5 minutes .6 miles. Look out world, here comes Martin.

I went for my first run! YES.

My first run since I laid waste to my ankle that is. That was February 2 so if your math skills have not evaporate like mine you will know this to be ELEVEN WEEKS since I have run at all. Okay, 10.5 really but rounding up sounds more dramatic. Heck, I should have just said three months but I kinda ruined that by listing the date and explaining everything too much.

Note to self - always embellish when you can and ixnay on the explainingway.

Anyway, after a thorough warm-up on the elliptical trainer I hit the treadmill. While on the elliptical I kept thinking I had the slightest pain in my ankle but once I started running I realized it was in my head and just a phantom pain.

Running felt fine. Shit, it felt great!

I turned the treadmill on, slowly ramped it up to 8:00/mile pace and just kept it there. And I stopped promptly after five minutes were up. Yes, that was hard to do... In those five minutes I ran .6 miles; woohoo.

I want to give thanks to those that made this possible.

• My sports medecine specialist Dr. Maxine Weyant. She was recommended to me by my PT and she knows her shit. She seems to have massive specific experience with runners and cyclists and athletes in general. Not only did she give me a recovery timeline but she told me why it had to be that way. I always want to know why I'm supposed to be doing anything. Understanding the risks of deviating from her timeline helped it all sink in.
• Neal Goldberg of FootWorksPT. Neal is my Physical Therapist and has helped me with my back (an ongoing issue with a ruptured/herniated disk), an IT band injury and now this ankle business. Not only is the foot and ankle Neal's specialty, he is also an athlete himself. And he has worked with tons of runners and cyclists. Really, really good runners and cyclists.
• My unofficial running mentor Justin Angle. It's unofficial only because he never actually consented to being my mentor but I have asked him countless questions and sent him numerous emotional emails when I was down in the dumps about this ankle thing and he has always taken the time to reply thoughtfully. He has also been a good reality check when I tend to get a little too enthusiastic and want to accelerate my recovery. Lastly, he has suffered through a much worse injury himself so knows first-hand what recovery and rehab is all about.

If this treadmill run is stage #2 (milestone #2?) in my recovery with rest and rehab being stage #1 then running on the road will be stage #3 and running on trails will be stage #4. Then it's just about regaining fitness. Daunting that.

But it's what I have been waiting for! Bring it I say. Never has 11 weeks felt this long.