26 Miles, 385 Yards
April 20th, 2008
Tomorrow is Marathon Monday! I shall, for the seventh time, tackle the Boston Marathon. I will be jogging this one in, folks! Age and injury have conspired against me, and I suspect that my days of sub-4:00 marathons and sub-1:45 half marathons are behind me.
The injury is the outcome of overuse, combined with a car accident six years ago, a few weeks after that year’s BAA marathon. I was hit from behind by an elderly man and pushed into the car in front of me. This damage is from the initial impact…
…and this is from the second collision.
I braked as hard as I could to avoid hitting the other car, and this was the result. A sprained ankle.
After a couple of months I was able to start running again. I thought everything was all right — it felt all right — but beneath the ligament that had been torn, a tendon was shifting, and rubbing, and building up scar tissue, as seen in this MRI. When the problem became serious I had trouble walking, let alone running. In fact, the reason I started blogging was because I had extra time that would have otherwise been spent on the road.
Thanks to two rounds of physical therapy, and some excellent custom orthotic inserts made by Jerry Pratt (no relation) after more than a year I was able to start running again. My right ankle is still comparatively weak, but I can use it. The question now is, will it hold up and go the distance? Less than 24 hours from now, I will know the answer.
Filed under: All Posts, Life with Pratts
9 Comments Add your own
1. Dave | April 21st, 2008 at 8:12 am
Good luck Doug.
2. tastewar | April 21st, 2008 at 8:24 am
Good luck today, Doug! Hope all goes well!
3. DOuG pRATt | April 21st, 2008 at 9:12 am
Thanks, gentlemen!
(Tom, Mike says his leg “feels dead.” What an optimist our boss is!)
4. Jeanie Beanie | April 21st, 2008 at 5:48 pm
And he FINISHES! In the official time of 4:35.00. No seconds! Yeah, I know, your under-four years are over, but even if I started now, as a middle-aged woman, AND as your twin, I could never hope to reach that! Still, after my shoulder surgery next Monday, I AM definitely going to work at getting back into shape. My damaged rotator-cuff is a wake-up call to me that I have got to start taking better care of myself!
CONGRATULATIONS, DOUGIE! Do you actually have to go into work tomorrow? You’ll be DOG (rat) tired, won’t you?
5. DOuG pRATt | April 21st, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Yep, I’ll be at work tomorrow. I usually take the entire week off, but this year I took the first school vacation week for the trip to Arizona.
6. Bismo | April 21st, 2008 at 8:46 pm
Congrats! I was thinking how exhausted I am from just waking UP early to WATCH you, and I should’a taken an extra day off, but of course you, Mike and John D are ALL working tomorrow after running so I guess I’d better go in, eh?!
7. tastewar | April 21st, 2008 at 10:10 pm
I bet it felt like 26 miles, 386 yards. Or 26 miles, 385 years.
Congratulations on your great finish, Doug! Well done! Be proud!
8. DOuG pRATt | April 21st, 2008 at 10:26 pm
That last turn, at the fire station on Boylston St., in front of the Hynes, is murder, because the finish line looks soooooooooooo far away!
9. jeanie beanie | April 22nd, 2008 at 7:09 am
Yeah, like that old classic nightmare, where you’re trying to cross a road, and a huge semi is bearing down on you, and legs feel like lead, and the road stretches out like taffy, and everything is in slo-mo, except the truck, natch … AIEEE!!! Run, Dougie, Run! I’ll bet you could use one of my Vicodin about now. Jest joshin! A possibly torn rotator cuff is no fun. OH! My surgery may or may not include actually cutting. He’s going to do a “look-see,” because all the X-rays and MRIs have been “inconclusive!”
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