Down for the count

Last Sunday afternoon we were debating on whether we would attend one Thanksgiving party or both and how long we would stay at each. It didn't sit well with me because I wanted to go to the party at my friend's house rather than the other party we were invited to attend. It caused a great deal of friction and division in the home that day. Fifteen minutes prior to our departure, I climbed up into the attic to retrieve some warmer outer clothing due to cooler temperatures that had set in. I found what I wanted to wear and proceeded down the ladder back into the house. It was at this point that things took a drastic turn for the worst. Like so many times before, I was standing two steps from the ground, which equals about 2 1/2 feet off the ground, and lunged down to the ground. Instead of gracefully landing my leap, my world turned upside down instantly and my right ankle and leg were immediately engulfed in agonizing pain.

My ankle was obviously weakened from the 10K I had run the day before and when it made contact with the floor it snapped over causing excruciating pain and extreme trauma to my ligaments and ankle. I writhed on the floor in agony and flashes of all the training I had put in for running sped through my mind. My initial thought was my running career could be over for an undefined amount of time. I just wanted this pain to subside and be able to overcome another one of my classic blunders.

Over the course of the next couple of hours I found myself laid up on the couch with ice packs and starving. My family went to the picnic without me and I had to settle for some NBA basketball on T.V.  The swelling in my ankle grew and manifested into something very nasty and my ankle became far from recognizable. I had only seen similar sights one time before from a sprain that I had endured and this one looked to be far, far worse. The next two days my ankle swelled to the size of a grapefruit and became black and blue and quite stiff. I proceeded to go to the Urgent Care facility and have it examined. After an examination and x-rays I was informed that I had an avulsion fracture on my ankle and would have to wear a boot and go to an Orthopedic Surgeon for an additional exam. This was not sounding too good for me and I was not looking forward to it.

My appointment would be for the following day, Wednesday, and I dreaded every waking second prior to its arrival. Then the moment of truth came when I walked into the office of the surgeon and sat on the table in his examining room. The doctor darkened the door way sooner than I anticipated. He was an older man well into his sixties and of Indian descent. He took a look at my ankle and felt around on it, probing it and asking me several questions. I answered his questions and gave him a background of my ankle injuries. He studied my unflattering extremity and said that it wasn't fractured and that he would treat it like a severe sprain. He informed me to put heat on it, do stretches and to make sure I kept it supported. I was told the swelling and pain would go away in the next couple of weeks and the range of motion for my ligaments would return a little later as well.

After his diagnosis, he walked briskly back into his office and I was on my way back home; feeling confident. To hear good news that my ankle was not fractured and that things would be getting better soon immediately made me feel better and added a spring in my step. While my ankle is still swollen and experiencing some discomfort, it has greatly improved over the last 48 hours and has restored my hope for getting back onto the roads for some running. I may be down for a short while, but I am far from out.

Back in training

I have not written on this blog in months and feel like it's time to re-establish my "training blog".
After experiencing and enduring through 2 bouts with Plantar Fasciitis since last December I totally stopped running due to the pain.

In April I competed in the Brew to Brew 44.5 mile relay from KC to Lawrence with 4 of my ACCC cross country teammates. It was a great time of catching up and running. We each ran 2 legs of the 44.5 mile relay. I ran the 5th and last leg. That day started off cool and ended up at 92 degrees, unseasonably warm for April 1st.

That was the first real running I had engaged in for several weeks. I flirted with the idea from time to time through this past summer, but spent time recovering and healing up from the PF. Finally in August the pain had left and I was ready to begin training again.

I had my sites set upon the Dirty30: Zombie Run, the 1st weekend of October. I didn't run it for time, but more for the experience with my friend Randee Stone. Avoiding the zombies was the most fun of the whole day. Weather that day was less than ideal. It was 45 degrees and very windy. Jumping in water and mud wasn't a big deal during the course, but after the race was over, we literally were ice cubes.

The following week I was dealt a blow of 2 days of vomitting, diarreah and no fun. The Saturday after feeling normal again, I was dealt another blow: A Kidney Stone. Worst pain one could endure. It was unbelievable and I thought I was going to die. It hurt so bad.

