Erin - Princess Down! We Got a Princess Down Over Here!!

Well, I'm proud to announce our first injury of our journey brought to you all by yours truly!

I've been following the tricky, deceiving Couch Potato to 5K plan. Listed on paper or the computer screen, it seems so simple! Numbers on the page in a neatly arranged column seem totally do-able. 9 weeks, small intervals, a nice, gradual crescendo to reach that 5K goal. It lulls you into a false sense of security with it's simple 1st week of run/walking for 60 then 90 seconds. I really felt like I was going places.

Now, let me be clear. I had started inside, on a nice treadmill, with a TV in front of me, towel and water bottle close at hand. Basically the wussiest way to start. I tricked myself into thinking I was going to nail this half marathon. Then I went outside...

The first week I attempted to run outside, my attempts were squashed by a combination of fear of heat stroke and intense procrastination. Once I get going, I will make myself train, it's just that damn first step! This past weekend, however, I was determined to get my ass outside and run. Here's my mental patient-like logic for this, "Well, if we train for it on the gigantic hills of the park, when we run in the flat Magic Kingdom, it will be soooooo easy!" Seems simple in theory, not so much in practice.

Michelle and I headed out to the park to run. It was cooler this weekend so we thought it would be a good time to start without fear of collapsing mid-interval. Saturday went off without a hitch... well, as long as you don't count the one rough 60 seconds where we attempted to get through it by dancing around while running as an old man with his dog watched in astonishment and then said to us "Let me guess, Dancing with the Stars, right?"

No sir, not stars. Princesses.

Sunday started out just fine. It was a little tedious for me. I was struggling, but to give myself as many small victories as possible I chalked it up to the fact that the plan suggests every other day training. I did my best and pushed right up to the end. We were having a few laughs, joking about how we'd never make it to the car and need to build a make-shift dwelling near one of the pavilions. I was just picturing my Swiss Family Robinson-inspired new home next to the horseshoe pits when disaster struck.

Either I tripped on uneven pavement, nothing or some magical little trickster elves were out to get me, but my ankle somehow bent all the way to the side in a direction it should NEVER bend! As we were going downhill, I was unable to keep my balance so I skinned my knee like a small child might. It was awful! I, apparently, went pale. I seriously thought I was either going to black out or puke... probably in that order.

After heaving myself off to the side of the road and laying there for 10 minutes or so I was able to hobble my way up the huge hill back to the car. I was even able to suck it up to stretch and do some ab workout stuff. As the day went on however, the ankle made its own progress. It grew to about twice it's size and by about 10pm, had turned a lovely shade of blue-ish purple.

What a way to start! We all knew something like this was going to happen! I had only hoped that I was a little farther along or at least running when it did... not strolling along on my cool down at little old lady speed. The good news is, it's already feeling better and I'm hoping to at least get a little running in by the end of the week. We'll have to wait and see though.

So everyone keep your fingers crossed for me and my bum ankle and bloody knee. All 3 of us are anxious to get back out there. Only about 200 days to go and I'm sure I can't spare a second! But if worse comes to worse, I'll just get my right glass slipper in 2 sizes up and find a gown to match my new bruise. Blue-ish purple really is my color!