The Dumb Things I Do (First Run Back)

On the night of the 4th, I joined some brothers in law and nephews on my in-laws’ driveway for a game of basketball.  While we were playing I hit a layup and then hit my knee into the pole and came down sideways on my ankle.  I have had major problems with ankle injuries in the past and had arthroscopic surgery on this particular ankle four years ago to repair a rupture to my syndesmotic ligament (the ligament that connects the tibia and fibula).  As soon as it rolled I knew I was in trouble.

I decided to rest it in the hopes that it would be better in time for the Deseret News Half Marathon I'm running on the 24th.  This week I tried a 3.5 mile run on Tuesday.  I went very slow and had to walk quite a bit but made it through and felt like I would be able to push my way through the race in a week.  However, on Thursday I headed out to run around 6 miles and only made it two blocks.  It was hurting so bad that I couldn't make a go of it.

I called my orthopedic surgeon's office later that morning and got in to see an ankle specialist in the hopes that I would be able to get a cortisone shot or something that would take the pain away.  The doctor told me that it was too close to the race and that since the shot softens the cartilage I could do some serious damage if I tried the shot and ran that far that soon.  He did take an x-ray to make sure that there wasn't any structure damage and gave me the green light to run as long as I could work through the pain.

I decided to try it again this morning.  The first 1.5 miles were pretty painful and I had to really focus on my form so that I didn't mess anything else up.  After that it seemed to loosen up and I was able to do the next four miles with just some mild soreness.  I was tempted to take this run to 8-10 miles but since I've got a race in 4 days I decided to be smart for once and did just enough to get a workout.  Stay tuned to see how the 1/2 Marathon goes on Wednesday.