Overcometober

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

For every car, a thousand frogs a-croaking.

It's a glorious spring Sydney Sunday evening with not a breathe of wind: even the very tops of the trees are as still as statues. On evenings such as this the frogs that inhabit the creeks around here surge to life, croaking for all they are worth as if such nights occur but once in a lifetime; the continuation of the species being dependent on them croaking til they drop. By contrast, the human inhabitants - even the wealthy and retired ones who don't have to work on Mondays - seem to spend Sunday evenings at home and so I have the streets to myself. Apart from the amphibian life, it's quiet out here this evening, with neither dog walker nor jogger to be seen. For every car that passes the croaking of a thousand frogs dominates the night air.

For the first time in weeks I'm walking without discomfort, at least for the first 45 minutes or so, and it's a welcome improvement. But soon enough the familiar pain returns. It's more annoying than truly painful, but after an hour and a half I return home, glad to stop, although there's the small matter of some serious stretching of the affected area to do before I can properly relax. It's becoming a familiar pattern: walk until the pain sets in, return home and stretch. I've been doing this for two weeks, ensuring I walk at least 15,000 steps (which equates to somewhere between 12 and 14 kilometres) each day. I've only missed once over the 14 days, and then not by much. How much it's helping heal the plantar fasciosis is impossible to say of course, there being no control clone of me who isn't walking each day to compare it with. I feel better for getting the exercise however, and so will continue. I hope also that it will make easier the transition back to running once this injury has finally gone.

There's room for optimism, yet. And if nothing else, it enabled me to fully enjoy the croaking of countless frogs on a perfect evening.