Since I know you were curious...

Here's a picture of the tiger puzzle as far as we got before we had to put it away:

That's all for tonight.  I didn't run today because I'm sick with a fever.  Hopefully I'll be good to run tomorrow.

I survived the kale

Not only the kale, I also survived my second attempt at returning to running!  I ran 3 miles yesterday, and my foot feels fine.  I'm taking it very carefully, but I'm feeling very relieved that things are so far so good.  Last night, we had a fundraiser party, and Alan and I raised $139 together.  We had a lot of fun, because it was also a birthday party for him, and we played all sorts of games and did a puzzle.  Unfortunately, we didn't have time to finish the puzzle before the end of the party.  To my dismay, no one else wanted to stay to finish the puzzle.  It is a picture of a tiger with a lot of greenery around it, and the greenery was very difficult to piece together, even looking at the picture on the box. 

On Friday, we had a visit from my cousin and her two kids.  They are so adorable!  Here's a picture of one of them making pizza for lunch with Sam:

So cute!!!  Also, can you believe that spring starts in less than a month?  I can't wait!  And daylight savings starts or ends in 2 weeks!  Spring is so much better than winter, even though this winter hasn't been very wintery.  The days are getting longer and it's getting warmer.  This week has been very windy, though.

Only $1338 to go on my marathon fundraising!  It's getting pretty close!  Help me out if you can - even one dollar gets us closer to the goal of bringing science education to kids around New England!  Here's the link: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal

I ran today!!!!

I am thrilled to announce my triumphant (but tentative) return to running!  Sam and I power-walked a mile, then ran a mile, as instructed by the foot doctor.  It felt fine!  I felt like I was flying, and I was so excited to be running.  We kept it pretty slow to be careful, which I think was important.  I'm not going to run tomorrow, then on Saturday I'm going to go to the team run and do 18 miles.  Just kidding, only 3.  But I'm very excited to get back and see everyone!

This week is school vacation week, so we're having a lot more relaxed time, especially in the evenings.  We've been watching The Wire, which is a really good show.  It's helpful to watch it with Sam because he can tell me when the gory scenes are over, and also help me figure out what's going on.  We're probably going to finish season 1 tonight.  I think I've earned a night on the couch after such an intense run!  (Also just kidding.)

In random other news, Sam got kale at the fruit and veggie market this week, so we've been having adventures with kale.  I'm about to go try kale chips.  If I don't blog again, you'll know why.  :)

I'm getting ever closer to my $4000 goal!  Please help me support the Traveling Programs at the Museum of Science!  Here's the link: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal

A map of my donors

As I was looking through my list of donors, I was really impressed to see how far and wide everyone is spread around the country.  It feels so great to have support from all over the place!  So I decided to make a map of it, since I like maps.  Don't worry, no one's address is included, just the towns or cities where one or more people have donated from.  I hope you like it!  Here's the map:


View Marathon Donors in a larger map

If you're feeling inspired by the map and want me to add your location, you can make a donation here: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal

Thanks to all my donors so far!  I'd like to add a few shout outs to Ben and Christie, Rick and Sal, Grandma and Poppa, and Joe Y.  You guys are so great!  I really appreciate your help!  Only $1445 to go...

P.S.  It would make my mom happy if I stop asking for money on my blog.  But I can't do that until I meet the fundraising goal.  So, if you donate, you get the extra bonus of getting us closer to making my mom happy!

I'm done with the boot!

I'm so happy to announce that I'm done with the boot!  After wearing it for just over 2 weeks, I'm so ready to be done with it.  Today, Sam and I went on a walk, and I'm supposed to walk again tomorrow, then I can speed walk on Thursday with a little run at the end if it feels ok, then I can go to the team run on Saturday and run 3 miles (instead of 18, like the rest of the team).  But I'm very happy to be getting back into things!  Now the only issue is keeping myself injury-free from here on. 

When I was a the foot doctor today, she told me that it would take a while to build back the muscles in my foot that had gotten weak from being in the boot.  She had me do a couple of agility things like squatting on one leg, and it was much easier on my left (non-injured) foot than my right.  I couldn't believe the difference.  She gave me some exercises to do to strengthen those muscles, and I'm supposed to do them for 5 minutes every day. 

I'll update more soon, but I just wanted to share the good news!

I'm almost back to running, plus many thanks!

It's been a week and a half, and I'm only 5 days away from being done with the boot, if everything is going according to plan inside my foot.  I'm so excited to get back to running!  It's not hurting at all anymore, which is definitely a good sign.  And the boot hasn't gotten too stinky, luckily. 

