Starting back in 2013

2012 was not what I had anticipated. My broken ankle definitely caused a lot of unexpected twists to the year. But now I have complete physical therapy and am ready to officially start back.

Tomorrow I will be starting the couch to 10k program by doing a 1.5 mile race. Most of the workouts will be on the treadmill as per my doctors orders.

I have a couple races on my schedule already - a 7 mile race at the end of march, a half marathon mid May, and part of a team for a 27 hour triathlon.

There's no way to know how my ankle will do, if I'll be able to run as much as I was or if I will have to do the majority of it walking, but I'm excited to start back. I'll be posting 2013 goals soon.

Jeremy and I do have a new running partner. We named her Lacey and got her the Thursday before Christmas. We took Lacey on her first jog with Jeremy. We ran with her 5-6 times over the course of our walk. She did great!






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My first 5K back

On Thanksgiving day I completed my first 5K since breaking my ankle!  My friend Emily and her  dog Charlie walked with me.  My A goal was to finish, my B goal was to get under an hour, and my C goal was to not come in last! I was able to achieve all three goals!  We finished in 57 minutes and that was with a bathroom stop for Charlie. 

I went to the doctor last Monday to check up on the pain I had a month ago.  Thankfully the pain is gone and he re-released me from seeing him.  He told me I could start running again, but to start back slow. He suggested I use something like the Couch to 5K program to get back in to shape. I told him that was already my plan.  He also told me that I need to do almost ALL of my runs on a treadmill because it has more give and will be easier on my ankle than concrete and pavement would.   I told him that was fine with me!  Unlike most people I dont' mind running on the treadmill - no hills and climate control - works for me!

Puppies and Progress

I have wanted a puppy for the past 3 years.  My husband thinks and has repeatedly said we are a one dog family.  Fortunately for me I must have been very pitiful one day after I broke my ankle because he finally gave in and said we could get a puppy, but it had to be after we come back from vacation.  \

We went back and forth and finally decided on getting an English Setter.  We wanted a male because we already had the perfect name picked out "Miles".  We were third on the list for a male out of a litter.  They puppies were born this past Thursday and to our dismay there were only 2 males born.  So we were torn with waiting for a male from another litter or getting a female out of this litter.  By getting a female from this litter we would have it before Christmas and would be home with it the whole week of so we could work on potty training.  If we waited for a different litter we would be back at work already and not be home as much the first few weeks.  But we didn't have a name for a girl that we love.  What a predicament! 

In the end we decided to get a female and find a good name!  We wanted a running related name but it seems most running related names are for boys.  We came up with Mary, Mara and Cadence, but none of those really sounded right.  Jeremy suggested Lacy because of shoe laces which led us on the list of "acy" names.  Lacy, Pacey, Macy and Gracie.  So far Lacy is in the lead of names. 

If anyone has another running related girl name, send it our way!! 

Here's a picture of the 4 females we will have a choice of. They are only a day old in the pic.

Today I went to the therapist and had a great report!!  My right calf was an inch bigger than last time, still an inch to go before it's back to normal size.  My dorsal flexion was almost the same as my left foot and my pointing flexion was better by 10-15 degrees. 

I signed up for another 5K on Thanksgiving Day.  My ankle pain has been much less so I'm hoping it will be completely gone by then and I can finish this one!

Doctor Appt Update

Since Saturday my ankle has been bothering me every day.  Yesterday my physical therapist called and wanted to know if I had seen my doctor yet. I told her I hadn't and asked if I should wait to come bac to therapy until after he saw me.  We agreed that that was probably best.

Today I went in for my x-ray to make sure the screw wasn't coming out.  When the doctor came in after the x-rays he said that his first thought when the therapist talked to him was that the ligaments between the two bones really weren't as strong as they were supposed to be.  He said in the x-ray if that was the case then the two bones would be seperated, but they were not!  

He said the screws were not coming out but what he beleived happened was that when they did the surgery the nerve that lays across the inside bone was put in a place where it was safe and protected.  When the therapist did some deep tissue movements the day after my stitches were out, she moved it around so that the nerve became exposed and is now rubbing at times against the screw head. 

