Did 0.55 miles again

Judy and I went walking after dark when the temperature is lower. Since we are walking in the neighborhood, walking after dark isn't bad.

Did about 0.55 miles

Judy and I went out after dark and walked to the corner and then a bit more and back. One of the neighbors has several teenage sons, and they were setting off fireworks in the street. Another neighbor and his wife were out walking, and they had stopped to watch the fireworks. We stopped and talked with the neighbor and his wife who were out walking. The other neighbor had finished their fireworks, and they were inside their house. Tomorrow is the anniversary of the Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake valley. A large parade is held each July 24.

Did about 0.52 miles, walking

I walked to the corner and back, as I have done in previous walks, but I crossed the street and walked home on the other side of the street. The time was the same as in previous walks: dusk. It takes about 20 minutes to walk the quarter mile.

Did another 0.5 mile walk

I felt good and, since I walked during dusk, I stopped to talk with several neighbors who were outside enjoying the cooler air.

Did 0.5 miles again. Starting to get used to the distance.

Judy wasn't available, so I went out alone at dusk, just before it got dark. I felt pretty good during the walk. I think I'm starting to get used to the distance, but I need to do it some more to really feel good during the walk.

I'm not Dumbo anymore

Today, at 2 pm, I completed 48 hours since my surgery for skin cancer. I removed the big bandage that had been put on my ear, and Judy cleaned the dried blood from my ear and put a new and smaller bandage on my ear, with Vaseline to keep the injury moist. This bandage will be changed twice a day, and my showers will help keep the wound clean. I'm not feeling any pain from the surgery, and that is good! I'm not anxious to take pain medication for fear that I might become addicted to the medicine. I go to the surgeon next week to have the surgery checked. In about a month, the wound will be healed.

Judy and I walked 0.5 miles again

I'm not used to this distance, so I will keep the distance at 0.5 miles during the coming week and not increase the distance until I become used to it. When I was younger, I used to believe that it took about the same time to come back from inactivity as I was inactive in my running. From this viewpoint, it will take about six weeks for me to get used to the longer distance. I've completed one week, so five more weeks to go.

My ear is bleeding

My ear started bleeding this morning, shortly before I got out of bed. The nurse involved with my surgery had warned me that my ear might start bleeding, and that I was to put pressure on the ear to stop the bleeding. After about an hour the bleeding stopped, and I quit putting pressure on the ear. I had continued my use of the Eliquis blood thinner during and after the surgery, and that probably contributed to the bleeding.

The ear has dried blood in it, but the big bandage absorbed most of the blood.

Getting old

Getting old is quite different than I had expected. I expected to have good health and to be running when I turn over 3 digits in my age. During my 60s and 70s, the years came and went without a lot of problems, and I assumed my 80s and 90s would be the same. Instead, I'm in my 80s, and I'm having blood clots, a blood thinner, a pace maker, surgeries, and swelling of my feet. Oh well, I'm still alive and moving, and that is what counts! Things could be a lot worse! Life is pretty good, actually!

I had skin-cancer surgery today

I had surgery today on my left ear to remove a skin cancer. I had a local and didn't feel anything during the surgery. I have a big bandage on my left ear, and my wife calls me "Dumbo". It's been about 10 years since I last had skin-cancer surgery, so I can't complain.I have had a lot of "pre-cancers" that were frozen with liquid nitrogen and didn't need surgery.

Walked 0.5 miles again

Judy and I walked to the corner and back.  The wind was a south wind and was blowing 10-15 mph. A storm front is apparently coming in. The predicted daytime temps are still in the 90s (F), so the upcoming front doesn't look like a cold front. We went walking just as it was getting dark, to avoid the daytime heat.

Walked 0.5 miles

I haven't been walking or jogging for several months. I've had significant pain in my left foot, and it has taken this long to find out the cause and to reduce the pain. I went to the emergency room of the IHC hospital in Murray and found out that the blood circulation in my feet was OK. I then went to a podiatrist who wrapped my foot and leg with foam and an elastic tape. This wrapping was left on for a week and reduced the swelling in my foot and leg. The pain subsided and now I'm basically pain-free in my left foot. Apparently the pain was created by swelling in my foot and leg. Swelling is one of the side effects for the treatment for Prostate and bone cancer that I have. The pain in my left foot began at about the same time I was treated for cancer.

Tonight, I went a relatively short distance, but the distance was enough for my current condition. I will do this distance two more times, and then I will increase the distance by about 10%. Even though I've been running for over 40 years and have completed four marathons, I've been away from exercise for such a long time that I'm basically starting over and will follow the Beginning Plan as outlined in my training blog at http://www.runninginjuryfree.org. Thus, my first goal is to walk for 30 minutes and then to do a bit of jogging in the middle of my walk. I will increase this jogging, while alternating jogging and walking until I'm doing 3 miles for my long run, 2 miles for my medium run, and 1 mile for my rest run. Rather than continuously running, I will alternate running (jogging) and walking with 50 seconds of running and 50 seconds of walking (a ratio of 50-seconds:50-seconds. Because of my age, I will probably cap my long run at 3 miles.