Back to running and seeing

Prêt à porter

Today's run (street): 3.1 miles
Yesterday's run (treadmill): 2.25 miles

Okay, I lied. It's still September and here I am posting again. On my last post (not the one that confused SIOR because I used a complicated word like hiatus) I wrote about my enduring problem with plantar faciitis. That was in late August. Although I didn't say it at the time, it was the start of a planned running break. I needed to have a couple of eye surgeries and my doctor said I wouldn't be allowed to run again until mid-October.

I had my first surgery a couple of weeks ago in my left eye. It went well but my recovery has been slower than expected. So much so that we ended up postponing the second one. It's been a roller coaster of experiences: frustration, surprise, concern, excitement. The exciting part was what happened after I stuck a contact lens in my other eye for the first time in 25 years.

After surgery I could technically see about 20/30 without a corrective lens in my left eye. With the contact in my right, I was able to look at the world clearly again without glasses.  I'm still dealing with some left eye vision issues but my ophthalmologist has cleared me for highway driving.

The doctor also gave me the okay to resume running. It was sunny on Friday morning and, without sunglasses, I opted for the treadmill. I was concerned that a month's layoff from running would mean a substantial loss in fitness, but I felt good the entire time. The secret to that was only running 2.25 miles at about 5 MPH. I didn't care about mileage or performance, I just needed to know I could run.

This morning was cool and overcast and I wasn't going to run inside again. I borrowed a pair of giveaway sunglasses that my daughter got from freshman orientation last year. They were fine except the arms were a bright Hofstra blue. They did the job but I didn't feel that comfortable wearing $2 novelty shades, especially after eye surgery.

My plan was to do the route I used to follow every morning at 4:00 AM before taking the train into the city. The distance is 2.5 miles, just a small increase from yesterday and something I thought would be easy to handle. My first steps confirmed that and I knew I would be in for a good run. It had rained overnight and the smell of ozone mixed with the aroma of maple trees was very pleasant. The 55° weather made me feel like I could run forever. Maybe not forever, but more than my planned 2.5 miles.

Still, the sunglass situation had to change, so this afternoon I drove over to Dick's in Melville to buy off the rack sunglasses for the first time in two decades. I had visions of getting some of those cool, aggressively shaped tri athlete shades with removable lenses for different sports. Dick's has nothing like that, and if they did, they'd charge $300 for them. They did have cheap lookalikes made of chintzy plastic that looked awful on me.

I found a decently made pair for $20 with a reassuring label on the front that said "Polarizing lenses, 100% UV protection." That may be the law but I wasn't taking any chances. As a matter of fact I was so risk averse I texted the above selfie to my wife so she could tell me it was okay to buy them. They were.

So I'm back to running and seeing, two things I really missed. I'll do the other surgery eventually but since it's not medically necessary right now I'll wait. I plan to go out again tomorrow and increase distance a little more. My plantar faciitis went away during my hiatus and I really hope it's gone for good. Or at least for a really long time.