I am Challenged Individual

The other day I was running along the sidewalk through a neighborhood and out of the corner of my eye I saw a small explosion of feathers. I looked over and saw a perigrine falcon struggling to fly with a full-grown pigeon in it's talons. The kill was about 8 feet away and it landed in a tree 10 feet from me. With such a load, it wasn't going to fly anywhere, so we stood there staring at each other for several seconds.
That was so cool! Who wooda thunk I'd see such a thing in the city?

I've been trying to load up on miles leading into the Salida Marathon a week from now and the Moab 100 three weeks from now. My body has been reliable but I've been increasingly wary. No breaks and lots of mileage, and I was slowing dowwnnnnnnnnn. No speed available, even though my body has felt energetic.
Wednesday night, my left knee woke me up throbbing. I probed it to find out where the epicenter was, but found nothing. But the probing made it stop. Obviously the lack of motion caused a lack of circulation, which caused the pain. The probing massaged it and the pain went away.
This is a sure sign of over-training. So Thursday night, I walked and trotted intermittently for just over 9 miles. That helped. Thursday night I slept okay.
This evening, I walked 5+ miles. I also stood STILL and watched the sunset turn the clouds orange and red. Elizabeth happened to come along for several minutes and share it. That was nice since I haven't seen her in awhile.
Walking is good for circulation, so I may be walking my way all the way up to the Salida Marathon.
I hadn't planned on tapering until Tuesday or Wednesday, but if I don't chill out now, I'll certainly be injured. I've logged over 400 miles, but it won't do me any good if I destroy myself.

The Beth's and Meghan's "no complaining for 21 days challenge" is so easy, but not for me. Every day I fail. I'm not going to let it stop me from trying for 21 days straight. Even if I fail for 21 days straight, I'll keep trying each day. I'm an ultra-runner, so it's not like I'll be quiting. And maybe 21 days won't stop. It seems that even if I fail for 21 days straight, surely by then I will start to habitually think about better ways to think and speak.