Tuesday, June 10, 2008

8 Minutes

Last Monday, June 2, I was allowed to run on the treadmill at my physical therapy appointment. It was only 8 minutes, but it felt good. I was happy. June 2 puts me right on schedule for a completely new buildup for that December marathon and 13th state I was planning on.

At my Thursday appointment I got to run for a complete mile, uninterrupted. The pace was slow, 10:00 per mile, but I was running. I land too hard. I am a pretty noisy runner and even more so on a treadmill. They want me to keep my lower abs tight and to lengthen my stride a bit. I can get it done when they are standing there reminding and coaching me. I'm not so sure how it will go when I have to do it on my own.

The doc gave me permission to go for a short run on my own over the weekend as long as I stayed off concrete. That wasn't a problem for me.

We went got up early (4:00) Saturday morning to take my parents to see the launching of the hot air balloons down in Temecula at 6:00 a.m. My parents came in from OH on Tuesday. My brother and sisters and assorted nieces begin arriving today. I spent most of Sunday doing all the final detail work on the bathroom remodel so it was 8:00 p.m. before I got out there for my run.

I headed over to the trusty old equestrian path in Via Verde. I hadn't forgotten how to run. I was afraid that I might. I was pretty slow but I covered 2.5 miles. This was a little more than the doc had wanted but I couldn't let myself turn around until I hit a landmark (stop sign). Since I had more than doubled my mileage with that run, he didn't let me run on the treadmill yesterday at PT, but told me to run again outside on Tuesday. That was an agreeable trade off to me.

I'm woefully behind on keeping up with all of you, but now that the bathroom renovation is 99.5% complete, and with graduation festivities winding down this week and house guests returning home things should start to get back to a more normal state and I will be a runner and a blogger once again.

Thanks for waiting for me.

12 comments:

Wes said...

Welcome back to running. I am excited for you. Much like the swim stroke, changing your running stride is all about muscle memory! Keep practicing, and stay healthy :-)

Journey to a Centum said...

That bathroom project was probably just the diversion you needed to keep your mind off not being able to run. Sounds like you are getting really good medical care.

Coming back from an injury is tough. Especially those first couple of weeks where you really start to appreciate the conditioning you once had as you huff and puff along.

Enjoy your runs and finish that last bit on the bathroom!

Anonymous said...

YAY!!! You're running again!! I'm very happy that they've released you, and can't wait to help you plan your December trip!

Anonymous said...

Glad your back.... looking forward to seeing you in Memphis.

Neese said...

how great you are running! but don't even talk about pace that's still faster than me lol. good to see you posting, and say hi to all the Ohioans!

Backofpack said...

Yay! You are back at it! Congrats on getting back, finishing the project and graduating a son. Good deal all around!

Unknown said...

Glad to hear that you are getting back to running. Slowly is a good way to keep yourself healthy. It's nice that you are monitored by doctor and PT.

Joe said...

I'm thrilled, just thrilled, to see this Darrell. I've been thinking about you a lot, knowing graduation was near, family was coming in, caulk was finally dry, etc etc. And you would be getting close to starting rehab.

I was going to email you tonight to see how you were...and boom, here is a post.

I'm very pleased to see this. Yes, take it easy...listen to the PT advice. You'll make it.

Thrilled for you, Darrell.

Sarah said...

Glad you're back running again! Take it easy and you'll be back to speed in no time.

Donald said...

Baby steps, Darrell. Welcome back.

Unknown said...

Rock on! I bet that was the sweetest 8 minutes that you have ran, and the quickest 8 minutes you want to remember.

back in 2001 after therapy for a pulled hamstring, I ended up running my marathon PR... hope that is encouraging!

David said...

Welcome back Mr. Kotter.