Week Four – Run Number Ten

Four weeks and ten runs in, I’ve hit my first running injury that has left me wincing in pain for the last 24 hours. Thankfully, it’s just a huge running blister on the bottom of my right foot. I’m hoping it gets better by Monday so I can get back to training for my first 10k. It started as something small on this past Monday. Like a typical guy, and running novice I ignored it. Then, after my 4.5 mile run on Wednesday it more than doubled in size, and hurt like heck. Still, I ignored it. Friday though, I kept my run to 2.8 miles and dang, my foot. After reading some running websites on how to handle these types of things there isn’t much for me to do since I have a huge fear of needles. OK, I probably shouldn’t get into detail here, or else people will forever shun me as that weird guy that talks about foot blisters from running. Story ends with, I put some Neosporin on it and crossed my fingers.

I’ve hit some important milestones in these past four weeks. I’ve crossed over 300 Likes on Facebook, made some new friends in the Usher Syndrome community and I HOPE have enlightened many people to what exactly Usher Syndrome is and how it effects my life. It was my birthday this past Thursday, February 19^th. I’m now 33 years old. It doesn’t sound old, but I sure do feel it now, especially recovering from injuries. We took a family day off and went to the Aquarium in Salt Lake City. Being from the Seattle area, I was expecting something more but realized an Aquarium in the middle of the country a thousand miles from the ocean I can’t expect much. When we pulled into the parking lot we saw four school buses parked and both my wife and I gave a “oh, crap.” The place was crawling with kids running around the exhibits. I had to rely heavily on my wife taking my arm and making sure I wasn’t about to trample some kid. Or, my son Lincoln had to hold my hand and use our signals to get around. I had to try my best to not get stressed out. It’s at these points where I know that the kids are having fun, but us adults aren’t having as much fun as they are. I always start to feel bad that my wife, (have I told you guys enough how amazing she is) essentially has to keep an eye on both the kids and then help me get around. It can’t be enjoyed to the max. The stress of being nearly blind and nobody around me knowing, giving us looks as we probably look like crazy people isn’t fun. Having to say sorry for bumping into people I can’t see, even to the pillar that I didn’t see but thought was a person. You know, fun stuff like that.

At one point, when we were looking at the River Otters, a thought came to mind. If I had a cane with me, how much easier would this whole experience have been? To prove how much my wife and I are in sync, no more than a minute later, she joked that if I had a cane this might be easier for us. I’ve said this before, but as courageous as people tell me I am about starting this awareness campaign, I feel cowardly about not using a cane in public. I know it isn’t a big deal and I’m sure that my friends with Usher Syndrome that use a cane or guide dog might be saying “just do it!”, I keep not taking that next step. To me, this feels like something that is on par with having to give up driving five years ago. A huge milestone in acceptance, but a reluctance and hesitation to take the next step. Does something major need to happen? Do I have to knock down a kid and have a parent explode in anger? Do I need to injure myself because I ran into something I didn’t see? For driving, it was backing into a parked car in a parking lot. I got home, told my wife I couldn’t drive anymore and handed over my keys. Then, I went into my bedroom, sat on my bed and cried for ten minutes. I’m hoping something doesn’t happen to that extreme to just get me to use a blind cane in public.

My Wednesday run was 4.52 miles in 51:33 giving me an 11:24 per mile pace. With my Friday run being 2.8 miles in 31:38, giving me an 11:18 per mile pace. Total miles ran this week is 10.68 miles, which didn’t seem like a big number until reading that just now!