Monday, July 27, 2009

The Sweet Taste of Pavement

"Fall seven times, stand up eight" **Japanese Proverb**

I haven't had much to blog about lately as I've been patiently waiting for my ankle to heal before trying to run on it again. I'm up against starting to train for my next half marathon and another setback for being impatient and stupid would really throw a serious wrench into my plans!


My parents were visiting so I was doing a lot more walking than I should have, which probably slowed healing by at least a week. At one point, I decided to wear my good running shoes for the day, hoping the support and cushioning would help my sore ankle and making being on my feet all day more comfortable. I hated every minute that they were on my feet and after less than an hour I was carrying them over my shoulder. At that point, there was only a small area of flexation that hurt and I simply couldn't avoid it in stiff shoes, so I was much more comfortable in bare feet, and the dirt paths in the Indian village and Jamestown fort felt wonderful under my toes.


Finally today, I felt no tenderness or pain when I took a few running steps across the living room. As I dug out my running clothes and Garmin, my dog went nuts! She was so excited to run again, almost as excited as I was. We headed out the door into air as hot and thick as a Louisiana Bayou. After a 5 minute warm up, we took off running. It felt great! My ankle had that soft tugging of fresh healing and the stiffness that goes with it, but otherwise, no soreness. I ran easy, staying at a relaxed comfortable pace and finished my mile in what seemed like way too little time. In truth, it took me 11 minutes to run the mile, which is actually a minute or two faster than my usual relaxed pace :-)


My dog actually didn't do as well. The heat was too much for her and I had to pass her off to my mom, who was walking and carrying water, after about 8 minutes. I'll have to get up much earlier if I'm going to take her with me again during summer.


My feet had really gotten lazy during the 3 week break, but they did well with no blisters. Once, I wasn't paying attention to the road and managed to hit a rock just right, so I have a slightly bruised spot, but nothing serious and it will be good in another day or two. This coming Saturday, I have a 5K race with my running club and I can't wait! I'm sure I won't set a PR, but it will feel so good to be back in the game it hardly matters! One more week of testing the waters with my ankle and then training begins in earnest!

Upcoming races:
Coast Guard Day 5K, Aug. 1st
AFYMCA Mud Run 8K, August 8th
Outer Banks Half Marathon, November 7th
Atlanta Half Marathon, November 26th
Chang Mai Thailand Half Marathon, Dec. 27th

3 comments:

robison52 said...

Great to hear you're back on track and that one mile run sounds sounds very positive with no soreness...good idea to continue with baby steps.

robison52 said...

My experiment with Chia Seeds is going well, I find that the seeds work best for me with low-fat red raspberry yogurt as raspberry is rather seedy anyways.

I normally eat the yogurt at 6:00 p.m. in the middle of my 12-hour shift as a cab driver and the seeds along with the yogurt helps suppress any further cravings for food until much later.

I usually lose about one pound per week, but last week had lost a total of THREE pounds! Was it the seeds? Maybe my taking time off from weight-lifting due to a sore shoulder? The few extra miles added during my base building? Perhaps the stiffling heat AND humidity that Vegas is having that makes me thirsty, but not hungry?

greentigress said...

WOW Thailand half marathon???!!!! Excellent, you lucky thing!!