100th Blog Post!

I noticed this day drawing near and got nervous.  Here I am injured and my 100th post should be a happy post, full of excitement at how far I've come, right?  

First things first, my very first blog post back in March.  Oh yea, I have gotten to 100 already and I just started blogging in March. Motormouth.   I didn't even post a photo in that first blog post, I really had barely any clue what I was doing, just wanted to document my journey!  

My second post, I RUN, was actually my first real post, explaining my past experience with running and what got me started running again.  If you have oodles of time, check it out! 

It's bittersweet reading these posts and seeing myself talk about my struggles with injuries and to be injured again.  I wonder if I will just always have an injury?  The very very very good news this morning is that I RAN!!!  We headed to the gym this morning and I ran 30 minutes with no pain.  I took it at a slow pace and you will all be happy to know that I actually wore a SHOE and not a flip flop:

You will have to excuse the quality, when we got back I had Dallas take this pic and it was raining and dark.  I'm pointing at my shoe because I did some shoe "surgery" in order to make it possible to run with my shoe.  

So, I'm not in pain most of the time, but the problem has been when I slip the shoe on.  The back of the heel rubs right on my heel and it hurts.  Since I had an extra pair of shoes that I got for 35$, I decided to do something a bit drastic.  I found other runners online that did this, I didn't come up with it on my own.  
The supplies:

It was actually harder to cut the heel than I anticipated and I wish I had an exacto, but I didn't, so I just winged it.  I was going to cut more than this, but it felt low enough that it wouldn't bother me slipping it on, so I didn't try to cut more off.  The heel hurts lower than where I cut off, but apparently it's just putting the shoe on that irritates it.

I know, insane, right?  What a girl will do to be able to run! 

Since that's just terribly ugly, I got some duct tape.  I picked the pigs flying and thought it fit my theme...I'll quit running when PIGS FLY! ;) 

Taped it up and shoe surgery is done! 

I also put some inserts in the heel to raise my heel a little.  The research I have been doing seems to conclude that my minimal drop shoes (4mm Brooks Pure Flow) may be what caused the achilles bursitis.  I don't want to try and get new shoes right now since the injury is not totally better, so raising the heel a bit seemed like a good solution.  When I first started running this morning, I wasn't sure this was going to work, I was worried it was going to slip too much, but it was fine!  

I felt so alive running, I had a grin from ear to ear...except when I was crying b/c I was so overjoyed to be running and in no pain!  I was also really happy to see I had not lost all my stamina.   I've taken my Aleve and I'll be careful the next couple days since it's after the running that it swells and causes problems, but I'm ready to jump back into a modified training plan! (more on that next time) 

For now, I want to stop talking your ear off and just finish reflecting what all this means to me.  I could probably make a list of all the things I have learned in the last 100 posts, there are many.   When I was running this morning though, I was thinking of one thing again and again.  I think my biggest lesson is that this is a journey and I will take it as a runner.  I AM a runner, regardless of whether I'm running 20 miles in a week or 0.  It's a part of me and there are going to be many many bumps in the road along the way.  That's all they are though.  I have to take them for what they are, adjust, be patient, and KNOW that I will run again, I will race, I will train, and sometimes I'll be injured.  

I don't know what tomorrow will bring, I don't even know if I'll run Wednesday like planned, but for now that's my intention.  If I can't, then it's just another blip on my journey to learn from.  Either way, I'll do it as a runner, b/c that is what I am.