Monday, August 18, 2008

If It Walks Like a Duck, and Talks Like a Duck...

Then hopefully we'll have ourselves a little duck roast in about 4 weeks.  Back to running date is set to September 15.  Maybe I'll forget about it until then.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Now for the Mind...

This is much tougher mentally then I ever imagined it could be. Last week in Arizona (August 8), I went for an hour long barefoot (well, almost) hike with MM through the desert. This was the day after I managed to jog for 10 mins on a treadmill at the local YMCA. Everything felt great, and the wilderness was the perfect setting to have the realization that it's time to move past this thing.

This past Tuesday, back in Philly, I did more jogging on the treadmill. Again, things felt good, but I couldn't help but be very aware of my left foot. Then on Thursday night, carrying my bass fiddle from Center City to South Philly, I got a strange feeling. Pain is the wrong word, discomfort is closer, but I really can't put my finger on it. I've also been monitoring the "swelling," which hardly qualifies as such. But nevertheless I've been keeping tabs on whether or not I can see the tendons running across the top of my foot (I can on the right foot). There was a noticeable difference between the two as I laid down to rest on Thursday.

Since pain wasn't the issue, and things looked better yesterday, I followed through with the plan: more jogging in place at the gym. During the 30 min jog/walk things felt great, but again I was hyper-aware of any sensations on that side of my body. In bed last night, some discomfort all through the lower leg.

These physical sensations are nothing compared to the pain I felt walking to and from the doctor's office back at the beginning of July. I wonder if I may be experiencing some general soreness as a result of the month long layoff, something like growing pains. I'm tempted to throw another 3 or 4 weeks of rest at it and take it from there. Monday would be the next jog attempt, and depending on how it feels, I still may try that, but I don't want this to stick around any longer than it has to. You'll hear from me then.