Getting closer

Two more weeks of the boot. Though I did get a pass for the bike trainer or elliptical. The doctor showed me the xray from today and from the day of the break for comparison. The broken ends are still in place with about a millimeter of overlap. They appear to be laying almost side by side. The bone is starting to fill in, but still has a ways to go. Also, looked at the healed stress reaction to the 3rd metatarsal, plus other prior injuries to this foot. Damn and I thought my left foot was the abused one.

Still haven't weighed myself, but I can tell in the last week or two that the belt has to be let out at least a notch. Plan to address the lack of physical activity over the last four weeks, this morning. Weights and the bike trainer.  A little bit of something has to be better than nothing at all. Plus, that should really help loosen up the ankle.

Surprised when the doctor said the ankle would take almost a year to heal. What the hell? Ligaments take longer to heal than bone breaks? I'm dumbfounded. Granted this has been the worst high ankle sprain I've ever experienced. It hurt worse than the break.

Looking at the picture above its easy to see how the bone broke. That must have been the point of impact. Still haven't figured out how I managed to land my foot so awkwardly on the sidewalk. Need to stay away from sidewalks when running or at least not follow so closely behind the fellas.

Random thoughts on Monday

Hard not to smile when the sun is shining. Sunday was a bright sunny day for the most part. The clouds did start rolling in late in the afternoon. Upper 40's and a pretty stiff wind at times. This wouldn't even have been an issue if I wasn't sitting on my ass. Took son number 2 to find some gaps and ledges to skate at the local high school. I sat in the chair and watched.

Saw the fast master at the track as we were headed to the other side of the school. Stopped and chatted for a bit. I haven't talked to him since I broke my foot. (he was sick at the half marathon last week and didn't hang around) He was coaching a young middle school kid. Pretty cool to see him at work. About the way I pictured him as a coach.

Wouldn't have thought I'd miss driving as much as I did. Car pooling has its advantages. It sure would help to ease traffic if more people did carpool. My unscientific four week study showed probably less than 3% of the cars with more than two occupants. Happy to drive myself to work today, with the sun shining.

Hope to ditch this boot tomorrow. That will be the fourth week wearing this thing. I even followed most of the doctors orders. That would pretty much be a first. Anyone who runs with me regularly knows my opinion of the field of medicine.

I've contented myself the last several weeks lurking on the running message boards and following blogs. 'Tis the season for spring marathons. The fellas are about eight weeks out from Boston. Need to go see how some others did this weekend and still others will be running next weekend. Perhaps when the fellas are recovering from Boston, I'll be able to start running with them again.

Wouldn't consider myself an optimist, more of a realist. Hate to have people blow sunshine up my ass. Life isn't all rainbows and unicorns. But, a little bit sunshine sure does a body good.

Sometimes even songs with sunshine can be depressing, if you let them. John Prine's, Donald and Lydia, chorus "like sunshine feeding daisies". 

Spectating

What to do if you can't run a race? Go watch. Saturday BQ2 and his brother picked me up at the local grocery store, because the wife sold me out to the doc and I'm still not supposed to drive. Gorgeous day for a race. Cool morning, warming to maybe low 50's by noon. Picture post card sky, brilliant blues with occasional clouds for effect.

The race was the Frostbite half marathon at Cedars of Lebanon State Park. They changed the course this year so the runners wouldn't be running down highway 231 with the traffic in the last miles. The new course was entirely within the state park, some of the same rolling hills and basically an out and back figure eight. The great thing about the state park series race is the entry fee. Six bucks gets you a long sleeve technical shirt, a great course, chip timed and age group awards. Unique to the state park series races are the grand masters and senior masters awards. BQ1 talked with Tomas and the premise of the races is to break even. Hadn't realized they've been going for 30 years.

Surprised when we arrived that we had to park out by the swimming pool, a little over 3/10 of a mile away. Seemed like a mile to me. Worked out well, we were right at the one mile mark. In the past I've been able to park on the same stretch of road as the finish. This is also were the packet pickup, awards and finish line grub is located. I've only raced here twice, BQ1 had a streak going of 5 races. Kinda strange for us both to be spectating.

Nothing better to humble, than to spend time with someone who has just had open heart surgery. Amazed that after only two weeks, BQ1 was out and in great spirits. I had to really be careful to try and not whine or be my typical grouchy self. We positioned ourselves just past the one mile mark at the top of a little rise. There was a slight bend in the road and from our vantage point we could watch the runners on the way out. On the way back, they would be at mile 12.

Still not running

Not ready to retire, yet.

It's only been 18 days. Usually by now I'm able to at least walk around the block or ride the trainer. Not this time. Sure, I can take off this effin' boot, but don't really want to risk flexing the foot and not have the bone set in my foot. Plus, I'm still having to get up early so I can carpool in to work, instead of driving myself. Arghhhhhhhhhhh.

The weight gain from not doing any kind of workout isn't really happening. I'm purposely eating like a bird and limiting the beer. Can't say for certain a number of pounds, haven't jumped on the scale. Just know the pudge hasn't showed up yet around the belly. Maybe I'll start lifting again.

The grumpyness/grouchy level isn't as high this time around. Perhaps I've mellowed out in my old age. At least I don't think so, the wife and kids would probably disagree.

Sure glad to be living here in the south. It'll be in the 40-50's for highs for the next week. Typical weather for this time of year. As much as I like to see the occasional snow, sure wouldn't want any part of the snow slamming the North. We got our token snow fall last weekend. It was pretty watching it fall, but it only lasted a couple of hours. Biggest regret was not being able to run in it. Try explaining that to someone who doesn't run.

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