I am now just three days past the 5 month anniversary of my accident, and due to the very nice weather we are having these days, I felt like it was high time to go out for my first run since before my fall. As a point of reference, I slipped on ice on 9-Jan-2003 and broke my right Fibula and severely dislocated my right foot. The break required some hardware, which was put in about seven hours later. Following the surgery, I was NWB for 6 weeks, and PWB to FWB in an Air Cast for the next 4 weeks. Prior to the break, I had been in fairly good shape and was running between 30 to 40 miles per week.

Here I am, 5 months later, and I have yet to have any substantive exercise (other than LOTS of crutch work for the first 6 weeks) what with my very busy travel schedule (I have already logged over 52,000 airline miles since my injury), and as such, I have gained well over 20 pounds. :-( The good news is that even though my ROM in the ankle is still quite limited, it has proven to be just enough (barely) to "Shuffle Jog" on a moderately soft dirt surface for about 2.3 miles, which I did for the first time 6 days ago, then again 3 days ago, and yet again this afternoon. ;-) Interestingly enough, even though the ankle feels quite stiff, it does not hurt (real bad anyway), it turns out that my lungs and muscles are the limiting factor. I guess given the nature of my injury, I should be fairly pleased that I have been able to go as far as I have, however, by the end of the run, I feel as if I had just run 10 miles at a 7:30 clip (trust me, it was far from that pace).

Now, ten hours plus after my third run, I am very stiff, so much so that walk is quite difficult. The good news is that my ankle does not hurt (unless I try to bend it), and oddly enough, it is less swollen now (at midnight) than it has ever been at this time of day since I first got my cast off.

There were times that I was worried that I would never be able to run any kind of distance again, I am sure that the majority of y’all have had similar fears about "Not being able to do X again." I am now feeling confident that by this time next year (at the latest), I will be back to my regular workout routine. ;-)

Best Regards,
Dale