Running once again

And not for office...actual running.

Those of you who've been with this blog for a while know that I'm missing a foot and part of a leg courtesy of an on-the-job accident not quite two years ago courtesy of a woman driver who wasn't paying attention. Well it's spun me into a different vocational path but it hasn't curtailed my drive to get back to what I was before--a motorcycle rider, small plane pilot, distance runner and street cop. I don't post about it much these days, mainly due to a stalker from my police days who found this blog after tracking to this site from some posts I put on a website for folks with disabilities shortly after the accident. To my shame, I reacted by pulling from this site any references to my injury and recovery and I was wrong to do so because I know that there are others out there who lose limbs or otherwise suffer debilitating injures and search the internet to find others who've been where they now find themselves. I haven't been available to those people for a while now and that's not right. Screw the stalker. I know he's still around and in due time I will name him and tell the whole story but for now I'm just going to go on talking about new milestones in my recovery because it is a source of pride for me and possible inspiration to other people in a similar situation.

A couple of weeks ago, I finally got a good running foot made and fitted. It took a while because they have to be custom made and they're non-adjustable--the height and alignment have to be perfect, and I mean within half an inch or so. The first week-end I had it, I took it out to a local high school and tried to run with it on their track. But alas, I hadn't run in almost two years and I couldn't even make a quarter mile before I had to stop. This was not what I'd expected as I used to run 3-5 miles per day.

But after taking time to mull it over, I realized that I'd tried to run too far and too fast and that there was no way that I could start out at or near my old pace, especially with a totally new and different foot that still needed a bit of final tweaking. So I had the foot re-shaped a bit by my prosthetist and I started out a bit slower, using the treadmill in the Lair. Now this treadmill has been sitting idle for almost two years, serving as little more than a coat rack and basically mocking me. However I passed up opportunities to sell it because I knew that as long as it was still here, eventually I'd be back to running on it. And now I am. I started out with a slow quarter-mile and I've been on it every day before going to work, each day going for a little more distance and a little faster pace. After two weeks, I'm back up to a mile and a half, although my pace is pretty sad at an eleven-minute mile. (I used to run eights and could keep that pace up for a while.) But I am on the way back and I'm already looking at running in a ten-mile race this coming fall. I'm also going for my FAA medical exam and starting the process to regain my pilot's license. Hell, if Douglas Bader could fly fighters with two metal legs back in World War Two, there's no reason that I can't fly a simple Cessna with just one much more modern one today. My preliminary medical exam is Wednesday.

It's a long road back, but I'm well on the way.

Oh--and I will be buying another motorcycle one of these days too. I still haven't ridden one out to California and back like I've always wanted to. Maybe I'll even get a sidecar for Lagniappe so he can come too.