Cankles, Crying and Cross-Training!

Yes my before looks pasty but I think it is just the natural lighting verses the indoor lighting.  I probably am that pasty.

Last week I decided to run on our road for the first time.  I thought it would be awesome if I could run from my front door to our kids school.  About a mile from the school I stepped off the road into what I thought was a drive way, into a hole and turned my ankle.  This was Thursday...it hurt for about a minute and then I kept going, all the way to the kids school and back home.   No problem.  Then I went to work for our first day back within hours of turning my ankle, we were doing jumping jacks for "fun" during our staff meeting.  That is where my ankle took a turn for the worse.  By Saturday afternoon I was spending a small fortune on ACE bandages, ice packs, Aleve and Epson Salts.  I took the "Before" picture while we were out shopping for school supplies.  I took the after picture today after a GREAT deal of rest, ice and compression.  I am no in love with my slip on ACE bandage.

Rest
Ice
Compression
Elevation...
of course that is the "RICE" method but a good friend called me with this advice.
A bowl of hot water, as hot as you can stand and a bowl of very cold water.  Submerge in the hot for 3 minutes and then the cold for 3 minutes and do this until the water is luke warm for both.
I used this method as soon as he called and the swelling and pain felt so much better.  Something about constricting blood vessels and then opening them up to release the fluid.
Most of all the rest and a little bit of Naproxen Sodium but I can't stand taking meds so I won't be taking this for long. ; )


I have become a little obsessed with my running...it is because I know it is paying off.  Slowly but surely the pounds are slipping away, the inches are vanishing from my body.  I feel amazing.   A total of 14.8 pounds were lost during the summer along with close to 17 inches all together.  10 of which I dropped during the first 10 days of the Advocare 24 Day Challenge.  Which I am wanting to do again soon!

There has been a bit of crying on my part.  Not because I am sad, but because I am so happy and because God is allowing me to keep moving forward.  He is giving me the strength.  Two Saturday's ago, I ran 8.25 miles.  I am trying to average 5 miles per run now.  I have so much more weight to drop so that I can increase my speed but my stamina is there...I swear I burst out in tears every time I find I have gone further that I thought I could.  The first time I ran for 20 minutes straight I cried, now that seems so far in the past.

It only took determination...I started off slow with a great deal of walking but I never missed a run, not until this weekend.  I'm okay with that because I am fixing to hit it hard and heavy...10k was my original goal and I believe that goal has been met...now what?  Half-Marathon?  Maybe by January I will be ready.  I run 3-4 days a week.  Now, I am running 3 and cross-training 3.  I can not wait to see the difference this is going to make.