Team for Life: 2010

  I’ve waited to make this post because, well honestly, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to run with the team.  Well, let me tell you officially, I can and will be on the team this year.  Yesterday was my sixth run since my ankle injury and I accidentally did 5 miles, not 4. 

  It was a very cold morning, somewhere around 15 degrees.  I had talked with Ali, the new director of the Cincinnati CFF, and told her that I would get her through her first team run.  But, when I got to Fleet Feet and looked at the course, it was the Mt. Everest course again.  Bluewing, Lobeila, and Waxwing!  There is no way my ankle will do that right now. 

  So, I decided to take Ali, her husband Dave, and their friend Abby on the Kenridge Lake route.  From what I had remembered, it was a four mile run.  Now, Ali told me that she was “slow,” around a 12 minute mile on the treadmill.  However, yesterday, she was pushing the pace.  But, that’s a good thing.

  Dave didn’t do much talking, and left us at about mile 1.  I think he felt we were going too slow.  Funny, we found him half way around the lake, not exactly understanding my directions (hard to imagine).  But, I think he had worn himself out.  He ended up walking with Abby for a while, and Ali and I didn’t see them until about 10 minutes after we finished.

  Abby, new to the team, is crazy.  She had abdominal surgery 3 weeks ago, and was running with us yesterday.  She had a tough time, I can’t understand why.  But, she did finish the 5 miles. 

  Ali and I had a great conversation.  Mostly “shop talk” about CF and the Foundation, etc.  I’m glad to say that she “gets it.”  She’s young enough to know that she doesn’t know it all, but experienced (notice I didn’t say old, Ali) enough to  handle the role of Executive Director.  She also has a very close friend with CF.  We talked about him, about CF, the team, and way too much about me. 

  I look forward to more runs with her.  I also look forward to running with old friends, Victoria, Ralph, Jamie, Amye, Scott, and a whole host of others.  I’ll miss a few friends that aren’t running with us this year.  Priorities change over the years, and I get that.  But, they’re always welcome to come back home to the team.

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New Year: 2010

  It’s official, 2009 is history.  It was both a good and bad year for my running career. 

  The Good: I completed two marathons in two weeks.  I ran the 113th Boston Marathon!  I accomplished my goal for the marathon season and raised over $4500 for CF. 

  The Bad: I ran a 5 hour marathon at Boston and a (almost) 6 hour marathon in Cincy.  I’m still disappointed in that.  Sorry, but there’s no changing that for me.  I know I can do better.  I’ve also been off from running for 3+ months with this stupid ankle injury.  I also failed to lose the weight that I wanted to lose.  Most of that was due to the injury, but that’s just an excuse.

  As for the ankle, it is healing, but slower than I’d like.  And, honestly, I’m angry about it.  Right now, I have three bone bruises that still need to heal up.  According to my doc it could take another 6-9 months before they are completely healed.  So, basically, I don’t know when I’ll be able to run again.  It’s really up to my pain level.  I’m allowed to workout on the ankle, and do anything that doesn’t hurt.  So the elliptical, strengthening, and some other cardio.  I’m hoping to take a spinning class tomorrow morning (assuming I can sleep tonight).  I think spinning will help me get my cardio system back into running shape.  It should also help with endurance, as the classes are 40-60 minutes. 

  So, you may ask, what are my goals for 2010?  First and foremost, get my ankle healthy.  I really miss my running and I don’t want to miss the Team for Life season this year.  That’s out of my control, but I’m going to do everything I can to run with the team.  Second, lose my extra weight and get back into running shape.  I figure I need to lose about 15 -20 pounds.  I can do it, I just need to set my mind to it.  The beauty of me being angry about the ankle is that I can use that anger to drive me.  I’m pretty good at that.  Third, and finally, I want to improve my running.  I want to get faster and have better endurance. 

  I have a plan for all three.  Part of that plan is pushing myself.  So far in my running career, I’ve never really done that.  Sure I’ve run marathons, etc.  But, I’ve not pushed myself to get better during my training.  I’ve stayed in my comfort zone.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to kill myself, but I need to push myself out of that comfort zone to reach all of my goals.  We’ll see how it goes, but at this point, I’m determined.  And if you know me, you know that if I’m determined to do something….I’ll do it.

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Who Needs Sleep?

