Well after two weeks in a walking boot, things seem to be getting moderately better on the foot front.



Last week, I had orders from the doctor to try walking around my house without the boot on. I tried it out first on Wednesday and did not have a good experience. There was still more pain than I thought there should be, and of course, that made me really question whether or not I'd be able to do the half marathon in March.

But then by Friday, things seemed to be a little bit better. I was able to walk around my house bootless without too much pain. So I got ambitious and decided to try my luck on the elliptical.

Shockingly, it went really well. I was able to do about 25 minutes pain-free in my pretty new running shoes (which ironically arrived at my house the same day my mom mailed my walking boot back).



I'm still wearing the boot when I have to walk long distances or when I know I will be on my feet a lot (like to commute to work or run to meetings in the office), but when I'm home, I'm largely going boot-free.

And last night, I went to a Super Bowl party without my boot on and was totally fine. (To be fair, I did not walk to the party, and I spent most of the game sitting on the sofa, so it's not like I was on my foot a whole lot anyway, but man it was just nice to be out of the house in a regular pair of shoes).

So per the doctor's orders, now that I can walk around at home without the boot, I'm going to try to amp up my cross-training to see if I can keep my cardio endurance at a reasonable rate for the next two weeks. I have my follow-up appointment at the doctor two weeks from today, and if all goes well, and I'm hoping to get the all clear to start running again.

So as of now, we're just over a month out from the half. When I (hopefully) get clearance from the doctor to run, we'll be two weeks out. Truthfully, I don't know if the race is realistic or not.

I think if I can maintain and build my endurance these next two weeks, there's a possibility I can still run. But so much of that will depend on how things go starting after my doctor's appointment. I don't know how my foot will react to jumping back into running. Maybe it will be totally fine, maybe it won't. It's all kind of a giant question mark -- which is of course driving me nuts because I'm not really a fan of uncertainty.

I'd like to be able to make it to the start line on race day though -- even if I won't have a perfect race. I don't mind if I finish super slow or need to walk a ton. I'd be willing to do all that. What I don't want is to get hurt running the race.

So that's where things stand right now. My plan is to do what I can to get myself to the start line -- and then I guess we'll just have to see how things for from there.