Each Day Is a Gift

Nice Sunday with Larissa, Brandon and the grandkids.

Flew home today.  My seatmate was very friendly.  We talked the entire 3 hr. 

So excited to see David and Maddi who actually arrived late last Sat. from NYC! :)

PD lab today.  Then shopped and packed the RV.

Took the Trend on her "maiden voyage" to SG with Maddi and David.  Hubby drove the first 2 hours, I drove the next 1.5 hr and David drove the rest of the way from Beaver.  We went no faster than 60pmh per the RV's manual's recommendation.  Sure was nice to make lunch and ate in.  And hubby got up and walked around and reclined on the corner bed at the back while David drove.  Got to Temple View RV Park early enough for dinner (the microwave oven worked GREAT!) and swimming/hot-tub.  :) 

SGTemp: 38F-61F  Clear beautiful blue sky! :)

The loft bed was quite comfortable.  Hubby's cycler worked great without problem.  We were toasty with the AC unit set at lowheat (fan) and temp dialed at the lower 1/3.  It emitted a white-noise hum that I didn't hear the cycler's beep at all.

Maddi and I ran to the temple and took pictures and ran back.  Her phone GPS said we ran 2 miles.  I wore my very old Mizuno trail shoes since I didn't bring running shoes.  No PF pain (yet). 

After breakfast we drove to ZionsNP where we hiked the Emerald Pool > Grotto loop and the trail to the south side of the Narrows.

Lunch in the RV.  Dinner at Chuck-a-Rama.  Swimming/hot tub at the RV Park.

After breakfast we drove to Snow Canyon where we hiked the Petrified Sand Dunes and Jenny's Canyon.  It was a beautiful day like yesterday.  Had lunch in the RV.  Left Snow Canyon around 2.  David drove most of the way while hubby and I took turn lounging between the dinnete bench and bed and watching movies! :) Dinner at Denny's.  What a FUN and relaxing trip! :)

6 very slow miles by myself on the MCT.  PF came back with a vengence. :(

Ran super slow with Wendy (she got 4 miles) and Karen on the MCT.  Nice weather.  PF is not going away anytime soon. 

Foam rolled the calves and quads like crazy, rubz the feet then ice rolled on frozen water bottles.  Stretched the calves and hammie x3.  Used the splint Karen lend me during the night.

Turned down Karen's text invite to run.  Too tired and feet too painful. :(
 

Ran with Karen.  Stopped at 0.5 mile to stretch out the calves and plantar facia.  Feet hurt the first three miles; then okay during the run.  Foam roll, stretch, ice, night splint. 

4 slow miles with Karen and Wendy. 
 

Karen texted me last night to remind me to ice my feet!  She ran 7 miles before meeting me at my house.  We ran to the Alpine everflowing fountain and back for 11 miles (Karen got 18+).  She is training so well.  So grateful she was willing to run slow with me and listen to me whine about my PF. 

Talked to Eric about PF home remedy.  I really need to give the feet a rest and diligently do the stretching, rolling, icing.  Sigh!

No running today.  Really enjoyed doing the Stake's Mini-MTC.  Felt like back in the mission again.  Earlier this week we had 15 sisters and 2 elders returned home after completing honorably their missions from Australia Sydney South.  We love and miss each and everyone of these good and faithful missionaries SO very much! :)

Ordered a pair of Bird and Cronin Splint from Amazon, the same kind Beth let me borrow while in TX.  It seemed to help...no pain with first step out of bed! 

Flying out to Tucson this morning.  Rubz the Plantar Facia while sitting at the departure gate. 

SO happy to see the grandkids.  Alina (16 mon.) warmed right up to me!  My, she's grown heaps since I last saw her at Thanksgiving!  Emi (5) was excited to see me and had heaps of things to tell me.  Devin (3) was still a bit unsure at first but warmed up when we started to play.  Marianne is an amazing mother nurturing her precious little ones.  She showed me the kids routines and schedules, their likes and dislikes.  They basically eat every two hours (3 meals and 3 snacks) and play/read/small outing/nap/quiet time in between eating! 

Eric is super busy and dedicated to his Fellowship at the U. of Arizona.  He got home around 6:30 (usually it's 8 or 9) and ate his dinner (only meal he eats) of meat-loaf that Marianne made.  Larry would be jealous of our dinner cause he LOVES meatloaf.

While visiting/chatting with Eric, his pager and phone would go off; so even though he was home, he was still working!  After putting the kids to bed, he finally had time to talk about the job interviews and career opportunities/offers; all the while packing his suitcase for a week's of clothing since he'd be going to L.A. for conference straight away after the 2nd interview (with Marianne) at Alburquerque, NM.  He also took time to examine my feet/ankle and gave me advise on treating my Plantar Faciitis.  Such a good son! :)

Went to bed pretty late and the grandkids got up very early.  Watched (and participated) closely what Marianne does with/for the grandkids.  We went to the park to play before going to story time (10 am) at the library. 

