Here we are!

Anne here; I don’t have a fun alliterating title like Michelle.  Always Anne? Anne of Avonlea?  Wait, that’s Anne Shirley.  I am still here in Lansing with Eben, our dog Tessie, and our cats Sammi, Sophie, and Tami.  I am a part-time student in an accelerated program at MSU for my master’s degree in social work in a clinical track.  We bought our house this summer, and spent a loooot of time destroying (Eben did that part), rebuilding most of the kitchen, and painting ev.er.y.thing.  I am still working full-time through all of this, social working like I do.  Eben has a license in something mechanical (auto alignment technician?  auto service?) and is working on a certificate in civil technologies.

Sophie, 8-ish years old, Tami’s mommy

Tami, 4-ish years old.  They were found 3 years ago by local cat rescue, lived semi-feral until May of this year, we brought them home in September. Oh yeah, the band aid on my hand is from Sophie biting me when Tessie scared her, and now I have antibiotics.  #catladyproblems

Quick recap of my training over the past few months…

Since triathlon season ended for me, I tried focusing on shorter distances and continuing with strength training and cross-training.  One of the reasons I like triathlon so much is because my body responds really well to multi-sport activities and lots of cross-training.  I managed a good 10k and a few decent 5ks over the summer and fall, before I realized that aside from the 25k in May that I terribly bonked in, I had not done any race longer than a 10k!  Cue quick scramble looking around various half marathons.  Eben and I chose the Midland Half Marathon, the last race in the Michigan Half Series of the year, on November 8.

Except a few weeks ago, I was running on a fairly technical trail, and rolled my left ankle.  Three times.  Landing with my full weight on the outside of my left foot (Aaagh I get the heeby jeebies just remembering it).  This has happened before (maybe not three times in one run) so I figured with RICE and my taping skills I would be ok.  So it sort of got better, and I ran 12 miles one day, but then I couldn’t walk on it anymore.

I went to the podiatrist this morning, and thankfully nothing is broken!  WHEW!  But I did strain a tendon, and using it through the injury resulted in tendonitis. The peroneal tendon is why both my ankle and the outside of my left foot hurt, right at the attachment point onto the 5th metatarsal, aka pinky toe bone:

This means no running for 2-3 weeks until it is pain free while walking, continue RICE, and when running do 3 miles every other day to ensure it is pain free.  Which means no half-marathon for me, I will assume the role of stuff-carrier and cowbell-ringer instead.

.RICE(S) method: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation, (Sammi)