Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Rebuilding, Part 1

My life is out of sequence on this blog. I got a reasonably serious leg injury about 5 weeks ago. There is a hella long post coming about it. These briefer posts will be about the recovery.

I got the clearance this morning from physical therapy that I can do anything except take blunt force trauma to the leg (i.e., no taking low kicks for awhile). But I can run, etc.

goodbye.

So this is the significance of the stirring image above. That's a little volume extension cable for my headphones. I started using it because it is useful, while one is on an elliptical or a stationary bike, as a convenient way to change the volume while one watches whatever movie or TV show one is watching to make those boring, lifeless activities pass. I'd never used it before. The reason I'd never used it is that what my headphones are generally connected to is not my phone, but my tiny little iPod shuffle, and I am not on a stationary bike or an elliptical, but a real bike or my own two feet, running hard outside, and the joggling and bobbing of the volume control is annoying. So I'd never put it on before, but I put it on a few weeks ago when it became clear that this hit I'd taken in the leg was serious and that for a few weeks I wouldn't be doing those outside things.

I took it off today.

First run outside: 4.05 miles, 7:03/mile. That's 10 seconds off my target split for that length, which I was running before the injury (actually, I was running a little better than the target). But I'll get back there. I'll get back there and better. It felt SO GOOD to be outside again, running, moving through space and over earth.

I need to learn to block those low-kicks. It's hard work staying healthy when you're not young and do lots of stuff. I need to be as dedicated to that as I am to the just pushing myself, I think. That's fine. Let's go. Gosh, it was good to run again.

Saturday, August 2, 2014

"The Cats Want Milk"

Here's a song I wrote about that, one evening when I came home and the cats wanted milk.