Rainy summer, injuries and learning to run with a sled dog.

Rainy summer

I actually had big plans for this summer. There were a lot of home improvement projects we wanted to do but as everyone knows the price of lumber went up to levels that made anything other than emergency repairs impractical. I also had planned to go out in my boat quite a bit but then the rain hit, and stayed. Even long time Galena residents were beginning to wonder if we had become Ketchikan all of the sudden. Even the moose seemed to be tired of it all.

Work went on as usual however despite the weather.

Running with a sled dog

In spite of the weather Cocoa and I did get in some running this year. Lynn and I got her last winter but we didn’t really get a lot of runs in until the summer. Cocoa is a trained sled dog so her idea of an easy run and mine are slightly different. I don’t dare let her run off lead so she wears a pulling harness and I have a line attached to a skijoring belt when we go out. Running with her is a bit like attaching the line to your neighbors car and running behind them while they drive to town. After much work we finally decided on a mutually acceptable pace that is still about a minute per mile faster than I normally go. In the picture above we had just completed a 7.5 mile run around the airport. I went back outside about 30 minutes later and she wanted to go again. She loves to run and every day when I came home she zoomed around the house until I hooked her up and headed out. She doesn’t really understand the concept of rest days and the cooler it is outside the more she wants to run.

And the the injury happened

I was out running around the block with Cocoa on September 17. We were just going to do a quick trip around the block, (about 3.5 miles). At 1.18 miles in according to my Garmin I thought I rolled my ankle. This isn’t a big deal normally and the best course of action is just to slow down a bit and keep running. One more step and I knew something else had happened. I could not put any weight at all on my left foot so we turned around and headed back home. I did not have a cell phone with me at the time and Lynn was out of town anyway so the only option was limping back the way we came.

After a very long time including three separate occasions when I had to sit down to keep from passing out from the pain I made it home. I was pretty sure my foot was broken but I needed the clinic to confirm. After making contact with the clinic and getting an x-ray it was confirmed that I had a broken metatarsal bone.

The Monday following my accident I got a call from the clinic informing me that I needed to go into town for surgery. After a few phone calls to doctors offices and airlines I went in on that Thursday and had surgery on Friday. They put a screw in my foot and after a couple of days I flew back to Galena.

No moose hunting this year

Of course the injury had to come a few days before I was heading out to get this years meat. I also had several cords of firewood that I needed to put up. Thankfully I have neighbors willing to help out and at least got all the wood cut, split and stacked but Lynn has to do all the heavy lifting. I had to make two more trips into Fairbanks to the doctors and have graduated to a walking boot and a cane but still cannot put full weight on that foot.

In Arkansas for Thanksgiving

I had already planned to head to Arkansas for Thanksgiving. Because I was on crutches when I flew down I couldn’t carry as much luggage but we made it work. I am currently staying with my parents while Lynn is back in -30F Alaska walking the dog and keeping the house warm besides her work and coaching the swim team. I took a couple of pictures of deer this morning as they were grazing around the house.

Hopefully this foot will heal completely and I can get back to running and biking. Cocoa seems to think she is in trouble as I won’t run with her. When I am home she keeps looking up and her harness hanging by the door when I am heading out.

I fly back to Alaska on Thursday and after a couple of more doctor visits it is back home and back to work again.

Until next time, stay warm and stay safe.