I started back running for the new year, although it’s just 2-3 miles at a time.  So far, my heel seems to be coping quite well.  As I mentioned in the past, I know my heel isn’t 100%, but it seems to be allowing me to run a little.

So far for the year, I’ve run 6 of the first 7 days.

I’m so happy to be running again that I don’t want to jeopardize it so my plan is to continue with the shorter runs for now.  I may try a 4-miler, but my plan is to stick to 3-mile runs for the majority of my runs.  If I can get through a couple weeks like that, then I’ll look to bumping it up to a regular 4-mile run.

Well, I finally logged some miles for December. I decided to go for an easy 2-mile run today to see how my heel felt. I had no idea what to expect. I had two main concerns:

• How would my heel feel
• How would I feel while running when I haven’t run a single mile in almost 7 weeks?

For the first quarter mile or so, I could feel a very slight discomfort in my heel. It wasn’t really painful, but I just know it certainly didn’t feel like my left heel which is perfectly fine. After a quarter mile, I stopped feeling any discomfort. Maybe it was because other parts of my body started to feel uncomfortable

I could definitely tell that I wasn’t in the same shape that I as 2 months ago. I didn’t have a HRM, but I know my heart rate was much higher and my breathing quite a bit heavier. I started to notice different parts hurting be it under my feet, my knee, my hips, etc.

One thing I’m glad about is that at least it wasn’t like the first time I started running, but I do know I have to take it easy for a while, if only because of my heel.

My plan is to run 2 miles for the next few days. If I make it through the weekend and Monday without any issues, I’ll go for 3 miles on New Year’s day.

It’s hard to tell if my heel is getting any better.  If I press the area, it still hurts, but it’s been like that for most of the year so I’m not too worried about it.  What is good is that when walking, or going about my day, I haven’t felt any discomfort or pain.  I’m thinking of trying a short 2-mile run on Christmas morning.  Wouldn’t that be a great Christmas present if I can get through that run without any problems.

Since I haven’t been running for a while, I need to think about how do I get back into running.  I can’t imagine it would be like the first time I started running where 90 secs was torture, but I know for sure I can’t go out that and hope to run 10 miles even if my heel isn’t bothering me.  I have to imagine I’ll probably be doing short 3-mile runs for several weeks.

Well, let’s see if I can get through 2 miles and I’ll take it from there.  One good thing is that I don’t feel any sense of urgency to start ramping up my mileage so maybe having to deal with this injury has made me mellow a bit

I have been trying to rest my heel, but it doesn’t seem to be getting any better.  I can walk without any problems, but there is some very slight stiffness in the mornings.

Every now and again, I will bump my heel and it hurts like hell.

I was due to run the Dallas White Rock Half-Marathon this coming weekend, but obviously that isn’t going to happen. I’m hoping to be able to resume running in the new year.

For now, I’ve been doing some Yoga which is certainly helping my flexibility, but I suspect that it may be slowing my recovery.  I need to do something though to maintain some kind of activity.  I’ve also been doing some elliptical work.