Look y'all, no brace!
We got home from New York City on Monday afternoon, and I had time to get my short run in before we picked up the dogs from boarding. On Sunday we had walked all over NYC and I had almost no calf pain, but a mile into this run, my calf started hurting again and so did my hip. So I decided to take off my knee brace and stick it in the mailbox.
One loop in my neighborhood is about a mile, and I live on a cul de sac. So when I go out for short runs, I put a water the mailbox, take it out to drink while walking a loop in the cul de sac, and put back in before my next mile. It's the perfect system for storing other things, too - a flashlight if I start before sunrise or end after sunset, sunglasses, a Gatorade on longer runs, etc. On Monday, I put my knee brace in there and tried my second mile without it. I felt like Forrest Gump breaking free! My second mile was faster than my first, and it was first time I had run since Memorial Day without a brace!
On Wednesday, I did 4 miles without the brace. And on Saturday, I did 5.5 miles without the brace! I think, as I was increasing miles, the pressure of the brace was aggravating my calf. It's also bulky and it was rubbing against my left leg, so I think I was compensating by changing my gait and swinging my left hip out further. My hip is still a little cranky, but it hasn't popped or been painful the rest of the week. So, if all continues to go well, I'm finally done with that brace! It did its job, but I'm moving on! I'm still doing my PT exercises since I have a little way to go to get back to 100%, but I definitely feel stronger and more confident without it!
Week 3: Run 15.23 miles + Walk 2.12 miles = 17.35 total miles
Cumulative: Run 50.71 miles + Walk 4.06 miles = 54.77 cumulative miles
Yay for no brace!!