Back in the Saddle Again

Something few know about me is that 2 years ago I was training for the Rock an Roll marathon till a foot injury took me out for 3 months.

I was training hard and I was doing my long run for the week, 14 miles, in the Aptos hills. If you know anything about Aptos you'll know its hilly and there is shit for cell phone reception. Around mile 10 I was going up a hill when my foot started hurting. I had no cell phone reception and my car was at least 4 miles away at the post office I'd left it at. It took me an hour to walk back to my car and a few days later my doctor told me I'd pulled a ligament and was not to run, take stairs, wear heels, or do any physical activity for around 3-4 weeks. It took me about 4 months to feel normal again and then about 6 months after I first injured my foot I fell down the garage stairs. I had the option to fall onto an engine block or my foot. I chose my foot in that split second and this is what my sprained ankle looked like the next day:

We called it my zombie foot.
Notice the entire foot has a slightly
yellow tinge 

Well today I got back into my running shorts (a little tighter then I remember them) and got back out.

Now I'm not a person that loves running or sweating. I'm not build like a runner. I'm short, tend to be a little soft, and find the entire thing to be really boring. Through high school I played softball and Amtgard, but nether have you running just to run. There is something to pay attention to, there is action, there is a problem which you must solve, and the best part, you get to hit something.

I do brazilian jiu jitsu because it's really fun to be matching your strength and brain against someone else in what feels like a game of physical chess. They make a move, you make a move to counter it and try to gain the edge.

I also love my cardio kickboxing class because there is nothing better then hearing the wonderful thud as you kick and punch a bag. Last night was really good because I've gotten the hang of roundhouse kicks and heard the thud almost every time.

But the problem I have is that before we train for bjj or kickboxing they have us run around the mat to warm up and I'm always out of breath. None of my workouts have more then 5 minutes of running and I'd like to be able to run.

So I'm hitting the pavement again.