I ran today.

On my recovery day no less!

Let me back up to Wednesday. I had my sixth PT appointment, and
apparently that's an eval one. Instead of my trusty intern I got the
Best PT, the one that to whom I was assigned. She asked me about this
and that, and I mentioned that I'd worn high heels on Monday and they
killed my left foot. She then proceeded to stretch out the
muscles in my feet for a half an hour. Big deal, right? Except my
feet smell so bad they kill small rodents on a regular basis. The
baseline stench was compounded by my wearing open-toed, open-heeled
stink factories. At one point she went to touch her face after
holding my foot and I mentally screamed, "Oh no! For the love of God
please don't do it!!"

But she did, and she lived. Don't ask me how!

Anyway, she said I was progressing very well despite my being so
tight. When I swore I was stretching she told me that she could tell,
but I was just "genetically" absurdly tight. My initial relief was
replaced with fear—this could be me for the rest of my life, in and
out of therapy because I'm not flexible enough operate my machinery
safely. Scary, huh?

I got new exercises (which mimic actually running) and skipped out to
my car afterward—and I nearly fell over. Due to the xxtreme
stretching I'd just received my ankles moved in more than one
direction, something I'm not used to. Interesting concept...

Next was AJ intervals (rocked 'em), half a spin class, PT, bed.
Bummer of the otherwise great day? My memory was full on my watch, so
proof of my stellar intervals was lost. Sad.

Thursday. One month eval with running doctor. He said I'm doing
fantastically and my ass is at normal strength, or nearly so. His
orders: keep aquajogging, three more weeks of PT twice a week, then PT
once a week after that. There's a hint that a run
will be in my future…

Next was 3 hour AJ with 5 minutes of cross country ski action every 20
mins (to better engage the ol' quads and hammies and keep me from
crying from the boredom), PT, bed. I skipped weights because I was
ex-huas-ted after my run; I guess I'll live if I only lift twice this
week because I can't make up the session.

Friday. My off day. PT at lunch, PT for 45 minutes at home and I'm
free til Saturday! So I went to my appointment at lunchtime and got
my ankles stretched again, because one's way tighter than the other
and it's effing up my existence. We did some stairs, some balancing,
some weights.

Then we ran.

It's not the awesome running I'd like to be doing, but it's a start.
Three steps, then landing on a foam pad. Make fun all you want, but
that crap is hard. I may be a gimp, but I've still got some miles
under my belt! But I did well-- my weight distribution, foot
response, and body positioning are improving, and rapidly. I think
I'll be on my feet in a month.

And if not, at least I trust my doctor and PT to not, you know, ruin
my life. Running doctor reportedly never tells people to quit
running altogether, so I need to believe he's fixing me. And I do.
Woo hoo!

One weird thing though: my toes (middle and ring toes) cramped like
crazy on Monday (swimming, AJ) and Tuesday (spinning, abs class. Yes,
they cramped in an abs class. Yes, I was in an abs class--
those 15 minutes were the most painful of my day). Anyway, these
aren't weenie arch cramps, which I can effectively massage away after
my years of practice. They're also not curl-under toe cramps;
instead, my toes twist away from my big toe and writhe around like
freshly cut worm halves. I don't get it. Neither does the Best PT.
Neither does the running doctor. I decide I'm a freak and start
drinking more Gatorade—and I'm two days with no foot cramps.

New aquajogging insights: you can still drop your hips too much when
AJ-ing. Ya gotta watch that. Other than that I have no idea how you
can keep bad form in the pool. Pool running for life, baby!