Walking back to Happiness....

Friday 22/12/06:
As my Mum is now on holiday - and with my sister in the house so Courtney wasn't alone, Mum decided to accompany me on my walk this morning and we headed out at 6am for 40mins.
It was nice to have some company for a change and it was a gorgeous, sunny morning. We took the country road, power walked the hills and the leg felt really good.

Our work break-up bbq commenced at 2pm this afternoon - lots of yummy food, wine and beer was enjoyed by all in my department (about 25) outside in the sunshine. It is also 20yrs since the company was started on 5th Jan. so we had a bit of a celebration for that, including surprising my boss with some (very unexpected) gifts from the staff.

Therefore it was still nice and sunny when I got home and Courtney was asking if the inflattable pool could be put up. Once that was done, it was on with a rotisserie chicken on the bbq and the holiday could begin! At least until Wednesday, when I go back to work...!

Saturday 23/12/06:
The sun was shining again this morning when I headed out the door at 8am. Decided to walk a bit of a longer loop today. However about 30mins into my walk, the heavens suddenly opened up and huge drops began falling from the sky! I was about 500m from a block of shops and shelter at the time and with the leg feeling perfect, I made a decision to jog to the shops. By the time I got there - with the leg still feeling completely normal (YAY!) I was soaked thru, but had a huge grin on my face. It was such a sudden, random shower, that lots of people had got caught in it! I was also so amazed that my leg felt so good and continued to jog for about another 500m past the shops! By then the shower had eased and I had been jogging for 7mins without any tightness or pain of any kind. How weird is that? But determined not to get carried away, I forced myself to stop and walk the rest of the way home. All up I was out for 50mins.

Now as excited and amazed as I was about the leg, I also know there is no miracle cure and I very much doubt this is the end of it. However after reading the comments left on my last post - (which I really appreciate BTW, it is hard to know if you are doing the right things in these situations and other perspectives or ideas are more than welcome, so thanks so much) - I have decided to try a couple of things. Firstly I totally agree with AlsoRan that it is the act of massaging in the Anti-Flamm rather than the gel itself that has the most benefit and I have been making sure I do this more thoroughly and for longer, before applying heat. I have also started taking Voltarin orally again for a while, to see what result it gets. I want to give the gradual introduction of jogging one more go as and when walking is totally pain-free and provided jogging is pain-free, however if it is unsuccessful again I will cease all impact activity and make an appointment with Dale Speedy, the sports physician. I so desperately want to be running again at the start of 2007, but time will tell...