The Bee's Knees

It's been over a year and a half since I met Leon Lutz at a running conference in Utah. I was impressed by his dedication to his beard, he was impressed by my dedication to my running. We hit it off and shared a few drinks over the course of the weekend.

Leon asked if I'd mind doing an interview regarding my injury and recovery process following my initial broken foot, and I happily obliged. Neither of us could have ever guessed it would take the better part of 18 months to finally piece this together, but then again neither of us could have dreamt that I was in fact nowhere near the end of my recovery process when we first met. Au contraire, I wasn't even at the midway point since the second broken foot had yet to actually occur.

I have to admit that I get a touch emotional as I read Leon's take on my story. I believe he's done a great job in really summarizing what the last few years have truly been like for me. It's not been easy. It's not been without its constant self doubt and frustration. I think the reason Leon nailed this one, outside of his writing skillset, is in essence because he kind of lived it along with me. Leon became personally invested in my running successes and failures after we'd befriended each other and agreed to conduct an interview on the premise that I was already fully recovered from a jones fracture (I still can't even type that word without a tinge of anxiety hitting me).

As we leaned toward making that initial interview a reality everything went sideways again. I never would have believed that a full recovery could take nearly as long as it did, and Leon didn't even broach the subject again until he knew that I felt it was finally behind me. Eighteen months along and I find it was actually worth the wait, because although one's story is ever evolving, we hope and believe that this lengthy chapter has finally been put to rest.

Leon's blog is titled "This Bee's Knees" and here's the link to his interview. I hope you enjoy it.

GR

Mr. Jones & Me

IT'S GOOD!! Mr. Jones Fracture has officially been put to rest.

(How I felt after seeing the x-ray yesterday morning)

Finally, finally, finally there is X-Rayed proof that my foot is 100% healed and ready to start taking a proper beating once more!

When I left the hospital on Feb 1st I was told it was 80-90% and that I could start back at things as long as I "Didn't Do Anything Stupid"...Who ME?? NEVER!

Those exact words played out in no fewer than a dozen different scenario's during my constant foot tweaks over the last seven weeks. I have finally had the weight of my own mind removed from my shoulders...wait a second, there's many different ways to interpret that statement...anyways, no more stressing out because of foot pain, it's all good pain from here on out!

The worst mental tail spin I ended up on was for a week while I was experiencing direct pain in that exact portion of my foot.

"I'm done. This sucks. I'm soft. I'm broken again."

Dr. Jenn Turner "It's your cuboid"

"Huh?"

"Your cuboid. Here..."

"OW! Mother of..."

"Done"

"WHOA. SWEET! You ARE a magician!"

Runnin' In Circles


I blogged about my 10k treadmill run, but I never really mentioned how much of a price I paid for that stupid move. The fact that I ran 10k wasn't the issue, it was that I did it on a treadmill and simply kept upping the speed and attempting to hang on. In the end I felt great, for about an hour, and then my right ankle felt like it'd taken a bullet. I was unable to even walk without a limp, let alone run. The only beneficial thing that subsequently transpired was that I got sick and ended up having to take nine full days off anyways. By the time I had gotten over the flu my heal/ankle had come around and my lesson was learned. On the advice of Curb Ivanic I hit the track and ran in fully self propelled circles, instead of a treadmill assisted speed workout. In the end I am undecided as to what sucks more?

I Ran A Marathon

Over a span of six days that is...and I couldn't have been happier to have knocked down a six day mini running streak!

Mon 14th: Strength w/ Curb
Tue: 3.2k / 17min
Wed: 6.5k / 33min
Thu: 10k / 52 1/2min
Fri: 5.3k / 28min
Sat: 10.5k / 52min
Sun: 9.2k / 47min

Of course every run looked like this:

But whatever, it's all about the small victories right now right!

My First Trail Run In Almost Five Months!


With the news of a healthy foot yesterday I finally got back onto the trails for the first time since Oct 26th! A 14km jaunt out to Norvan Falls and back felt like an ultra but for all the right reasons. (1h23m)

Thankfully my body was ok with the distance, pace, and terrain I covered yesterday and I managed another trail run today of 12km in 1h08m with the first 5km being all uphill. It was a fantastically beautiful day by all definitions and as I sat in the sun at the top of my climb I couldn't help but smile from ear to ear. It's been a long journey back to the trails but all things considered the timing of it all could not have worked out better. There's still a long road ahead before I manage to get into race shape, and I know it won't be an easy process, but, mark my words. I'll be 'Showing Up' at Western States and I'll definitely be 'Showing Up' at UTMB!!

Songs o Da Week (I saw these guys in concert with Bon Jovi in 97)



GR

X-Rays, Hawaii, And Radio Chit Chat

Well that latest update in the world of Jones Fractures is that THEY SUCK. An independent study confirmed this by an overwhelming 98%, though it was only Roxy and me in that poll and it's fair to say that she didn't completely understand what I was crying about.

Here's a comparison of my last two x-rays. The immediate coming one week ago and the second image being my initial six week follow up in December.

What was never fully vocalized in December was that my recovery up until then wasn't just disappointing, it was completely negative. There were no visible signs of any healing having occurred and the fissure had actually gotten worse. My Doctor decided to give my body one further month before forcing me into surgery, and thankfully this seems to have paid off.

For all intents and purposes the bone seems to be about 65-70% healed and the hope is that just four more weeks on crutches should do the trick. This will end up bringing my total time on the sidelines hopping around on metallic sticks to three and a half months. I must admit had that time frame been pitched back in October I may have lost my little mind while trying coming to terms with it all. As funny as this might sound, it almost worked out better that the process has been broken down into stages. It's no less frustrating of course, just a bit more manageable, kinda like running aid station to aid station in a 100 miler so that you don't actually have to wrap your head around the total distance all at once.

Thankfully the next seven days of my recovery will be spent in HAWAII!! Unfortunately and obviously I won't be running the HURT 100 miler this year, instead viewing it from the sidelines. I have two goals in attending this year's race.
1) To provide as much vocal support as possible to all the runners on course, especially as the race goes through the night
2) To prevent anyone from stealing away my course record in my absence...
"Oh your drop bag? Hmmm, haven't seen it. Can I make you some warm tea, maybe massage your feet for you? You look like you need a nap before heading back out there again."
"Yeah I know it's totally weird right, but the fifth lap is COMPLETELY different than the first four. Seriously, just follow this paved road till you hit the ocean, then take a right and I'm sure you'll figure it out from there."

Last but not least, if you're interested (Dad), I recently did an interview with Chris Russell over on the RunRunLive Podcast. You can find it in iTunes under RRL on Dec 23rd (wow, no idea it was that long ago already) OR, assuming this worked, you can stream it right here(it didn't) My endless chatter goes from about 10min in until 28min or so. Check er out, and bring on the beaches already!

GR