still truckin'

The good news is I've been able to keep running.  I ran 4 days last week Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday (2 days in a row twice)!  However, Friday I was on my feet all day and I def felt the aftermath.  Then Sunday after my run we went out on our friend's boat.  We rode out to the flats so I ended up being on my feet most of the day since we waded in the water.  The weather was perfect and we had such a great time, but my ankle was killing me which in turn affects (or is it effects? - I never know) my achilles.  I also ended up getting fried!  I was already burnt from field day - see pic below:

The upside is I have no more funny lines.  The bad news is my entire upper body is bright red!  Today was the first day it started to be tolerable.  Sunday night I couldn't even touch it to put aloe on and yesterday I couldn't even wear a bra because the straps hurt so bad!  Overall we had a great memorial day weekend!  We got a ton of stuff done around the house - yard is mowed, weeded and mulched.  We bought a grill, blinds and a ceiling fan.  Brent and I actually spent the majority of Monday hanging the blinds.  It took us 5 hours to hang 12 of them! 

We didn't fight once - can you believe it? haha!  The question is, will we be able to put the grill together without a fight?

built to run

So I went to the foot and ankle doctor yesterday morning.  There is def something wrong with my ankle, but he was not extremely concerned.  Right now it's more of an annoyance than anything else.  I forget exactly what he called it, but he compared it scar tissue build up in my ankle.  He told me to go ahead and continue running and if it gets too painful then he will give me a shot of steroids.  If that lasts two months then I'm good to go.  If it doesn't he told me to continue training with the marathon, but he would like to do surgery next summer to remove it.  As for the achilles.  The first thing he said when he was looking at my feet is that I'm definitely built to be a runner.  I so needed to hear that!  He felt my achilles and looked at it compared to the other foot.  He said everything looks and feels good.  Since I still feel tightness around 3 or 4 miles he wants me to gradually increase my mileage in .5 mile increments and keep with my strengthening/stretching techniques I learned at pt.  He thinks it will definitely get better.  Yaaay I'm so excited to know that I'm ready to run again safely! 

2 weeks MIA

So it's been a while since I wrote...not much has changed.  I should have run my first marathon last Sunday, May 15.  I had thought that day was going to be a rough one, but it actually felt just like any other day.  Somehow I was okay with the fact that I would not be completing it - the first race I ever missed that I signed up for.  Rather than dwelling on failure, I've been focusing on being thankful that I have been able to run 3 days a week again.  I've been maintaining 3-5 mile runs.  That's about as much as the achilles can take these days.  It's not painful at all, but I start to get a tired feeling - that's the best way I can describe it.  I learned my lesson in not pushing it and instead I'm listening to my body.  When it starts to feel "off" I stop.  I tried changing up my stride a bit last weekend and it really seemed to help.  I focused more on landing on my toes first.  It was challenging at first, but I made it 5 miles with no problems at all.  My calves were sooooo sore the next day though!  I dunno that this will be a permanent thing or not.  When I ran this week on the treadmill I couldn't run with that same stride - it felt too awkward.  I made it four miles with some mild tired/tight feeling in the achilles

Physical therapy ended about 2 weeks ago.  I went for 6 weeks, which was all my insurance covered.  Andrew (pt) suggested I see go to a foot/ankle specialist because as physical therapy progressed, my ankle started to bother me.  I'm just falling apart, aren't I?  That brings us up to date.  Today I went to get an x-ray of my ankle and Saturday I'm going to the foot/ankle doctor.  I'm praying he says "looks like everything's okay to me, get running!"  We shall see!  I'm anxious to begin training for my next marathon attempt.  I'm thinking of running the Rock n Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon in September and the Philadelphia Marathon in November.  Then there's the Marine Corps Marathon.  It's at the end of October and I heard that's a great race to run!  Also, a friend of mine has been encouraging me to run the Maine Marathon.  I would love to do that, but I'm worried October 2nd is too soon.  I would have to start training next week!  Decisions, decisions...I guess I can't really make any until I know I'm totally safe to begin training again.

bouncing back

So it seems as though I am going to be able to run on a regular basis again.  I ran 1 mile for the first time last Wednesday and again on Friday.  So I decided to try 3 miles this past Saturday and again yesterday (Monday).  On Saturday I had to stop after 24 minutes because I could feel some irritation in my achilles.  I walked for 4 minutes and was able to run the last 2 minutes home.  I def can feel it more when going up hill.  However, when I ran yesterday I didn't have any pain.  It definitely felt tired by the end of the run.  I was sure to ice and elevate immediately after each run, which seemed to help.  I plan to ease back into running very slowly.  I have begun to vary my workouts in hopes of preventing another injury in the future.  I joined the y so I started taking group power (full body weight lifting class) again and Zumba for fun.  I tried power yoga today for the first time.  I loved it.  It was so relaxing and has exactly the opposite effects on your body that running does.  Here's hoping for the best!