As I write this post, I am sitting with my left ankle propped on a chair and wrapped in an ice pack for the sixth day in a row. Why? Because I am an idiot, that's why.
I'm not really much of an exerciser. In fact, I pretty much avoid anything that makes me sweat for more than a few minutes at a time (if you get my drift -- wink, wink). However, I do love to swim, and I do love to take long walks with my dog.
I also like to keep records and set goals, so during the summertime, I attempt to walk 60 miles every month with the dog. This isn't an impossible goal considering that he and I walk 3 miles each time we go out, so if I were able to take him walking every single day, then I'd easily walk 90 miles in a month's time. Life and shitty weather conditions often interfere, though, so I aim for 20 days of walks in any given month to make my 60 mile goal.
In July, the insane heat prevented me from making my goal because I simply couldn't do that to my dog. He is a large Labrador mix, and he lives outside, but he simply panted off all his excess winter weight and left small puddles of drool everywhere he went that month. I couldn't bring myself to make him walk with me in the evenings when the temperature was still in the high 90s, and without him making me feel guilty for not walking, I generally don't walk. So, I barely scratched the 40 mile mark that month.
I was all set to not only make the 60 mile goal in August but to actually surpass it when a week from the goal, I did something incredibly stupid. I stepped in a hole in my own back yard -- a hole that I knew was there because I'd stepped in it before. Not just once, not even twice, but many times. I'd even filled in the hole a few times to avoid stepping in it, but the dirt magically disappears after a few days, so I'd given up on that.
This time, though, I twisted my ankle in a way that I've never twisted it before. I heard a nasty "pop" and then my left foot instantly went numb and a sharp pain shot up the outside of my leg to my hip. I immediately collapsed to the ground (on top of a pile of dried doggie do-do I later learned) and lay there on my back crying out in agony while my daughter and my dog, who was on his leash and ready to go on a walk, looked down at me for about 10 minutes or so.
Once the feeling returned to my foot, I rotated my ankle a few times to be sure it wasn't broken. It wasn't. However, a sane and rational person would have abandoned the plan to go walking and would have gone inside to ice her ankle. That person is not me. Nope. Remember, I was determined to make my 60 miles in August, so the dog, my daughter and I set out on our 3 mile walk anyway.
By the time we got back home, I thought that my ankle was fine actually. It only hurt a little bit. This was a Sunday evening. The next morning was a Monday, and I had to go to work as a teacher where I stand all day teaching kids -- on a concrete floor. By the end of the day, the outside of my ankle was swollen excessively and I was walking with a very noticeable limp.
I've been icing it daily since then. This is day 6. The swelling goes down, the pain lessens, and then I do something stupid like stand and teach all day or take my dog for a 3 mile walk again, and the swelling and pain return.
I have finally taken measures to insure that I don't step in that hole in my back yard again. I placed a pot of flowers (well, dead flowers thanks to the stupid July heat) in it. That is my fix for now -- a pot of dead flowers protruding from a hole in my back yard. I said "Shtick This!" to the hole in my yard, and I stuck the pot in it. It will have to do until somebody can help me figure out where the dirt magically disappears to. At least I won't be stepping in that hole anytime soon. Unfortunately, I'm a well-known klutz, so I'm sure I'll find another hole to step in or another way to injure myself.
I ended up 3 miles short of my 60 mile goal for August; however, I figure that I can factor in all the walking around my classroom, to and from the school building and my car, and up and down the grocery store aisles to easily meet that 60 mile quota I set for myself.
I'm setting my goal a bit lower for September since the ankle is still pretty sore and since many of my evenings will be busy with school activities. Let's try for 50 miles in September, and let's hope that I don't trip over that pot that's in the hole in my back yard and break something next.
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