31 December 2013

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I signed up for this one pretty much last minute. After surprising myself by crossing the finish line of the Rocket City Marathon just a couple of weeks earlier, I was feeling great, but that inner voice was telling me once again to take the foot of the gas and take it easy. I still wanted to see local running friends (almost all of our usual training crew signed up) and try out my awesome christmas present (GoPro Hero 3+ Black Edition, review to follow) from my wife, so I signed up anyway with the intent to only ran a few miles.

Chris Estes and I chatting prior to the race start.
I arrived at the race about 30 minutes before the start. James Duncan and Ed Johnson had already set up the "mandatory" crewing chair near the start/finish area and kindly allowed me to drop my stuff there as well:-) The weather was perfect for racers, but for me planning to get in some easy miles it seemed just a little too chilly. I kept on all of my layers as I grabbed my GoPro camera and strapped it to my head. As is the case every year, lots of my local running friends and heroes were in attendance once again. I managed to catch up with a few of them before the race started. I lined up in the back third of the field of runners. I wanted to take it really slow and decide after each 3 mile lap, if I was going to go out for another.

10 miles into the race, I decided to call it quits after completing another lap to get a nice half marathon in for the day. Since I didn't have to go much longer, I tried to pick up my pace jut a little. When I arrived at the finish line, I felt like I should do another lap, so I guilted Cary Long into running one lap with me. I continued to keep pace, chatting away and focussing on my footing as to not reinsure my ankle on my final lap. All went well and I finished the day with 16 miles at 9:45 min per mile pace, not too bad for a gimp on trails:-)

Happy New Year everyone.

Action shot brought to you courtesy of Gregg Gelmis:-)

21 December 2013

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Another great little local 5K race just before christmas. I had signed up the whole family for this one. I decided to run with my wife once again as I plan to do for all of my upcoming shorter distance races. My son decided to go at a slightly faster pace to improve on his previous 5K. He'd been taking it easy, not really running at all following his first High School Cross Country season. Every athlete needs to take some time off anyway and this allows him to just run what he feels.

I decided to pace my wife again to see if she couldn't edge out another PR. This course was hillier than the Frosty Freeze 5k course a couple of weeks earlier, so it would be tough to beat that time. We kept a steady pace throughout the race, but didn't manage to get that PR for my wife. Didn't really matter anyway as I'm the only one in this house that is driven by finish times:-) Being thankful for just being able to run after dealing with numerous setbacks over the last year has made me rethink that approach. This next year I will focus on just enjoying different events without pressing for time. Crossing finish lines with a smile on my face has become my only goal for the foreseeable future.

Merry Christmas Everyone.

14 December 2013

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I really had no intention of actually running this race to finish it. I had no place at the starting line to begin with. The only reason I even toed the line?...I had registered months ago in hopes of my recovery and rehab going better than expected by the time December rolled around. All in all, rehab had gone quite well, but I continued (and continue) to have episodes of "worry". Worried that I'd reinjure my ankle without any notice or even a warning of anything being wrong, worried that I'd develop another blood clot and on and on. There was really no rhyme or reason to it, I just started to feel like this sometimes and as a result, I would back off my training. I would increase my mileage, never really pushing my pace just to be safe, but then I'd back off again on barely run at all.

So when marathon week arrived and my running had actually gone pretty well for a couple of weeks with increased mileage at a "safe" pace, I figured I'd just head downtown to see how far my feet would take me. I was hopeful that I could maybe complete 20 miles before the wheels would come off either due to pain or exhaustion. I hadn't run more than 15 miles at a time in the last 12 months and that only once, but I had been running and logging at least some miles. I figured finishing was out of the question, but maybe 20 miles would be realistic.

In order to accomplish my goal, I decided to be extremely conservative with my pace to increase my chances of completing 20 miles, but not too conservative because my wife and I had tickets for the Nutcracker that afternoon, so I really needed to be done in 5 hours to allow myself to limp home and take a shower before heading to the concert hall. 5 hours was the goal no matter what distance I would cover. Missing the Nutcracker with my wife really wasn't an option:-) I was very happy to read on FB the evening before the race that there was 4:55 pace group (thanks Suzanne and Carrie), so I figured I'd try to stay with them as long as possible (read: until the wheels came off).

