He's "Cracked"

Another week passed and I’m really starting to get anxious now. In fact, I’m starting to wonder if I’m not holding myself back. I’ve had no pain and no swelling for quite a while now, and as Phil Liggett would say after a rider drops off the back of the peloton in the Tour de France, yesterday I “cracked.” I just couldn’t take it anymore, so I put on a normal old running shoe and did some walking around. It felt GREAT just to be doing something again. I was very careful and never came up on my toes like you would when walking normally, but I did walk flat footed and put my entire weight on my foot, and I had no problems whatsoever. I never felt any pain in my foot at all, and it didn’t swell up afterward either. Furthermore, it feels fine today, and once again, no swelling.

That said, again, I have to wonder if I’m not delaying things by continuing to stay off it. It’s going to take a long time to get my foot and ankle strong again, and if it’s ready to start that process with some light walking, I hate to delay it another three weeks unnecessarily. At the same time, I have no way of really knowing, so I basically have a huge dilemma. At this point I’m just going to let pain be my guide and continue along my current path until I return to the doc for new x-rays. I’m doing some foot and ankle strengthening exercises along with some self massage, again, all with no problems. If I continue to walk a little more each and every day, by the time I go back, I may be getting around pretty normally. Any pain and/or swelling and I’ll stop immediately, but if I remain clear, I’ll just keep going on my own. If I get another negative opinion from the doc on the 30th, I’ll seek a second opinion.

Anyway, that’s the latest. No delusions that I’ll be running anytime soon, but I am hopeful that I’ll be able to start doing some walking before long. I’m also thinking about doing a little biking or some other form of cross-training so I can start to regain at least a little fitness. I’ve already started core work again, so I just need to keep adding pieces to the puzzle until I’m ready to actually start training again. Oh, and in the way of good news, I finally got up the nerve to step on the scale this weekend, and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. I only came in at 136, so just a few pounds up from training weight. Hopefully I can stay there for a few more weeks until it’s time to start running again. I see light at the end of the tunnel, but it’s a long way off.