Are You Willing to Make a Leap of Faith?

(Me on left and one of my very best buds ever, Karen, on the right. Nope, we don't have any fun together at all.)

"If you are ever going to achieve as much as you can in a sport, you are going to have to be willing to make a leap of faith to learn how much your body can handle." (Meredith Rainey Valmon)

“The voice of caution knows nothing of real joy. What joy is there in doing what you know you could do? Try something you could fail at… that might just be living." (Neale Donald Walsch)

"You can obtain your goal if you maintain your course." (from a fortune cookie)


Guess the question is - - where is my leap of faith taking me? Good questions, yes, very good question . . . .

How Do You Spell Freedom?

N-O C-R-U-T-C-H-E-S!! Week 12 - My first full week without the $%*^&. Can you see me dancing - well, sort of. Wouldn't want to overdo things the first week.

The only issues I have are a tight ankle - especially the AT - and the bottom of my foot gets achy. Some gentle stretching is in order, and slowly extending my walking. Here's hoping that by the end of next week I am able to comfortably walk a mile.

Need An Attitude Adjustment

[Rant On]

This is one of those days when all I want to do is shove a crutch somewhere where the sun don't shine. Throw it across the yard while screaming a primal scream. Burn them in effigy while dancing around they're pathetic, melting, skeletons. To say I'm at the end of my rope with these things is quite an understatement.

I had a great pool run tonight, which is an oxymoron. Okay, maybe not completely, but sort of. Let's just say I'm learning to tolerate it since it actually gets me out of the frigging house.

But I digress . . .

My pool run went well, but it's just not - doesn't come even close to being like - trail running. We've had some wonderful, quiet, calm mornings which would have been absolute perfection for a predawn run. But what am I doing? Stumping my way out to my workout shed, trying to keep my crutches from sinking into the wet lawn. AAARRRRRGGGHHH!

I want two feet back, but the way things feel this evening, I don't think that will be happening any time soon. This sucks, my friends. This truly, truly sucks.

[Ran Off]

Week 10, Day 67

Doc appointment yesterday. He was happy with the progress I've made. I was completely honest with him about my trial walk on Monday (which was okay . . . to a point), so he has left it up to me to determine how/when with regard to eliminating the crutches. Like he said, if I do something and it irritates things, back off. I go back in 6 weeks for another progress update. Hopefully I will be crutchless by then.

I asked him how long he thought it would be before I could run. He said we need to take things month-to-month, but September at the earliest is probably about right. Everything I've read about tendon tears indicates there is a 6-8 month recovery period. September 26 will be the 6-month mark (cripes, that seems so far away!).

I'm not going push it. The last thing I want to do is make things worse and delay the healing process. I can get around on one crutch pretty good for doing housework, etc., which is a big help. Two crutches if I want to move at any speed. Once I'm on two feet, I plan to return to the trails to work on power walking - always a good thing in trail running. Until then, it's still pool running and stationary biking.