After more than two restless months without serious exercise thanks to my broken (but now healing) ankle, I’m back at the gym. Or rather, the pool. The doctor and physical therapist cleared me to swim and I wasted no time getting back to the pool. Since clearing me, I’ve swum almost every day Yeah, I’m … Read more
You wouldn’t think something so simple would be so hard, but break your ankle and then wrap your foot in a cast/boot for two months and you’ll find walking becomes a difficult, half-remembered skill to be remastered. I’m two weeks into physical therapy and I’m making good progress. During that time we’ve been working on … Read more
The next phase of healing in the Broken Ankle Saga began last week with my first visit to the physical therapist. The boot is still on and will be until early April, but I’m walking without crutches and I’m cleared to drive (after taking the boot off of course). Both of these things are huge. … Read more
The Broken Ankle Saga continues, though it might be better described as the Healing Ankle Saga. In the week and a half since my last post, a lot has improved: I have almost no numbness in my foot and the nerve pain has quieted considerably. I’m regularly putting 80 lbs. of weight on my right … Read more
My broken ankle is a little less broken now. A month after the surgery to put my ankle back together, all of the hardware installed in my ankle is holding true, the bones are slowly healing and I’ve upgraded from a cast to a truly impressive, sci-fi-looking boot. The massive piece of footwear is meant … Read more
I broke my right ankle on Dec. 30, 2017. And in so doing, transformed my 2018. Heading into the new year I’d been mulling other things I wanted to accomplish: running another 5K, getting back into swimming, maybe writing another novel, maybe doing Picture-A-Day again, shaking up our gaming group’s routine with a couple of … Read more
Music powers my running workouts. I’ll listen to podcasts or audio books when rowing or using the elliptical at the gym, but when it comes to running it’s all about the music. I’ve constructed several playlists over the last two years to complement my runs. The first one is Starforce Orion, a militant Halo-inspired creation … Read more
It took two years of practice, but I finally ran a 5K. Specifically, I ran the Race’n Bacon 5K at Easton, Pa.’s BaconFest on November 5, 2017, completing the race in under 30 minutes with an average pace of just over 9 minutes per mile. Completing it was immensely satisfying. I was far from the fastest runner, … Read more
Last summer, after a year of exercise, I bought waist 36 shorts because my old size 38s were too big. Going into this summer, I thought my shorts were sagging because I was wearing the old 38s … but they were actually the new 36s. It was time to buy new shorts, only this time … Read more
It’s hard to work out in the spring. I had a great routine going all winter long, and a fantastic stretch during February and March where I got to the gym every day, hit my activity goals every day, and more or less felt like a middle-aged juggernaut. That didn’t survive contact with April, when … Read more