I"M JOGGING!!

Ok.  It's been a while that I haven't any any cast on... since the beginning of October.  Lots has changed since then... so I haven't blogged about my ankle for a while.  After I got that darn cast off, I could barely walk.

At physical therapy I pretty much had to re-learn how to walk.  Limping can cause other problems, and I really didn't want that to happen.  The physical therapist gave me some exercises to do to strength my ankle back up.  With a couple visits, I was making progress.  I started to go out for walks (...and, ok, I did do a LITTLE jogging during them).  Then, the physical therapist gave me the ok to walk for a couple minuets, then jog for a couple minuets, and repeat that a couple times.  Each week I was to increase the amount of jogging.

The first couple times I went for a walk/jog (about mid-November) I felt like I was flying.  But, then my leg realized that it hadn't been used for a while.  Everything in my leg hurt!  A day after I would do some walking/jogging I was pretty much limping.

About two weeks ago I biked a little on our stationary bike.  The next day jogging felt good!  Then about last week, someone suggested to me that I maybe I should do some biking.  So, this past week, I have been biking and walk/jogging every other day, and it so far has been making jogging a lot nicer.

Last Saturday there was a benefit 5k for this guy at our church who has cancer.  I really wanted to walk/jog it.  I did.  It was very laid back.  It was slow... but that was ok.  It was so nice outside.  It was on a bike path and then did a loop on a trail in the woods.  Everything was covered with snow and it was pretty warm out.  It a great "race" to start back with.

So, I haven't really had any contact with my coach since the cross country season.  He sent me an email with just a question mark.  But, I wasn't going to respond to just a question mark.  Then, he sent me an email actually with words.  I responded that I was doing some walking/jogging.  Then, last week, we sent me an email saying "update".  My Mom replied that I was going to walk/jog a benefit 5k.  And, he replied, "Too soon!!!!".  Well, I discarded that.  He can't tell me what to do.  And, I felt like a robot with those emails.  I could tell that this benefit 5k was going to be very laid back... and it was.  I didn't plan to go "hard", I wanted to do it to motivate me to get out and walk/jog and because it was for a guy with cancer.  I am so glad I did it!

Only a couple weeks ago did my ankle look actually normal.  I could actually see all my bones down near my ankle.  That was pretty exciting!