Running Shorts

Hello ankle

I spent a ridiculous amount of time agonizing over whether to attend a NYE bash last night.  My ankle hurt after doing my usual work commute and I felt like I should rest it.  Plus, I couldn't figure out how I was going to get home from the party since I couldn't walk to get to a T station.  It seemed like it would be a lot easier to stay in.

But I had told some people I was going and I decided that I had all weekend to rest myself and I mean PLEASE, it's just a sprained ankle, my life is not over and chipper up Audrey.  So I did some research on cab companies near the party and I found something to wear (nothing special.  B and i are going to have a night where we go out dressed as each other.  she's going to wear jeans, a black shirt, sneakers, and very little jewelry.  that pretty much sums up last night's outfit except i had the added beauty obstacles of leaving all of my makeup in NJ plus a giant boot).

And it was fun.  There was a pre-party.  Then the party where runners and triathletes and dates and friends mingled amongst each other.  Then the after-party which was a bit drama but we got to play flip-cup so that was cool.  All told, it was fun and I'm glad I went.  AND, from not walking all day today as I rested on my sofa I can see my ankle bones for the first time since my accident!  The swelling is down! 

At some point I should exercise (core stuff and swimming w/ a pull buoy are probably fine) b/c I think that's an important part of a healthy life, but I am still in the rest stage of the injury.  I'm not up to active recovery :)  At first I really was too hurt to crutch to the pool and get in but now I'm just taking a break/lazy.  All of the athletes I see ask if I'm going crazy, but I keep telling people that I'm fine and I'm actually going to spend the next 6 weeks getting chubby.  I can do it too.  I got crazy chubby during a 6 week study abroad stint in college.  Challenge accepted!!  [That's a reference to Barney in "How I Met Your Mother!"]

To good health...

...in 2010!

That was my mother's Christmas Eve toast, complete with the pause.  It's very appropriate for the RunningShorts fam.

My ankle isn't exactly in what one would consider a good place.  I had a mental breakdown Sunday night/Monday morning and refused to leave my sofa b/c every step hurt and I was convinced I would never walk again.  I worked from my home office (the sofa and my slanket-yes, if anyone in MA got a call from a health lawyer with a DC phone number on Monday or Tuesday there is a good chance she was wearing a slanket) and moved my doctor's appointment up a day even though I would have to drive to a further location.  The anxiety was too much for me to wait.

The doctor thinks I will be running in 6 weeks (cross-training before that) and she prescribed a walking boot for two weeks to help with the pain.  Walking is stil not a pain-free experience by any means but at least I can get to work now.  She also told me that walking on it this past week didn't make it worse-early movement is good-and she even gave some serious thought to whether I could do my marathon at the end of February.  I only brought the race up b/c she was saying how good it was that it was winter and I wasn't trying to get through an event (which she said she could help me do if that was the case!).  As she actually considered whether I could do the marathon I said, um no, that's off the table, I can't walk.  She mused again, hmmm, yeah, you would only have a month to train.  But this all means she seems to think I'll be running again.  My doctor is known around her office as the "dancer orthopedist" and she said as a runner I'm better off than a dancer or gymnast who has to land hard on their feet and stuff.  [Now that I think about this though...the clipping out of my bike shoe isn't really the ideal motion for the ankle.  And the injury is THAT foot.  The one getting clipped in and out the the most often and first.]

I started PT today.  And by PT I mean an eval and ultrasound and some massage to help with the swelling.  It was really not too extensive.  I got some exercises to do at home.  Woohoo.

The doctor offered to do an MRI but she said the treatment is the same no matter what it shows and an MRI might get in the way mentally.  I confirmed with her, "OK, so even if ligaments are completely ruptured I still try strengthening first as a means of treatment?"  She affirmed and I passed on the MRI.  My brother really wanted an MRI when he sprained his ankle (he was in agony) and he said the results were ridiculously bad.  Things were pulled off and torn.  It was a mess in there.  But he's better.  It took about 6 months until he could play recreational basketball.  He still feels pain and stuff post-basketball these days but he's living with it.  My sis has a bad ankle from soccer (surgery was on the table for hers) but she opted not to get surgery and just do PT (which she doesn't do) b/c the surgery isn't always successful plus she's not that into sports.  [She eventually quit soccer to become the youngest editor ever our HS newspaper.  Nerd.]  Her ankle still bothers her years later when she does play sports or walks too much.

