Good News! I went to PT today for the fist time and was told that I can start slowly running tonight. I was also told that I can participate in the St. George Marathon. I won't get the time I wanted, but at least I wont be sidelined. I start tonight with some walk/run sets to test out the ankle. If it doesn't hurt I can proceed to increase slow miles. The therapist said that he thinks I will be able to pick up the pace and put in more miles within a few weeks time. Fingers crossed. PM: 3.18 miles; 12:36 per mile avg. The PT told me that pain should be my guide. If it hurts stop. Then he gave me program that was supposed to help get me back into running. He gave it to me with the caveat that I probably wouldn't need to go quite as slow as it recommended. The plan called for 40 minutes spaced into run/walk intervals. 4 minutes walking followed by 1 minute running. He told me that I should complete this workout as stated, then if I felt alright I could take it up a notch and do 2 minutes running. But he also started this conversation with that caveat..... I stuck with the plan for the first 20 minutes. At that point I had run 4 times and had no pain. The terrain was flat and I was antsy so I upped the running time from 1 minute to 2. That didn't last long either. In fact, I did that only once. Then I upped it to 3 minutes running and 2 minutes walking. I felt great, even in the afternoon heat. So nice to be out running again. I never had any pain even at 3 minutes. We'll see if it is stiff at all in the morning. If not I plan on doing it again tomorrow, starting at 3 minutes running and seeing where that gets me. The therapist told me I had to stay off trails and uneven ground until after October 6th so I wont be doing anything crazy for a while. But if my ankle heals well I plan on running as much steep asphalt as I can between now and October. Preferably at elevation. If anyone has any suggestions for where I might do that I would greatly appreciate the input.
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