He said there really isn't anything he can do about it.  If in a year it is still bothering me he can remove the screws but not until after a year.  He said in most cases the nerve will work it's way away from what is irritating it but it takes time.  Doc told me I could continue with therapy for strength and balance but not to do the deep tissue movements.

The pain I have had the last few days hasn't been as intense as when it first started hurting so I'm hoping that the nerve is moving away from the screw head.  It still hurts a lot but I can at least tolerate it enough to put weight on that foot. 

I go back in three weeks to make sure it isn't worse. 

DNF

Saturday's 5K did not go as planned at all.  To start with it was cold and rainy, which are never great when going out to run or in my case walk.  Thankfully by the time we got to the park the rain had stopped. 

This was a large 5K, over 500 people, and by far the most unorganized.  We had to get in line to find out what our bib number was, then go to another person to get our bibs, then go to another person to get the chip tags for our shoes, then go to ANOTHER person to get our shirts.  Seriously??  We were preregistered!  Jeremy's dad, who had not preregistered, had the easiest time of all. There was no line at that table and he was able to get everything at one place. 

The race started about 10 minutes late because there were so many people still waiting to get their bibs and chips.  I started in the back, knowing that I was going to be slow even as a walker.  One thing I did like about this 5k was that over half of the participants were walkers!   I was actually passing people walking until the pain hit!  I was about .3 miles in and the sharp pain I had earlier in the week returned. It wasn't as bad, I could at least put weight on it when I put it down, where as before I couldnt' even do that.  I pushed through and debated whether I should quit or not.  The pain let up and I kept going, but had definitely slowed. The people that I had passed were now passing me back. 

After about a mile in the sharp pain had gone but now the whole top part of my foot was very sore. I had gone up a couple hills. I'm not sure if that is what bothered it since I have only walked on flat since the surgery. I wonder if the hills aggravated it by making it stretch in ways it doesnt like to do just yet. 

I got to a point where I could turn left and go back to the car/finish or turn right and keep going.  Jeremy was supposed to run his 5K, then come and run til he caught up with me so he would walk with me for the rest of the 5k.  It was getting about time for him to be catching up with me and I made the call that I wasn't going to be able to do another 2 miles with the pain.  I turned left and went towards the finish.  About .1 up Jeremy caught up to me and helped me back to the car. 

It is very frustrating since last Saturday I was able to walk 3.1, but I couldnt do it a week later. I go to the doctor on Wednesday where he will x-ray it just to make sure there isn't a screw backing out.   Hoping everything is ok and that it's just a random pain that will go away in time. 

Pain and Walking

I was released from the doctor Wednesday a week ago when he took out my stitches. I had therapy the next day on Thursday and the woman did some joint movements that she wasn't previously able to do bc of the stitches. On Saturday I started having some sharp stabbing pain. It wasn't all the time but when it came, it hurt extremely bad. I have never really had pain through much of this and especially not lately so it really scared me.  It did this off and on Saturday through Tuesday. On Tuesday I had my next therapy appt and told her what it was doing. She said she would talk to my doctor and let me know if he thought I should come back in to see him. She called on Wednesday to say that my dr did want me to come in next week to get it x-rayed just to make sure it wasn't a screw coming out.  Of course since Tuesday it hasn't bothered me. 

Last Saturday my college roommate/best friend was home for the weekend.  We decided to meet at the park to walk and talk to catch up.  I was worried about my ankle since it had really bothered me earlier that morning but figured I would at least give it a try and if it started hurting we would quit.  If it didn't hurt my goal was to do 2 miles, since 1.5 miles was my previous longest distance walking. 

Thankfully, I had no pain while walking!  We were chatting and when I finally looked down at my garmin, it told me that we had gone 2.1 already.  I decided that I would keep on and we would walk to get to 3 miles.  When we got back to the car we were at 2.7.  Well I couldn't stop there knowing 3.1 was that close!  So of course we had to walk and finish it up. I walked my first 5k distance in 1 hour 9 minutes and 1 second. 

This upcoming Saturday I am officially signed up for a 5K as a walker.  It is supposed to be a great 5K at a state park with lots of door prizes!  With the leaves changing it will be a pretty one at least.  My goal is to be faster than last week. 