Point being...I did some damage to the ankle.  It's blue and yellow.  It hurts to walk.  It will be easier to sprain forever.  And, knowing me, I will have all kinds of post-traumatic anxiety about spraining my ankle again.  I JUST stopped crying/cursing on big bike descents! 

But I will probably get better enough.

Onward to 2010 please.

Christmas 2009 Play-by-Play

I made the pancake and waffle batter.  My Dad made bacon.  My sister made eggs.

Then PRESENTS!  I type to you from my Slanket.  It's like a Snuggie but longer and softer.  I was kind of worried I would get running presents and I would be all WOAH IS ME (internally) but there weren't that many.  Just a couple of books with running routes through Boston and Brookline (a town adjacent to Boston that I used to live in).  My brother gave me a GC for make your own energy bars which is cool.  I am going to make mine 100% chocolate.

Then we hung around and watched basketball and the Mariah Carey NBA commercials that were on all day.

Then we had dinner.

Today we headed into NYC where I gimped around the city for Wintuk, a Cirque du Soleil show, and dinner at Plataforma Churrascaria.  Here is my sister looking all cute and me with my sneakers so I could wear my aircast.  Though...that's normal actually.  We were killing time in Borders pre-show.

 

I thought Wintuk was going to be a like a classy circus and part of it was.  But part of it also had crazy bike stunts and roller-blading.  I can just imagine all of the parents yelling at these actors, "STOP SPENDING ALL OF YOUR TIME ON YOUR BIKE AND DO YOUR HOMEWORK!!!"  And now they're in a famous show.

As for dinner...it's a place my family loves.  Each person has a circular card with red on one side and green on the other.

 

When the card is green the servers bring a variety of meats on giant skewers to your table.  This continues until you flip to red which is a signal to PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP THE MEAT.  This sign is at the entrance of the restaurant:

 

I flipped to red first.  K, the 18 y/o 130 pound rower/runner flipped to red last.  For a while my sister was green as well which was impressive but my brother S later told me it was a strategic move to bring attention to K since the rest of the table was red.  There is also a fabulous salad bar with sushi and a variety of other awesome foods.  And dessert.  And wine.  And special Brazilian drinks.  GO THERE.  There is one in NYC and a different chain (same concept) that we've been to in DC called Fogo.

My family has learned our limits and none of us feels sick right now.  We may have overindulged on previous visits...

The ankle is okay.  I can walk.  It hurts.  I did stairs yesterday without my brace b/c I was feeling better and it turns out my ankle didn't like that.  :(  So that's that.  I'm gimpy.  My family thinks I'll get better but they're all like WEAR YOUR BRACE!  TAKE IT EASY!!  My brother (27 y/o) and sister BOTH have ankles that aren't 100% due to sprains from sports years and years ago.  Bleh.

The dirty jerz

@4:15 PM the last of the presents I'm giving arrived at my parents' house (I shipped everything straight here to give myself an extra day).  Everything made it in time!  :)

Happy holidays everyone!

2009

This is the post I wrote before my week of hopping and crutching began.  Until it's waning days 2009 was a good sports year.  In fact, if you factor in the start of my legal career, the 3 month stint in DC, and a quality boy toy for almost 1/2 of it, it was a good year on a few fronts.

------

My running club is compiling a list of individual and team accomplishments for our holiday party.  This made me think about two questions: What am excited about accomplishing in my running world from 2009?  And, more nuanced, what are the best events to share as my accomplishments with the larger group?  I did a scroll through of the blog and came up with the following.

To share with the club...

