1 mile. YES!

Tuesday morning, after work, I rushed downtown to go to my follow appointment regarding my f-o-o-t, which yes, has become a four-letter-F-word. I was so tired and a teensy bit cranky after a long shift-- a perfect way to walk into an appointment with my FAVORITE orthopaedic doctor. (I'm hoping you pick up on the sarcasm).
To keep it brief:
I was 20 minutes late (I called to let them know.. still disrespectful to be late, I know I know).
MD stumbled in and said "I'm waiting for the nurse to get my notes from last time.."
...he got impatient and then said "What'd we do with you...?"
me: "You booted me"
MD: "Ah boot." (looks for the boot on my leg, which wasn't there as I was instructed to remove it by the nurse). "No more boot then?"
me: "Noo I've been wearing it, it's here."
MD: "Oh you're still in the boot." (enter nurse w/ note which MD reads out loud.)
Heavy sigh "Well, let's re-xray." (Exit MD).

An x-ray tech came, we x-rayed, returned to the exam room. Another 20 minutes. Then MD is walking by and glances in the exam room I'm in (they keep the doors open there-- my theory is that they don't want to rooms to be STUNK UP by the exposed feet.) As he sees I'm there he pokes his head in and says "Your foot is fine," and continued walking. I went to retrieve him from the hallway. That's not a good enough answer for me. So he came into the exam room and explained that there's a small bony callous so I'm healed, re-start activity gradually blah blah blah.

Despite his lack of bed-side manner, I was elated. I would have booked it to the gym right then and there to board the treadmill, but the fact of the matter was I was exhausted and fighting to stay awake! So I put on TWO shoes (I'd brought the other one with me in anticipation of booting the boot) and went home and collapsed. Just before I fell asleep I remembered I had a war to fight with Blue Cross Blue Shield regarding their coverage of my narcolepsy drugs, so I couldn't go to sleep quite yet, but knowing that I was again bi-pedal gave me the energy I needed to fight and win that war. WooHoo.

So today I ventured down to my overcrowded gym. Last week I went at 2am because my sleep schedule is SO messed up and it was awesome. There were maybe 20 people there total, it was essentially deserted. If I had a car, I'd definitely go at the wee hours of the morning more often. But walking to the El at 2am makes me nervous. Maybe now that the Damen stop will be open it won't be so bad. Anyways-- I ran a mile today! Woohoo!. Seven minutes and twenty seconds of bliss. My foot felt fine. Honestly it was numb because of the cold trek from the El... but no pain. Maybe a whisper of a twinge, but I would be a fool to think it'd be a cake walk. I was definitely winded and I could feel the past three weeks in my legs, but any anguish brought by that was balanced with the excitement that I'm doing what I like to do again. I could have gone more than a mile, but I am proud to say that I said "NO," and allowed myself to be content with that. I did a 5 minute walk to warm up, and a 7 minute walk to cool down. I went over to the elliptical and at ten minutes... my vision went black and it sounded like I was underwater and I felt my trachea closing!!! Holy toledo if I am fainting after maybe 20 minutes of cardio, my work is more cut out for me than I anticipated! Geesh! That was weird. I think I'll chalk it up to dehydration, Lord knows I'm nourished enough to withstand 20 minutes of cardio! But I could increase my water intake... and decrease my coffee intake. Whoopsie.

All in all exciting and encouraging. I'm trying to decide if I should do a mile tomorrow or take tomorrow off. I don't think I have the fitness to complete a spinning class right now (how pathetic am I?!?!?!), so that's kinda outta the question. We'll see. I'll probably end up not since I'm working tomorrow night. I miss cardio so much it's ridiculous.