One Foot In Front of the Other

Several weeks ago, a 65 year old man in our church was training for a triathlon.  He was hit by a car and was severely injured.  He is in rehab now and will be going home soon.  Everyone has been amazed by his recovery - he still has a long road to go BUT he has progressed far more rapidly than most of us would have progressed.  From what I understand, the doctors attribute this rate of recovery to the fact that he is in excellent shape from all of the exercise, etc.

Over the years, I have participated in various exercise options.  I was actually a pretty good volley ball player and an excellent kick ball player (a million years ago!).  I also played catcher on a church softball team for a couple of seasons.  My roommate, Karen, and I worked out at a local gym when we lived on Valley Avenue (I'm sure we were looking for guys!!)  I dated a guy (before Mark!) who was a runner and so I ran for a few years.  I even ran in the Vulcan Run - before metric . . .I think it was 3 miles maybe.  Actually, I was still running before Mark and I married.  After we married, I went to Jazzercise a couple of nights a week.  I took tennis lessons for a while when my kids were young (I was never good!).  For the five years or so before I went to work at the church, I went to water aerobics about 4 days a week.  I've been a "walker" on and off.

Where am I going with this litany???  I have a heel spur (pump bump) that has popped up this summer and I haven't been walking.  I've been feeling sluggish and tired.  I tried to rest it.  I tried to stretch it (I have very very very tight Achilles tendons and hamstrings - remember, I have hurt both hamstrings in the last few years).  I finally decided, "to hell with this!"

For the last month, I've been walking again.  I've been getting up at 5:15, putting on my shoes, and heading out into the neighborhood.  The first two weeks, I walked very slowly.  I found an older pair of tennis shoes in the closet and I cut the back out of one of the shoes so there would be no pressure on the pump bump.  I've been stretching REALLY WELL before and after walking.

I'm finally beginning to walk a little quicker and a little bit longer.

It is still dark at 5:15 when I normally walk but this morning, I didn't wake up until 6:15 or so and the sun was beginning to shine.

I've been putting one foot in front of the other!  After walking, I come in and strap an ice back around the back of my foot and put another ice pack on my lower back - it really helps!!

Our neighborhood is such a beautiful place to walk!!

I love how our house looked this morning.  The sun was shining between the houses across the street from us and shining right on our house!!

What do you do for exercise?  If anything ever happens to me, I want a shorter recovery time - let's get into better shape and live healthier!