Forced Hiatus From Running

My bad ankle!

At some point in every runner's life they are forced to take a hiatus from running.  Life is too busy, company arrives unexpectedly, you get the flu, or like me, you get an injury.  I am currently on a forced hiatus from the running I love.  My ankle apparently doesn't care that I have plans to complete four more half marathons this year, or run a couple 5k's this summer.  My ankle doesn't care that summer time is the most time I have all year to train and get in real shape to run these races in the fall.  All my ankle currently cares about is getting un impinged, not wearing heels and actually getting back to it's ankle shape instead of the tennis ball shape its been looking like.  I'm sure that tennis balls are a lovely shape, but apparently my ankle does not appreciate being swollen three inches so, I had to take it to the ortho who, after a very painful injection into the joint determined the best course of action was a brace, rest, and some physical therapy.  NO RUNNING until I'm cleared by the physical therapist.

This is not my first forced hiatus from running. I'm also not good at icing and resting.  I haven't been to physical therapy since high school and to say I hated it well, that would be a GROSS understatement.  My experience with physical therapy was painful.  When you look forward to the ice bath at the end of the session, it's a very painful experience.  The ice bath was the least painful experience of the three months of physical therapy so, I was not looking forward to going back for another round. I get impatient, fat and cranky when I don't get to run so not going is not an option my family is going to let me take.

Today was my first session.  I point blank asked if I could run today. The answer was of course NO.  The therapist was very nice and measured my ankles.  The swelling is down to only 1/2 inch.  Good to go I thought, but the therapist watched me walk and stand on one foot, the bad one.  Now, I'm not the most graceful person in the world.  I've even been know to trip over flat surfaces, as well as my own feet, but I hoped once she saw me walk we could move onto a light jog.  No such luck.  Apparently, I've been walking wrong for a long time.  I should propel from the back and balls of my feet.  I turn out and fall heavy, with no propulsion.  It's truly amazing I get anywhere with the way I walk.  I also don't distribute my weight evenly, which is true since the weight gain from not running seems to be going straight to me stomach and butt! That's not what she meant of course so, I spent 15 minutes learning how to walk correctly.  Then I was tested with my balance.  Fun times as balance is not a strong skill either. Standing on one foot is always a little problematic and all I can say is that she at least let me stand in a door frame.  So, when I fell over I'd have something to hit...the door frame all ten times!

The verdict only took about 30 minutes.  No running until I learn to walk correctly.  I have been assigned a half mile walking working up to a mile of walking correctly for the next two weeks before I go back.  I did get a cool gel ice pack to use after these walks. It's a good thing I'll be traveling with National History Day students to DC to take my mind off this forced hiatus from running.  Please pray for patience and pleasant attitudes during this time for me and those around me.  Remember if you see me, I'm having running withdrawals
so be kind!

Into Every Life Some Rain Must Fall

I missed getting up and running with my running group,again.  I could of got up to run at 6am or 730am, but I slept in until 830am. My early weekend morning motivation and determination lacking, I decided to see if making a donut run might help. No point in disappointing the kids with no Saturday Krispy Kremes because mom didn't have her act together, right?

I hoped that a couple donuts and a coke would make my five mile run motivation come around. If a coke can bring a smile surely it can make a person want to go run. No such luck. It was cloudy and 68 degrees when I drove to get the donuts. Rain chance at 90% so, I started thinking tomorrow's sunny forecast was looking like a better day to complete a five mile run. Then I remembered Sunday is Y day and I have laundry to do.

The clouds didn't look bad when I left the house. There was a nice breeze and I was even in shorts, in January! The first mile was cloudy, windy and not that bad. Then the clouds started getting dark and the street lights started to come on. Thats when I took a picture to docuement my potential stupidity. Usually at this point I call my husband to come pick me up in the car, but of course he's working, so I allowed stupidity to rule and kept running.

I heard my run timer announce my 14:40 per mile pace and started doing some quick math in my head (not my strong suit). I wasn't sure at my pace if I could get five miles in before the storms started, but since I was wearing a purple shirt and fighting with disappointment in myself due to my failure to run with my group I kept on running, in classic slow Eyore fashion.

At about mile 2.5 I heard the first rumblings of mother nature. A runner never likes to hear thunder half way through a run, especially a slow runner who is certain there is no chance of out running a storm. I'm one of those runners, but there wasn't really a choice but to continue.  I don't know any short cuts in my new neighborhood,  nor do I know any neighbors on that side of the neighborhood that would let me hang out until the storm passed. If I was getting home it was on my own feet. 

