To start with, I'd like to offer my condolences to those who are either directly or indirectly impacted by this event. I've thought about training for a stand alone marathon with the hopes of qualifying for Boston at some point, but I love triathlons too much to break from them for that long.
All told I probably knew 10-20 people that were at the race. My childhood neighbors were posting pictures prior to the explosions. Aside from the people I knew directly, endurance athletes share a common bond. We see each other training on the popular trails and roads. We talk to each other at the races. We spectate together at races our friends are in, and we have a sense of community. We've suffered through countless miles trying to achieve our goals.
The Boston Marathon was, is, and will again be an awesome event. It will carry on.
In any case, tomorrow I get to see my foot for the first time. It's been completely bandaged and wrapped for two whole weeks. I've also been unable to wash my foot and its starting to get a little bit ripe. So I do look forward to that.
Overall my foot feels pretty good. There is a giant pin in the toe, and that will hurt if I move my foot the wrong way. Other than that it is mostly pain free. We'll see how it feels with the bandages off and a little more mobility. I am sure I'll have to be careful.
What's funny is that even though I am walking in surgical boot...I think about walking far less than I used to. Now that the pain is gone, I simply walk naturally....and that is a very good thing. We'll see if I can do that without the bandages.
To the best of my knowlege, the pin stays in my foot for another 2 weeks. Here is what they'll be doing:
It's pretty sweet. I'm even tempted to do it myself, but I'm not sure I could get it at the proper angle. I'm thinking about recording the event so everyone can see if I turn into a little baby and cry. I've had several friends offer to come over with a pair of pliers and remove the pin for me. As nice of an offer as that is, and I'm sure it would save my insurance provider a little money, I will pass.
Other than that, I am a little concerned about my piriformis syndrom. Despite zero working out for the last two weeks, it still bothers me on occassion. I had to cancel my follow-up appointment on this last week due to my foot. I'm going to try to get in this week if there is an opening.
Other than that everything seems to be doing well. Part of me is hoping I can start some light riding tomorrow. Bike shoes have flat bottoms, so if I keep a nice steady pace and no cranking on the pedals I don't see what damage I can do. We'll see what the doctor says. The other problem will be the sciatic nerve/piriformis issue. Biking seems to cause that issues as well. So starting up may not be the best idea.
I have discovered that foam rolling and digging into that area with a ball seems to help in the short term, but make it a little worse in the long term. I wonder if I accidentally dig into the nerve and need to move the ball onto the muscle more.
I have no doubt my weight is up. That's the main reason for wanting to start biking now. I need to burn calories as eating less appears to be totally out of the question.
