I am happy to say that my conditioning has improved, and I’ve been jogging periodically. It’s much better than the treadmill running.
This past Saturday, I drove into the city and went for a jog in Central Park. Now that I am living in NJ, I really miss running in the park. I used to live a couple of blocks from the park for several years, and I loved eating a small breakfast in the morning on a sunny Saturday, lace up my running shoes and go for a nice long jog around the park.
I wanted to run the full loop, which is little over 6 miles. My goal was to see how long I can run until my recovering leg started to complain. I ran about 5 miles, until my leg started to feel uncomfortable.
I could have pushed myself to run the last mile, but when I started to notice the soreness in my achilles, I knew that it was time to stop.
I also stopped a couple of times during the run. Once to ask why there were all these people lined up (Bon Jovi concert), another time to talk to a scalper to see how much he was selling the “free” tickets for. ($40) I went back to running.
I think 5 miles is more than what I have ran in quite some time. Even just before the injury, I wasn’t regularly running 5 miles, so I feel good that I am getting in a decent shape, and my leg is steadily improving. I have to say that I wasn’t breaking any world-records. I was running pretty slowly, but steadily. The speed will come with time.. or so I hope.
I now have a great deal more appreciation for my good health, and I am thankful that I am now able to do the things that I am now doing.
I do have some knee pain in the recovering leg, which I think is due to altered biomechanics of my gait. I am going to see a couple of podiatrists in a couple of weeks, so I hope to have some good orthotics to hopefully correct my gait.
My legs have been sore from Saturday’s run, but it’s been the good kind of sore. My achilles is holding up well, and I do have a slight limp sometimes, but I feel more comfortable bearing weight on it.
The recovery is really gradual at this stage.. Steady progress is the operative phrase for the moment.
For those of you following behind us, the old-timers, be patient and keep up the good spirits. It gets better. You’ll get there.
dennis on 
bostonbrother on 
Danny on 
susan on 
gimpyone on 
Kimberly on 
Craig on 
tink on
15 responses so far ↓
1 tennisjunkie
// Jul 16, 2008 at 6:23 am
Awesome! It sounds like great progress, and smart to stop when you did. So good to know the limp will go away too.
2 withnail
// Jul 16, 2008 at 8:55 am
Good stuff D - keep moving forward!
3 Tom
// Jul 16, 2008 at 11:04 am
Dennis - Great to hear you’ve made it back to running 5 miles!! Fantastic job! I’m still limiting myself to mainly treadmill work in an attempt to gain speed before building up my milage. But, I’m getting anxious to hit the pavement again. I really miss my old running routes.
4 eriedutchgirl
// Jul 16, 2008 at 11:30 am
Jogging. *sigh*. Good to hear all this…
5 craig
// Jul 16, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Wow, great progress Dennis!
6 kkdub
// Jul 16, 2008 at 3:56 pm
WOW. To go jogging. I’m in boot, almost 3 weeks post op and that sounds impossible. LOVE the old timer updates….gives us new timers hope.
I bought five tshirts today. Yup, making the family and my trainer wear them. ha!
7 ross
// Jul 16, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Dennis..
great job…glad to hear things are going well.
Where in jersey are you??
slow and steady..
keep it up
Doc Ross
8 dennis
// Jul 17, 2008 at 12:06 am
Ross - I am in Edgewater, NJ which is right along the hudson river. I am starting to really like this area, but it’s a bit of a hassle getting in and out of manhattan.
9 Ed Forman
// Jul 17, 2008 at 8:28 am
Dennis - hey neighbor - I live in Teaneck - just up the road (sort of) from you! Can I ask who your surgeon was and where you did PT?
Ed
10 Sheila
// Jul 17, 2008 at 4:38 pm
What great news! Congrats on the run. I am out of shape - Was before the injury and my weekend warrior aggressive tennis play may have contributed to my injury - so I have been inspired to get back into shape. I am doing some light free weight for upper body work, but I have never wanted to do walking or jogging like I do now. Thanks for the ongoing inspiration and information. Good to hear things are continuing to progress well for you.
11 dennis
// Jul 18, 2008 at 2:44 am
sheila - thanks, I am looking forward to being able to run the complete loop at some point.
ed - hey there neighbor! I actually had surgery in Buffalo, NY and I did physical therapy at professional orthopedic and sports physical therapy in manhattan. They have several locations. I think the key is to finding a good PT who is able to pay attention to you.
fyi..I know that special orthopedic center near cornell on UES is rated very highly, so that’s a good place to go for any kind of orthopedic surgery.
12 Ed Forman
// Jul 18, 2008 at 8:05 am
Dennis - that is too funny - I am going to Professional PT also! I am at the 52 st. location with a therapist named Jaymie. Were you at that location also? So far they do seem good (2 sessions in).
Ed
13 dennis
// Jul 18, 2008 at 10:39 am
ed - small world! I went there for treatment a few times, but I switched to the Tribeca location where it was less busy. I also liked the PT and assistants better in the Tribeca location. At the 52nd st. location, PT’s name was Sharyne, I think.
It looks like you have a different PT, so I am glad it’s been good for you there.
14 Sheila
// Jul 23, 2008 at 9:39 am
Dennis -
Is there a link to email you? I have a couple of questions about using the forum and don’t see a link to email. If you have a page for ‘how tos’ 7 questions about the site, that would work, too. Thanks!
p.s. got my shirts in yesterday. They are fabulous! Great quality and design. I ordered 3 but will be getting more; 1 for me, 1 for a close friend and 1 for my future PT.
Planning on getting a couple more for friends who have been helping me out. Well done!
15 dennis
// Jul 23, 2008 at 9:56 pm
sheila - Glad that you like the t-shirts. I sent you an e-mail so you have my e-mail address. Also, whenever I post on someone’s blog, they have my e-mail address in the comments. (you can see it from your command console.)
There is a frequently asked questions page: http://achillesblog.com/frequently-asked-questions/
It’s far from complete, but the google search, on the upper right hand side of the main page is the best way to find information on the site.
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