I'm back.

By the way, someone has pointed out that my two previous posts were on some sort of delay, so you, dear Reader (I've always wanted to say that!), might want to go back 2 posts and read those.

So, I slept in my running shorts on Monday night.  I set out the rest of my running gear, tested my Garmin pedometer (wish I'd had that on that fateful run that seems so very long ago), made sure my brand new Asics Gel Nimbus 9 (that just sounds so cool!) shoes were laced and ready, set out 2 Advil, actually put on my favorite running shorts, and went to bed.  Dropped off immediately.  Woke up at around 10:45pm (I tried to stay on east coast time while I was out there to avoid jet lag) and tossed down a few bread sticks, then went right back to sleep.  Woke up for good at 4:30 am, and got ready to go.  Then it hit me - it's still nighttime.  Heh heh.

I read through the conference notes for the entire day (I know, I 'm a tremendous nerd) before I remembered that hotel rooms come with cable television.  We don't have cable at home, so having so much TV on hand is really a bizarre experience for me.  Anyway - I whiled the time away just until it was light enough to see clearly - and hit the road, exactly as Andy prescribed.  I did 1/2 mile warm-up, which was tentative.  Not a twitch or a twinge in the leg.  I stretched and stretched and stretched, then stepped out for the rest of my 3-mile run.

It was amazing.  For old time's sake, my lungs really gave me a hard time:  "We don't want to go running right now!"  "Well, you don't really have a choice."  "We don't want to!"  "You have to."  "No!"  "Yes!"  "No!" "OK, fine.   You just sit here on this nice street corner, and I'll be back later to pick you up.  Don't touch the oleander."  A mile later I coughed up the dregs of 14 liters of unfiltered airplane "air" and my lungs then decided to get back in the game.  So Wendy 2, lungs zero.

But my legs!  My legs felt great.  Stupendous.  Strong.  Pain-free.  Resilient.  And YOUNG.  It felt so wonderfully amazing to be running again, and to be running pain-free, that I forgot to turn around halfway through.  I'M RUNNING!  I FEEL GREAT!  I kept checking with my body as I went, and after a time even the ol' windbags were singing instead of screaming.  I went an extra mile before I realized that I had better start heading back.  In the end, I walked almost a mile back to the hotel, but I was well and truly elated.  I stretched after 5 minutes (and it took that long for my heart rate to get below 100 bpm again), and stretched some more when I arrived back in my room.  I stopped by the conference breakfast buffet before going back, and what a layout!  They must have known I really had something to celebrate that morning.

Of course, this all couldn't be just a plain old, glorious return to pain-free running.  About an hour later, my shin started to hurt.  Not like it did before, but enough for me to call Andy with an update.  His advice: ice, twice, and be careful.  I sat with ice on my leg for about an hour during the radiology portion of the conference, though I felt silly wearing jeans and my old Mizunos (my dear old running shoes which have been, sniff, elevated to the position of cross-training shoes) with my leg propped up on top of my briefcase on the chair next to me, and covered in paper cups filled with ice.  The rest of the day was uneventful, though crossing LAX was a bit of a chore even though I was still wearing my old running shoes.  (That in itself was bizarre - when's the last time I work workout shoes for anything but working out?)  I found a sports bar in the airport and met a really nice lady who was happy to fill up a Ziploc bag for me with ice, which I kept on my leg for another hour before boarding the red-eye to Newark.  The next morning, there was still some twingeing going on when I headed to work.  And yes, I am a glutton for punishment, showing up at the hospital just 2 hours after getting off the plane.  Thankfully my medicine brain was still in high gear, and I'd gotten plenty of sleeeeepppppp while I was in California - cases went smoothly all morning.  Still - I was worried about overtaxing the leg again, so I wimped out and went for some more elliptical cross-training that evening.  I really stepped up the workout and was huffing and puffing for 4-1/2 "miles," and felt great after the workout.  I planned to run if I got anything that even remotely resembled a break on Thursday, but since that's my surgery day I'm usually lucky to toss some food down my gullet before appointments start in the afternoon.

Friday was a big day and I decided to run on a treadmill at the gym.  I warmed up on a bike, and took some perverse pleasure in doing so.  My body has a good memory, and all those saddle spots were still sore -- but oh, was it bliss to be able to warm up on a stationary bike that was actually made some time in this century.  I did The Stick - and for those of you who are running, or recovering from injury, or simply want a really good massager, you've got to check out The Stick - then stretched, then hit the treadmill.  I did just 2.5 miles, at a really easy pace (12 min. mile), and again - it was BLISS.  Even inside.  Even on a treadmill.  Even with the silly Food Channel, 3 news stations, a soap opera, and ESPN Five or whatever pounding my eyeballs from the television bank right in front of me.  After the run - more Stick, more stretching, and then home -- to find all the water turned off by the plumbers who were installing our new bathtub.  No glorious shower for me, so I immediately smeared on loads of Tiger Balm (ancient Chinese secret, endorsed many moons ago by none other than Joe Montana for various muscular aches and pains) and wrapped that leg up snug as a bug in a rug in a 4" Ace bandage.  I never thought that growing up on the back of a horse, and all that competitive 3-day eventing, and especially all those Pony Club bandaging lessons would come in handy in exactly this way, but there you have it.  You never know what tools you've been given earlier in life until you get to a place where you need them; I do lovely bandages, and now I'm really reaping the benefits.

It was definitely a dress-down day, just so I could wear Mizuno 1 and 2 all day and give my legs a break.  I kept that bandage on for, oh, 7 hours -- and when I finally took it off I panicked because of the pain - until I realized that it was probably Tiger Balm overdose that had made my skin and muscles a bit, ah, warm.  The rest of the evening, the leg felt good.  Not perfect, but honestly really good.  Today, leg still felt good.  I met Andy for my twice-weekly thrashing, and now, seven hours later, it still feels good.  Really good.  Still not perfect, but I really think we're getting there.  Tomorrow?  I'm doing 4.5 miles, on a treadmill (and someone please call me to remind me to bring my iPod so I have something to distract me from the TV), and I'm wrapping that leg up right after.  Hopefully I'll even get a shower this time.

The next 4 weeks are critical to see if I'll be able to hold up to the rest of training, and during the marathon.  Andy is encouraged that my leg doesn't hurt - at all - while I'm running.  He said I probably can't expect to be pain-free, but as long as it's not hurting during a run I'm doing all right.

Here's to 'all right' and beyond.