That'll Teach Me to Stay On the Couch*

Back in January, Aaron joined a local running group in an effort to get in better shape and to train for a 10K. He did such an awesome job, and surpassed his goal, running a half-marathon distance a couple of times (and planning to sign up for a half sometime soon). I am super proud of him, and also super impressed. He did so great, and runs regularly at an under 9 minutes per mile pace, no matter the distance. He ran a 10K at the end of May and killed it!

So, following his lead, and wanting to get in better shape, too, I signed up for the running group, and official training starts Saturday morning. However, there were some unofficial training events this week, including a promotional trail run that Aaron was also interested in, so we decided to go for that run on Tuesday night.

We got to the park, and I was super excited and motivated to do this thing! Aaron had the girls in the stroller, so he was walking/jogging while I ran on ahead. I was making great time and was a half mile into the trail, when disaster/a tree root struck, and I sprained my ankle. Bad. Excuse the grossness of this (and the picture below), but there was a crunching sound. I thought for sure I had broken my ankle.

Thankfully, there is an x-ray equipped redi-med right outside the park where we were running so, after walking that 1/2 mile back out of the woods (OUCH!) Aaron drove me right there. In the picture (again, sorry for the grossness) the top-left picture is how my ankle looked immediately after the fall. Not too promising for a minor injury, right? The doctor said he was impressed by the swelling, and that it's not good to impress a doctor. They took x-rays and determined that the bones look fine, but I definitely have a bad sprain. I'm on the RICE (Rest - Ice - Compression - Elevation) plan, and have an air cast and crutches (if I need them), and it's starting to look better (the other three shots are how it looked yesterday - the swelling isn't completely gone, but it's much better). The bruising was new as of yesterday.



So, my plans for training are on hold for the time-being. I can't believe I did this a half-mile into my first run, and I'm super mad at myself, even though I know it was an accident. Aaron keeps telling me not to beat myself up about it, but I can't help it. I'm feeling a little depressed because, not only can I not run, I really can't do anything right now, and I feel helpless, which I totally hate. Aaron is being super awesome about running the house, but I can also tell he's stressed, so between the stress and the self-pity we both have short tempers right now, which sucks.

I'm already plotting how to make this up to him, and so far my ideas include sending him up to hang out with his brother and go fishing or something. Or perhaps buy him a nice 6 pack of beer and take the girls out so he can play video games for an afternoon or evening. Whatever it is, I owe him a huge debt.

*This has been our running joke, but rest assured: I will get back off the couch as soon as I can.