Jeff Galloway, Iron Horse, and Stitches

Jeff Galloway was at the Iron Horse Half this past Sunday that Jeremy did.  In fact, Jeff Galloway was at the packet pick up on Friday night taking pictures, signing autographs and selling his books.  Of course I had to get a picture with him and his autograph!  I would never have done a half marathon without his run/walk method!

Jeremy had a great race and got a PR by 8 minutes!!  7 out of our 12 Bourbon Chase team members were at the race and all did great!

During the Bourbon Chase they had a side competition of a scavenger game where you could win priority registration for next year.  We unfortunately never heard the results, so I emailed the race director.  Since I couldnt run but tagged along this was my contribution to the team!  He emailed me back and our team got third place!!! Which means we can register early for next years Bourbon Chase!


Today I went to the doctor and got my stitches taken out.  It hurt quite a bit! I think last time I had my stitches out I was still taking pain pills so I didnt realize the pain!  The doctor looked at it and asked how therapy was going. I told him I was still working on the flexibility.  He said it would take a while but I had more flexibility than a man two doors down that broke his and didn't have to have surgery.  He said I had to get the dorsal flexion back in order to run and to stick to non-impact activities (walking, elliptical, exercise bike, swimming) before starting to run/walk again.  He also released me from his care.

Five for Friday

1. I went to physical therapy on Wednesday. My regular therapist wasn't there so another lady worked with me.  She had me do the same stretches and exercises I had been doing plus several more.  She measured my ankle flexibilty. Bringing my foot towards my leg had improved 7 degrees from last week!  Unfortunately, pointing my foot away from my body had not improved at all since I had started therapy.  She showed me a stretch to help with that and then remeasured.  Just by doing the one stretch I gained 10 degrees of flexibility in.  I will definitely be doing that stretch more!!

 

2.  Last night was the Vice President Debate at Centre College where I work!  I had to work in the library yesterday because MSNBC was set up inside using the library as their green room before the anchors went outside to tape in front of a live audience.  It was very cool to see all the news anchors.  I had my picture taken with Krystal Ball from The Cycle and took a couple pictures of The Daily Rundown with Chuck Todd being filmed.  After work we stayed and watched the debate on the Festival Lawn. The whole experience was very interesting and exciting to see happen in my little town at the place where I work.

Watching the Daily Rundown being filmed

Even Abe had to have credentials!

me with Krystal Ball from The Cycle

Chuck Todd

watching the debate on the lawn

3. About a month ago I submitted 6 photographs to the local Arts Center for a national juried exhibit.  Out of the 6 I submitted one was selected to be displayed!  I later found out there were 150 entries and only 40 were chosen to be on display. Artists from as far away as Washington state entered the contest.  Last night was the reception for the exhibit. 

4.  Saturday is the Fox and Hound 4K race that my brother in law puts on.  I have helped him the past few years at the finish line getting times and such.  In the past we have always done it by pencil and paper, but this year we will be automated and have an actual timer machine.  It's a great race where the registrants get a t-shirt and a pancake breakfast afterwards. 

5. Sunday is the Iron Horse Half Marathon in Lexington.  Jeremy is running in it and I'll be cheering him on!  He had a PR time this week during a weekly 5 mile run so he is excited going into the race that he will be able to get a PR at the half!  I'm sad I'm not running it but am happy that I can still go and support him and our other runner friends!

.87 of a mile

Last night on my dinner break Jeremy and I took a walk.  Jeremy had just come for a run so he had his Garmin and we could tell how far and fast (slow) we had gone.  We walked for .87 of a mile and would have made it a whole mile but Jeremy's watch battery died so we stopped.  We did .87 in about 25 minutes.  I think this is the longest I have walked at one time in over three months.

There are a couple 5k's at the end of October, one on the 20th and the other on the 27th, that I really want to do.  I'm hoping I can build up to walking 3 miles within the next 2-3 weeks.  I'm going to try to walk on my non therapy days and on my dinner breaks when we have time.

