The Things I've Learned...

1) My MRI results show a normal brain!! well, w/ mild degenerative white matter which my doctor informed me that this is relatively common. They are assuming that my 9-day headache was a "cluster headache." ...but now I have to go see a cardiologist to monitor my heart murmur. I guess they don't want me to drop dead on marathon day.

2) Watch out on those Soulard sidewalks! I took a mean spill while running about 3 weeks ago. It looked like a superman flying belly flop. Ouch! (I also tripped about a year ago on the Soulard sidewalks and ended up w/ a broken elbow).

3) Slowing down my speed has helped out with the stomach pinches I used to get. I rarely get a stomach pinch now, which makes me very happy!

4) My doctor said that an average hr of 160 while running isn't abnormal...at all. He expects that.

5) Even though Soulard has horrible sidewalks (Soulard is a historic neighborhood and most of the sidewalks are brick...which are very uneven, but look pretty so it's okay), I love my neighborhood and my house. I've been doing the majority of my runs around Soulard/Benton Park and love how many people I see out walking their pups, the architecture is great and I can always spot something that I've never seen before.

6) I came across a pictorial map of St. Louis, dated 1875. Records say our house was built in 1883, but our house is on this map! Maybe this is not our house on the map, but it sure looks like it (Our house is set back from the road and from the other houses in our row) . Maybe the records are wrong. But whatever the date our house was built, I always imagine what it looked like 100 years ago...who lived there, what did they do?

Our house is a flounder...which is a house type that is unique to St. Louis. Since these houses were exclusively working class homes, decoration was limited, confined to segmental arched windows and perhaps a corbelled cornice. Flounder houses were especially appropriate for dense neighborhoods, where space was at a premium. They were often constructed as alley buildings, sharing a lot with as many as two larger tenement buildings.

There are a couple reasons why to build a flounder: to shed roof rainwater to one side of the property. Yup, water gushes down our side alley and into our basement :o/. Another reason, taxes on a half-house were assessed at half-rate.

Ok, so our house is considered the "poor house" of Soulard, but I still love it.