Today I'm going to jump right in to the thank yous to my donors, because I'm so excited about how awesome things are going.  So here goes - thanks so much to Marc and Rachel S, Rachel P, Sam and Shari, Fiona, Brent, Emily and Scott, and Zuzka!  I'm so grateful to you guys!  I'm up to $2555 out of $4000, which is well beyond my halfway point goal of $2000 by tomorrow, February 17.  Thanks again to all my donors!  Only $1445 left to go!  Here's the link, as usual: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal  And here's an idea - send it to your friends!  Especially the ones who like science and/or kids!  I'd really appreciate it!

I'm starting to get into the rhythm of going to work every day.  Well, 4 days a week at this point, but hopefully it will be full time soon.  And of course, the last day of the week isn't all couch and bonbons.  I'm babysitting for more hours now, which is actually really fun.  When I have 5 hours with the kid, I can take her to do more fun stuff, like going to museums.  We've been to the Museum of Science and the Children's Museum, and both were really fun.  Tomorrow we're going to go swimming!  I used to teach swim lessons, so I'm pretty excited about it.  Apparently she's pretty enthusiastic about going in the water.  And this will be my first time navigating a locker room with a kid, not to mention the boot.  It's going to be interesting!

Work at the museum is going pretty well.  We're getting ready for a bunch of different events that are coming up, and there's a ton of variety in the things I'm getting to work on.  Life is pretty good!

Happy Birthday to Sam!

Today is Sam's birthday!  Happy Birthday to Sam!  He had some good days of teaching this week, which is appropriate for a birthday week.  We're going out to dinner at Stella on Friday to celebrate!  Thanks to Sam's parents!

My foot is doing ok, but I'm getting pretty ready to be done with the boot.  It makes my ankle pretty tired wearing it, because it is heavier than regular shoes.  I've taken to biking distances that I would normally walk because it's so much easier to bike than walk.  But only 12 more days of the boot, which is pretty manageable.  At least the doctor gave me a smaller one than Erin had lent me, so it's only to mid-shin instead of all the way to my knee.  I'm really missing running, and I'm worried that I'm losing all the progress I had made.

Both of us got a lot of nice birthday cards, so thanks to everyone for thinking of us and for sending birthday wishes!

Fundraising is going well, but I haven't gotten a donor report yet this week, so I can't do my shout outs to donors yet.  I think I'll get a report tomorrow, so I'll do shout outs in my next post.  In the meantime, thank you mystery donors!  If you'd like to become a (short-term) mystery donor, here's the link: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal

That's all for now!

Yep, it's a stress fracture, but I'm only out for 2 weeks!

So I finally sorted out the insurance situation and went to the doctor today, and it turns out I have a stress fracture, as I had thought.  I got x-rays and everything.  It's pretty small, and it's just a stress fracture, not a complete fracture, which is better.  I have an aircast boot to wear for 2 more weeks (thanks Erin for lending me one for the last few days!), and then I'm allowed to get back to running.  In the meantime, I'm supposed to cross train on the exercise bike and lifting, so that I'll be ready to go in time for the marathon.  The doctor was really nice and she totally seemed to understand how I'm feeling about running, and she really helped me feel like it will be ok and I'll be able to get back to running in plenty of time.  So overall, good news! 

I'm also completely done with my thesis and with school, so that's a huge relief.  I'll get my degree in another couple of weeks, and that's it!  I can't believe that I made it!

For anyone who wasn't already aware, my birthday is tomorrow.  If you haven't donated already, a donation to my marathon fundraising effort would be a great birthday present!  I'm going to be 25, so you could donate $25 in honor of my age!  Here's the link: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal  I'm more than halfway done with my fundraising, and I'm really grateful to all of my donors.  I don't have any new shout-outs this time, so please donate so I can thank you on my blog!

Foot situation

So, my foot situation has worsened.  I think I may have a stress fracture.  For diagnosis purposes, here's a photo:

The area with the circle is where it hurts the most when I push on it.  When I walk, it also hurts more towards the ankle bone.  I've taken off of running this week, and I'm going to have to skip the long run this weekend.  I think the important thing is to make sure I get better now, so I'm taking it easy and cross training for a bit.

I've also surpassed my midpoint fundraising goal, which is wonderful!  Thanks to my most recent donors - my parents, Junjay, Aunt Ruthie, Wendy and Howie, Katherine and Sheldon, Raquel, Liz, Jen D, and Eitan!  You guys are great!  Here's the link, as usual: http://www.mos.org/marathon/meettherunners.php#lowenthal