... winning the 5K in September-my first win of a race of any real size-as well as the recent 3rd place female open finish of my team in the relay race.  Winning was really cool- experiences likes that are few and far between for me! (you can bet I e-mailed my parents and running brother the results link with my name on top!)-and I was very proud of my relay team for winning a coveted brick.  I left my list of accomplishments at that.

But here on the blog where I can talk more about ME!!!...

...I had a GREAT year.  This is the fastest I've ever been at distance running.  My previous peak was in 2004 but I'm faster now and I have new 5K and 10K PRs (the latter set on the same course I set my previous 10K PR).  The only race I missed this year that was on my schedule was the marathon.  That alone is a huge accomplishment for me and I'm no longer worried about not making it to race day when I sign up for stuff.  I got to race ~6/11 of the weekends I was in DC this spring.  SO awesome b/c it's awesome there.  I stood on my first podium b/c the trail race I was 2nd in had legit podiums!!  I made new running friends.  I raced a 1600!!  I returned to the sport of triathlon after a year hiatus.  Despite not biking-ever-I cut a sic amount of time off of my olympic triathlon on the same course as two years ago.  I left my school tri team in good hands (they have so many members now!) and I finally got onto the adult tri team I wanted to be on.  AND I placed in my AG in the turkey trot where my family was all OH LOOK AT YOUR BROTHER AND HIS SEEDED NUMBER :)  Cough.  Sibling rivalry.  Cough!

On the downside....I drank before too many races.  I finished 4th in my AG in two races.  I HATE THAT!  I don't know.  Nothing too bad happened this year except I didn't get to run my marathon and, heck, I'm used to that!  I don't mean to be too glowy, but after some mediocre running years and a really rough 2008 (another 2009 accomplishment:  I finished my dental work!), I feel running glowy!  Oooh, I still have 8 months left as a 29 y/o runner but in a couple of weeks I'm aging up in triathlon world.  Boooo!

Alrighty...off to run 15 miles before the blizzard and to highlight my hair!  Edit 12/23/09:  Neither of these goals was achieved due to a visit to the ER.

I'm not too proud

The shoe that feels best on my injured leg is....an Ugg.  If I've got a tall sock on, my ankle brace, and the Ugg, I've got a pretty snug fit.  The ankle feels solid.

I just got back from an adventure: the pharmacy and Banana Republic.  I drove there.  All is good in the driving department.  It's nice to be able to get around.  I diligently crutched.  But I can stand.  I can walk.  I'm just cognizant that there is a big difference between balancing on my feet to get out of my car or walking 4 feet from the hamper to the washing machine than traversing a mall or my office.  Henceforth, the crutches go where I go.  I want the ankle to rest up.  The other good part of the adventure is now I know I can drive home on Christmas Eve.  Problem solved.

My gifts are purchased and all but one (the Banana one) are on their way to NJ via the beauty of on-line shopping and shipping.

I e-mailed a marathoner in my club to get the scoop on his injuries and in his last two marathons he's had to take up to two weeks off from running.  That reminded me-in MY last marathon I had to take two plus weeks off from running due to injury.  All hope is not lost.  (NB: I sucked in my marathon).

I found what should hopefully be a better (cheaper, faster, and less frustrating) way to commute tomorrow.  I'm banging my head against the wall for not thinking of it sooner (it took me 20 minutes of standing outside in the cold and sludge to hail a cab home).  I found a bus that goes from right next to my building to a handicapped accessible T station.  YEAH!  My college boyfriend broke his ankle playing soccer and when he was on crutches it was a RUDE AWAKENING of how inaccessible our campus was.  I'm definitely feeling that now.  I don't think Boston is awful in the accessibility department, but, to state the painful obvious, it's not convenient to have special needs.

Also, I am stopping, as of now, taking NSAIDs for my ankle.  It doesn't hurt too much anymore and the literature is completely split as to whether or not it helps or hurts injuries.  I used it when I really needed to get the swelling down and I was in pain, and now I'm going to let my body do some healing on it's own.  I'm too lazy to summarize the research under debate but it's pretty googlable.  In short, doctors and researchers don't know if NSAIDs help or hurt in the long run (different studies show different results)-so how am I supposed to know?  I'm splitting the difference.