3 miles out the rain started. When you wear glasses it gets hard to see in the rain. Puddles, sticks, garbage, holes all start looking like a blurry mess. Cars passing by spray you with water, your feet are wet, it sucks. Still, at least it was warm and I only had two miles left. I started thinking I can do this. The running app announced 4 miles. I was wet and couldn't see much, but I was in the home stretch!

Then..... the thing a runner never wants to hear on a run...tornado siren! Really?! I knew I should of just kept my happy butt in bed! On a good day I can run a 12:30 mile, but after running four of them.... Well, let's just say the snowball has a better chance of making it out of he'll than I did of getting out of the storm! I ran the last mile home. Blurry vision, wet feet, siren blasting, thunder grumbling, I ran.

Well, now that its done, logged shared, and I'm recovering,  I'm planning on excusing myself from laundry the rest of the day. YOLO!

Sunday Best Running

My Sunday Best Running Outfit

So this weekend I had a nice 6 mile run.  The rain held out for an hour and a half, I was able to avoid most of the puddles, and while grey and chilly, I had the road to myself.  I even found a dollar on the sidewalk at the one mile marker.  I ran without my customary knee strap.  Things were going as good as can be expected on a chilly, damp Sunday long run, until an hour and 15 minutes into the run, somewhere around mile 5ish, a young couple passed me with a rude comment about my outfit (which is pictured above minus my orange and purple stripped skull cap).  They were in their early 20's and passed me without a word on a downhill stretch.  Scared the snot, literally, out of me and then I heard the comment.

"Someone obviously got dressed in the dark.  That outfit doesn't even match!" said the girl.
"That's probably why she's walking down the hill!" said the boy.

And with that they jogged up the hill!  The girl with her capri pants, clean white shoes and a grey yoga sweater.  The boy with his grey tee shirt, black tube socks and basketball shorts.  Who the hell are these people to comment on my running gear!  It goes against the inclusive nature of the running community!  I was wearing high tech, dry fit, performance running gear!  So what if it didn't match!  At least you can see me instead of blending into the grey, gloomy sky!  As mismatched as this outfit is, I paid a lot of money for it!  It wicks, it reflects, it resists odors, it damn near does everything but run for you! Who the hell are these two kids.... Then it hit me!

I have become a keeper of the sport!  One of those runners who is happy that you're out there no matter the pace, or the outfit.  One of those runners who appreciates the front of the pack for their athletic proneness and the back of the pack for sticking in there and finishing the race upright!  The urgent need to educate these two rude, young people on the inclusive, supportive nature of our sport was overwhelming, but the two young people jogged up the hill. I wish I had been a little quicker so I could impart some wisdom on those two young, able bodied joggers, but I'm not quick and as loud as my outfit was I wasn't in any shape to holler after them after 5 and a half miles!

So here's what I would of said if I could of caught them up the hill (damn bone fragments and hills don't get along so I walk them). Hey, able bodied young people, enjoy that quick pace now, before kids, and family and job demands interfere with your training schedule.  Enjoy the fact that your joints allow you to run in cheap no brand running shoes and that you won't have to ice those abused joints from those cheap running shoes in say, about five years (when you hit thirty and your body decides it doesn't have to recover quickly, or burn calories at a rapid rate).  Enjoy the fact that the only thing you notice on a weekend run is an older lady in a loud, mismatched outfit instead of enjoying the city sweeping the sidewalks so you don't trip over trash or the relative quiet from a busy, loud, demanding life of most adults with children.  And while I'm at it, please take time to encourage others who are being active.  There are so many people sitting on couches either by choice, or medical condition that can't enjoy the movement of their bodies and see you as an inspiration to what might be if they ever get off the couch. Buy some dry fit.  If you're going to run and comment on what others are wearing you should at least be dressed in appropriate garb to be running's What Not To Wear.  Oh, one more thing, my socks don't match either, but there just as happy as the rest of me to get another run in and that's really what its all about!

I Need To Do Better

I've been in a funk lately.  I've been re examining my life, waiting on medical test and just trying to survive.  Currently, work and spider solitare take up most of my time. I'm not depressed, but I'm not living life to the fullest. I have migraines and epilipsey that limit me some but, I need to do better!

I have attempted to get myself motivated for work, for running, for life in general, but just haven't arrived at the place where I'm fully engaged in anything I'm doing. I just feel like at 38, I should be doing something fantastic!  I'm not sure what that is and friends and co workers keep telling me I should be impressed with  the stuff I do and have done. I know not everyone has a great husband,  or kids, or a home,or a PhD,  or a job but what now? What about the between big events? How do you search for the next chapter when you're not sure you're finished with the first? I have lots of questions that I need better answers for.

Tomorrow we leave for Tampa. I'll be running a half marathon that I have not trained properly for. It could be a long four hour walk, but at least the sun will be out and I'll have plenty of time to figure out how I can do better. Wish me luck!