Marianne left around 3pm after Alina woke up from her nap and she read to Emi and Devin.  She has prepared the kids well for her leaving so there was no drama at her departure.  :)

I LOVE my grandkids SO MUCH!!! :)  Being Nana and spending time with grandkids is both FUN and exhausting! :) :) :)

AM: we had a "funtastic" walk race!  Devin rode his trike, Emi jogged/walked while I carried Alina (when she let me, she preferes toddling/running) jogging along.  We stopped a lot to examine the different desert wild flowers, cactus, bugs, birds (heaps of birds), waved at the airplanes flying overhead (that the kids were very sure was their momma's airplanes) calling out "Hi, Mommy!".  It was a blue sky, cool morning after a light rain earlier.  The air was filled with fragrance of desert flowers.   We jumped over small rain puddles.

PM: we had heaps of fun building bridges, birthday cakes, houses, swimming pools, garages, interesting buildings with Legos.  We watched two short videos of Dora the Explorer.  Emi and Devin put on their swim-suits and we went to the "beach" which was the couch and used the cushions for surf-board.  They have never ever been to the beach!  We played with things from the "Nana box", bubbles, colored and drew pictures, Devin especially loved his "robot arm" to pick up things.  We played Candyland.  We sang and danced to the music from Pandora.   We played hide-n-seek.  We ate cookies! :)

Evening:  the only challenging thing was to get Devin to eat.  Alina on the other hand, eats a lot.  She consumes more than what Devin and Emi would eat combined.  While cohercing Devin to eat with all sorts of funny antics.  We laughed and giggled with "what would happen if we swollen a train".  Devin loves trains.  Normally, Alina would laugh and giggle when we laugh even if she has no idea what we're laughing about.  She is a very bright, delightful, happy little baby.  But I noticed she wasn't smiling but instead had this serious look on her face.  Then all of a sudden, without warning, she vomitted (good thing she was strapped in her high chair) the undigested dinner on her tray.  For the next two hours I held her in my arms and intermittently rushed to the sink as she continued to empty the content of her stomach (all the food she's eaten that day: banana and oatmeal, chocolate chips granola bar, green and red grapes, green and red apples, sweet and white potato, cheese stick, peanut butter,  crackers, cookie, tuna fish sandwitch, whole wheat noodle with cheese, milk...)  Poor thing!  Emi urged me to call her mommy; but we had just called her before dinner and I didn't want to worry her and Eric.  But, I was so worried that I called Larissa (she's a nurse practitioner and worked at a pediatrician office).   It was a little tougher to put the kids to bed (brushing teeth, toilet, changing to pajamas, scriptures, prayers, story books...) while holding Alina and rushing to the bathroom with each vomit.  By the time the kids are in bed it was nearly 8:30.  I held Alina as she slept in my arms for another 30-45 min. to be sure she's not going to vomit anymore.  Finally put her to bed and she slept soundly while I cleaned the kitchen and took a shower.  I slept fretfully worrying that Alina would vomit in the middle of the night...but she didn't! :)

Devin woke up very early to use the bathroom.  He seemed super tired and grumpy!  I started to worry that he might be sick.  Alina initially did not want to eat.  So I held her while Emi and Devin had breakfast.  I let Devin had granola bar which was the only thing he wanted for breakfast.  Alina didn't even ask for her granola bar (which was her favorite yesterday).  Emi handed her small pieces of corn and oat flakes from her cereal.  She ate it and then wanted more.  So I fed her some baby rice cereal with water and banana.  She ate them heartily.  Yay! No more vomitting! :)

Devin was mean to Alina so I sent him to time out in his room.  He fell asleep shortly!  He must be so tired!  We had a quieter play time mid-morning.  Then I put Alina down for nap.  Both her and Devin slept for two hours.  They would probably sleep longer if I hadn't woken them up. 

Marianne came home in the afternoon and the kids were SO happy to see their mommy.  I was relieved that the kids were not sick.  

We took the kids to the children's museum.  It was a lot of fun.  Enjoyed my last day in Tucson with my grandkids and talking with Marianne. 

It's been a week since I last ran.  Each morning I would stretch my pf, archilles before getting out of bed and so far no "first step" morning pain.  Eric has advised me to stretch my calves three times a day (at least 10 min. each time).  I did that a couple of days this week so hopefully my PF is getting better.
 