Today at PT I asked the therapist to measure my calf because I think from all the walking at Bourbon Chase it has gotten bigger.  Well, my calf is still 2 inches smaller that the left one but I can tell it's a lot firmer than before. It doesn't jiggle like it did, so we are moving in the right direction.

There are a couple things at therapy that are very difficult, one of them is standing on my bad leg only trying to balance.  This is by far the most frustrating things I do because I can't go more than 10-15 seconds without having to put a finger down to balance out.  Another one that is frustrating is to put my feet on an inclinced piece of wood and try to bed my knees.  My right knee doesnt bend with my ankle in that position.  I know it will come back but it is still hard to realize that I can't do things that should be easy.

On another note the high school swim season starts back up tomorrow!  I am the asst coach again this year and am looking forward to this years group. 

Bourbon Chase

This past Friday and Saturday was the Bourbon Chase, a 200 mile relay run through central Kentucky and 6 bourbon distilleries.  I was captain of this team until my unfortunate ankle injury which then led to Jeremy being the official captain while I did all the grunt work.  I did get a nice blanket for all my troubles. 

Because I wasn't able to run but was still "captain" and I wasn't about to drive the 12 passenger van, I was the official navigator I guess. I rode shotgun in the van and kept track of the time log and was the gatorade girl when I could remember to do so. They also had a scavenger hunt game going on at the different exchanges.  Most of the time it involved answering a question on bourbon or the surrounding area or taking a picture of something silly.

The van had to park pretty far away at most of the exchanges so I did a LOT of walking. Considering I had not done any exercise in the last three months I was a little sore come Saturday night and Sunday. My non-existant right calf was actually hard as a rock with a muscle!! Woo hoo!!

We had a great time this year and everyone ran great! It did rain on us off and on but we actually finished 58 minutes ahead of our predicted times! We were with a great group of people and that made it all the more enjoyable!

Below are some pictures of the weekend.

the front of our team shirt

back of our team shirt

the big van

trying to put fear in the other vans

Van 1 runners and driver

At the start

part of the scavenger hunt

Lesley's hair post run

singing My Old KY home

Heaven Hill gift shop

All lit up

Happy to  be getting something sweet to eat

Ride 'em turkey!

Clay getting the Wild Turkey Master Distiller's autograph

Me and Jeremy after the finish

The team crossing th finish line!

Physical Therapy

Wednesday I went to PT for the first time for my ankle.  It took about 2 hours total.  They asked what I had done, much to the chagrin of the woman next to me who is doing Tough Mudder in a month.

They measured how many degrees I could move my foot in all different directions. They measured the circumference of my calves.  There was a 2 INCH difference between my right and left calf.  I'm pretty sure my right one was gotten bigger since I have been walking on it some. I wish I had measured the difference right when the cast came off to see what the difference was.

The lady at PT was very nice.  She had me do several exercises and stretches. Only one of them was uncomfortable.  I had to have my weight on my left foot, put the heel of my right foot down and walk through it taking a step with my left.  When my weight gets to the front of my foot on the balls and toes is when it feels weird.

I go back three times this week, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. She said she was going to put me some of the machines this week. I saw an elliptical and exercise bike so I'm thinking it will be one or both of those.

She sent me some exercises to do at home and I feel horrible because I really havent' had time to do them as much as she said.  But I did walk a lot on Friday and Saturday so I'm hoping that will be close enough!

Ankle Surgery #2

Tuesday morning at the bright and early time of 6:15AM I had to be at the surgery center for my second ankle surgery. This one was to remove two long screws, test the ligaments between the bones, and put in two shorter screws.

Before the surgery my doctor asked me if I wanted to keep the screws they removed. I said yeah, my dad would want them.




I put fingernail clippers in the picture so you can get an idea of the length of the screws that were in there! I can't believe how long they were!

Everything went great! The ligaments had repaired themselves and were strong enough that the screws could be exchanged.

I was able to walk to the car afterwards using my aircast. My wedding march is back but I didn't need the crutches!


I started physical therapy yesterday. I'll post more on that later.


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Ankle Surgery #2

Tuesday morning at the bright and early time of 6:15AM I had to be at the surgery center for my second ankle surgery. This one was to remove two long screws, test the ligaments between the bones, and put in two shorter screws.

