I just hit the very last marker, at least of those outlined by my doctor, on the road to recovery from peroneal tendon repair surgery: the obsoleting of my ankle brace.

Ah, the ankle brace…annoying to get off and on, hard to fit into shoes, yet a reassurance and a necessity. Every time I’ve exercised over the last 14 months my brace has been there to restrict and support and now it’s no longer needed. Is that a call for celebration or a painful separation?

I wasn’t sure how my ankle would handle its brace graduation. After all, obnoxious as the brace was it did make me feel a little more stable and invincible. Would my ankle have separation anxiety after having such a constant companion for so long? Or worse yet, would this precarious advancement cause me substantial pain?

The thrill of being brace-free immortalized

On my first run without the brace things felt amiss. Since I had not run brace-free for over a year the sliding motion of my ankle as I stepped felt unnatural and a bit disconcerting. It was like a screw holding my foot together had suddenly come loose; it didn’t hurt but it didn’t feel normal. Other than that the run was completely uneventful; my ankle handled the adjustment surprisingly well.

The day after that run a muscle in my bad leg was pretty achy from the top of my foot to mid-calf. My legs very rarely get sore thanks to years of being active (I wish I could say the same about the rest of my parts.) so I concluded that this muscle must be involved in controlling some of the movements my brace inhibited. Hence, it protested a little when it was returned to full duty.

Although my codependent ankle freed itself of the brace with minimal anguish it really didn’t gain full autonomy; it jumped right back into cahoots with another apparatus, one of its Xs. I wore a custom-made orthotic sole for a couple months before surgery in a futile attempt to appease my ankle without an operation, now that orthotic is back in my shoe and back in service. (Righty has been wearing its own orthotic since pre-surgery but the brace for lefty barely fit in my tennis shoe; there’s no way I could have squeezed in the brace and the orthotic at the same time.) According to my doctor, since I am at risk for further tendon damage I will have to wear that baby when I exercise indefinitely. My ankle acclimated to using it again pretty well; the arch in my foot hurt for a few runs but it was manageable.

I must admit that removing the brace from my routines went smoother than I had anticipated. There was no wailing or gnashing of teeth. My ankle didn’t cry, protests, or fall apart. A few strange sensations and a little discomfort were all that stood between me and a brace-free existence. Good job little ankle buddy! May all of you fellow ankle de-bracers fare as well!

A few weeks ago I posted about my ankle’s willingness to let me resume my status as a running fool, which is extremely exciting to be sure, but I didn’t give any details about how my ankle is doing in general, now that I have successfully survived my first year following peroneal tendon repair surgery. So for all you people out there with an ankle that currently looks like Gumby’s, here’s my eagerly anticipated, highly celebrated, one-year update.

Functionality? My ankle functions marvelously compared to how it used to, but not so great compared to my other foot. It’s much sturdier and more stable than it has been in years but still a little on the unpredictable side. I can now pretty much do anything on it I want, however, that doesn’t mean it won’t complain. My ability to do whatever I desire, not it’s whining, is what concerns me most though, so I’m pretty content with its current performance. I still have to wear my brace for the next couple of months while doing physical activities; I am very curious about how lefty will do when it doesn’t have the brace anymore for support and stabilization. I guess I’ll see in 8 weeks.

Mobility? My ankle’s mobility has improved greatly over the last 12 months but it’s definitely not as flexible as it was before surgery. There’s a limit to how much I can twist and angle it before I start feeling that unnatural tug of the tendon and its unwillingness to stretch any further. It’s not bad though, I don’t notice this inflexibility during most normal daily activities.

This is what lefty looks like now. My scar is still quite visible. I'm hoping someday it will lighten up a bit.

Swelling? Still swollen, though less so than a few months ago. But, since the doctor told me to expect some swelling for a year or two, I haven’t been anticipating much progress on that front just yet.

Stiffness and Achiness? Unfortunately, my ankle is still a little cranky. Every morning when I take my first few steps out of bed I can feel it resisting the movement. Some days it will hurt persistently for no apparent reason, which makes me feel like an old lady who can tell in her bones when a storm is approaching. But, although it is prone to fits of moodiness, most days it behaves relatively well. However, I am in no danger of ever confusing my good ankle with my reconstructed one.

Heels? Yes! I don’t don my highest heels much anymore but I can wear 2-3 inchers without any noticeable issues. So don’t worry ladies, you won’t have that sadly limited shoe selection forever.

In conclusion, my ankle is doing well. I don’t know if I can ever expect it to feel exactly like my normal one, probably not. For lefty, I suspect life will permanently be a little tricky. I’m sure it will continue to improve over the next few years but it will most likely always have some complaints. Honestly though, who cares? Now I can run, I can bike, I can board – I can do all the things I love. If that means having to put up with my ankle’s occasional temper tantrums that’s alright by me. So for all of you out there in your first year of recovery from ankle surgery, there is hope at the end of those initial terrible months. Maybe a perfectly blissful ankle doesn’t await you at the end of that road but, if you are like me, a pretty darn good one seems practically just as fantastic.

