Trying to cope with my injured body...

Well. Here we are, a week before the big marathon, and my body has decided to give out on me. Or, as my doctor gently put it, "You've probably over-trained." As our bodies age, there is apparently far less padding in the heels of our feet, where the Achilles tendon attaches, and when those same feet take many thousands of steps daily in training for the Portland Marathon, an extremely painful condition called Achilles tendinitis can be the result. And, in my case, that's what's happened. Oh, I had plenty of warning, plenty of chances to deal with the increasing pain I've been feeling since June, but I chose to ignore it, hoping it would just go away. And it didn't. So, I went to see the good doctor this week, and, to make a long story short, he thinks that I can still do the marathon (with probable major pain, but with hopefully no permanent damage), if I do the following:

• Have physical therapy. I've gone to one session, and I have three more appointments scheduled next week.
• Faithfully do all the exercises the physical therapist recommends. Check.
• Take two Aleve in the a.m., and two in the p.m. Check.
• Wear 1/4-inch heel pads in all my shoes. I'm gellin'.
• When attempting to exercise this week, walk only on padded, flat surfaces. So, I'm walking the track at the high school. Sooooo boring... And I'm only to walk short distances. Today I only did 2 miles, which, after doing 8, 13, 21, and 8 the last four weekends, in addition to my usual four miles daily, seems like nothing.
• Rub steroid cream into my heels twice daily. My sweet husband has volunteered for foot cream-rubbing duty. Thanks, honey!
  
• Pray. OK, the doctor didn't tell me to pray, but I am praying for relief from the pain, and that I will be able to finish the course next Sunday. You can pray, too, if you want.
  

A few more house pictures

Because the front of our house faces north, there is no time of day that is great for taking pictures. So, sorry about the glare, but here is a shot of the front of the house since Mark put the shutters back up.
Here's a closer-up view, minus the garage.
And the back side, which is sporting shutters for the first time.
And finally, the mail box - we thought it would look cool to paint the posts the same color as the house, and we had an extra corbel to attach underneath (which is the same as the corbels that are attached to the top of the posts which support the wrap-around porch on our house). Fun!
We still have porch lights to get back up, but this week we've been busy putting a sealant on the decking all around the house, so the lights will have to happen next week.

21...

...the number of miles I walked yesterday in Portland with Sarah and Chris (and many others who, like them, train with Portland Fit). Most of those involved yesterday are, like us, training for the Portland Marathon on October 5th. I can't even imagine walking 26.2 miles in just three short weeks, when 21 almost killed me! But hey, WE DID IT! And it was a beautiful walk. We crossed two of Portland's many bridges over the Willamette, walked twice along the waterfront, and enjoyed the views from many vantage points. After the walk, which took us almost six hours, we gratefully piled into Chris' car and headed to Baja Fresh for lunch. I wish I had pictures of us trying to exit the car and walk into the restaurant. We didn't know whether to laugh or cry! Everything hurt - our legs, heels, toes, backs, and pretty much everything else. We had to literally lift our legs from the car, one by one, because we had no strength left. And we just had to laugh at how we painfully hobbled around. After lunch, we went back to the Brosnan abode, where we soaked in their hot tub. Ahhhhhhh.... now THAT felt like heaven! Today I am feeling much better, and feel good about yesterday's accomplishment. But am I excited about walking even more miles on October 5th? Well, sort of. The cause is wonderful, and I know now that I will probably be able to finish the course. I've already decided that I won't try to work the day after the marathon - I think I'll need a recovery day!

15.78...

... the number of miles I walked today in my training for the Portland Marathon. Jake taught me how to calculate exact mileage using the ruler-thingy in Google Earth, so I think the figure is pretty accurate. Next weekend I hope to walk 21 miles with Sarah and Chris.
And why do I do this? Just for love, pure and simple. I love you, Baby Dorr.

