Head, shoulder, KNEES and toes - KNEES and toes :)

Hello all! I'm happy to hear that people are actually reading this. I know this is true because I've had several people checking in on me about the knees ;) So a tiny update is just that I didn't run the 8 miles this past weekend, but like I said - probably not a huge deal since I ran 7.6 the week before and that's not a huge difference. I walked about 4 miles total but nothing too strenuous. I have a doctors appointment today at 3:00 so hoping that I actually get out of work on time today I will have more info. on what to do and when I'll be able to get back out there!! From what I've gathered right now from my coach and some running peers is that it's probably the IT band. Large muscle that runs from your hip all the way down and does a lot of connecting in the knee area. From what I understand if this muscle tightens up and isn't stretched properly it can pull at the patella or knee cap causing...yeah, pain. So I'm hoping that's what it is, if I have to hope for some kind of pain in the first place because it can be fixed. The doctor I'm going to today does some kind of muscle targeting and pressure release technique that I think might be really helpful. So, thanks for the concern everyone and I'm glad to hear people are reading - will post an update after I go today. Other than that though...this past Saturday night, one of the guys we run with had a little party at his house so I have some pictures from that because my friend Clara made me the most delicious cheesecake I've ever had (original NY style cheesecake with a chocolate sauce, fresh raspberries, AND chocolate covered strawberries on top!!!) So they surprised me with it and sung me happy birthday again, which was really nice. We had a lot of fun and it was a good turnout. Hopefully the same will happen for the beer pong tournament!! The one on the left is me going "no way, is that real??"

Want to know what my wish was for?? -Everyone to visit my fundraising page at http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/honolulu08/sverbeke (if you haven't already) and make a donation, big or small to help me and most importantly to help those paitents that are battling leukemia and lymphoma!!! (and I'm going to need to keep running to burn off that cheesecake!!)