Running Again

It was a big landmark to be able to run yesterday - three miles of running, with some walking breaks, instead of three miles of walking with some running breaks.  Ligaments are slow to heal because they do not have an extensive blood supply like muscles.  So now it is a matter of slowly increasing the mileage without re-injuring the sprained ligament, of holding back deliberately, visualizing the healing and strengthening flow of blood, waiting patiently for that ligament to heal again and catch up with the rest of me . . . which wants to charge up Big Bearpen as fast as I can! 

What a great Christmas present it will be to be able to run again!

Butterflies in December

More progress today as I make that slow journey of recovery back to fitness again - another acupuncture treatment today, and then a hard four-mile walk (partly up Big Bearpen) which included two half-mile intervals.  I felt that I could have run a mile without stopping,but I am struggling to maintain the progress I have already made.

And what a gorgeous day it was this afternoon!  Bright horizontal clouds, and behind them a gleaming winter sun low in the afternoon sky.  It felt like mid-April rather than mid-December.  Yesterday I was actually painting two new doors for the sunroom outside, under the covered deck - in itself a little unusual for this time of year, but I did not expect gnats to be buzzing around my face!  (And why do gnats seem to have enough brainpower to realize when its victim is holding a paint brush, or a stone for a new wall, or otherwise has his hands occupied).  Harry at the paint store told me that someone had come in earlier and said they saw a butterfly!  Imagine what a bewildered butterfly might be thinking as he flutters around my neighbor's just-blooming forsythia!

Enjoy it while we can, fellow roadrunners and roadwalkers.  Cold weather will arrive eventually - probably about the time when I am capable or running once again. . .

Progressive Healing

Saturday I increased the length of my "intervals" to 400 meters, walking a total of 3 miles before, between, and after.  I found that I was able to increase my speed from a 12-minute mile to an 11-minute mile (2:45) by the final one, with no adverse pain, and each one faster than the other.  What an encouraging run/walk for an injured run/walker!  Today I repeated that performance, increasing my speed to a sub-10-minute-mile pace (2:28).  Now I will rest for a day, have another acupuncture treatment Wednesday (perhaps my last), and hope to run faster and longer on Wednesday afternoon.  I am a long way from those sub-2:00 intervals I ran earlier this summer, but it is nice to be progressive instead of regressing.

My fellow blogger J. P. Krol, who winter caretakes Mt. LeConte (http://www.highonleconte.com/daily-posts), posted this photo and quote this weekend, which reminded me of the mountains still to climb and the blessings for which we should all be thankful.

"A healthy body is the greatest of blessings." - Socrates

A Slow Recovery

Dr. Sue Aery told me to try running today, so I did.  After several weeks of merely walking, it was a strange feeling to once again park in the accustomed place opposite Founders Park and don real running gear - my CWX tights (more for stability and support than for cold on this beautiful morning in the upper 40s), my headband and gloves, and my newest pair of running shoes.  I walked the first mile, and then when I came to that one-mile stretch along our route which I have marked off in 200-meter increments, I gingerly raised myself up on the balls of my feet, and in an odd old-man-shuffling kind of way I actually ran 200-meters, and without any major discomfort.  Wisely, I stopped to walk the next 200, and then I tried it again, completing a total of four 200-meter "intervals" in all, at perhaps the slowest pace I have ever done.  But I was elated!  I finished up with a mile cool-down walk, and although I felt a few unusual twinges during that last mile, I arrived back at my car a happy runner.  If 0.50 miles entered in my running log entitles me to that status.

Thank God for this amazing body that can heal after injury, that can recover and become strong again after stress!  And what a gift it is to be fit and healthy, a gift that we runners often take for granted.  The biggest temptation now will be to increase mileage and speed too rapidly, but I do not want to undo all the good that the apparently successful combination of rest, massage, ultrasound, and acupuncture has accomplished.  I have definitely lost fitness and strength, and I feel this afternoon as if I have run 15 or 20 miles.  So I will rest and stay off my feet as much as possible, and let the slow recovery continue.

Highlands Sidewalker

Since my last post, I have tried to run again in fits and starts, but without success.  So I finally did what many of my fellow runners have done:  I consulted a professional.  The professional in this case is Dr. Sue Aery, who has a background in sports medicine (she was a star platform tennis champion) and who now runs Aery Chiropractic & Acupuncture.  Since my initial consultation on November 9, I have been treated with deep tissue massage, ultrasound, and finally two weeks ago my first-ever acupuncture treatment.  The acupuncture really seemed to be doing the trick for me, and I can now walk three miles without any discomfort whatsoever.  I hope that she will release me to run next week.  But this time I am not going to rush things.

But in the meantime, what a wonderful thing it is to walk!  Granted, I am doing 18-minute miles instead of 9-minute miles, I have gained two pounds, I am woefully out of shape, and I am becoming accustomed to walking on the sidewalk instead of out in the middle of the road.  But being out of doors in the brilliant, leafless early December sunshine brings the same kind of peace of mind that running does.

And what a miracle the human body is! - the process of healing and rehabilitation, so slow and sure, as I feel myself finally recovering.

'What a piece of work is a man! 
How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! 
In form and moving how express and admirable! 
In action how like an Angel! 
in apprehension how like a god! 
The beauty of the world! 
The paragon of animals!