As luck would have it, the skies also cleared somewhat just in time for the race start. After mingling with some familiar folks at the Holiday Inn (for the last time before it gets torn down), I headed outside and to the start line. The temps were perfect and the rain had mostly stopped. I was going to have a great 20 mile training run. With my cell phone in hand (to call my wife for pickup along the course), I started my fourth Rocket City Marathon.

For the first time, I was able to talk while running anything shorter than an ultra marathon. I usually push so hard from the start that I never really have the extra energy required to carry on conversations during the race. I always felt bad, because peeps must have thought I was just rude. Nope, I was just busy breathing:-) It was great to actually be able to carry on conversations while I was out there, presumably for 5 hours or less, hopefully reaching my goal of 20 miles. The conversations continued and the miles slowly clicked away.

I continued to check my splits every mile but other than that, I just kept going, enjoying a nice long run. An hour went by, then two, and I continued to feel great. No pain anywhere. I was starting to feel confident that 20 miles was very possible today. I kept a steady 11 minute pace and wasn't great. I wanted to pick it up, but I kept reminding myself that it's all about making it to 20 miles today, just like the days when I first started running and it was all about just completing the distance for me, never about pace.

The miles continued to pass and as I approached mile 20, I was still on track to actually finish the full distance in 5 hours. Not only that, I was still feeling great, even ready to pick up my pace. I also started to pass some people, which really has never happened to me before in a marathon. Why? Because I ALWAYS blow up. Not today. I decided to take it one mile at a time until I started to hurt or slow down. Neither happened and when I made the final turn to the finish and saw David Bier's confused look, it finally sunk in that I was actually going to finish my fourth Rocket City Marathon. I was just as confused as him and I have never had a bigger smile on my face when crossing the finish line than today. Yes, it was my slowest marathon ever, but I managed to finish it, just a year after my "little health scare" and just 10 months after reconstructive ankle surgery.

I'm looking forward to whatever is next!

07 December 2013

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While I'm not quite ready to do any sprints or all out race in any official event, I do enjoy participating in our local 5k races regardless of my abilities or pace, so I signed up my whole family to run the Frosty Freeze again. My son is now part of his high school XC team, so I figured he'd enjoy the friendly competition or at least an opportunity to get a run in.

My wife and I decided to run together and not worry to much about our time, so it was a big surprise when we found out later that she had actually placed second in her age group almost 3 minutes ahead of the lady in third place, but who's keeping track. I'm certainly not;-) It turned out to be a very enjoyable race. It was pretty cold, as usual for this race. Thanks to Jon and Kelly and their team of volunteers for putting on another great event. It felt great to be back out there, just to run, nothing else.

03 November 2013

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Jeep Road leading into Arrow Canyon.
My wife head read about this hidden little gem, the Arrow Canyon Trail in Runner's World. It was listed as last month's "rave run". Since Arrow Canyon was just 45 minutes outside of Las Vegas, we definitely wanted to do it. After all, we wanted to put our rental car to good use as well. I had read all the info about how to access the trail via car, etc. and I thought I was logistically prepared and ready...I was not, but we got lucky and this little trip could have turned out a lot worse.

My beautiful wife inside the canyon.
We arrived at the entrance to the 2 mile jeep road leading to the canyon, a private drive, just after 9AM. I recognized the signs and followed the instructions I'd found on the internet. I knew we would be okay with our tiny rental car until we would reach the first creek crossing about 1 mile down the jeep road. This creek could be a raging river or a dry creek bed. Since it hadn't rained in a while, we fully expected the creek bed to be dry, possibly allowing us to cross and drive closer to the canyon entrance. The jeep road was a lot bumpier than I had hoped and our little "low rider" (Chevy Spark) was struggling to make it. We were being tossed around like rag dolls. It was kinda funny...until it wasn't.