I was fortunate to survive and get over the pain and discomfort; however, my training took a significant hit as I went from running 3-4 days a week to 1 run each week for a month. Surprisingly, I didn't lose much and was happy to get back to running during the last week of October.

On November 8th we ran at the airport trails and did a 6 mile test run and I felt pretty good logging a time of 56 minutes. Then on Saturday, November10th, I participated in the 1st annual OBU Bison Stampede 5K/10K run. I did the 10K - 6.2 miles in all. It was a windy morning and the temps were in the low 60s. For the lack of training I have had over past month I felt I did amazing. I set a PR for the 10K with a time of 54:24.

From this time on I will be training for some longer distance races and can't wait to see where this road leads. My goals are to run in my first marathon and ultra race. Here's to cooler weather and the 2012/2013 running season.

Anthony

Flat Tire

Hello there my running comrades...I again must apologize for not writing anything in what seems like a decade. I haven't done much writing or running for that matter in the last 2 months; especially with the holidays it was very busy around my house and I just took a siesta and did some other things.

I figure I should probably start things back up again. A new years' resolution, but 1 month late. As they say, "Better late than never!"

One of the things that sparked my desire to get back into it was through an email I received this week from a fellow writer who asked if they could be featured as a guest writer on my blog. I have given my blessing and will post the writing when I receive it. So stay tuned...more on the horizon.

You may be curious to know why my title is called flat tire...well, because I have had a "flat" tire so-to-speak the past 2 months. Back on December 5th after running that evening with our local running club I noticed discomfort in my right foot; particularly near my heel. It did not feel well and became so painful that it was difficult to even walk on.

The next day as I got up for work was not pretty. I hobbled and hopped around my house like an elderly man...it was a sad sight, but mostly painful. I could barely walk. When I got to work I began to research what may be causing this pain and learned that it was heel spurs/Plantar Faciitis...not what I was desiring to find. It turns out that it is very painful and can last a long time.  Both of my parents suffered from it and were in pain for a solid year....I don't think so! I am not about to be sidelined for a year after getting back into shape.

So I took an evening off and ran the following evening. I ran okay but still had noticeable discomfort in my heel as I ran...the longer I ran, the better it was, but still uncomfortable....when I was done, the same scenario played out and I again felt handicapped. I took another night off and proceeded to run again and still had problems. I then made a painful, but necessary decision to let my foot have some rest and time away. So between December 8th and January 29th, I did not do any kind of running or working out at all. Some days would be really painful and other days were more manageable.

I began wearing some high arched soccer style flip-flops and put some supports in my shoes and things began to improve...it is apparent that I have high arches thus causing more problems than I would like to have. Monday, the 30th of January came around and I actually felt very good and decided that I would break my time away from running and go for a run...

On a side note, I had been invited by some college teammates to join them in a race held on April 1st. It is a 44.4 mile relay event and I wanted to participate, so I said I was in...so now I have committed myself to train for something and was not totally sure if I could go through with it or not, but I was signed up.

Monday evening rolled around and I ventured out and met up with the running group that I go with and we ran a 5K...I wasn't going to go very fast and was going to just baby it, but my body said otherwise...i felt like a caged animal that had just been released. My legs and mind were ready to go and instantly snapped into running mode and thus I propelled myself into a faster than planned pace.

I ended up finishing the 5K in 25:08. Not my fastest time nor was it my slowest time ever. It was still an 8:30/mi pace and only about :30/mi off my pace that I was running in early December. The nice thing was that I was pain free during the entire run...my biggest problem was the workout my lungs got....they were tired :) and then I got home and rested and iced my heel and again the pain flared up by morning and I felt incapacitated again...but I wasn't as bad off as I have been in the past.

I rested yesterday and am ready for another go at it tonight...probably not going to push too hard, but am going to get 3 miles in and see where I stand after this evening...here's to new tires on the old model.

I will leave you with this quote that I came up with on Monday....

"Runners never get old...they just have high mileage"

it doesn't matter how old you are physically because anyone can begin running...some have run more than others and those who have run for a long time have just logged a lot of mileage...kind of like a car does after a few years.

Until next time....Scarecrow Runner