This Year!

I'm definately saying "good-bye" to this year and welcoming next! I am finally about 99% pain-free. I can still find the pain occasionally and HAVE to use a pillow to prop my leg up at night, but all in all, I feel completely normal. I am running fairly difficult single-track trail runs now. Marc and I enjoyed a 6 miler yesterday with the dogs. My distance continues to stick around that mark, but I WILL do 7 miles before December ends. I have signed up for a series of races that begins at a 10K distance and 4 races later, ends at a 20K distance - adding 2 miles every two weeks. Marc and I reflected this last weekend on this series last year: we ran it with Halee as training for her half-marathon. Her half-marathon was the last big thing I did before deciding to go to the doctor in last March. So in February, I will be up to 12+ miles and ready to begin marathon training right after.

I am better than I thought I would ever be. I run consistently at a 9-9:15 minute pace. I had hoped for below 10:00, but feared 12:00. I have been working on hills on EVERY run. My uphill is slowly improving while there is not much, nor will there ever be, much success on the down. I have been told to be careful, and my natural fear of getting reinjured makes it impossible to go crazy.

I think I am better than my doctor or PT ever thought I would be. I am just over 5 months post-op (Dec. 8) and back to normal. Dr. White will be doing my 6 month post-op over the phone since everything is going well. I can't wait to tell him how great things are going.

I am looking forward to a fun-filled, relaxing, adventurous 2011!