to not flex correctly, which causes all the extra stress on the bottom of my foot causing the heel pain.     He gave me 4 options….

1.   Keep doing what I am doing with drugs, ice and hopefully it will not get worse.
2.   Surgery to remove the bone formation in my ankle which will remove the cause of the problem.
3.   Take up cycling.
4.   Do nothing and it will get worse over time limiting my activity. 

Even though surgery is not guaranteed to fix this, it seems like the best option.  I will need physical therapy and other procedures afterwards, and my activity level will be limited for a while.   So the marathon in September looks like a “no go” for now.  My next marathon option will be the Disney Marathon in January.  But we will have to see.    I will have to make a decision tomorrow.  Yikes!