Sunday/Monday, that's the same thing right? I'm a little late for this week, but it's been an exciting and busy week so I feel I'm justified in my lateness. I am finally without ankle reinforcements--yay!!--which means I'm back to actual work outs. My ankle is still sore when I move it in certain directions so the physio continues for the time being, but I'm just so excited that I'm finally footlose and fance-free in my shoes. Sorry, bad pun. The healing came at a good time as the brace was starting to wear on the back of my heal creating quite the sore spot by the end of the day.
I got hit by the flu bug that's going around work which has had me up and down this past week, but it seems to be completely gone now--another yay!!--so I'm really back in full force which means I'm finally able to start my 'learning to run' program I downloaded from the web. Yes, I said downloaded from the web. It''s one of those 'walk 5 minutes, run 1' type deals. I planned to start it last week but again the flu kept my activity pretty low. I have programmed the timing into my cellphone timer but what I really need is a timer in my mp3 player. Or I need to stop being cheap and upgrade to a phone that plays mp3s so the timer and tunes can co-habitate in one device.
I've never been a huge runing fan--even when I was a soccer player, I hated running--but I've been dabbling in it lately and have decided it's time to give this relationship a chance, see if we have a future together. The motivating factor for this decision was a discussion with a friend about destination marathons. Well, it was two different conversations with three different friends. With L & T, we discussed locations that they were thinking of going to (Italy, France, South Africa and Tanzania) and I jokingly offered to come as their support team. A few days later, in a conversation with another T, the words 'Antartica', 'marathon' and '2013' were floated around. I have tentatively (and I stress the tentatively) agreed to this plan, but first I need to become a runner. I'll give myself a year and if I don't love running by the end of that year, well, I'll be a lifer for the walking category in the TC 10K. If, however, I do love it I may just have to buy one of the jogging strollers when I have children (but I promise to hide it from those that hate them, you know who you are... and so do I).
I'll start this week with some good news: my ankle is getting much better! The physio that I'm doing really seems to be making things better. I'm sure part of it is also time and natural healing but the healing process seems to have taken a significant leap after I started the daily exercises, so I'm singing the praises of physio. Amen! Not to say there isn't still tenderness and certain movements remind me that I'm not healed, but I'm back to walking to and from work. Another Amen! I know that Autumn is here, today's rain proves it, but I'm hoping for at least a few more nice weekends as I have a double date with East Sooke Park and a couple of friends.
The other upside is that I'll be back at the gym lickity-split. I’ve checked out the facilities up at Camosun in a little more detail. They’re good facilities with a lot of newer equipment and usually fairly empty, however, the opening hours are somewhat limited so I’m going to have to plan my time there well. I see a few long days of work-gym-class, but the end result will definitely be worth it.
I’ve been busy with my classes and work so I haven’t had the chance to randomly search the web for random information which may (usually not) be useful in helping me attain my goal. As a result, I’ve set aside some time this weekend specifically for that purpose. Hopefully, I’ll find some good gems to share with you. I’ve found a few sites I’ve bookmarked for further investigation so here’s hoping I find something entertaining!
And now for some not-so-good news which has nothing to do with my blog’s purpose, but it’s my blog so tough diddly, I’ll write what I want. The younger brother of a good friend of mine is off to Afghanistan to serve our country. I think of my little brother and how I would feel if he was to head off overseas to put his life on the line for our country; I can only imagine that dark shadow which will hide in the back of the entire family’s mind until he’s home safe and sound. I have always been quite vocal to anyone who will listen that I may not support the mission involved, but I will always support the soldiers. Men and women who do a job I’m too selfish (and jumpy) to even contemplate deserve nothing less than my support. Every year I see the ‘Operation Santa Claus’ ads, and every year I think ‘this year I will participate’, and every year the holiday season passes without me doing anything. Well, this year I’ve already taken steps to ensure I don’t let that happen again. If you are interested in letting the troops know that people back home other than their families are thinking about them, please have a look at Write to the Troops which allows you to either post an electronic message or send an actual postcard/letter to a random soldier (you can pick the operation you want to write to). With the holiday season fast approaching, please consider taking 10 minutes and doing this.
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and come out of your turkcoma’s before Christmas!
My ankle is still giving me lots of problems so the activity is still at a minimal level. It's frustrating to say the least. A week or two would have been tolerable, but three weeks is starting to wear on me. It's also starting to wear on my body. My rain jacket is starting to feel a little snug around the hips. When I first bought it, I chose it because it has two zippers and at that time even the largest size didn't fit over my hips. The fact that I can still do it up keeps the progress I've made in perspective, but it's not as loose as it was a month ago. Having said all that, I know have a set of daily ankle exercises to do so here's keeping the fingers crossed that I'll be back to proper workouts soon.
Prior to the ankle issues I was going to do the CIBC Run for the Cure today. Obviously, I didn't do that but I just wanted to give a big 'high 5' to everyone who did. You guys are awesome.
