Starting again

So it's time to start over... again... Yep! I had to restart this year. I had just gotten back to running when I fell. No not running. I slipped on the ice in a parking lot in late January/early February. I didn't think much about it at the time. However, as I got to higher mileage it started to show. Then in April I had some long runs close together that wound up on very hilly courses. On a Sunday it was 16 miles at Tan-Tar-A. Tuesday was hill repeats on Ogg Rd. Saturday was 20 miles downtown with some long steep hills. Tuesday was Ogg Rd again. On the 20 miler I had some discomfort in my foot and had to walk most of the last 3 miles. The hill repeats weren't too bad until the last one. I could barely get up the hill.

So I went to the doc on Wednesday. He said it was a stress fracture of the second metatarsal. Great! Oh but even better - he said "that ankles not right - you should go see your surgeon again." Fabulous! I couldn't get in to see the surgeon until the second week of June. This time the surgery had to wait until July 20. My schedule - his schedule and the holiday just wouldn't let it work out any sooner. Same thing as last time only not as bad. Just torn and "stretched" tendons, the ligaments were not severed as on my left ankle last year. That should make this go even faster for healing, right?

Wrong... Last time I had only been off of running for the 6 weeks. This time I had been off since May 1 (I attempted the Lincoln Marathon with a stress fracture - not good. Cut it off at the half!) It would be September before I was allowed to run. In the meantime, I had started walking the hills again. The Ogg Rd hill... it's a bear. It's the hill that the local runners use to train for mountain trail races. If you can run Ogg, you can run most anything. I started meeting the group on Tuesday's around August 9. Yes... I'm stubborn but I was just walking. Well as much walking as can be done on the steep downhill! Definitely walking uphill.

When I went in for my checkup on September 6 - my leg was infected. The upper incision had not healed. Bummer. No running for another month. I was prescribed an antibiotic - Bactrum (something like that) By Thursday I was having a complete and total allergic reaction to it. Apparently it happens in body heat and sunlight... Definitely ingredients for Ogg Rd in the fall! I had to go to the ER to get a shot to stop the reaction. It took about 7 hours for the itching and hives to go away! I can't recall ever being that miserable!

Back to the surgeon in October and I'm released! YIPPEE! Good thing since I had started running downhill in September! SHHH don't tell! It's much more painful to walk down hill. So now Koach can officially put running on my schedule and start to slowly build me back up. Most runs are more of a run/walk. Trying to keep the distance building while increasing my endurance. This is like starting from the beginning. The hardest part is that my head knows I should be able to run it all - including the hills. AND at the same time my head knows that I'm starting over and will eventually get there. But it's a struggle. Some days are really hard. Some days I can run mostly like before either surgery.

There will be good days and bad days. Right now the good days are starting to take over. It's exciting and can't wait to get back to the trails! That will be in December... if I can wait!

Believe,
Bobbi