Pictures, Neosporin, and Turkey Trots - Day 17 Post Op

I had somewhat of a set-back on Friday night. I unwrapped my foot when I got home from work and was kind of alarmed at the condition of the incision. It was oozing some liquid and it was discolored and generally disgusting looking. Well, I mentioned earlier that I might post some pictures, so this seems as good a time as any.



Yeah, not pretty. So after getting some expert opinion on how to care for the foot, I pretty much ignored it all and just went to bed. The next morning, after seeing no improvement, I started putting some Neosporin on the cut prior to wrapping. I was told this wasn’t the best idea as it can cause allergic reactions in deep cuts, but I’m too big of a wimp to even think about alcohol swabs. The Neosporin did seem to help, so I’ve continued to apply Neosporin and change the wrap about twice a day since then. It has greatly improved and seems to be healing much nicer now. However, because of the bad condition of the foot, I decided not to press my luck and did no running or any real form of exercise all weekend long.

Then today, I decided I needed to sweat, so I went to my gym at lunch and remembered that they were having a “turkey trot” today. Basically, what it consisted of was running 3.1 miles on the treadmill and one of the trainers recorded your time. Fastest time of the day wins a prize. No mention of what the prize is, but I’d imagine it’s something I can’t live without, like a cheap cotton t-shirt and some energy drink mix.

Anyway, I really wasn’t planning on doing it, but once I got into the gym area, there was a big sign up that said “BEST TIME OF THE DAY: 18:19.” Then the ego took over. I went over and asked about it, got the run down on the finer details from the instructor and climbed on a treadmill. The instructor punched in the workout and said, start whenever you’re ready. Well, I was at least expecting a warm-up, but figured, I’m not here to kill myself, so mile 1 will be my warm-up. I started at 10MPH and slowly crept up throughout the first mile and finished in 5:50. I was feeling fine cardiovascularly and the foot was holding up great, so I pushed a little on the next mile and did mile 2 in 5:20. The foot was still fine, but I’ll admit that my breathing was getting a bit labored. I have run exactly 3 miles in the past 20 days so I guess it should have been expected. However, I decided no guts, no glory and continued to push the pace finishing with a 5:12 mile and a 17:01 overall run.

Most importantly, the foot held up fine. It was a little sore after I showered and but it has since calmed down and feels good now. The cut area also held up fine with no additional bleeding from the hard running. Overall it was a success. Now I just have to sweat out the next 10 hours to see if a 17:01 will hold up, allowing me to claim the lucrative prizes. I’ll keep you posted.