  I’m tired.  I’m really tired.  Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to sleep very well lately.  Part of it is the ankle.  If I have to get up in the middle of the night, it aches for a while after I lay back down.  A second part is also the ankle.  Not knowing what’s going on with it and why it still hurts is bugging me.  Third, it’s Christmas time.  Stress is always here around Christmas.  Between the money literally flying out of my hands and the PTSD it’s tough to sleep.

  I’m going back to the doc again in about 12 hours.  Something just isn’t right with my ankle.  It’s tight, which I expected.  But, I still can’t stretch it out.  See, when I try to stretch it burns.  It burns on the inside of my ankle from my medial malleolus (the bump on the inside of the ankle) all the way to the back and bottom of my ankle.  Imagine drawing a square over that area and that’s where it hurts.

  I know I have tendonitis, but this doesn’t feel like tendonitis pain.  I think one of the ligaments healed inside the joint, or I have part of the posterior tibial tendon caught in the joint, or I have a pinched nerve.  I’m going to ask the doc to send me for a second MRI.  I don’t think he’ll disagree.  I just need the answer and if I need surgery, I need to get it scheduled.

  I think another reason I’m not sleeping is that I’m not exercising.  Usually I can get some exercise in during the week and expend some of this energy and stress.  Ok, yes, you’re right, I could still workout.  And, I need to do it.  I guess I need to start hitting the cross trainer and hope that it helps me get back on track.

  As for a marathon in the spring.  It’s not going to happen.  In fact, I don’t know if I’ll even be ready for  a half marathon.  I hope to be able to at least run the half, but I just don’t know.

  In case you’re wondering, the CFF marathon team here in Cincinnati, Team for Life, needs members.  The fundraising goal is $1000.  I know, that sounds like a lot of money.  Trust me, it’s easy to raise.  If you’re reading this and are interested in running in the Flying Pig (Marathon, Half Marathon, or 4 person relay), please leave me a comment.  With the economy, the CF Foundation is hurting too.  My life and the lives of 30,000 other CF patients are directly affected by the work and fundraising the foundation does.  I truly appreciate anyone that runs with the team.  We are not just raising money, we’re practicing sacrificial giving, as Coach Wheeler says.  Time to try to get some more sleep.

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Shoot Me: Part II

  Yesterday was my second follow-up appointment with my podiatrist.  It was a good appointment, but I should explain my Physical Therapy appointment first. 

  Therapy was at 8 AM.  I got there about 40 minutes early, so I hit the cross-trainer for some cardio first.  I ended up going 20 minutes at 190 strides per minute.  It was far from easy, but I really needed to push myself.  My ankle hurt, but not too much.  The range of motion on the cross trainer isn’t that large.  I then proceeded to do all of my leg work.  I did the leg press, toe raise, and “running” exercises on the reformer.  I also did lunges, squats, and step ups on the evil bosu.  Then a few other balance and proprioception exercises.

  Jamie, my therapist, also wanted to work on my stairs.  See, I can’t go down them very well.  I typically point my toe and land on the ball of my foot when coming down stairs.  I explained to her that the inside of my ankle hurts when I do that.  Honestly, I thought it was my deltoid.  After some discussion and prodding, we located the source of the pain.  It wasn’t the deltoid, it was the posterior tibial tendon.  I had tendonitis.  I had all of the classic symptoms: pain on the medial side of the foot, fatigue after minimal activity, and pain when rising on the ball of the foot.  Jamie wrote a quick note to my doc and I took it to him.

  So, at the doc’s I handed him the note.  He read it and said that he figured that’s what I had.  He said that dealing with this injury is like peeling an onion.  Last time we treated the joint line of my ankle, as that was the most painful at the time.  Yesterday, he gave me another shot to address the tendonitis.  He gave it to me under ultrasound and did a great job.  He hit the trigger point of the tendon exactly, as my the tendon fired almost immediately upon the injection of the med.

  Today, my ankle feels about 80%.  It’s not perfect, but it’s to the point were I can work on range of motion and flexibility much easier.  I’ve very happy about that, although I think I’ll need another shot in a couple of weeks just to make it 100%. 

  I’m sad to say that I’ll be missing the 100th running of the Cincinnati Thanksgiving Day Race tomorrow.  I was really looking forward to running it, but my ankle is nowhere near ready to run.

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Shoot Me! Please?!

