Friday, January 29, 2010

Random Thoughts About Other People Running, PTTD, and Surf City

While driving to and from the grocery store early last Sunday morning and seeing people running, I was so tempted to do the same. My common sense got the better of me and the little voice in my head told me it would not be a good idea running two days in a row after Saturday’s two hour plus run (besides I hardly do two days in a row anymore because of my bad ankles). So I went back home and did the stationary bike for an hour and 20 minutes. In that amount of time, I almost finished reading the whole Sunday newspaper including the ads

Seeing all those runners made me stop and think. Why are these people running? Are they training for a race? Are they just running for recreation and exercise? What are their running goals and aspirations? Myself, I just run for exercise and to get the endorphin fix. Funny thing is that the endorphins I generate during a run helps anesthetize the pain in my ankles but it’s the run itself that caused the pain in the first place. At least the pain is blunted for a couple of hours post run if I don’t overstretch the tendons during the run. When I do overstretch the tendon, this is how it feels: it pulls at the seams as if it’s being torn apart. I don’t know how much pain a woman goes through while having a baby, but my pain might be pretty close at its worst.

I’ve been finding out more and more about PTTD (posterior tibialis tendon dysfunction) from the internet over the past year. Eventually aside from tendon damage you also get ligament damage in that area of the foot. So that’s something not to look forward to in the near future. I’ve also learned that PTTD ankle braces are not meant for running, but just to stabilize the ankles for walking and not even for fast walking. I’m finding use for my Aircast PTTD brace though (I blogged about it here: http://noeldlp.blogspot.com/2009/08/aircast-pttd-brace.html). I wear it after icing my ankle to keep it stabilized and compressed while I putter around at home, and also use it at work for the right ankle plus a soft brace for the left ankle. They cut down the side to side motion of the ankles.

Another temptation arose Monday morning. Someone from AREC sent an email offering her Surf City Half Marathon bib number for sale because she couldn’t run it. I considered contacting her when I found out that I was actually off from work on race day. I had assumed all along that I had to work that weekend because in at least the past seven Super Bowl Sundays, I was always working. They must have moved the Super Bowl one week later this year. The feeling of being tempted has passed.

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