Canyon walls near the canyon entrance.
When we arrived at the first creek crossing, the creek bed had dried out due to the lack of rain just as expected. However, it was washed out so badly that there was no way our little "Spark" was going to make it across. We decided to leave the car and start our run right here, but first I wanted to get the car turned around to be ready to go once we got back from our run. That's where things were no longer funny.

Narrowing trail leading into the canyon.
I started to turn the car around and had already made half of the 180 degree turn required, when the car suddenly decided to not move. The front wheels started to dig themselves into the soft desert sand immediately off to the sides of the jeep road. I immediately stopped and got out of the car to assess our options. While I did remember that one has to place objects under the tires to provide traction, I completely forgot that your floor mats are extremely useful for exactly this purpose. I failed to remember the many times my family and I would go to the wide sandy beaches of Denmark by car and how we'd often get stuck in the sand on our way closer to the Ocean and how my dad would use the floor mats to get us out. I completely forgot the many many "Top Gear" shows I watched were they would get stuck in some desert sand somewhere for our entertainment, only to use their floor mats to get themselves out of these situations. Instead, I started to walk up and down the creek bed looking for sticks and rocks to put under our front tires. 90 minutes and many attempts later, we finally managed to get ourselves dug out.    

Dry creek bed/trail.
Since we had already made plans for lunch that day, we decided to still go for our run, but to cut it short. My wife was also still struggling with the after affects of flu like symptoms and breathing was extremely laborous for her. Since we had 3 extra miles to run due to inaccessibility of the canyon entrance via car, it meant that we wouldn't make it to the actual slot canyon in time to keep our previous commitment. However, the run still turned out to be well worth it, providing beautiful views of the canyon.

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It's been a long time, a very long time, since my last blog post, 8 months to be exact. Could I have written additional posts, dove into more details about my recovery, or about the effects my injury and other health woes had on me mentally? Sure. Would it have helped me deal with these issues? Maybe, but I didn't think so at the time. I didn't want to at the time. Am I fully recovered? Physically? Mentally? No, not fully. But it's much better and I don't really worry as much anymore.

I haven't had a "freakout" in a while. Freakout is an official medical term I coined. It's not a panic attack, but it sure doesn't feel too good when it happens. This would occur over a period of a couple of months after I had left the hospital. Even though I was on blood thinners, every little pinch or odd feeling would send my mind flying, back to the day I ended up in the ER with a scary diagnosis, multiple DVTs and PEs as a result of an initially misdiagnosed traumatic ankle injury. Who would've though that an ankle fracture and tendon tear could be diagnosed as "just a case of inflammation". I would start sweating, worrying and wondering whether I had another clot, whether I was going to be lucky yet again. It wasn't a very pleasant experience and I don't think I would've made it through these periods without my wife, who continuously reassured me that everything was fine.

With every passing week, I became more and more confident that things would be okay and stay okay. I became more confident in my physical recovery as well, slowly adding miles in the pool, on the bike, and on the road. Trails were still out of the question as I continued to try to build confidence in my ankle and me as a whole. I started to head out for very slow runs on the road, very slow runs, mostly on my own. Eventually, I would join my wife her runs here and there.

After a couple more months, I figured it might be time to try to hook up with my old running buddies again, as long as they were doing some road runs. Again, I wasn't quite ready for trails and sometimes I wondered if I ever would or even should. I wasn't on a real training regimen. Yes, I was rehabbing my ankle, by I didn't really consider it real training. Instead, I decided to pick up and focus on some other hobbies of mine and spend a little more time with my wife and son in the process, all good things. Then my son decided to join his high school XC team. I was extremely excited for him. It also made me realize that I missed running quite a bit. My wife was now often logging more miles than I did even when I was training in earnest. I also finally started to gain weight, not the good kind of weight either. I had been somewhat lucky until this point, but those days were over. Something had to give. I was not willing to turn into a complete couch potato just yet.

I started to join my wife more frequently and to add some miles here and there, never worrying about pace (I still don't). I was and am just glad to be running again. Then October came around and I remembered that I had wona free entry into the Coyote Springs 100 Mile race in the desert just outside Las Vegas, Nevada. My wife and I had booked tickets and a hotel months earlier, since I was crazy enough to think I might be ready. I was so confident, in fact, that I booked both a nonrefundable airfare and hotel. Well, kinda anyway. I knew the RD was offering multiple distances and I figured, if I am not ready to run a 100 miles, maybe I'll be ready to run a 50K? Well...I wasn't.  


