Ready, Set, Go! (Almost)

A lot has happened in last couple of days. Still no running for me, but I can feel the hiatus is drawing to a close.

FRIDAY: I had my X-Rays taken on Friday morning. They took four films of my leg. On one of them, Stacy thinks she can maybe see a small fracture-line near my ankle, right about where it has been hurting. It's very faint, but it's there. We'll see what the Sports Doc says when I have my follow-up appointment with him on the 28th. As for my ankle itself, it really doesn't hurt at all any more. Maybe just a twinge now and then. I haven't tried running on it yet, but I did a lot of walking yesterday - shopping with the family - and I'm feeling absolutely fine today.

SATURDAY: Saturday was very relaxing. We visited our former next-door neighbors. They recently moved about 10 minutes away. We spent the day out at their pool. They put us on their permanent visitor list and gave me a key to their community center, so now I have 24-hour access to their full gym, including a three lane, outdoor lap pool! I have been wanting to use swimming as cross-training, and now it looks like I'll have a way to do it. I haven't done much swimming since high school, but in high school I was in water more often than I was out of it: I was a lifeguard, co-captain of my community swim team, and a Special Olympics swim team coach.

SUNDAY: On Sunday, we went shopping. Stacy and the kids went to Babies R Us, while I went to Runner's Edge, the runner's store in Boca Raton, Florida. Let me just say that I will never, ever again, shop for running shoes anywhere other than a running store. I was so impressed with the level of service. I knew from the moment that I walked in that I was in the right place. There was a line of about four salespeople all assisting customers in finding the right shoe for them. I was first in line when I arrived, and I was promptly seen. The woman that helped me was about 60, I think she said, and she just PR-ed in her latest marathon. She took a look at the script the orthopedist gave me, but before seeing it she had already analyzed me at a glance and told me exactly what she thought it would say on the script. She was dead-on. We tried on a bunch of shoes for sizing, and she showed me how to best lace them (using a lock-lace technique to keep my heel in better). Between the doctor and her, I have learned now so much about my foot and gait. I have narrow feet, low arches (nearly flat but not quite), and I pronate. I am a size 12.5, but one foot is slightly bigger than the other and slightly more pronated than the other (which, by the way, probably explains why it always seems to be my left leg that gets injured). I need motion control shoes. I had been running in entirely the wrong shoes for my feet - Nikes are not generally liked as running shoes, and they have high arches. She had me wear a few different shoes and told me to go running outside with them. I did (no pain, by the way!) and we determined that a particular pair of New Balance seemed to work best for me. I don't remember the model number off hand, and they didn't have my exact size in stock - they are ordering a half-size for me and it should be in on Friday. I can't wait!

While I was there, I bought a Marware pouch for my Nike+, since it won't be able to fit in my shoe anymore. Instead, it will attach to the laces. I also bought a pair of running socks, and a pair of swimming goggles.

I'm still very near my goal weight - I seem to be going up and down, circling one pound away from my goal. This morning I was 168.8, so I went a pound in the wrong direction and have two more to go. But overall, I am so pleased with how it has been going. Here's a picture from Saturday, compared to one taken in September, before I started running. Now that the excess weight is off, I just want to keep it off and also get more toned.