Before the surgery my doctor asked me if I wanted to keep the screws they removed. I said yeah, my dad would want them.




I put fingernail clippers in the picture so you can get an idea of the length of the screws that were in there! I can't believe how long they were!

Everything went great! The ligaments had repaired themselves and were strong enough that the screws could be exchanged.

I was able to walk to the car afterwards using my aircast. My wedding march is back but I didn't need the crutches!


I started physical therapy yesterday. I'll post more on that later.


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Shoes!!!

Who thought someone would be so happy about putting on a pair of shoes? But this girl sure is!!  It's been three months with no right shoe!

I went to the doctor on Wednesday and he said I could stop wearing my boot and air an aircast instead that will fit in my shoe!  I will wear it for the next week.  I do have some trouble still walking.  My achilles tendon is very tight and takes a few steps to stretch out and even then it doesnt stretch very far so my steps are very short and still pretty wobbily. 

I have surgery on Tuesday to replace the two screws that go through both my tibia and fibula with two shorter screws that will only go through the fibula.  They will also look to see if the ligaments between the bones have healed. If they have then they will do the surgery as scheduled.  If not they will leave the long screws in and I will have to wait longer before exchanging them.  The doctor said that he thinks they have healed correctly otherwise I would have had trouble the past week or so where I have been putting full weight on my foot. 

After the surgery, assuming it goes as planned, he said I could start doing non impact activity such as eliptical, walking, swimming, exercise bike, etc.  After I can do that with no pain, I can start easing into jogging on the treadmill since it is more forgiving than pavement.  It's going to be a long road back to where I was but I'm glad I can finally start back soon! 

No more crutches!

Today was the first day in three months that I was able to walk without the aid of crutches or a wheelchair!  The past 3 weeks I have been gradually adding weight back but still needed the crutches for balance and to keep the rest of the weight off my ankle.  I go back for another surgery in two weeks but the doctor says I can go back to work the next day and can put full weight on it afterwards, no waiting.  They have to replace two of the long screws that go through both bones with two shorter screws that will only go through one of the bones. They will also test the ligaments in between the two bones to make sure they have healed correctly.  If they haven't, then I will keep the long screws and we will have to try again with the surgery at a later date.

As of now I am still in the boot and do have difficulty walking without it.  The part of my ankle that was broken doesn't hurt. Instead it's the bottom and top part of my foot that aches.  My calf has also been aching today some too.  The muscle is having to build back up from where there was so much atrophy.  I will still use a wheelchair on Saturday when we go to the UK football game.  There is just too many people and too much walking for me.  Plus having my handicap parking permit allows us to park super close to the stadium.

I do hope to build up my walking after my surgery and have my sights set on a 5K at the end of October. It is to benefit Alzheimers and I think my dad is going to walk it with me.  He is going to be my new walking buddy! 

Strep!

Monday before I went in to work my throat was hurting a little. Nothing major. I took some ibuprofen and that took care of it.  After work I got home, sat down to take my boot off and could NOT get back up.  I could only just lay there in the fetal position and shake because I was so cold.  I couldnt get up to turn off the lights I had left on. 

Jeremy woke up about 3AM asking why the lights were still on.  I told him I was sick and couldnt' get up to turn them off.  He got the thermometer for me and I had a fever of 99.6.  By 6AM it was 100.2 and by 9AM it was 101.8.  I made an appointment for the doctor. 

The nurse did a strep test and it came back positive! The doctor looked at me and said he was glad they did the test bc just by looking he would have said I didn't have strep.  He prescribed some penicillin for me and sent me on my way. .  I have not had strep in a very long time, since I was in elementary school.  If you have not had strep as an adult you are lucky! Everyone I talked to said strep is the WORST as an adult and boy they weren't joking!!  My fever got up to as high as 104.0. I took some more ibuprofen to keep it down.  Finally it broke on Wednesday around lunch. 

I have never felt that bad and that's pretty bad coming from the girl with the broken ankle!!  I can put full weight on my ankle on Wednesday.  I'm looking forward to it but am also a little nervous in case it doesn't hold up like it's supposed to.  I have my surgery two weeks from Tuesday and after that should be out of the boot for good if everything goes as planned! Yay!

