About 5 weeks ago I was with the PT (Lorie) going over hand exercises and I lamented that while I would be able to run in August, (I am registered for BR100), I would be unable to TRAIN for it, therefore I would not be running it. After a brief discussion with her, where I explained how relaxing the longer training runs would be, she left me alone to consult with the Surgeon, Dr. Drew Engles. After a few minutes, she returned saying, "Mike you better not mess up, I went to bat for you and Dr. Engles, who is strictly by-the-book, would allow me to run ONLY if I wrapped my hand in a protective "tendon-relaxed" position. So for the next 4 weeks I had gradually increased my miles and included some LONG runs. Two weeks ago I did 50 at Mohican. It was slow, but I completed with out major problems. Here I am at Lyons Falls about 28 miles into the race -
Last night I ran from 7pm to about 4am with some friends through BR100 and Vertical Runner. A week ago Dr. Engles allowed me to start running with out the splint and wrap.
Now, the REAL good news. At my last appointment with the PT and Dr Engles, BOTH were astounded at my recovery progress. Dr Engles told me that my hand use is way advanced. He said, "you are better then the average patient at 12 weeks post surgery." The real cool thing is that I was just 8 weeks post surgery when he told me that!
Here is a new photo of my hand. A recap of my running since the hand injury - May Miles - 12 June Miles - 200
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