Wednesday, November 18, 2009

And so it's come to this ...

I have an appointment with an orthopedic doctor on December 9th. Yeah, things aint going too well with the foot/ankle ( See this post if you don't know what I'm talking about ).

A week ago ( on Nov. 11th ), I felt more than the usual pain in the ankle when I started to run on the treadmill. I probably should have stopped right then and there. I really probably should have. But ... but I was getting SO close. So close to running at the same speeds I was running 18 months ago before I injured my knee. I was so close to getting back my personal best time for my regular 2-mile run before I turned 40. All it would have taken was about two more months of intense training. Just two more months. I could do that that. Sure, my ankle hurt a little more each day and I was limping around a lot the morning after each run, but I was almost there. I could make it. Just two more more months. I would rest the ankle for a while after that, but I still had two months to go. So, I gritted my teeth, finished my 2 mile run, and didn't give it second thought ...

Until the next morning ...

CRAP

My ankle looked pretty f*cking big on the morning of Nov. 12th. I could walk on it and all, but pretty f*cking big. Even then, I was still holding out a little hope. I only run twice a week anyway ( 2 intense runs a week - my knees get really spongey if I run more than that ), and my next scheduled run was set for Sunday, November 15th. I was still planning to run again until the morning of the 15th, but my ankle was still really swollen on the 15th, so finally some common sense kicked in. Sure, it might give me great feeling of accomplishment to get back to my personal best running times before I turned 40, but would it really be worth the risk of potentially spending the rest of my life with a limp ( or God forbid, a CANE! ). So yeah, common sense kicked in. It was time to hang up my running shoes for a while and finally call a Doc.

Oh well, no personal bests by the time I reach 40. I guess if the Docs can fix what is wrong and I heal up okay, I could still try to reach my personal best at 41. Heck, that would be more impressive anyway. Of course, I might be told I need to give up running altogether - but I'm going to think positive for now.

Aging REALLY REALLY blows!

Rich

1 comment:

EZ said...

Hope you get a good result from the December visit. I myself have finally returned to the aikido mat, albeit in a limited capacity.

Z

P.S.: Are you doing elevation, ice, compression, any of those?