Training: Day 1

Okay, so today is New Year's Day.  The weather is beautiful: overcast and about 55 degrees.  It's been two weeks since I broke the pinkie toe on my right foot.  It only bothers me at night if I accidentally fall asleep with it pressed into the mattress and it hasn't hurt at all today.  My husband is working outside and the kids are playing at the trampoline, so I think maybe I'll drive up to the park and see how my toe feels with a little walking.  Mattie wants to train with me, but she spent New Year's Eve with her friend and isn't home yet.  She'll probably be sad that I went without her, but I really want to get started.

I'm back now.  Here's what happened:

When I got to the park, there were about 200 people there, determined to keep their New Year's weight-loss resolutions.  I might be exaggerating a little on the number of people who were there, but there really were a lot of over-weight people with determined expressions and new ipods huffing and puffing along the path.  Benton is a fairly small town and I didn't want to have to spend the next 30 minutes smiling and nodding and saying, "How are you?" over and over to the same people (because in the South, it doesn't matter if you nodded and smiled at Mrs. So-and-So 10 minutes ago, if you pass her again, you must speak again as if it's been ages since you saw her last or else you will be thought of as rude or snobbish).  So, instead of entering the park, I crossed the street and decided to walk around the schools.

Benton has 4 public elementary schools, 1 middle school, 1 junior high school and 1 high school. This particular block of land is host to Angie Grant Elementary School, Benton Junior High School and Benton High School, and it has a continuous paved sidewalk surrounding all 3 school campuses.  So, I plugged Jeff's ipod Shuffle into my ears and started walking.  I only crossed paths with 1 grouchy-looking older man, 1 elderly couple who were bundled up in case of a possible snow storm, and 3 yippy, yet harmless, dogs.  I completed the circle (okay, rectangle) in 20 minutes.  I had intended to walk for at least 30 minutes and my toe was still feeling great, so I decided to go around again and try to add in some jogging as long as my little injured appendage didn't object.

In all, it took me 36 minutes to go around the schools twice and my toe wasn't hurting at all!  I stretched out and then decided to use the trip set on my Suburban's odometer to measure the distance I had covered.  2.3 miles.  2.3 miles on a broken toe in 36 minutes.  Sounded like a success to me!  I dialed my brother's cell phone so he could give me a much-deserved pat on the back.  Just as his phone began to ring, a stabbing pain shot up my right leg.  I may have failed to mention before that I took a dose of prescription pain medication about 30 minutes before I headed out on this little excursion.  Could be possible that it was starting wear off...

I came home, showered, and am now sitting with my foot propped up logging this info into my training journal.  My toe is still hurting a little, but not as badly as I was afraid it was going to. And, no, I haven't taken anymore pain meds to mask it, so what I'm feeling is really what I'm feeling.  I'm pretty sure I can do this:)