  It’s been a long time since I’ve posted so I’ll do a quick recap.  On October 27th I went back to my podiatrist for a follow-up on my ankle.  At that point, my doc told me that I was allowed to begin bearing weight on it.  It was a slow process, but about 10 days later I was “walking” on it without the crutches.

  Since then I’ve been to Physical Therapy twice a week.  We’ve been working on Range Of Motion, stretching, strengthening, and proprioception.  I’d love to tell you which I need the most work on, but I think it’s all of them.  I’ve made some progress, but am still limited by the swelling in my ankle.  This swelling is causing me pain when I try to increase my range of motion.

  Today, I got to go see my doc again.  He was very happy with the stability of my ankle and feels confident that the ligaments are healing correctly and are not in the joint.  So, that means no surgery.  I did discuss my limited range of motion due to the pain.  I also mentioned my plantar faciitis, which is to be expected after not moving it over a month. 

  The good news is that he shot me up.  That’s right, more of the MLB players fix for what ails you….steriods.  Kenalog in fact.  He gave me the shot in the medial side of the ankle, right near my deltoid ligament.  Within about 2 seconds a tingle shot up my foot and it was completely numb in about 30 seconds.  Of course, I did joke around that I wouldn’t be able to drive home.  Oh, and I should note, I took him about 20 of my world-famous Chocolate Chip cookies.  He wanted a lemon meringue pie, but those don’t travel too well.

  My next stop was at Physical Therapy.  I went there immediately afterwards so that I could get in some of the beating while I couldn’t feel the foot.  I did more today that I have any other day.  Of course there is the reformer and the calf board stretches.  But, I also did some work on the flat side of the Bosu.  Balance, squats, throwing and catching a medicine ball, and generally any other torture they could think of while I was on there.  I also did 30 modified lunges (I’m really feeling those right now!)  and then Jamie massaged my plantar fascia as well as my entire ankle.  We finished up with ice and stim, which felt great. 

  I’ll be interested to see how it feels tomorrow but it’s kinda sore right now.  I’m hoping to be back to running within a few more weeks.  There are no promises, but I’m going to keep working toward that.  All in all, I’m back to most of my activities but still no running.  Stairs are still a small issue due to the proprioception.  And, I really have almost no lateral strength in the ankle yet.  But, it’s getting better every day.

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Two More Weeks

  Hopefully in two weeks I’ll get my foot out of this stupid boot.  I know it’s in my best interest to wear it and rehab my ankle correctly.  But, this is a real pain in the butt.  Last Thursday I found out that I’ve officially torn three ligaments in my right ankle.  Three complete tears.  Here’s what it looked like a day after the injury. 

 

One Day After the Injury

 

  The biggest concern is the deltoid ligament on the inside of my ankle.  According to the doc, it’s 50/50 on surgery vs healing.  We’ve decided to go the conservative route and just let it heal.  He also says that about 15% of the people need to have surgery afterwards.  I really hope I don’t have to do that.  I think I’ll go completely insane.

 

  I can tell you that there are no real added benefits to crutches, other than the rest on the ankle.  They hurt, you can’t carry anything, you can’t do much of anything at all.  I really feel useless.

 

  I also feel guilty having my wife do all of the stuff with the kids.  She has to drive them to school, take them everywhere, etc.  We’ve also had to enlist friends to get the kids from school.  And, don’t even ask about yard.  With all the rain, my back yard is starting to look like a cross between a Vietnamese jungle and a mushroom field.  It’s really ugly.  Oh, and my poor dog Leo.  He’s not getting nearly enough exercise.

 

  So, keep your fingers crossed that I get this boot off on the 27th.

 

P.S. – The kids and Kristen had H1N1 last week.  They’ve survived it.  I haven’t gotten it yet, thanks to my pulmonary doc and TamiFlu.

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Torn

  I’m sick of running. I really am.  Two marathons in two weeks has really taken it’s toll.  It’s really taken the fun out of it and I have been taking a break for a while.  Well, now I’m REALLY going to take a break.

  On Saturday, I was cutting my grass.  Leo, my lab pup, was out there following me around like he always does.  It’s actually very cute.  Anyway, my back yard is a little hilly.  There’s one section that is bad, it’s basically the hill my house is built into.  Well, I was cutting that section like I’ve done 100 times before.  All of a sudden, my right leg decided to slip down the hill.  My left leg didn’t make the trip.  I ended up basically in the splits.

