Miscellaneous ramblings:
- Thank you for all the kind texts, e-mails, in-person wishes, etc on my recovery. It is much appreciated.
- In my college days, I would get excited when I saw two-seater European sports cars. These days I get excited when a new package of medical supplies arrives. Sad, but true.
- I put on a few [more] pounds during my forced sedentary recovery time. And of course all of it was attributable to the lack of running. Eating German chocolate cake and ice cream had nothing to do with it.
Monday: 2 walk
AM: 2nd session at Westerly Hospital Wound Care. I was relieved to hear that the yellow stuff and blood leaking out of my bandaged head was normal in this early stage of my head wound healing. (Don't worry, I won't post pictures here.) Using a surgical blade, they scraped and removed "necrotic debris" (that sounds like a good thing to get rid of, right?!) and "slough".
The real good news is that I am cleared to start "light running" in two days!!! Yay! The nurse practitioner actually suggested that I bring along a dog, as dogs truly provide restorative healing. OK, I just happen to know where I can find one.
PM: Family walk post-work. Charlestown Moraine Preserve with Jana and Brady. Absolutely no one else there. I think that was only my second visit ever.
Tuesday: 2 walk
Pre-CCC, I went over to nearby Bradford Preserve to check out the "Pumpkins Up" trail we use for 8K amidst some reported lazy trail shortcuts built. Fortunately, I had already mentally prepared myself for this so it wasn't as bad as I had feared, and I was especially glad to see some recent trail "fortifications" (sticks and logs to keep people ON trail) made by Mr Puddin' were intact.
Today's CCC will be my last one for a while, as for the next three weeks my wound care appointments conflict. My team's assignment was to paint virgin red blazes on the old "road" (now gradually narrowing to a single-track) leading from Wahaneeta field up to Woody Hill (and eventually to Fern Drive).
Wednesday: 7 run
The surgeon had given me the all clear to resume "light running" as of today. Of course, light running is relative to each individual. Making the point, in a text exchange with my friend Tommy 5K, he relayed, "Glad you are 'light running' again! But do you know how to do that?" No, not at all, actually!
For me, since I was in Wakefield for an appointment at a medical facility right near the South County Bike Path, I thought I would go for five miles easy on the flat surface of the bike path.
Ran south into Narragansett and once there, figured I'd run along the beach at the Pier. I ran an easy pace of about 8 minutes per mile, and it felt good. I was having a great time especially on the beach and lost sight of my mileage, as I ended up running 7 miles. A good start. Yay!
I had a minor wound setback in the afternoon. I won't scribe the gory details, but to be fair, I shouldn't expect a linear progression in my recovery. As long the net progress is positive each week, I'm fine with that.
Thursday: 5
After today's wound care session, I headed to Kettle Pond visitor center to run the trails there plus Burlingame campground. First run with Brady in almost two weeks. He seemed to enjoy it, especially jumping in Watchaug Pond for a quick swim! Never saw a soul out on the trails.
Friday: 5
Post-work run at Wahaneeta into Woody Hill. With Brady (a double for him, as he ran with Jana in the morning). There were four other dogs at Wahaneeta. None were on leash (leashes not required on WLT properties, as long as dog under voice command), and no issues at all. They were all fine, but where the other four just wanted to play, Brady wanted to run and sprinted off down the trail.
Saturday: 9
WTAC Monthly Group Run. This was our 4th to date, and my turn to select and lead a run. Chose DuVal trail system in South Kingstown. A group of ten showed up, with most being their first ever time here. Ran the flagging (minimal) warm-up and run itself with Nick (and Brady). Post-run coffee catch-up with a smaller group at The Bakery.
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| Before start of run at DuVal. Mostly familiar faces, and good to see a few new ones. |
Sunday: 9
Burlingame North with Brady. Parked at Buckeye Brook Road and ran north. It had been years since I had been down (up?) to the campsites along the Pawcatuck River, so we took the white single-track out to the campsites, only to find them full of people camping and just getting up to cook breakfast. I felt like I interrupted their camping, but they were fine. Continuing out of the campsite and onto double-track, I was sucking wind on the mere 150' hill climb. This does not bode well for the next 3 races I'm registered for: Shad Bloom, Soapstone Mountain, Mt. Washington.
Rolled my ankle, but didn't think much of it. Finished a loop north of Buckeye Brook Road, and ran Sammy C's to School House to VG and then down to North Camp, where Brady went for a quick swim. Stopped at WTAC sponsor Dave's Coffee and caught up with owner Dave for just a moment.
When I got home, it hurt to put pressure on the foot of the ankle I rolled. Uh oh. Ice bath of the right foot until it got too numb, then repeat. Hopefully better after a day or two of rest.
Weekly mileage: 35 run, 4 walk
Weekly synopsis: Mileage goals out the window in the short term, and I'm really happy I was able to return to running this week.
Weekly highlight: Back to running in general! Don't ever take it for granted. As Jeff Vuono says and repeated in an e-mail to me this week, "Run While You Can"!
Weekly lowlight: None. Life is good.
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