Eye, Eye, Eye...37 Days Without Running and Boston is Less Than 6 Months Away

The good news on Monday was that my 2nd surgery seemed to go well. The retina is no longer detached. 32 days after my initial eye surgery and my detached retina seems to be healing.

But the bad news is that the eye is blurry as hell still. The gas bubble placed inside the eye has dissapated but the vision is the equivalent of looking at one of those "fun house" mirrors that stretch objects out of proportion and mis-shape them. Eye, eye, eye. This is not fun, yet it is progress.

In the meantime the doc says to stay away from running and over-exerting myself for another few weeks at least. Today is Day #37 of no running. The next time I see the doc I'll be on Day #46, further extending my longest no-running streak since I began running in 1993. I guess the upside to this is that at least I'm setting a personal best this year for something!

This is a RUNNING blog!?  Yep. Even when I'm not running. My body is chomping at the bit. It feels so much like running it is maddening. I did trot down the staircase and across the Trader Joe's parking lot today. Not much. Felt so damn good.

My biggest challenge when I actually DO start running again is to ease my way into it. Don't need to injure myself.

In the meantime, I'm out walking every morning. Not as far or long as I'd like to be doing, but I'm getting out there every day for a minimum of 20 minutes. Not a lot, but heck if everyone went out and at least walked for 20 minutes each day, no doubt in my mind the obesity rate would drop. I've been surprised that I haven't gain a lot of weight with the dramatic drop in aerobic activity. But I do eat less to some degree and the walking no doubt helps.

Four Weeks Without Running...How to Train When You Can't Run?

One month ago today I called to make an appointment with my optomologist. The next morning in his office he asked me to stick around and meet with the retina specialist. An hour later I was told to prepare for a vitrectomy surgery the next morning. No running for probably a month I was told! How does someone (namely me) that runs 2,000 miles per year deal with such prospects!?

The doc did say that I could start to train with light weights after a week and walk, but the running was off limits. So I walked, not a lot, maybe 20 to 30 minutes per day, and it felt o.k. Not particularly enjoyable running with one eye blind due to a gas bubble in it during the recovery process.

For whatever reason, the detachment didn't heal up 100% and 2 weeks ago I had a follow-up surgery. This surgery was only 20 minutes (compared to the hour long initial surgery) to go in and laser up the detached area.  Uggghhhh....back to square one.

Earlier this week my surgeon told me it looks like it is healing up nicely this time. Fingers crossed. Not to complain or anything because at least I have one eye that I can see out of...but it sure is hell frustrating having only one eye. The doc says don't wear a patch, even though the gas bubble that is slowly dissapating prevents me from seeing fully out of this eye. In fact, as I type this, both eyes are open, but my left eye is doing all the work. (When I close my left eye, my right eye sees a blurry computer screen.)

The lovely green wristband I've worn an entire month now while gas bubble resides in eye.

I'm taking this situation pretty much in stride. There's absolutely nothing I can do about it, so why sweat it. In fact, I think it is actually easier being in this situation - one on which physically and biomechanically I'm ready to run - but to gain back my eyesight I cannot - then a typical running injury. When I tweak a hamstring or my lower back, I'm frustrated as hell when I'm unable to run.

So I continue with my 20-30 minute walks in the morning. I get bored easily while walking, so I bring my smartphone with me. I could bring the iPad but prefer the smaller device. Sometimes I grab the newspaper and read while walking. Maybe I'll stop multi-tasking if I ever run into a mailbox or light pole.

The Boston Marathon is 6 months away. Hoping in the next week or two I'll get the go-ahead to start actually RUNNING again. Chomping at the bit here.

Sarah Palin Announces She's Not Running...For President...So How About Running a Marathon?

It was not exactly a surprise today to hear that Sarah Palin is not running for the Republican nomination this fall. She's pretty busy with other stuff.

But her running seems to be doing just fine, with her 1:46:10 half marathon performance in Iowa over Labor Day weekend under her maiden name, Sarah Heath. By my general rule of thumb, take that time and multiply by 2.1 and with some decent training she can run a a 3 hour, 43 minute marathon. Her personal best is a 3:59:36 at Humpy's (odd name) Marathon in Anchorage, Alaska on August 21, 2005.

Palin is 47 years old. Her qualifying time for the 2013 Boston Marathon (2012 registration has passed) will be 3 hours, 55 minutes. Come on Sarah, let's see you go for it! You definitely have it in you.

More on Palin's running background in this August 2009 Runner's World article.

Well the Good News is That I Received My 116th Boston Marathon Confirmation of Acceptance in the Mail Today

I received this confirmation in the mail today, re-confirming the email stating I have been accepted into the Boston Marathon on April 16, 2012. My qualifying time was nearly half an hour slower than my previous Boston qualifying times at 3:05:39, but what the heck, I'll take it.

But in the meantime I haven't run since September 14th. I've walked a bit but for the most part of had to ditch my training due to my corrective surgery for retinal detachment on September 15th. The bad news for me last week is that my surgeon and I agreed that I needed a second, shorter surgery last Friday. So I was laid up all weekend and am now recuperating again.

But the good news is that it appears to be doing better. Apparently the vitrectomy did not fully heal the detachment. So he went in and lasered it up on Friday. I was pretty much out for the surger but remember waking up towards the end, attempting to crack jokes while he was doing his final prodding in and around my eye. Great stuff!

So on that happy note, I'm hoping that within a few weeks I'll be back at it. Crossing my fingers.

The Boston Athletic Organization publishes a list of entrants. I count approximately 50 entrants from the Conejo Valley and Greater Ventura County areas, stretching from Agoura to Simi Valley to Ojai to Ventura.