Work Paying Off!

How is it going, my dearest friends???

I'm doing pretty darn well. I got to go to PARIS! And Brussels! Yup, nothing to complain about.

Well, I did complain about at the start of the trip. The stupid ankle hurt like "all get out" after the first day of walking around the city. I even cried a little bit at the end of the day. While, logically, I understood that it was only 7 months since my surgery and walking so much was a big step, emotionally I was getting out of hand: "IT WILL NEVER, EVER AGAIN -- EVER -- FEEL LIKE I HAVE A NORMAL LEG!!! POOR MEEEE! WHAAAH!" Yup, something embarrassing like that.

But then after a good night of solid sleep, I felt like one ungrateful pig. The pain disappeared completely. It was just a matter of resting and getting adjusted. In fact, at the end of the trip, after the full 6 days of walking and walking and walking, something amazing happened with my ankle. It felt so much better! It felt (and still feels) so much closer to the way it used to be before the injury.

As I've said before, this recovery has been everything but intuitive. I could only overcome the pain of walking by pushing myself and walking more than I thought I needed. I could only regain the flexibility in the joint by stretching a lot more than I thought I needed, despite the mind-numbing pain. Everything has been counter-intuitive.

The most intuitive thing was not doing anything at all, haha! With the amount of pain I was facing after surgery, the last thing I wanted to do was feel more pain. The last thing I wanted to do was feel discomfort, do those range of motion exercises, put weight on my leg, walk, go up and down the stairs. The most intuitive thing was to curl up in bed and wait for the leg to heal on its own. But it doesn't work that way at all. You've got to work, work, work.

And I guess what matters the most is that the work pays off, really does.


I am running in 1 minute intervals now. It's amazing how out of shape I am. But the work is paying off. I no longer think about the ankle. I'm just running!

Have a good weekend!