Saturday, May 31, 2008

Captain My Captain

As promised - that's me and the Captain. Yes, he really is that much taller than me and no Gazelle Boy didn't think to do a vertical shot.

My ankle is growing stronger daily. I've been told I can walk 20 minutes 3x weekly and use the glider or elliptical on my off days for cross training. Today I did try jogging between phone poles, but the inside of my ankle complained loudly after a few steps, so I stopped.

I'm still doing my PT exercises and still growing stronger.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

A good day for a walk

I am down to a lace up brace and new exercises were added to my PT: standing on my right foot for 30 seconds, runner's stretch and soleus stretch, I'm also able to take short walks.

So I restructured my "training" to go for 20 minute walks a few times a week. I decided to try and stay on mostly level ground but when I walked up the hill near my house I was feeling it. What was frustrating was wanting to walk at my regular pace and knowing I had to slow it down to an 18 minute mile. I know, I know, it's part of healing but it's one of those things.

When I was out, the colors were beautiful. The lilacs are starting to fade and the rhododendrons are starting to come into full bloom. There were a couple of gardens starting to bloom. As I finished up my walk, the sun was setting and the colors across the sky were breathtaking.

It was a reminder that no matter how rough the past six weeks or so have been, I'm getting stronger and it won't be long before I'm up and running and training. As if I needed a reminder that I"m getting back on track, today I got the notice for the Tufts 10k on October 13. If I start training the first week of August, I'll be right on track to run it. The PT told me that I should be starting to think about running about mid-July, so it looks as though it will be a good time to start training.

It was a good day for a walk and hopefully soon it will be a better one for a run.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

The New Apple Store

OK, so I'm sitting here in the brand new flagship store where I have just had my photo taken with my hero.... Jason Varitek!!!!!!! Yes folks, the Cap'n himself is in da house.

Now you may wonder how someone with their right leg in a splint managed to make it up the spiral staircase. One word: carefully. In fact, I almost did a header when a Japanese tourist with a video camera just missed plowing into me.

But as I said, the Sox are in the house and I'm a happy Pika. The pix will be up soon (as I'm using the computer here at the store)

It's a happy day for me. :) I'm glad tomorrow will be about icing down my ankle!

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

The Sweet Smell of Lilacs

One thing I love this time of year is the smell of lilacs.

Today they were even sweeter because I walked several blocks to stop at two different bushes and take a deep, lingering inhale of the sweet fragrance. I was also able to stand for a couple of hours on the floor at work to cover some breaks. Yes, I'm paying the price a little bit as I have my ankle up and iced right now - but it just felt so good to be able to do something other than totally hobble all over.

I'm happy. I'm relieved and I'm feeling good.

Hooray for lilacs. Hooray for feeling strong.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Let the Physical Therapy Begin

I went in today for my first PT appointment where I learned some interesting things.

For example, I learned that my ankle joints have a larger gap in them than normal. It's not a bad thing, but it explains why I tend to roll them. I also learned that because my hips are weak, my ankles are picking up the slack... again, part of the rason why they tend to roll.

My PT is a runner, so she is going to structure everything towards that goal as I heal. So now I've got a set of exercises to start working on to strengthen the gluteus medius (one of the hip/butt muscles) as well as some easy sets of ankle things to do as well.

Good times, baby, good times

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Getting ready to dance

The cast came off today! While I'm still not quite able to do the happy pika dance, it's a good first step. I'm on the crutches for another week and I didn't need a bivalve cast (splint/cast hybrid). I'll start physical therapy as soon as I can get an appointment and the hope is I can start back on a c25k program possibly as soon as the beginning of July!

The people at Harvard Health kept my cast to put on display in the cast room since I was just going to chuck it. Amazing what you can do with some sharpies and a lot of time sitting around singing songs about how much you hate people who can run when you can't. Right now - no more need for songs, no more Jim Carrey from "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, loathe, despise....) and certainly no more sulking about this.

All of this makes me want to dance, even if I can't yet. So I'll let Pika dance for me for now.

Thursday, May 01, 2008

future plans

So I figure the best way through things is with a plan. So here's the plan, I will get through this and set my sights on the Disney half in January. Once I have a bench mark I will work from there - but that's the plan. When I see my orthopedist on Tuesday (who is a runner), I will discuss my plan with him and see if it's a viable one and if it is - then there's the plan.

Here's hoping.