Happy Feet

Do you know what this is? I feel like some of you just might recognize it.

If you guessed mileage on a treadmill, you are RIGHT. I RAN TODAY!!!!! It has officially been two months since last ran, when I tore the deltoid ligament in my foot. (Two months and five days to be exact, but who was counting??) It has been an annoyingly painful recovery process, but I've been trying to be patient and let it heal correctly. 

Today as I was leaving the house this morning I grabbed my gym bag and out of the corner of my eye I saw my running shoes. I only wear my running shoes to run, and have separate shoes that I cross train, spin, and lift in. Wearing the same shoes for running/cross training/lifting is hard on your shoes and can be hard on your joints. Read more about an earlier post on that HERE. Anyways...I saw my running shoes and I decided to grab them as I left, just in case. After work I went to do my cardio for the day, and decided to try and run, even if it was just a mile. So, I strapped on my ankle brace, put on my running shoes, did a five minute walking warm up, and I was off. As you can see, I couldn't stop at just a mile. I ended up running four and it felt SO good! My biggest worry was that I was going to have lost my speed and endurance completely...and of course that I was going to roll my ankle again. It was crazy how the first few minutes I just kept having that replay of what it felt like, sounded like, looked like, when I fell and it made me cringe. I had to block that out of my mind completely to keep going. Although, I know it's still going to be a process I'll have to be patient with, to get back to where I was before I fell. I didn't do too bad! I ran my last mile at an 8:34 pace (7RPM), which I didn't think I was going to be able to do for a long time. 

I decided I'd better not push my luck, so after the four miles I finished with some stairs and the elliptical. Afterwords I did some serious stretching, icing, ibuprofen-ing, but so far I'm not dying. Because I've been overcompensating for my hurt foot my gate (walking stride) has been a bit off. This has caused me to have some issues with my piriformis muscle. 

This muscle sits on the sciatic nerve and can cause some major pain. Fun, huh? I've had the help of some a great physical therapist and athletic trainer at work. (A definite perk of my work!!) I've been doing some major stretching, foam rolling, and deep tissue rolling with a softball to take care of the problem, so hopefully I'm on the right track back to being able to work out like normal. I can't wait! Aren't injuries the worst? Our bodies are pretty incredible though, and it's amazing what can happen when we take the necessary precautions and work to correctly rehabilitate our injuries.