This and That

Slowly, very slowly I am getting my life back to some sense of normal.

I managed last week to play golf an entire round of golf with some but not much discomfort. To paraphrase an Amex commercial.....

Toilet Paper, Baby Wipes and Extra Underwear in Golf Bag
Not having to use them ........................................... Priceless

Bad days still occur but they typically are less intense and somewhat more predictable.

Running is becoming a pure joy even if endurance still is somewhat of a problem. I am astounded by some of my training runs, I am not able to keep up with the strongest runners but I am beginning to hold my own. I have been tackling some difficult trail loops with good verticals and I'm seeing it pay off. I am also forcing myself (reluctantly) to run faster downhill. (My nemesis) I ran a seven mile loop yesterday afternoon, on wet slick trails, (after a hard five miler in the morning) averaging  just over nine minutes per mile.

Pain still haunts me in the areas of my incisions and in my "arrse" but it's typically a nuisance, fingertips are still sore but my feet, my feet have become my new body barometer !

To give you an idea, when I wake up I can almost feel all of my toes. I stand up and think, "Wow there they are!". I get up, sometimes take Patrick to work, return home to coffee and an English Muffin slathered in Peanut Butter (my new morning staple) just in time to escort Maggie to the bus. After Norm whisks Maggie away I come back to the house or the office to start my day. At this point my feet are still happy, responsive and kind.

Most mornings lack stress, (I imagine a benefit of a business running at half speed) yet a single phone call, an email from a client, perhaps impatient about delivery can send my feet to the "buzz zone". There are times that my feet will "Tell Me" I'm in stress even when I don't realize it. Take this evening, I was relaxed, my feet had been good to me all day even with an eight mile trail run. Time to take the kids to driving school ! Ut Oh, Maggie drove, quite frankly doing very well. No white knuckles but by the time I returned home most of my toes and the bottoms of both feet felt the heat and went asleep.

Now if I could bottle this kind of noticeable response how many lives could be changed ! Feeling stress that you could not otherwise notice.

I saw Mom on Friday when she came home, she looked great, as if nothing had even happened, this spoke volumes about who she is ad how damn lucky I am to be her son.

Mike





,


I