My wife and I arrived at Las Vegas airport Friday evening. Once again, the trip didn't go quite according to plan since our flight schedule had changed and i was aware of it. So when we arrive ready to depart Huntsville International Airport (The "International" designation is the result of some cargo flights, I believe), our flight had already left. "Bummer!" Actually, I used a different word, but let's move on. After begging the counter lady to help us out, we managed to reschedule via a different route and still make it to Vegas just 10 minutes later than our original schedule. An we even had time to intimately get to know Huntsville Airport, since we now had to wait 3 hours for our departure flight. That meant no Chicago pizza for us after all. Oh well.


Once we arrived, we quickly picked up our luggage and headed to the rental car shuttle. Smooth sailing to the rental car center. While waiting for our paperwork to get sorted by the super friendly rental car staff at the counter, we had to witness the worst of the worst kind of people. This absolute "tool" of a fella berated the rental car desk clerk about how he is "not going to settle for anything but an American made car. Nope, not gonna happen, American or nothing." "Sir, we do not have an all American made car." "Then keep it, blah blah blah." This went on for at least 15 minutes of the clerk trying to help this nimwit while he continued to abuse him. I literally had to hold my wife back. She was ready to rumble. What an @$$ this guy was!!! We ended up apologizing for him. This guy just made me cringe.


We arrived at our hotel save and sound and after dropping a couple of coins in the slot machine, I started to get my running gear ready for the next day while my wife went to sleep, in less than 2 minutes:-) I had already decided that there was no way that I was towing the line for 100 miles and asked the RD via email, if I could drop to the 50K distance and he kindly agreed. I left the hotel bright and early and an hour later, I arrived at a trailhead in the middle of the desert. It felt great to be back at the start of an ultra marathon...as a runner.


If you think just because you're in the desert and just outside Vegas that it is going to be warm, think again. Holy cow, it was bitterly cold when I arrived at the start of the race. I stayed in the rental car as long as I could until it was time to ready myself. The 100 milers had left an hour before the 50 milers and we were to follow an hour after that. 50K racers had to run two mostly single track trail loops with a short out & back sandwiched in between. I decided to take it easy and to take in the scenery. I had ready Liz Bauer's race report from the previous year along with a couple of pics she had posted, so I wanted to make sure I got some good pictures as well.


If memory serves me correctly, there were just 4 of us tackling the 50K distance. We were in the last group of racers for the day. On Sunday, runners would tackle a 10K, Half Marathon or a full marathon distance on the same course. I settled in briefly with another local guy just ahead of a couple of other runners. After a brief chat, I decided to pick up my pace just a little. This was only my third run on trails since my second Pinhoti 100 attempt exactly 12 months earlier. A couple of miles into the run, I crossed paths with the 100 milers as they made their way along the side of one of the ridges. I was heading in the opposite direction at this point and I never saw them again. I maintained a steady slow pace, picking it up on the downs and slowing significantly on the ups. There were quite a few switchbacks, but also a lot of scenic views. I am most definitely not a pro when it comes to photography and it definitely shows in my pics. The sun made it difficult early on to get nice clear shots, but I think the few shots I got still convey the beauty of this particular desert area.


By now, there were 100 milers, 50 milers and 50K runners on the trail and I would occasionally spot someone on a ridge ahead or just a turn behind me. I continued to move fairly well without any major ankle issues, but as I was heading closer to the start/finish area, I started to think whether it was wise to continue based on my current level of training and recovery. For once in my life, I actually made a smart decision. When I arrived at the start/finish area, I told the RD that I would call it a day. My GPS watch showed 14 miles and that was good enough for me today. I needed to consider my current physical state. It also didn't hurt to realize that an early finish would allow me to head back to Vegas to meet up with my wife for a nice and fancy Italian lunch at one of the famous hotels.


