THOU SHALT BE A COMEBACK

First 10-miler ever today! 1:30:27 with about a two minute negative split, so I am happy about that. Had water at mile 5 and at mile 7.5. I had planned to eat a few jelly beans when I swung by mile mailbox at mile 5, but the jellybeans were frozen so I just drank water.  My husband met me at 7.5 with some more water, and then on home.   All in all I felt pretty good the whole time, but really had to push to keep the pace up the last two miles.   It was pleasantly chilly today, 33 degrees with a slight wind causing a 24 degree wind chill factor.  The wind didn't bother me until about the 8th mile when I was running north right into it--it wore me out and maybe that is why I struggled a bit the last two miles.

5.8 nice and easy today. I am surprisingly not sore from yesterday but I forced myself to run slowly and enjoy the run. The weather was beautiful and I used a route I do not run often because there is a mile stretch of road with big rocks and big loose gravel that does not pack down--very tricky footing and hidden potholes so I have to run looking down quite often. I was approached by one dog so I had to stop and walk for a few minutes while he ambled along curiously and eventually stopped and watched me for a while before going back to his land. There are lots of free-roaming dogs around here so I am quite used to having my runs briefly interrupted by curious and sometimes playful or hostile dogs. I don't take any chances and always slow to a walk--one dog bite was enough for me to learn my lesson. On the routes I use more often the dogs have gotten used to me coming by and often don't even bother to run down and harass me anymore.

7 miles today at a comfortable but not leisurely pace. Toward the end I had to run in long grass in the ditch to get away from traffic and rolled my l ankle. It doesn't really hurt much but I could tell I was limp-running the rest of the run. Now I can't walk without limping no matter how hard I try. The pain is on the l lateral side just underneath and behind the bony knob. I'm hoping ice and rest today take care of it. Time for run was 1:04:09--about 9:10 pace.

I didn't run today and it stinks.  I was limping around on my ankle all night at work last night.  It is not swollen or bruised so surely it is a minor sprain.  I iced it at all opportunities.  Today I got up and still could not walk without limping.  I tried jogging down the hallway and it was a no go.  So here I am taking a day off that I do not want to take off.  The pain seems to have moved more toward the back of my ankle.  I read online that you could run on a mildly sprained ankle with proper support after 24-48 hours.   I'm going to get an ace wrap today and ice it as much as I can and maybe tomorrow jog a few miles...I hope.  If not, I will have to air up the tires on my bike and hope it doesn't ice over the roads anytime soon!  I am loathe to lose any of the conditioning I have worked so hard to get--I think that is my big fear right now!  

Ankle still hurts.  Still limping.  Still can't run.  I got on an elliptical machine for 45 minutes today and kept my heart rate around 170-180 for most of it.  It's not the same as running but now I am just desperate to maintain some cardiovascular fitness because I have a feeling it will be at least a few weeks before this ankle lets me run again.  Kinda depressing.  I'm keeping an eye on my diet more closely, and will probably start doing some strength training--anything to ward off weight gain. 

On another note,  Halloween was awesome!  After the church party my husband and I took tinkerbell and the ninjas to our friends bonfire and they all had a plast.  Tinkerbell was standing in the back of a pickup trick proudly handing out ribs and chips to people coming by, and jabbing with one of the ninja's foam swords.  Pretty funny for a 30 inch tall fairy!  My ninjas were doing ninja stuff by the fire.  We stayed out way too late(midnight) but everyone had a great time.