Danger

I'm beginning to wonder if I should carry an air horn when I run. Today, as I was crossing a side street, running on the left, on the sidewalk, a driver in a minivan, who never bothered to look right, ran a stop sign and almost ran me over. I shouted "Look out!" at him three times, and he didn't see me until I was past him, on his left. Of course, he looked at me with an expression of "what happened?"

Maybe, instead of an air horn, I could carry a small object that I could throw against the windshield of a car driven by a clueless driver that's about to run me over. That would probably get the attention of the driver.

On a much more positive note, this is four times this week (my training log begins weeks on Mondays, which drives me crazy) that I've run and finished without pain. I think I'll take it a bit easier next week, maybe only run three times -- Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday?

I've increased my mileage, just a bit. I've gone from 1 mile about twice a week to about 1.7 miles, every other day. I have to increase my mileage slowly, and take it easy in order to let my ankle heal.

I am off the PT for now, doing the exercises that I was given by the therapist and icing my ankle every time I do them and after every run. I spent the summer riding my bike, so my endurance should be ok, but the first time I ran after an entire summer of riding, every muscle in my legs felt like they hadn't been used at all. Now I'm commuting on my bike on the days that I don't run.

I have to get my mileage up to the point where I can really train so that I can start a program in July. I have a goal in September of 2013 and I am putting together a training schedule so that I can perform well at that race.

OK, so I haven't been updating very much at all lately. That's about to change. Last August,  I ran a 5k     in 20:27, and discovered that I still have a bit of speed. That was just shy of one year after my heart attack, and the first time since college that I had a real training plan, rather than just making it up as I go along. Shortly after that race, I hurt my left ankle. Once again, it's my posterior tibial tendon, which apparently has some small tears. I'm in physical therapy for it, and icing it on a daily basis

I had a scare this week; I was sitting at home when I started having chest pains. I have no baseline for "heart attack," since I have absolutely no memory of my "event" so I had no idea what was going on. My wife took me to the hospital, where the emergency department whisked me right through triage and into an exam room. It turned out to be my acid reflux, but the whole time I was pretty nervous, although I was trying not to let on. I don't really know why I was trying to seem calm, I think the ER docs, PAs and nurses would have understood if I looked or acted nervous, but I guess I just have this need to cover up any nervousness and look like nothing bothers me.

I was sent for a stress test after that. The initial appointment was postponed due to Hurricane Sandy (or, more accurately Post-Tropical Cyclone Sandy). Around here, we just had some minor damage to trees and some power lines down for a few hours, but it was enough to close the heart center for nonessential things.

The stress test was quite an experience. They used an ultrasound to get an image of my heart (it took them some time, because I apparently have such massive, powerful lungs that they couldn't get an image through them). They had to put the contrast dye into my arm, so for the second time in 4 days, I had an IV in my right arm.  Then they put me on a treadmill. Every three minutes or so, the treadmill would increase in speed and pitch, so by the 18th (or so) minute, it was like trying to run straight up a very steep (about 6 or 7% grade) hill at about 6:30/mile pace. When my heart rate hit 160, I quickly jumped down and lay down on the table, where they took another ultrasound of my heart, to see if there was any portion of it which was getting less blood under stress.

Apparently, my heart was exactly as they expected to find it. No more damage than they had expected to see since my "event."

Since I started my PT and got a set of orthotics, I've been able to run again, so I've started with a couple of one-mile runs in the neighborhood. I'm not running every day, but about t every two or three days. there's still some occasional "discomfort" after running, but icing and stretches take care of that.

I'm planning to update more often, now that I can run again. I'm hoping to update, with at least a few words, every time I run.