As I was grabbing some fruit and getting ready to leave, the RD returned to hand me a Half Marathon Finisher's Medal. "You ran the distance and if you run the distance, you deserve the finisher's medal for that distance". Mind you, the official Half Marathon didn't take place until the next day, but since I had ran the actual race course and distance, he still rewarded me with a finisher's medal. I tried to decline, but he wouldn't have it, once again reminding me why I absolutely love the ultra running community.

18 March 2013

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It's been a month since my last blog update. This is probably the longest time between blog posts ever since I started this blog over three years or 541 posts ago. It's kind of ironic, since it has also been my longest layoff from any type of physical activity.

Monday of last week marked another huge milestone in my path to full recovery, both from my ankle injury and from my blood clots (DVT and PE). Six weeks after my reconstructive ankle surgery my orthopedist finally removed the non-weight bearing ankle cast and placed me in a weight bearing ankle boot instead. That also meant I was able to "retire" my crutches and the wheel chair I had to use at work to make my way around the office. Hey, you try carrying your morning coffee and a bottle of water all while using crutches. Take it from me, it's impossible. Don't get me wrong, there were ideas for new products floating through my head, like cup holders that attached to your crutches (including some type of gyroscopic device, just to make sure the coffee wouldn't spill while walking with the crutches. Hey, I said I thought about it, not that I had it all worked out. If I did, I wouldn't have chosen to ride the wheel chair. Instead, I would be writing this blog on a tropical island somewhere while sipping Mojitos and counting the money I made of this brilliant idea.

But, it wasn't meant to be, so here I am and since the orthopedist had told me that I would be able to start PT as soon as the cast was removed, I was sitting in my PTs waiting room Tuesday morning. After a short chat, we got started on my initial therapy session, which consisted of exercises to increase the range of motion in my ankle. I also scheduled my biweekly aquatic therapy sessions, which my PT recommended for the 4 week duration of my physical therapy.

Along with the biweekly aquatic therapy I also had to complete a very mild exercise regimen twice daily that would continue to work on increasing my range of motion without putting serious stress on my ankle. By Wednesday morning 5AM I was in the pool swimming laps for the first time in over 25 years. I hadn't been in a pool to swim laps ever since High School, when students were required to get certified as rescue swimmers as part of our PE class. To say that I disliked swimming would be an understatement, but my doc and PT said that I could participate in any activity that didn't put stress on my ankle and from an endurance/aerobic activity standpoint that really only left swimming (yeah yeah, I know, there is some weird spinning contraption for upper body use that must look like an upside down bike or something, but I figured I'd stick to something I was a little more familiar with, even though I "disliked" it). I figured three lap swimming sessions per week would be much better in my quest to full recovery than no aerobic activity at all.

Now that I had sorted out my approach to aerobic rehab for the next 6 weeks until the boot would finally come off for good to allow me to start walking/running recovery, I needed to think of a way to regain some of that muscle that I'd lost over the course of 4 months. I say regain "some" muscle, because I never really had a lot of it:-) At least I wanted to try to turn some of that fat that had deposited itself around my midsection into muscle. I still can't decide what's worse for my health and fitness, my lack of running and other physical exercise or my chocolate, gummi bear and general carbohydrate addiction, but I'm starting to have a pretty good idea.

Anyway, I also started entering the weight room again to add a small 60 minute biweekly strength training routine to my recovery schedule. Obviously, it could only do seated weight exercises along with some core work while laying down, but it was still waaaay more than I had been doing. I can honestly say that even though I'm using small weights, I am pretty sore to start off this week. Regardless, it just feels great to do something, to be active again, even if it is way less than what I was used to prior to the injury and my other health woes. I take it. I don't mind taking it slow. I have no desire for an injury relapse. I am looking at it long term. Do I want to run an ultra marathon or play a soccer match next week? Heck, yes. Am I okay to wait or even dial it back a notch long term? Absolutely. Do I expect to make a full recovery? 100%...and then some.

