Laid Up, Laid Out

Well, Arthur the ugly ankle-cyst is officially gone. It took less than an hour to remove the little bugger, and I slept through the whole thing. And now I can officially say I've gone under the knife once in my life.

However, it turns out that the procedure was a bit trickier than I had thought it would be. I anticipated bed rest and elevation for maybe a day or so, and maybe walking with a limp for a week. Dr. Lowery had told me I'd be back running again in 2-3 weeks, tops. Well, that was overly generous. I have a huge boot-like splint on my left leg from the knee down, plus a full-length compression sock on my right leg to help prevent clots. Why might I clot, you ask? Because I'm supposed to stay off of my feet for TEN DAYS. We're talking crutches, wide-legged pajama pants, and sponge baths for the entire rest of Christmas break. UGH. And now he says I can run again in "about a month."

Needless to say, I'm bummed. We're cancelling our New Year's Eve party, waving off the company we had coming to town, and putting off the job of putting the enclosure on the kids' new trampoline (a Christmas present). I may even take off the first day back to school, as that's when the doc wants to take the boot off.

The main thing is, I've gotta run at least once in January. I only have one month of zero miles in the logs out of the past 120. I have a brand-new clean running log and a gift certificate for a new pair of Asics. I was just starting to get excited about hitting the roads again. Oh, yeah, and track practice starts (supposedly) on the 22nd. I guess I won't be demonstrating many drills the first week.

This was supposed to be a small cosmetic problem with an equally-small solution. What a royal pain! Speaking of pain, I guess I'd better go elevate my boot.