Walk A Mile In My Shoes

On Christmas morning, just as I had planned, I took a walk. My thought process was to walk one mile. It was going to be a banner morning for me. My first "real" activity besides riding a stationary bike and lifting weights since November 6. That night I skated a varsity game in Altoona and was the beginning of a long slow road. After the surprising loss of my walking boot on Monday I had planned a nice walk on our local middle school track for a mile.

As is typical with me, things didn't go exactly as I had planned. Due to some family circumstances that pushed our normal lunch gathering of family at our house back to dinnertime I was able to go on a walk with Becky and Sam. We headed out just before lunch and instead of walking on a track I was on my streets. The same streets that I have trained on for marathons for years.

It was weird walking at first and despite my enthusiasm I noticed that my calf muscle was not totally up to par. In addition, despite my miles and miles of pedaling that horrible contraption known as the stationary bike, my legs were weak as well on the downhill portion of the walk. Still, it felt great to be outside on a partly sunny but brisk morning.

By the time we reached our half-mile mark I began to get sharp stabbing pain in my heel just under the break area. I panicked at first and wondered if the bone was still broken. I sat on the curb and shifted my insoles around. We turned and headed for home. I was miserable and concerned. I couldn't even walk a mile without an issue. And it's not like I was even walking fast. My wife and my dog had to wait for me. I felt helpless and frustrated. But I knew this wouldn't be easy from the get-go. I would push on and do it again. That day was today.

With temperatures in the low 60's it was a great day to head out the door. While Becky went shopping with her mom I headed out with Sam and we decided to make it a boys day walk. Sam did a great job waiting for me and followed my slow pace. The stabbing pains showed up again and this time within the first two-tenths of a mile. They weren't as bad and I pushed through them noticing that my calf was really sore and weak. No doubt this is a bout of plantar fasciitis. I'm convinced it's not the bone. I'm convinced that is healed. This is about building strength in my legs, and specifically my calves which will strengthen the feet. Today was a better day but was another sign of just how far away I am from running without worry and reaching my goals. Funny how those change with your circumstances. A year ago, the talk was all about Boston. Now I'm talking about walking a mile. Truth be told, I'm ahead of my own schedule of where I thought I might be by now. Boston will reappear soon enough. For now, I celebrate each mile of walkin' in these shoes.