I just hit another huge milestone in the life of my ankle. It has now been a year since my surgery and I celebrated properly by running in a relay marathon race. After I hurt my ankle over eight years ago I wasn’t able to run for more than about 25 minutes at a time; the pain would become too overwhelming. I love to run so that was a hard reality for me to accept. That’s why I was very excited to pick up running again, now that my tendon repair surgery has hopefully corrected the longstanding issues with my ankle.

The Geek Streak

I love this action shot even though it turned out a bit blurry. It was taken at the exact moment I handed off our team baton to Jeremy.

Originally I had wanted to run in the Red Rock Relay at the end of this summer but, since I couldn’t find enough willing participants for this 2 day running madness, I settled for getting a team together to run the Utah Marathon Relay. In this relay race each team, consisting of 5 members, runs the equivalent of a marathon. This means each runner is responsible for a 5.2 mile stretch.

Since these are the Sabin brothers, don't ask.

Jason and I started training for this event back in June. While 5.2 miles really isn’t an incredibly impressive distance, it’s longer than my ankle has allowed me to run in nearly a decade so I wanted to ease into it. I am extremely pleased with how my ankle handled training and the race. I generally experienced no pain during my training runs. Each time I increased the length of my run my ankle would be a little stiff and sore for a day or two, but nothing I couldn’t handle. This stiffness was such a mild inconvenience compared to the pain I had become used to over the years that I barely even noticed it.

This is Fran right after her 4th mile marker. She did her run in an awesome 47 minutes and 37 seconds. Way to go!

My relay team, the Geek Streak, was comprised of me, Jason, his brother Jeremy, my brother Drew, and my friend Fran. We ran the marathon in 4 hours, 13 minutes, and 13 seconds. Yeah us! I made a goal for myself of running each mile in ten minutes or less and I met that goal exactly on race day with a 52 minute run. Jason’s brother, Jeremy, had never really run ever before he started training for this race. He trained regularly though and did a fantastic job on race day with a run time of 52 minutes and 3 seconds. I’m really proud of his perseverance! My brother Drew, unlike Jeremy, didn’t think training for this race was necessary. So we weren’t too shocked when he seemed a lot more fatigued than the rest of us after his run. His exhaustion must have made him delirious because he went the wrong way twice during his leg, but he did eventually find the finish line. Congratulations Drew on finishing even though you are apparently completely out of shape! (Little brothers need to be given a hard time. It reminds them that they are loved…and that they should run more than a few times when training for a race.)

After my brother ran his section of the race he crashed on the grass. I thought I might have to resuscitate him.

The race was a great experience! I’m so glad I now have two ankles strong enough for running! I look forward to my next race and my next milestone.

This is Jason in his final sprint for the finish line. He was the fastest runner on our team even though he got the last, and hottest, leg of the race.

Saturday marked ten months out from my ankle surgery and I celebrated by running in my first race since the procedure. Although this race was just a local 5K, I am still excited to say that my ankle performed beautifully. I had no ankle pain during the event and very little swelling afterwards.

Jeremy, Jason's brother, ran this race with us. It was his first race ever. Way to go Jer!

I tried playing outdoor soccer a few weeks ago for the first time since the slice-n-dice and my ankle did not fare as well. Running on the field’s uneven ground caused considerable pain and I was swollen and stiff for days. I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised since this activity was what caused my injury in the first place but I was hoping that jumping back into soccer would be a nearly pain free experience at this point.  After my disappointing soccer restart I was thrilled that I did not have similar frustrations from running the 5K.

Although my ankle behaved like a pro during the race, my good foot had some objections. It still needs some help adjusting to its new lifestyle. It doesn’t tolerate the orthotics I am now required to wear very well. It fell asleep during the event, something it does periodically when I go running. This made me feel like I was dragging a lead block, instead of a minuscule foot, for the last two miles of the race. I’m going to have to figure out a way to make righty a little happier with his orthotic buddy. But even with that slight foot malfunction, I was extremely pleased with my body’s cooperation in general. I’m so glad that my ankle has decided that running is an acceptable activity.

Our ragtag group at the finish line

My ankle’s running tolerance has spurred a new plan of madness. I am in the process of trying to organize a team to run the Red Rock Relay in September. This 181 mile, 24 hour, relay race runs through some of the prettiest country in Utah. It starts in Cedar Breaks, goes through Zions National Park, and ends up in St. George just outside of Snow Canyon. Gorgeous! While I realize this relay falls into the “crazy Rachel plan” category, I am quite enamored at the prospect of it. I hope I can get a team sorted out. By the way, if any of you friends feel up to a little insanity let me know; I’d love to have you on my crew. Let the lunacy begin!