Goal for sleeping tonight:  don't wear too tight of a sock.  This morning I woke up with blue blood pooled in the top half of my foot.  Swweeet! 

Being on crutches sucks

I'm getting better.  I can walk around my apartment.  Slowly.  But I have a one bedroom apartment.  It's not so big.  I need the crutches for any real movement so that my ankle can rest and I don't accidentally move it the wrong way in what is my constant hurried state (even on crutches).

Commuting to work was awful.  Cabs can't get close to my work building so I had to negotiate ice and water and sludge on old-school boston streets.  Fun.  Once I got inside things were okay.  I brought lunch with me and I stayed put all day.  I was grateful for work today.  I was glad I could go and I feel like I did some good while I was there.  I would have been mad bored at home (though it likely would have been slightly better for my foot to sit with it propped all day.)  Commuting home was also awful, mostly b/c when going via cab rather than on the T the traffic is horrendous and frustrating.

I had to call a couple of places to get a doctors appointment.  The hospital where I was treated in the ER doesn't have ortho appointments until Jan. 14.  I was planning on being better by then!  I got another appointment on Dec. 30 with a different-also reputable-clinic.  PLUS, it's with a female orthopedist.  How cool is that??  I'm pretty sure it's a male dominated specialty (I've never had a female orthopedist in my vast experience) so I'm kind of psyched about that.

I am getting better every day...but I am starting to feel a little sad.  I admit I had hoped I would get better super quickly and I could still run my race.  But as I miss my first day of running I am feeling a bit blue.  Plus, commuting hell didn't exactly help my attitude.

Now that I've sat with some ice and elevation my ankle feels better and I'm calmer.

The irony...

...is that I had drafted a 2009 wrap-up post full of almost entirely great news about my really positive, fantastic, fast, and almost injury-free year that saw me on all but one of my planned starting lines.  I saved it as a draft and took off for a 15 miler.

8.5 miles later I stepped on a VERY uneven sidewalk while I was looking up b/c I was about to enter a street crossing.  I twisted my ankle and I started hopping.  While I was hopping I thought-this is weird.  Usually I run through twisted ankles but my body knows to hop right now.  This one must be a doozy.

I hopped across the street and tried to stand.  Nope.  I sat down and leaned against a storefront.  Nope, that does not feel good.  I decided to look at my ankle which was a weird thing for me to do b/c my ankle sprains don't ever look like anything.

AHHH DEFORMITY!  Something was sticking out.  I knew this not good.  While I had been hopping to the wall to lean against it I had noticed a bike store immediately to my left and it clicked that that is one of the best possible safe havens for an injured athlete.  I got up and hopped in.  Hi...I think I broke my ankle.  I need some help.  I was a little shaken up.  But in the recesses of my mind I thought...okay, broken ankle.  Not as bad as a head injury.  I DON'T need an ambulance this time.

There was a really nice woman working there and I sat down and I told her that I didn't know any of my friends' phone numbers.  She said, No problem.  Let's get on facebook and see if they have their numbers listed. 

They didn't.

We sat there for a minute and then I said, Ohhh, they have blackberrys.  I commandeered the computer and e-mailed my best friends in the area with the subject "911-call me."  The msg was:

617-XXX-XXXX

broke ankle, need ride, at bike shop

J called in under a minute and he lives near where I got hurt so he soon rolled in with an ice pack, an ace bandage, AND...CRUTCHES!!!  Yeah, he's had a lot of ankle injuries.  The crutches were SOOOO key.  J took me to the ER (even though the race he was directing the next day was having drama most of the weekend b/c of the blizzard that hit us) and took this picture in the waiting room just for you:

I look too happy here!!