Fly home today.  Going to really miss my grandkids!  The return flight with an hour lay over in Vegas seemed much longer than the outbound flight.  I rubz the pf when sitting at the airports. 

Thinking about Toby and others who are running the Buffalo Run today as the plane flew over Utah Valley, no glimpse of the Antelope Island, as it landed in SLC.  Looks like a gorgeous day for a long long trail run.  Can't wait to hear how Toby does!  :)

Hubby and I got a church calling.  It's been nearly a year since he's had a calling.  We're called to teach the ward's Temple Preparation Class.  We're excited!

Ran with Wendy to meet her co-worker, Rebecca, a T.A. at the elementary school, who's started running and training for a 5K in May.  We jogged/walked up to MCT then down on the Rail Trail and ran Rebecca back to her neighborhood then two miles back to our homes.  I didn't wear a watch.  Wendy's watch says we ran 6.5 miles and average just under 11mpm.  Feet felt fine during the run but calves felt a bit tight.

Foam rolled and stretched the calves after I got home.  I discovered some knots in my medial soleus bilaterally, right worse than left.  They are sore to touch.  I massaged, rolled, stretched them like crazy.  I remember distinctively that there was a huge knot close to the heel bone on the left ankle right after running the Woodlands Marathon over two weeks ago.  Now it seemed to have spread higher up on the soleus.  Should've rolled and stretched diligently for the last two weeks but I didn't due to trip to Southern Utah one week and to Tucson the next.  Live and learn!

I started wearing the night splint/boot every night when I sleep as soon as I got home on Sat.  I think they are helping.  There's no more morning first step pain.  Not sure if it's the boot, or no running for 10 days or the stretching...probably combination of all that.   I decided to put it on my right foot (previously only on the left as the left PF was worse than the right).  I sure hope both soleus heal up quick.

Woke up super tired with sore calves and a pounding headache (proably due to Spring allergy).  So I stayed in bed and took a rest day. 

My sleep habit has been so messed up.  Woke up at 7:20 (which is 6:20 Arizona time, I think I'm still adjusting to day-light-saving and readjusting back).  Plus wearing splint/boot in bed is not too conducive to sleep.  O well.  I need to go to bed earlier instead of taking naps in the afternoon and reading late into the night.

Karen texted and I replied with "come get me at 8 and I'll see if I can attempt to run."  It felt colder this morning.  I was having a hard time breathing barely running 10:15 pace.  Stopped at the 1500W bathroom and again at Karen's house.  She is running so well.  She did speedwork yesterday with average pace for the entire run at 8:00.  I think she should try for a BQ at Ogden.

I, on the other hand, not even sure if I can make it to the West Mountain Marathon start line.  I am going to be diligent with recovery, rest and start back up conservatively.

Foam rolled, trigger-point rolled with tennis ball on the medial soleus and rubz the pf.  Massaged, stretched.  Then I remember Eric told me to do yoga.  Ahh, yoga felt so good even though I have zero flexibility! :)

Beautiful morning, slept in since none of my buddies are home today.  38F sunny breezy.  7.5 slow solo miles on the MCT via Center, west to 1500 W drank at the restroom, turned around east to Dry Creek tunnel then turned home via 800E.  AP: 10:30 (rebooted/reset the Garmin back to factory default, all the history are deleted and re-programed the setting so the pace is now mph).

Foam roll, stretch, yoga.

Major house cleaning.

40F clear blue sky.  Ran with Wendy on MCT via 800 E, east to Lone Peak Hwy then turned back.  We took our sweet time, walked the uphill, we had so much to catch up on.  AP: 11:53 :)

Foam roll, stretch, yoga.

Yard work. Pruned raspberry bushes.  Weeded.

36F clear blue sky.  Ran with Wendy to pick up Rebecca (Wendy's friend from elementary work) 1.75 miles.  Jogged up to MCT east to meet up with Karen and Amanda mile 3.  Turned and ran Rebecca home 4.75.  Then the three of us ran home for a total of 7.5 solo miles.  But got to jog up 1200West twice. 

Foam roll, stretch, yoga.

Yard work.  Dug up and transplanted a medium size Alberta spruce.

42F sunny blue sky.  Ran with Karen up MCT west.  Took a drink break at 1500 W restroom, then we ran down to tunnel by Oracle and back up for hill repeats. I was short on time so I did 2 hill repeats while Karen did 3.  She was much faster and stronger than me on the uphill.  We both recovered on the downhill.  AP: 9:45 (10:16, 9:32, 9:41, 10:21 [hill repeats], 9:32, 9:16, 9:18) 

Had to go to Home Dialysis Workshop in Murray with hubby so no time to foam roll, just brief stretch.

Yard work, clean the back patio and deck.  Yoga before bed.