GAH!!!

It's been a crazy past few days.

Mike went away on a detachment to South Carolina. He doesn't get home until August 21st. Boo!

My dad came to visit. He's gone, and now I am back to being a single mom. BOO AGAIN!!

Tyler started basketball tonight. HILARIOUS.

He's the little fella in orange. The one posing on the floor right in front of the coach. I see NBA written all over him.

School for Evan (3rd grade) and Tyler (Kindy) starts Friday!!! (Today by the time most of you read this).

My leg is, well...

Let's just say that it's not getting worse thanks to the Alter G. What a blessing that machine is.

Granted, it's a trade off... It's almost incapacitating to be hydrated on that thing. Pretty much feels like your bladder is in a vice grip. By the time I get to 30 minutes (I'm only allowed to use it for 45 minutes each session), I'm DYING. Can't think about much else other than a TOILET.

See, it's not like I can just hop off, go do my business and then hop back on like a normal run of the mill treadmill. No, I'd have to turn the treadmill off, wait about 2 minutes for it to depressurize, unzip myself out of the damn thing, take off my super sweaty, super funky space britches/drysuit, then go to the bathroom. Oh, and then I'd have to call one of the authorized personal trainers to help me back onto the Alter G. They treat it like it's a newborn baby, and they don't want you messing with it by yourself.

This pretty much sums it up.

Currently, I am able to do 35% of my body weight at 6.9 mph (8:41 pace) without any leg pain. Tried 40% today and it was a bit "iffy" so I backed down. I think this honestly is a day-by-day process. My running coach has been a coach for 29 years, so he has all kinds of experience with various running injuries. He's thinking it's one of three things based on the symptoms/pain I've described to him:

1) Posterior Tibial Tendonitis
2) Periostitis (inflammation of the bone sheath)
3) Early stage stress fracture (Please don't let it be this.)

He also asked me how much milk I drink. Uh.... Doi!

That actually crossed my mind as well. I'm pretty sure that I don't get nearly the amount of calcium that I need to keep my bones healthy and strong. I have a glass here and there but not much. He recommended that I drink at least 32 oz. of non-fat milk per day.

Tonight, I had a glass of this as an alternative. I forgot that I bought it the other day. Duh.

Pretty tasty and has 45% RDA of your calcium as opposed to 30% in 8 oz. of milk

So my new plan is a glass of milk with every meal + a glass of this before bed. I'm not a huge cheese and yogurt fan (unless it's frozen), so this is where it's at for me.

Regarding medical treatment: The soonest I can get in to see my primary care doctor is August 16th. I'm going to see if I can get an MRI, but I'm dealing with military medicine in a very small town. Not feeling incredibly optimistic about it. If I have to go to San Diego to have it done, I'm not sure how exactly that is going to fit into my crazy schedule.

In the meantime, it's Alter G and me. And the elliptical machine.

This weekend will be my first experience with pool running since the Alter G is not available on the weekends. I can't say that I'm really excited about it, but I suppose it beats sitting around on my ass and losing my fitness.

In other news, did you hear about Kara Goucher? She has a femoral neck stress reaction. Yikes! While I hate that she's injured, it makes me feel good to know that everyone gets injuries, and everyone has to work through them. Even (especially?) the elites. It's just part of the game. She seems to be bouncing back wonderfully according to her latest blog entry. A HUGE part of her rehab has been on the Alter G!!!

So... Any advice about pool running?!?!