Rebuilding

Two days ago, was garbage day. Why does that matter? Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't. But, on garbage day, everyone places their trash cans on the sidewalk. Rewind to last winter. I was running on the sidewalk with my doggy and tripped on an uneven piece of sidewalk, probably because I tend to shuffle my feet when I'm running tired. I scrapped up my chin pretty bad - I think it was broken and there's a piece floating around randomly because there's a weird dent and bump that I don't remember being there. After that incident, I told myself I would never run on the sidewalk again!

As most promises to ourselves go, a couple of months later, it was forgotten. I hopped on the sidewalk here and there to avoid a car and, pretty soon, was on the sidewalk pretty permanently. I reasoned to myself that it was safer for me and cars to be safely out of the road.

Fast forward to a couple of days ago, I was running on the sidewalk, as is now usual, and dodging trash cans as I went. It had gone pretty good for me for the two and a quarter miles. Then, as if to remind me of that promise to myself, my foot slipped into the crevasse between the sidewalk and the grass. I was trying to avoid one on those trash cans. It hurt so badly, I couldn't put any pressure on it to stand. I stopped my watch right after I fell, I was hoping it would just be a momentary pause and then I'd be back on my way. But when I realized I couldn't stand on it, I was devastated. It was actually a pretty good run at that point - the weather was great, I didn't feel tired, I was light on my feet and I was poised for a 9 minute mile, or better!!

When I got back to the house, I iced and elevated my ankle. There really wasn't any swelling or bruising. It still hurt when I'd stand on it for too long or bend it inwards. I decided, even though it hurt my psyche to not run the next day. I had been doing great with my runs, I really hated that this injury might cause me to loose time. But, one of my worst fears is doing something in my youth to hurt me in the future (I know it's silly...). Well, yesterday wasn't so bad, so I decided to run today.

Just to be safe, I wore an ace bandage while I ran. The bandage actually belonged to my sister when she was in high school. She has a much smaller foot than I so I guess I should have figured that using her brace would cause me to loose feeling in my foot. Well, I figured I could handle numb toes if it meant protecting my ankle. That's pretty much exactly what happened - my foot felt heavy and sore around the edges of the brace and it made it difficult to bend my foot. That, in turn, made me use different muscles while I ran, which hurt so, so bad.

All in all, I was glad that I went out and tried a little run and that I wrapped up my ankle. I actually had a pretty good time, given everything. Just over 30 minutes! I wasn't displeased that's for sure. :)

Hopefully that's a good sign for the rest of the day and for the runs later this week! Here's hoping!