Somewhat emboldened by the one mile run yesterday and day before, tried to stretch myself and did a two mile run today. Still kept the run slow. Was able to finish out without the calf muscle pain coming back.
I have to isolate the cause for the original injury – whether it was the quick buildup of miles in September or the new shoe I was trying. (For now, I am using an old pair of shoes).
To test out how much the calf has recovered, I gingerly put in a mile of very slow run. In fact, it was split into two runs of half mile each with two more miles of walk. The good news is that the leg held up fine. Did quite some stretching after that to take no chances…
Here is to hoping the long road to recovery has started…
Since I cannot run with the calf injury still nagging me, went for a walk instead. In about half a mile, I face a choice of wading thru really muddy waters or turning back and doing a pendulum-esque simple harmonic motion between the starting point and water’s edge till I reached three miles. Pendulum it was!!
After taking the tumble, cursory testing by pressing and prodding ruled out any possibility of broken bones. Just that the right hand was a little painful. I was more afraid that if I packed up and went home, I will have an insurmountable fear of coming back.
After a couple of minutes of rest, went back to the spot and kept trying. Obviously I was inordinately afraid and focused on not falling again. The first three attempts, I aborted before re-mounting. Succeeded with the fourth one eventually.
Here is the first successful re-mount.
Let this be a warning to all 54 year olds trying to learn how to skateboard!
Tried practicing how to mount off, push with left leg and mount on again (and keep repeating). Within five minutes took a fall. Front foot was too far forward – the board pivoted on front wheels and swung – throwing me off the board.
Scraped some skin and the right palm and middle finger hurt for some time (the right arm hit the concrete first) – but after a few hours, I was okay.
Fortunately, I had chosen a time when nobody was there to laugh at me.
Need to go back there soon and try again…
Had an enjoyable ride up in the mountains today with John. The section between Faussett Lake and Burnt Mountain was brilliantly colored. Just last week, this stretch was all green. All the colorful leaves had fallen due to Zeta.
The Youtube video does not do justice to the colors (blurring due to reduction of file size).
