Healing

As I mentioned, my hip has been having the familiar achy feeling, but when we got to Michigan, it felt much better, probably the best it's felt since surgery. And it continues to feel good today, even though I've been, uh.... walking on it. In fact, in the interest of full disclosure, I spent a good part of the weekend chasing my son and his 23 month-old girlfriend around our friend's house. OK, so technically, weeks 3 and 4 are the "crutch weaning" period, so I think I'm supposed to be doing some walking. And looking at the rehab schedule, at the end of 4 weeks (next Thurs), I should have a "normal gait pattern" for walking. Anyway, it's got me thinking about the road ahead (and behind), particularly, my return to running and what it might look like. Here's what I've pieced together for my running progression:

1) 2 Crutches, not weightbearing
2) 2 Crutches, weightbearing
3) 1 crutch, weightbearing
4) walking, strange gait
5) walking, normal gait
6) brisk walking
7) walking extended distances
8) treadmill, jog
9) treadmill, jog extended period
10) 30 minute easy run
...
11) 1 hour easy run
...
12) 1.5 hour easy run
13) tempo
14) speedwork

I'm somewhere between steps 4 and 5. I can walk, but I tend to lean over my right (affected) leg when I walk. Reading on the web, this is typical if counter-intuitive-- leaning over the affected leg reduces the forces on the hip, particularly the abductors on the outside of the hip, which on me are weak and a little sore, mostly around the incisions. I need to go over the list with my PT, but I can guess that he'll tell me that I need to go slow and make sure I can accomplish each step without pain and over an extended period of time before moving to the next step. He'll probably add steps too. The list is both daunting and helpful.... But I'm happy that I can see myself returning to running at all. Things seem to be going well so far. If I had to guess, which may not be a good idea, but I can't help myself, I'll hopefully have worked my way through the list in about 4-5 months.

I went to the gym yesterday and did 15 minutes on the exercise bike. It was easier this time, but I noticed that raising my leg can sometimes cause a pinching sensation if I raise it too high. The recumbent bikes at the gym might make this worse..... scooting the seat back helps. I'm going back today for another 15 minutes, and I'm going to try to scout out an upright bike.

Watching the Turkey Trot was fun. I feel sorta bad about this, but I can't remember ever going to a race to cheer for runners. My cheering karma is in really bad shape.... I wasn't quite sure how to do it. I was genuinely excited, and I'd be lying if I told you this didn't surprise me. The thought of watching runners didn't sound like much fun in my gimpy state. And there was a touch of bitterness, sure, but just a touch-- mostly it was really dang fun. I learned that the front of the pack is all business-- these guys are focused on the task. I recognized the expressions of concentration and felt simultaneously glad and bummed that I wasn't there-- more on this... The middle and back of the pack is where they have the spare energy to give you high-fives, etc. This was really fun. When we left for the airport, my hand was tingly and numb from slapping. Memo to self, teenage boys really like to slap hard-- it's fun, but pace yourself. I recognized lots of runners too, and had fun yelling at them. All in all, good times.

I spent a fair amount of time Friday going over the results. A couple things I noticed-- this would have been a bad year to compete in the baby stroller division. The competition was brutal, the winning stroller posted a 6:22 average pace. I sorta guessed this when I saw Kosusko pushing a stroller. Surprisingly, he came in 2nd. I also noticed that many of my running buddies had a great day, many of them coming in at around 30 minutes (6:00 pace). Those that stood out-- congrats to Alex for a huge PR, coming in just under 31 minutes. Mr. Vance ran a great race too, just a few seconds over 30 minutes-- on this course, 6:00 pace is amazing. I'd like to imagine that I could have run this course in around 30 minutes (pre-surgery, no stroller!), but I'm kidding myself.