Sushi Time

A week or two ago I asked one of our former student workers to teach me how to make sushi. Sophie was glad to help!

Tonight we were able to find the time to make some sushi. Sophie was a great teacher. She told me how to cut all the veggies and crab, how to spread the rice, and roll it all into a roll.

We had several ingredients:
Carrots


Cucumbers


Crab


Rice


Avacado


My first roll


My second roll turned out much better


We made 6 rolls total which made two full plates of sushi!






It was delicious! Thanks so much Sophie for teaching me!

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New Schedule

Tonight starts my new work schedule. I have been on days all summer but went back to my 4pm-midnight shift today.  I do like this shift and LOVE not having to set an alarm in the morning, but will hate not getting to see Jeremy all week long with the exception of his lunch break and my dinner break.

Walking is coming along. 25 pounds really isn't a lot, basically it's just putting my foot down for balance.  Thursday, my first full day of using it again, my foot was purple.  Not good!!  I laid down and had it propped up the rest of the night and it went back to normal pink color.  I haven't had any other problems like that, that I've noticed.  Wednesday I up it to 50 pounds so we will how that goes.  

This past Saturday we went to Alison Krause. She was great!  I hate to say I really only knew about three of her songs.  She has such a unique voice that all of her songs are great.

I can "Walk"

I went to the doctor today. He said everything was healing the way it should. He said the little knob piece that had broken off was completely healed! The other break was healing but wasn't 100% yet.

He released me to start putting 25lbs of weight on my foot. Which basically equates to putting it down for balance while I'm walking. Next week I can do 50 lbs, then 75, and then full weight the week after that. I will be full weight for about two weeks then have surgery to exchange two long screws for two shorter ones. But after than I should be back to "normal" whatever my new normal will be.

I asked about walking in water and riding an exercise bike with no resistance and he gave me the go ahead for both of them. He said a bike would be good for my ankle flexibility.

Tonight I got in the pool. I walked around and did some water aerobic stuff for my arms and abs. It felt good to get my heart rate up a bit!

My right calf is very small compared to my left. I'm hoping it wont take long to look normal again.




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An update and a family race

Sorry for not posting in so long but not much has been happening.  I'm still in the boot. I have gotten in the pool a couple more times. We are going to have a deck built in a few weeks so that should make getting in much easier!! I go back to the doctor next Wednesday and should be released to start walking on it a little.  My right calf looks TINY compared to my left.  I have always had big calf muscles and the atrophy really makes it obvious.

This weekend we drove down 6 hours to TN for my niece's birthday.  My foot was swollen all weekend because of the drive and not having it up like I normally do.

Saturday there was a 5k and 1 mile run in a town about an hour away, so the whole family made the trip.  Jeremy and Jordan ran in the 5K. Jeremy got second in his age group and Jordan got third over all!!

This was the first "real" race the kids had done. They did the 1 mile run.  Jordan and Anna ran with Anika, while Jonathan (Jeremy's other brother) and Jeremy's dad ran with the Lex and Xavier. The kids did GREAT!  Xavier and Lex got first and second in the 6 and under age group for boys, while Anika got second in the 6 and under for girls!  I, of course, did what I do best when I'm not running at races, I took pictures!

Xavier and John

Jonathan and Lex

Jordan, Anika, and Anna

 They were all so proud of their awards!

Xavier

Lex

Anika

The Ellis Family and their BLING

I got the boot

Today I went to the doctor for a check up. Originally they were supposed to take off my cast, check my incisions, take X-rays, then put me back in a cast for another two weeks.











However my doc said it was looking really good and that I could get the boot now if I wanted instead of another cast.

I still cant walk or put any weight in it but I can take it off for a shower and to air it out. My legs were very dry and hairy. It reminded me of when I didn't shave in high school for swimming.






Doc said I was growing new bones and they were mending together nicely. Yay!!

My boot even has an air pump so I can pump it up or unpump it as my foot swells. Good thing since the hot weather makes if swell quickly.

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