It's a Start

(My little Christmas set up)

             I have started jogging again, albeit slow but it is a start. Six weeks post injury I was walking on my treadmill and I felt the urge to start increasing the speed to see how things felt. Things felt funny. It wasn’t quite time for that impact. The next week I went to the Sports Reaction Center and ran 3 miles on the Alter G. It felt awesome, freeing and like home for me. My PT came in to check on me a couple times and was surprised to see me staring at the blank T.V. screen, no music or anything to occupy the time. For most (and usually me) doing an easy run on a treadmill can be boring and I usually have some form of entertainment to make the time go by faster. But not this time. I was very in tune with how my body was responding. I did not need a distraction from something I have missed doing over the weeks. As I ran I tested my speed limits as wells as my body weight percentages. I was able to run a lot faster than what I could do with all my body weight but boy did it feel good to get those legs turning over again! I am not supposed to run every day and when possible it is best for me to run on the Alter G. But I can only get over to my PT in Bellevue, WA once a week so the other days I will carefully jog on my treadmill.
            Monday was one such day. I started with ¼ mile warm up walk. Then I went into a jog. I told myself I would run 2-3 miles. Well during that first mile I felt bad. Not due to the injury but I was sucking air and things did not feel smooth. I did not think I would last a mile. I decided to watch some T.V. to help distract myself. It worked. After the first mile I started to feel better. My breathing got a little less labored (though my heart rate was slowly rising it did not burn as bad). As I ran I slowly increased the speed. And pretty soon I had ran 5 miles. This was not my intention so I decided I better stop before I ruin a good thing. I walked ¼ mile to cool down. My calves felt a little tight but my knee felt fine.
            Today I spent 30 minutes spinning. Tomorrow I plan to run again. I still haven’t graduated to running outside yet but soon enough I will be out there battling the rain with the rest of you. Right now I do not plan on setting any goals for my indoor season or even put any races on my calendar. If I do I may start to increase my mileage too soon and start to push too hard and end up doing damage. I am so glad I have my husband to continue to keep my grounded and not try too much too soon. He makes sure to pull in the reigns when I start “forgetting” I am still healing. All in all I am very optimistic that everything will heal and I will be back to 100% I just have to be patient and trust God’s plan.

(Thanksgiving 2012 with Levi. I am very thankful for him!)