Three hours later we were told it wasn't broken.  Motrin.  Crutches 1-2 days.  Aircast once the swelling goes down.  Follow up w/ an orthopedist.  Running in maybe a week.  (Yeah, don't know about that.)  And MAYBE my marathon.  (Again, don't know about that.  I can't walk.)  And when I run I should wear an ankle brace.  Forever.  (Uhhuh, I see).  Basically, I need to see an orthopedist.  The ER doc did mention one very interesting thing:  Swelling is the body's way of making a splint.  Kind of cool, huh?

I don't know what the mystery lump sticking out of my ankle 5 seconds post-accident was.  Maybe a bunched tendon or ligament?  You can't really see it anymore.  I don't know if that's b/c it unbunched, the rest of my ankle swelled up and you can't see it, or fluid really did collect that quickly (my dad's suggestion off the top of his head).  I'm already in the aircast and it's providing WONDERFUL support.  So awesome.  Love it.  I'm stil using the crutches but I just discovered I can shuffle around the apartment which is good b/c it's hard to carry food and crutch.

I am worried about the ice from the storm and getting to work tomorrow (i'm cabbing it but still, i have to crutch outside near my work building) but I'll take it one shuffle at a time.
 

I'm pretty sure she's glad I didn't sleep in :)

I finally got enough sleep last night (it helped that I didn't have to run until 7:30 AM today) and when my alarm went off I knew if I didn't run it would be b/c I was scared of the cold and not b/c of tiredness.  I checked the weather on my blackberry while still in bed and saw that it was the following (this is from weather.com but my Berry mirrored the details):

Worse than I was expecting.  It's the coldest weather I've not only run in but the coldest "feels like" I've ever BEEN in.  I womaned up and bundled up.

I'm usually crazy hot when I run so I always do just fine w/ one long-sleeve shirt.  In my fear today I added a windbreaker to my ensemble.  I also wore running tights under running pants for the first time.  I wore an ear warmer headband AND a hat to keep everything cozy and I put chemical heat pads on top of my tootsies.  And I ran.

It was not that bad.  The 26 mph wind and 40 mph gusts hurt a little bit at first and also on a portion of my return trip when I must have been heading directly into the wind (I had to rezip my jacket that I had half-zipped around mile 3).  While the numbers were lower than normal, there were more than a handful of runners out.  It was kind of pretty and I really wasn't as cold as this past weekend.  I even thought for a bit that the weather report must have been wrong.  Either I'm getting used to the weather or perhaps keeping my core warmer helped the hand coldness situation (they were totally fine in their puffy mittens).

Around the 3.75 mile mark right near the end of my run I saw a car parked crooked in a small parking area off of the highway.  This was at about 8 AM.  My friend was inside.  I waved.  Hi!!!!!  She looked startled and popped out.  But she wasn't in running clothes.  She was bundled up in street clothes.  I was confused but she quickly cleared things up.  OMG, I ran out of gas and AAA can't find me!  I've been here since 6 AM!!  I mean, she wasn't HIDDEN, AAA SHOULD have been able to find her.  She seemed in good spirits though and we walked up next to the highway.  I looked across to the other side.  I said:  Hmmm.  I think, is that?  Is that AAA over there??  There was a AAA type looking vehicle idling across from us.  All of a sudden it moved and I saw the AAA on the side.  It's AAA!!  I think I can catch it!!  I started running along my side of the River in the same direction as the vehicle and with the rush hour traffic we were going about the same speed.  The vehicle hit the light (the first vehicle to have to stop at it) and I waved at him, told him where to find my friend, and then hopped in to show him exactly where she was.  He was very excited for me to actually get in the car b/c he had been looking for her for over an hour and a half.  We drove back over and I knocked on my friend's window-she was SOOO excited to see me and the truck-and I hustled home to get ready for work.

WHERE AM I?

Apparently when I run tomorrow it will be 15, feels like -1.  And when I WALK to court at 9 AM it will be 16, feels like 0.  AM I IN BOSTON??  I have NEVER run in "feels like" temps like this.  If I wanted this I would have taken the Alaskan bar.  This is INSANE.

In good news, the UV Index will be low all day.