It is very hard to believe, especially for my friends and close family, that I would be willing to do the right thing, meaning to strictly follow my "doctors' orders". If you know me, you know that I want things now. And while that might not always be a good thing or reasonable thing, I am always willing to put in the work to get there, if not now at least very quickly. But this injury has been different than other previous injuries. I was always ready to come back right away, not afraid to get hurt again, ready to jump right back into the proverbial deep end of the pool. Not this time. This time I'm worried that I'll get hurt again, worried that I'll reaggravate the ankle, worried that I'll require surgery again. Nervous that any pain that I feel as a result of my rehab and recovery could be another blood clot forming in my legs or my lungs. Worried about all the things that can go wrong.

And it's not just during or after exercise. I've had moments were I'm sitting down on my couch or were I'm laying in bed, wondering if that little pinch in my chest is another PE or where that pain in my leg really is a sore muscle or another DVT. Whether I told my wife and my son that I loved them today...just in case. To be honest, those moments scare the crap out of me and it always takes me a while to get over them.

Will I ever not have these moments? I'm not sure. I expect that they will become less and less frequent over time. In the meantime, I make sure I tell my wife and my son that I love them more often than I used to. I know it still hasn't fully sunk in just how lucky I was these few days in early December, when I was admitted to the hospital for multiple DVTs and PEs. I think it's because I was lucky to have an amazing wife that stood  (and slept) by my side the entire time I was in the hospital along with a son who got up in the middle of the night to be there with his dad during the first 48 hours that were by far the scariest for me and my entire family. Having them close by the entire time made me not worry, made me truly think that everything was going to be fine. And it was...is...fine. Maybe I haven't fully processed how close I came, but I have realized that I am very lucky to be alive and to be loved.

Sorry for rambling on in last three paragraphs. They appear to be more about my mental than my physical state and while I'm not sure how I ended up going there, I'm glad I did. Writing it down felt good. Hope to see you all soon, either on the trails or on the soccer field. It's been too long:-)

19 February 2013

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It's been almost 3 weeks since my last update. I am now 10 days into wearing a non-weight bearing fiber glass ankle cast and I have 18 more days to go before my sports orthopedist removes and replaces it with an air cast boot that I will be required to wear for another 6 weeks. However, I will be able to start physical therapy as soon as the cast comes off and I won't need my crutches any longer, since I will be able to somewhat walk in the boot.

I also realized that the past few months of not running or working out at all have finally caught up with me in form of weight gain, not bad but bad enough. I figured what better way to get rid of those extra pounds than to challenge one of my training buddies (that's right, Richard, it is not only Facebook-official but Blog-official, too:-) to a 4 week weight loss challenge. Winner gets a free ultra race entry.

I got another great piece of news today that will really help me with the mental aspects of my recovery. I had purchased a couple of raffle tickets to support the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, when I saw Joe Fejes (yes, the Joe Fejes, ultra runner extraordinaire and member of team USA for the 24 Hour World Championships among other things) at last months Mountain Mist 50K here in town. One of the positives of not having been able to run or race for the past few months has been the enjoyment that volunteering at races and hanging out with folks like Joe has brought me. As "fate" would have it, one of my tickets actually won one of over 80 graciously donated race entries. I received free entry into the Coyote Springs 100 Miler on November 3 in Nevada. I'm not sure yet if I can get ready in time, but I will do everything I can to do so...safely and smartly.

Oh yeah, my new "purpose" for my ultra running adventures is also off to a great start. If you're reading this, take a look to the top right column of this post. Please take a moment and click on the link, read my short story and maybe consider making a small donation. If nothing else, you might learn something that could save your life or the life or a friend or family member.

And now, back to recovery...

01 February 2013

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It's been a couple of weeks since my last update. To be honest, I'd much rather be writing training updates, but for now these little health updates will have to do:-) An exciting weeks draws to a close.

After being admitted to Crestwood Hospital this past Monday, a temporary inferior vena cava filter was implanted on Tuesday afternoon by a vascular surgeon. On Wednesday morning, my orthopedic surgeon was finally able to repair the lower tendons in my left ankle. By Wednesday afternoon, I was released from the hospital. So what's next?