   Well, to make a long story short, I have a torn meniscus in my left knee.  Luckily, it’s usually not a career ending injury for runners.  (I do have some running plans, you know)  From what I understand, Physical Therapy does almost nothing and the surgery is fairly straight forward.  Plus, thanks to my pulmonary doc, I have one of the worlds best surgeons doing the work.  Dr. Angelo Colosimo is my doctor.  He’s the guy that put Carson Palmer’s knee back together.  So, my issue should be a snap. 

  From what I can tell, recovery is about 4-6 weeks before I can run again.  That should be enough time to get me good an hungry again.  I’ll post more when I know all the details.

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Just Plain Stupid

  I’m stupid!  An idiot!  I ran a 12 mile long run yesterday with my coach and Victoria, both of whom are faster than I am.  Between the two of the they were half stepping me the entire way.  It’s not their fault, it’s mine.  I should know better than to run with people that are faster than me. 

  Well, stupid me, I stuck with them.  We averaged a 10:15 pace, but that’s only because I slowed them down a few times to take salt and drink.  If I hadn’t, we would have been right at a 10:00 or faster.  It’s not that I can’t go that fast, it’s that I’m not ready to do it yet.  So now I’ve injured my left IT Band.  I’ve been saying for a while that pushing too hard too fast will cause injury lately.  Turns out that I was right.  What a _______ Moron! 

  Between the injury and the Boston mess I feel like things are just falling apart.  I don’t think I can run with Victoria anymore.  She’s worked on getting faster, and she has.  But, I’m tired of being half stepped and having to slow her down.  All of the communication for Boston has broken down.  Other than knowing that I’m on the team, I have noother information, which bugs me.  I can’t start fund raising for Boston since I don’t have my website.  I can start for the CFF, which I’ll probably do this week.  ARGH!!!!!

  So, I tried to get in touch with Amye to get her expert opinion on fixing an IT Band.  I guess she’s busy as I didn’t get a reply.  I’ll probably go get a foam roller and just get to work on it.  I don’t know that there is much else to do.  Maybe I’ll get to the gym and do the elliptical today, no impact and still gets me aerobic activity.  Team for Life 2009 starts on Saturday.  I’m thinking I’m going to get there early and start before everyone else.  I’ll be slow and won’t have to worry about trying to keep up with anyone.  They’ll probably catch me and pass me anyway, so that will at least let them know that I’m there.

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Paying the Price

  Two weeks post Pig and I’ve only run twice.  The first was a decent 3 miler, nothing to exciting.  It didn’t feel perfect, but it wasn’t bad.  The second run on the other hand, was bad.  It was painful. 

  Three weeks before the Pig I ran a 20 miler in Ault Park.  Lots of hills and lots of wind.  At about mile 16 mile right knee started to hurt after a water stop.  It would loosen up after I ran for a while, but when I stopped it hurt again.

  Over the next three weeks, I still felt the pain a little, but it was gone by Pig day.  I ran the marathon, and it didn’t bother me at all.  Afterwards, it hurt again, but I didn’t think much of it.  It was gone five days after the marathon, and I went for my first Post-Pig run.  Then, like I said, my second run hurt.

  Well, it hasn’t been perfect, so I didn’t run on it.  I thought maybe it was IT Band syndrome, so I stretched and iced it.  On Friday night, we mulched the front and side yards.  Saturday morning it was really bothering me to climb stairs or squat.  On Saturday, we cleaned out the garage, and I really felt it while backing the wheelbarrow out of the garage. 

  I’ve done some research, and I think it’s a meniscus tear.  I can straighten my knee out fully, but at times, while turning around it’s catching.  In the morning, coming down the stairs, I think I hear some grinding.  The knee hurts on the joint line, hurts to twist, squat, and twist and squat.  I feel it climbing stairs, etc.  From what I’ve read, these are all symptoms of a lateral meniscus tear. 

  I’m going to schedule an appointment with a sports medicine guy tomorrow.  At this point, I’d like to know what it is and get it fixed.  If it is a tear, I’d like to get it surgically repaired so I can get back to running.  From what I’ve read, the recovery back to running can be from 4 -12 weeks.  Remember, I have an Evil Plan to implement over the next 12 months.

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