You can take Steve out of the woods, but you can't keep him intact.
Last week, I managed to hit myself in the head with a stick and I wasn't on a trail staring at my feet. No, I was chasing woodpeckers away from the wood trim on my house. They scatter at first, but eventually one gets brave and refuses to flee; one hopped from the house to a maple tree a few feet away, so I picked up a stick, threw it at him (or her) and the stick caromed off two branches and came back directly into my face. Nothing serious, but facial wounds do bleed a lot.
I expected the speed training was going to take a toll on me and the one day of sprinting did trash my legs, but I felt I was holding up nicely - for an old wreck held together with duct tape and baling wire. Running on my toes has brought back old plaguing Achilles tendon injuries; I'd forgotten them, but being old companions, they came back to me as if no time had elapsed.
Yesterday, I mowed the lawn (yawn). I once measured it in my more obsessive days and it's a 3 mile walk. Afterward, my right heel hurt. For the medicos out there, it's a result of Haglund's deformity. [I Googled for a picture, but couldn't find one nearly as bad as mine.] Later, it really hurt. Hurt enough I couldn't sleep. And I didn't have that problem with last year's broken bones!
At 3 AM, my foot packed in ice and my system full of painkillers, I started to worry, as it was getting worse. Looks like I ruptured a bursa, which is better than a tendon rupture, but still a pretty bad thing to do.
7 hours later, I was walking without much pain. Go figure.
Never ending rain
1 day ago
6 comments:
I was chasing woodpeckers .... They scatter at first, but eventually one gets brave and refuses to flee; one hopped from the house to a maple tree a few feet away, so I picked up a stick, threw it at him (or her) and the stick caromed off two branches and came back directly into my face.
Far be it from me to laugh at your pain, Steve, and I really hope you're all recovered and everything, but are you sure you didn't steal this plot from like every Woody the Woodpecker cartoon I watched as a kid? I don't mind plagiarism, but, frankly, I expect better from you.
As punishment, you must endure the plagiarized cadence of my laugh:
hahaha HA ha! hahaha HA ha! Guess who?!
Seriously, though - try not to kill yourself. Your blog posts get me through the more boring periods at work. (Those periods generally lasting from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.)
Note, I didn't say stop hurting yourself, because that leads directly to some of your most compelling post material.
Just don't kill yourself.
I just googled "haglund's deformity" and came across something interesting. This from FootPhysicians.com: "Haglund’s deformity is often called “pump bump” because the rigid backs of pump-style shoes can create pressure that aggravates the enlargement when walking. In fact, the deformity is most common in young women who wear pumps."
Care to share anything else in your blog?
All kidding aside, I enjoy reading your blog!
I only admit to wearing pumps once. There was the Ginger Rogers race (from "Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, backwards and in high heels."); 100 meters, backwards, in heels. I won (was) the men's division. My size in women's shoes are hard to find - turns out there are places that specialize for transvestites!
BTW, I'm taking a couple of days off, decided not to schedule surgery on the heel (which was recommended 25 years ago) and will give a try at running Eagle Moutain in under an hour before hosting an aid station at the Superior Trail this weekend.
Let me tell you my Haglund's story. 20 years ago my left Achilles tendon was so atritic from being rubbed that it tore most of the way through. The next year it was no better, so I underwent surgery to reconstruct the tendon and cut off the Haglund's bump. I needed a second surgery in 1991 to make the damn thing heal completely. It still acts up from time to time, like right now; but I did manage to get my marathoning going again from the late 90s until 2007. My right heel started misbehaving in 1996 and so I had the Hagulund's pro-actively removed and it has been fine ever since.
DCS, I have trouble making the mental leap of medical advancement since my sister had her heel surgery about 35 years ago; it seemed like she was on crutches forever and was wearing flip-flops in the snow to avoid irritation.
I'm so used to the problem now that I tend to ignore it.
G, I often wonder if my life is especially stupid, or if I'm just more willing to admit my foibles. And I only watch classic cartoons if they were done by Ub Iwerks.
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