Accepting the news with grace

Dear James, Daniel and Emily

Just before I went on vacation the week before last I got the official call from the doctor with the results of my tests & X-rays. Good news was no gout. Bad news was two fold. First, they confirmed that I have arthritis in both big toes, more pronounced in my left foot. Second, I have a stress fracture in my right foot (fourth metatarsal I think, not sure how they count.)

What does that mean? First, ideally no running and minimal walking for 4-6 weeks until the fracture heals. Well the first week was a wash as I spent 4 days walking around the parks at Disneyland (yeah that hurt, thankful for remembering the ibuprofen.) But now I am on a rest period. Which is getting harder to deal with as the week progresses.

Second, I can kiss the long distances goodbye, kind of sad I never got in a full marathon but I will always have those 3 Half marathons. Not sure what will be a reasonable long distance for me moving forward, depends on how I adjust in other ways.

Third, kiss the minimalist shoes goodbye. Really the only acceptable running shoes will be ones with serious padding and middle rockers, which means a return to the Hokas. Good news on that is that since my mileage will be restricted one pair should last over a year.

Fourth, realistically need to find some alternative exercises. And yes mom, if you read this I have considered swimming, but serious swimming hurts my toes too. I think the best course of action for the warm weather months is getting a new bike or getting my existing one to a reasonable condition and using that more. And that will start with more time on the stationary bike.

Fifth, I really need to get better about my eating habits. Because without the constant running, and until I get the biking to a reasonable distance I will not have anywhere close to the calorie burn I need. So I had better figure out the eating ASAP.

Well that is it, I am accepting the news, and making decisions and plans to adjust. Bottom line I am still dedicated to finding a way to be healthy and active, I just need alter my approach to maintain that goal.

Gonna run, but putting a halt to the training #running

Dear James, Daniel and Emily

Had to suck it up and make arrangements to see a doctor about the feet. Which means that it is likely in my interest to keep the distances and mileage to a manageable amount for now. So I will put off the training program for the Half, and depending on what the doctor(s) say I may even have to skip it this year entirely. That being said, after taking a week off for other reasons I had no problems doing 3 miles this morning, so if that is my limit for now I will have to be content with that.

Partly it is the suspected gout. For one, it doesn't seem to have reacted to the change in diet for 3 weeks. Second, I think it is important to get an official diagnosis and find out if there are any actual medical remedies (and if not then I will have to take the diet more seriously.)

But also it is because I have developed a recurrence of an odd issue that I had an operation for several years ago. At that time I was diagnosed with a bunion, but on the outside of my foot instead of the more normal inside, and the bone for my pinky toe was out of alignment. So I had an operation where the bunion was shaved down and the bone was brought back into alignment. Well the other, far more irritating, pain that I have had is that pain has returned. Which leads me to expect that I may have to get another operation, and after that could end up having to change what type of shoes I wear for running.

Either way, that is up to the doctors to decide. But in the meantime I will keep running as possible, just limiting the mileage to minimize the irritation. And that will be my plan until a doctor tells me that I absolutely have to stop.

Too early to tell, but changes feel good, plus a little celebration

Dear James, Daniel and Emily

First, I know it has only been a week of the new diet, but so far so good. Too early to tell how much of a difference it is making, That will probably take at least a month, and to be honest I am probably stuck on this for the rest of my life. But it does feel good to say that I haven't had red meat in a week and had 1 entirely meatless day.

Of course it would probably have been better if there hadn't been a few temptations. Like the will power sapping donuts in the break room yesterday. But overall the fight against sweets was okay, just not as good as the reduction of meats (which is surprising, I would have thought I would have a harder time giving up meats than sweets, although to be fair I haven't given up on meat, just reduced my intake by a large margin.)

Sundays Run

Best run since New Years. And when looking at the history this should end up being my best month since September when it comes to mileage. So a little celebration as I have begun to work myself back into shape. It is slow, and I am slower, but I feel better about getting back into the groove. I just need to manage the next month, with a week of vacation, so I don't lose the slightly dull edge I am gradually acquiring. 

It's a Good News - Bad News situation #Diet

Dear James, Daniel and Emily

Saturday at the end of my run one of my feet really acted up, got real painful. So Sunday I did the right thing, no running, stayed off it as best I could. But that didn't seem to help, as my other foot flared up Sunday night and stayed sore most of the day Monday. So I decided to do a little research, and while I don't have a doctors official diagnosis I am pretty confident that what I found is correct. The symptoms are pretty much an exact match for gout. Which is a good news bad news situation.

Good News: 

This isn't something that should require surgery, or even any real down time from running. I can deal with it primarily with diet.

Bad News:

Sayonara to eating meat, as the recommendation for a gout diet is a maximum of 4 ounces a day (and no sugar sweets or items with high fructose corn syrup.) Which will make a pretty darn big dent in my current eating habits.

Good News:

The suggested diet mentioned above is pretty much in line with what I should be eating anyway, so converting to that will only be good for me in the long term.

Bad News:

It took a major flare up to get me to make this change.

Good News:

I know that when properly motivated (major pain, medical problems) I can make a change like this. I just need the proper motivation some times (other than the always present: 'gee I should eat better'.)

That's it then. I should be able to run for now, and keep training. And I have a renewed focus and commitment to adjust my eating habits.