I am currently resting at home. The procedure to remove the temporary filter is tentatively scheduled for next week once I've had a chance to see my hematologist for a follow up visit. Another follow up is scheduled for the following week with my orthopedic surgeon to check on my ankle's progress, remove the staples and put my ankle in a non walking cast for approximately 4 weeks.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that this is exactly how the next couple of weeks will unfold as that would indicate my ability to start rehabilitation on my ankle by early March. I can hardly wait to get back out there and work out and just go for a walk:-)

By the way, I've had lots of time to think the last few weeks and I decided to put this energy to good use. I've created an ongoing fundraising effort (see link in upper right corner of this blog) that I will be persuing in all my future ultra running and racing adventures. Please check out the page, no strings attached, and please share. Blot clots and clotting disorders are much more common than you think and they can affect anyone, even endurance athletes, even without any predisposing factors. I learned this lesson the hard way. But there are lots of things we all can to to reduce this risk for ourselves as well as others by educating ourselves and by supporting the efforts of organizations like the National Blot Clot Alliance (NBCA) and their "STOP THE CLOT" campaign.

23 January 2013

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Hopefully, I am not jinxing anything with this post. After having been on the phone this afternoon with nurses from all specialists involved, my ankle surgeon and hematologist were able to get their schedules sorted.

My hematologist is admitting me to Crestwood Hospital on Monday morning, where they will start bridging me from Coumadin to Lovenox before taking me off blood thinners altogether just in time for reconstructive ankle surgery on Wednesday morning. Prior to the ankle surgery, a specialist will insert/implant a temporary filter into my main vein to prevent any potential clots from traveling to my lungs, heart and brain during and after my surgery, since I will be off blood thinners for a short duration.

This temporary filter will be removed as soon as my INR levels are back up between 2.0-3.0, the preferred blood thinness levels for people recovering from DVTs and PEs in an outpatient surgery. Once the ankle surgery is complete, they will keep me in the hospital for another day for observation.

I expect to be on crutches for 10 days before getting my staples removed. At that time, my foot will be places in a non-walking cast for 4 weeks followed by an air cast boot for 4 additional weeks, during which I expect to start my formal physical therapy. I really hope all goes well, so I can be on my rod to full recovery very very soon. Who knows, maybe I'll be back to running by April, just in time to continue the tradition of running the Cookie Dash 5 K. Only this time, she will be pacing me. Shoot, I'll probably be lucky to walk a 5K at that time, which would still be a great improvement over the last 3 months:-)

Recovery is my main goal and I am happy to take all the time necessary to get back to actual running.

14 January 2013

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My hematologist scheduled my follow up CT Scan (Angio Chest) for today to check whether the pulmonary emboli in my lungs had been significantly reduced in size or maybe even dissolved. This would allow him to contact my orthopedic surgeon to finally schedule reconstructive surgery for my ankle.

08 January 2013

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2013 is already looking very very good. I finally had my visit with the hematologist today to review all of the blood and genetic test results and it couldn't have goner better. Out of literally a dozen tests, none came back with indicators for any blood or genetic disorders that would be the cause for an increased risk of blood clots. It appears my PE and DVTs were caused solely due to my immobility as a result of the ankle injury.

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RACE CALENDAR

  • Mount Mitchell Heartbreaker 50M (Old Fort, NC) - March 23, 2024
  • Oak Mountain 50K (Birmingham, AL) - March 30, 2024
  • Southern States 200M (Delta, AL) April 12-16, 2024
  • Cocodona 250M (Black Canyon City, AZ) - May 6-11, 2024
  • Mohican 100M (Loudonville, OH) - June 1, 2024
  • Bighorn 100M (Dayton, WY) - June 14, 2024
  • Crazy Mountain 100M (Lennep, MT) - July 26, 2024
  • Eastern States 100M (Waterville, PA) - August 10, 2024
  • SwissPeaks 360 (Valais, Switzerland) - September 1-8, 2024
  • Indiana Trail 100M (Albion, IN) - October 12, 2024
  • Rim To River 100M (New River Gorge, WV) - November 2, 2024 (WAITLIST #99)
  • Charleston 100M (Mount Pleasant, SC) - December 27, 2024
  • The Montane Winter Spine 268M (Edale, UK) - January 12-19, 2025

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