My First Post-Injury Run!

I wasn’t going to post a Tuesday Blag today since I shared my Project Tasteless, Naked Chef Challenge with you all late Sunday night. Being naked on the internet is a scary thing, but it was a thing I had to do. I didn’t win or even get an honorable mention, but I had fun and got to tell lots of boys that I was naked.

I am riding a pretty big high right now and since I already did most of the writing on dailymile, I might as well tell you. I ran for the first time since my October 3 half marathon, for the first time since I found out I sprained my ankle!

Some back story: I went on an awesome hike in August and landed funny on my ankle, slightly twisting it. I was concerned because I was smack in the middle of half marathon training, but my ankle did not bother me at all while walking or running. Just some slight weirdness while sitting at my desk at work. Strange. I continued with my training, completing many long runs — right up to a 12 miler — with no pain.

Then I ran the Divas Half Marathon and PR’d with a 2:14:44 time. After 6 miles, both my knees were hurting badly. Shortly after, my ankle started hurting too. The pain was intense throughout the rest of my race. After the race I could barely walk and the pain was emanating from my foot so badly I could not even pinpoint the location of the injury.

I was in pain but I was happy!

Once the entire foot stopped hurting, the ankle pain remained and now I knew exactly where the pain was. I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with a sprain. I had sprained that ankle when I was 10 and it felt pretty much the same, so I had a feeling that was the case. He prescribed this lace-up ankle brace:

It is both practical AND sexy! Try to hold yourselves back, boys.

I also iced and attempted to go to physical therapy only to find that my old company does not believe in in-network physical therapy coverage. As the days went on, my ankle started to feel better.

This morning, after an amazing Core Fusion Yoga class with Janna and my friend Melissa, I felt energized. The sun was shining, it was unseasonably warm, I just wanted to do more. And I wanted to do it outside. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to wear a tank top and shorts, my ankle felt great and I was ready to attempt a run. I have a 5 mile race this weekend and wanted to test the waters to make sure I would be able to do it.

This was my first run since the half marathon. My first run since spraining my ankle. My plan was to take it easy and gauge how my ankle was feeling. I wasn’t going to try to run fast. In fact, I decided not to look at my Garmin at all and just do what felt right.

It was amazing. I felt so great! At the first few steps my ankle did a weird adjustment thing, I guess to get used to the fact that it was running, but it went right back to normal within a second. The first two miles of this run were the easiest, best miles I have ever run in my life. I couldn’t stop smiling and it just felt effortless. I felt like I was floating! My music was awesome and that helped too. The sun was shining and the East River was gorgeous.

My plan was 3 or 4 miles depending on how my ankle felt. When I got to mile 2 I looked down at my Garmin in time to see that I ran that mile in 8:39. A little fast for me. It is hard to realize your speed when you feel that good.

Right after I finished that mile, my left knee started hurting. Exactly the same pain I had during my half marathon. It hit me that I spent so much time and effort attending to my injured ankle that I totally forgot my knee had been really bad during the race. With all the ankle icing I’ve been doing, it never occurred to me to ice my knee.

The pain wouldn’t let up so I headed back in the direction of home. Suddenly the run was not so effortless anymore. This last mile and a half was a struggle.

I know, I know. Way too fast. I always do that at my first mile too! It is hard to realize how fast I am going when I am feeling good. Also, the rest of my body wasn’t injured, so it probably felt like it had a nice 3-week rest and that is why I felt so comfortable running at such a fast pace.

After mile 2 when I finally looked at my Garmin, I actually thought I did slow down. It sure felt that way with the knee pain. But, um, I guess not. Now I know I need to rely on my Garmin when I am trying to go slow. I have this fancy, expensive tool so I might as well use it to my advantage. Lesson learned.

I will ice my knee every day and I will take it slooooow during my 5 mile race on Sunday. But I am happy. I CAN RUN. My ankle does not hurt! I will continue to take care of it too. I AM BACK!