14, 20 and Parker's first injury

Well 14 sucked sooooooo bad!!  I have never felt that bad on a run.  I waited until 3pm to run that day (I never run long runs this late in the day).  Brent had to work and I didn't feel like finding someone to watch Parker.  Anyhow, it was a pretty balmy day so I set out in shorts and a tee shirt.  In the first half I was warm...well for the most part.  There were occasional gusts of wind that made me pretty chilly.  By mile 10 I was starving!  Then I started to get pretty chilled around mile 11.  By mile 12 my knees were absolutely killing me and I would've done anything to get someone to pick me up.  My knees used to bother me pretty often in the past.  I can remember when I trained for my first half marathon they would kill me on and off.  And during practically every half marathon I've run (excluding the most recent) my knees are shot by mile 10.  However, during training for this marathon I really haven't had a complaint.  I was baffled as to why they were hurting so bad now.  Like I usually do, I pushed through.  It's not a sharp pain that I experience.  It's a dull pain below my knee caps...almost as if my knees tighten up.  When I got home I was freezing so I took a hot shower.  When I got out I looked in the mirror and my lips were purple...so weird.  I was still cold, so I bundled up and got in bed under the covers.  This wasn't helping.  I was pretty nauseous and getting hungry.  Brent soon came home with dinner.  About an hour and a half after I ate I finally felt like myself and the next day I felt absolutely fine.  I dunno, maybe I didn't eat or drink enough all day before I ran.  I also didn't plant nearly as much water or gu chomps.  Thankfully it hasn't happened since.  Of course this mentally screwed my anticipation of running 20 the following weekend.  However, that Wednesday I had to run 10 miles (my furthest weekly run to date) and I felt fabulous.  I averaged 9:00 minute miles.  This definitely gave me the boost of confidence I needed.  I also made sure to eat and drink plenty the Friday before.  20 ended up being quite amazing.  I ended up running my fastest long run of training.  I averaged 9:03 minutes a mile!!  Don't get me wrong it was definitely challenging.  At mile 18 my knees started to bother me again.  What the heck?  I knew this time it wasn't lack of energy or hydration.  I ate 2.5 packs of gu chomps and drank 34 oz of water!  So I tried to bend my knees more without changing how my feet hit the pavement (so nervous about hurting this stupid achilles again).  It helped a little, but they were still really bothering me.  I am so frustrated, because I felt great otherwise, but I really couldn't imagine running 6 more feeling that way.  The only hope I have to hang onto is that the week preceeding 20 I topped out my weekday mileage at 20 miles - making my total weekly mileage 40!  Hopefully having my mileage decrease up until race day will provide my knees with the rest they need.

Now onto Parker.  On Monday I took the morning off to go out to breakfast for Brent's birthday so I didn't get up early to run.  Instead, I ran after school.  When I got back from my run I opened the front door to the sound of Parker screaming and Brent yelling "Kristin, Kristin come up here".  As soon I reached the doorway to Parker's room I see Brent holding a bloody towel up to Parker's mouth.  He had fallen and knocked out his front tooth.  His lip then grew bigger and bigger right before our eyes.  Of course I panic, because that's what I always do in emergency situations.  Finally I got my wits about me and called my dentist who is also our friend (thank God!).  He calmed me down and instructed me to get Parker to calm down so we could get some ice on his mouth and give him some Motrin.  Well I realize I don't have any Motrin, but I could not bear to leave Parker and I was not letting Brent go anywhere either.  So I called my mom to see if she could go to the store and get us some.  Meanwhile, Parker was not letting me get near him with the ice.  Finally I got the courage to look in his mouth and I discover that the tooth is still there.  It is bent straight out and up into his top lip - no wonder he wouldn't let me put ice on it...ouch!!  Poor baby!  I call the dentist back and he tells me to do whatever it takes to get something cold in his mouth...feed him ice cream if I have to and get a pic to send to him.  So I'm feeding him a huge bowl of ice cream and he's crying as soon as it melts in his mouth.  He is not calming down!  My parents arrive, Parker calms down a little so my mom can look and I can get a picture.  I send it and my dentist replies with "I see the root.  You need to bend the tooth down and push it back up into his gums".  HA!  Yeah right!!!  I can't do it!  So I ask him if he would please let us drive over to his house...thankfully he agrees.  He pushes the tooth back in (several different times over the course of an hour) resulting in more blood and cries and sends us home.  Parker crashes on the way home and wakes up the next morning happy as a clam acting as if nothing ever happened.  The tooth is still in tact, but slightly lower than the rest of his teeth.  I let my dentist know.  He thinks it will reattach and all will be good.  Whew!!! I just could not imagine my little boy going to Kindergarten without a front tooth!  I mean seriously he probably wouldn't even get his next tooth until 1st or 2nd grade.  I was mortified thinking about it.  Anyway, we get ready for work and Brent takes Parker to my mom's as usual.  I call my mom to give her an update tell her I can't believe how happy he was this morning and she agrees - he's cracking up in the background and eating a banana.  Then about 20 minutes later I get a call.  My mom says "Kristin, no wonder he's so happy the tooth is gone!  He must have swallowed it." Ugh!  My stomach drops.  My little boy is going to be missing his front tooth for at least 5 years...waaaaaaahhh!!! :(  I know, I know it could be worse and I need to stop being so vain, but really his front tooth!!  Oh well, there's nothing I can do about it.  Time to get over it. lol.  The joys of having a boy.  I'm sure this is just the beginning.