Painting the House

We have lived in our house for fourteen years, and it was long past time to paint the exterior. (Well, the interior needs some work, too, but that's a story for another day.) Here is a "before" picture - as you can see, the house is light gray, with white trim, black shutters, and a red door.
Mark has several former students who have gone into the painting business. Called Mikowski Painting, the crew came on Monday and began prepping the house. We had taken down the shutters, the porch lights, the flower boxes on the second level, etc. They power washed the house, taped off the windows, and got ready to apply the paint.
Here is the back side of the house, with the windows all covered with the plastic. Those of you who have been in our back yard might notice that previous to the paint job, we extended the wrap-around porch to the back entrance to the garage (that red door on the right). You can also see where we applied color samples to the wall just left of the sliding door. As it turned out, we didn't pick any of those exact colors for the exterior, but went with something similar.
And here is the finished house! The guys did such a nice job, and we really recommend their work. We don't have the shutters up again yet, nor the window boxes, but it's coming together.
Another view. You might try double-clicking on these to see them better.
And here's the freshly painted front door, a deeper, darker red than last time. I think that once we have those black shutters up again, it will really look great. And the new porch lights are also black, so that will help tie it all together.
You are welcome to come by and see the Dorr's new door!

I've been tagged...

Beka tagged me a few days ago, and since then I have been diligently scouring my brain, trying to come up with seven things about myself that would be even remotely interesting for anyone else to know. So, brace yourself, because here they are, in no particular order:

1. I always make my bed before I exit my bedroom in the morning. This quirk comes from my childhood, when making our beds every day, without fail, was the law of the land for me and my siblings. And, just this week I read in a magazine that if you make your bed, then your bedroom is 80% "clean." Who knew?

2. Given a choice of about a million things to do, I would probably always choose reading. I read a book or two every week. As one of my favorite poets, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, wrote, "No man can be called friendless who has God and the companionship of good books."

3. I am a planner and an organizer by nature. I sometimes really wish I was more spontaneous, but I just always feel so much more relaxed - say, on a vacation - when I know where we are going, where we are going to spend the night, what the itinerary will be, etc. I've read that this trait probably comes from being the oldest of the six children in my family. You've heard those traits of oldest kids: responsible, compliant, pleaser, organizer, worrier, avoids trouble, and probably see things more black and white than younger siblings might. I pretty much fit that mold.

4. I am crazy-in-love with my husband. 'Nuff said.

5. I love babies - that's probably why I had five of them. It is an amazing thing to partner together with God to create, birth, and nurture life. Being a wife and a mom have been my highest calling. I have been far from a perfect parent, and to the degree that my children are "successful" in life, I can only give grateful credit to God for His grace and faithfulness.

6. After a lifetime aversion to gardening (I've never liked getting dirt under my fingernails), I have found that I really enjoy planting things, watering them, and even weeding, providing I'm wearing my trusty gardening gloves.

7. I had my first-ever pedicure of my 56-year-old life only last month. When we were in Colorado seeing our kids there, our daughter-in-law Nikki treated me to a pedicure. The woman who gave me the treatment could hardly believe it was a first for me. And oh, was it lovely! I think I could get used to having one on a regular basis!

So, there you have it. YOU CAN WAKE UP NOW!!! I think everyone I know has been tagged already. But feel free to tag yourself if you wish!

Am I an idiot? (wait, don't answer that)

Call me crazy, but I'm now an official participant in the Portland Marathon, which will be on October 5th. Have I ever done a marathon before? Nope. Am I totally in shape for this? Nope - not even close. Will I run my heart out? Nope - actually, I'll be walking, not running (I might be crazy, but I'm not stupid). And why, you may ask, might a 56-year-old woman do such a thing? Because of love, pure and simple. Jake and Beka are in the process of adopting a baby from Ethiopia, and some of the many people who love them are participating in the marathon to support and encourage them and to help them raise funds to cover the adoption expenses. To prepare, I am walking my usual four miles every morning, and will walk longer distances over the next month. My goal is simply to finish the course. Period. I LOVE YOU, BABY DORR!