Ran a mile in my shoes

(Nearly) sixteen weeks ago, I broke my ankle. And that means I haven’t broken any running goals in nearly four months. In fact, I haven’t been running at all. Until today. And then, I ran a mile. A whole mile. Yay, me!

Well, that’s not strictly true: I ran very slowly for 60 seconds four weeks ago when I was first allowed to do so. Only it hurt much too much and I realised that I needed a little more time to heal. But the pain remained rather unpleasant so I went to the doctor to make sure I was OK. (Better safe than sorry.)

Anyhow, a couple of days ago, I was given the all-clear after a second x-ray confirmed that my ankle bone is healed. So this morning I laced up my running shoes for a wee 1-mile out-and-back jaunt.

When I went out, my only plan was to complete the one mile. I didn’t know if I would walk part of that mile or run the whole thing. I also didn’t know how much walking I would do if I did. But in the end, my ankle was more than happy to run the full mile without stopping.

My ankle was happy. My lungs? Not so much!

It was actually a bit of an overall physical challenge because I haven’t run in nearly four months. So my lungs aren’t ready for that kind of workout. And my belly – which expanded thanks to the inactivity – only slowed me down!

In the end, I ran a mile in a little over 10 minutes. Which is slow, but not that much slower than my normal pace for a longer run. So I am feeling happy about that. And, importantly, my ankle isn’t feeling too sore this evening. And then the pain is only very mild soft-tissue pain that will subside with a bit of rest.

As mentioned previously, one of my post-broken ankle recovery goals is to run a 5K by the end of the year. And even though I have got off to a slower start than I had wanted, I feel quite confident that I will manage it. (Slowly, but I will manage.)

I need to remind myself not to push too hard, too fast. But at the same time, I am very excited to be feeling strong enough to run again. (I admit that part of that excitement is losing my broken ankle weight!)

Anyhow, today I ran a mile in my shoes. That’s nothing compared to the 26.2 miles I’ve run in the past, but it is so much better than the inability to walk two steps!

Stay tuned to find out if I manage that 5K before the year is over!