Labor Day

Weekend of September 4

Part 1

I got out to the trail early and it was cooler than it has been since April. It was only 78 degrees when I got out of the car. The sky looked overcast and that held for most of the morning. The humidity was also lower, so I was looking forward to the walk.

It is very odd that there has been loads of heavy equipment working on the draining ditch that feeds into the bayou since early June and suddenly, there are orange construction signs up notifying us of "Trail Work Ahead." I wonder what caused them to put these up after all this time. It simply boggles the mind.

I expected that there would be fewer people out this weekend due to the holiday. Most of the regular walkers and runners were on the trail at their regular times, but there didn't appear to be as many cyclists as usual. The Kay Fit groups were out, but they were much smaller - only

3 - 6 people in each group. They weren't nearly as intrusive as they have been simply because their numbers were so limited. It was a nice change.

As usual, there were quite a few people out with their dogs. One man was particularly interesting. He was walking the cutest little pomerian puppy who was mincing as she troted along side him. She was obviously a very young dog and her short little legs were moving very quickly to keep up with her owner. He, on the other hand, was about 6' 4" and had to weigh about 260. It was a very odd picture.

My daughter, Ashley, called me yesterday to tell me about swimming with the whale sharks at the Atlanta aquarium. She was really excited about it and was so glad she did it. Her enthusiam made me feel like I needed to push myself on my walk this weekend. When I hit the 3.5 mile mark, I just kept walking and ended up going a full 10 miles. The last leg of the outbound walk is between Dairy Ashford and Eldridge. I don't really like that part of the walk (I had only done it once from the other end). It is very flat. I think to keep it interesting they decided to make the trail weave back and forth for no apparent reason. It is also very flat and fully in the sun. In addition to all of that there were way too many people running and cycling and more walkers than I usually see all weekend. They were loud and moved fast, passing on whichever side they encountered the least resistance. It was very unsettling. I like this trail because it is so quiet and I can spend some time thinking. That wasn't possible on the last leg of the walk. Oh well, I guess that is the price to pay to add the distance.

I felt pretty good about the walk. I was holding up well - no heavy breathing, not too much sweat (there was a nice breeze all morning). Then, in the last 1.3 miles, my right knee started hurting. It started when I jogged down a hill. I thought going downhill faster would be easier - no fighting gravity, etc. Unfortunately, I screwed up my knee and by the time I got the last leg of the walk it was hurting pretty badly. It wasn't quite the way I had planned to end the walk. By the time I was in the car and on the way home it had started swelling. I'm not sure how it will go tomorrow.

Part 2

The alarm went off early on Sunday and I got up. My right knee was not cooperating. I had iced it most of the afternoon and kept it elevated. It was still swollen when I went to bed so I was careful to keep it elevated while I slept. Since it wouldn't hold my weight without it being extremely painful, I decided it was a bad idea to walk today. We will see what tomorrow brings.

Part 3

I went to a lunch and a show on Sunday. Walking around the theatre district wasn't making my knee feel any better.

I got up early and got out to the trail at 6:40. I only planned to walk 3 - 5 miles. I was hoping that the shorter walk would be kinder to my knee than a longer walk. I got to the 2.5 mile point, but knew I didn't dare go any further if I wanted to get back to the care without pain. It was giving me some problems up and particularly, down the hills. It wasn't too bad and I was handling the limited pain pretty well.

On one of the downhill treks, I heard a pop and grinding sound from my right knee. I was worried that I had done something really bad. Luckily, the sound seems to have been an indication of my right knee cap shifting back to its original place. I guess alls well that ends well.

I have only 39 days left until the walk! I still have over a thousand dollars to raise. For those who have already donated, I appreciate it. For those who haven't and still want to, please click the "Donate Here" link on my Blog Site at BlogSport.com. You will also be getting another email asking for more assistance. I will be raffling off a quilt I finished today as well as selling some jewelry to bring in more funding.

I hope you are enjoying the blog and that I will be hearing from you soon.

Sleep now.