Quantifiable Distance

A typical July day found me scorching hot in the sunshine. Atypical for me in recent years is to find me out on a grassy field ready to run around at 1:00pm. But here I was, finally getting back to me, and all covered in "spfity"(SPF-fifty), cleats on, soccer socks pulled high, wide receiver gloves suctioned to my hands. I made my re-debut on the Gaelic Football field for the Pittsburgh Banshees, my team since 2003 that my ankle injury got me away from and where it felt like so long ago that I felt like me on the field.

But there I was. Geared up and ready to go. Assigned to the Corner Forward position I took the pitch and the game played on. I ran around in the heat, not feeling all that bad. Perhaps it was the training I have been doing, but more likely it was the fact that I was put in a position that requires minimal running - or at least "minimal" compared to the running that the Half Backs, Midfielders, and Half Forwards do -- all areas I used to happily trot along in. It was a great way to ease me in as I was unsure of my ankle, highly worried I would roll it, and scared. But once I was on the pitch and playing all that uncertainty and all my worries rolled away and I, finally, felt like me again.

I enjoyed making loads of runs, sometimes to midfield just for the fun of it and because my mark was tired and I was not. I enjoyed getting the ball, taking on my mark and other players and going to goal. I enjoyed scoring goals again - I some how netted 4 (and should have had more). I ran and kicked and cut and juked and played carefree and didn't once feel a pain in my ankle or stop to think I wasn't ready for this. It felt good!

And then the game ended and I stopped running and then sat and watched the men's team. And then I got sore. I tightened up some and later at night my ankle did some of its random "Oops I'm not aligned perfectly" shananigans, but mostly it was good. And most all resulting soreness was from my moving of muscles I have let sit and forget and not my little ol' ankle.

So all in all a victory for my right ankle and a mental victory. I let go of the fear and I ended up all right. Grant it, I can't be assured this day's experience will ever happen again. But I can rest assured that on this day my experience was more perfect than I allowed myself to imagine it could be and I am so grateful for that.

I ran today and though I did not cover any quantifiable distance for my journey, I closed such a mental distance between who I was and who I am; I brought myself many steps closer to me feeling like me again.

New Miles: Unknown
Total Miles: Same as before - 341.0
Miles Remaining: Same as before - 1159.0
Weight: 137.6 (pre-game); 140.2 (post-game and dinner)