From time to time recently I've been mumbling here about how when my surgery is all healed, I want to get back into shape for running.

This is sort of what I had to do after my 2010 surgery for my Achilles tendon and then for hernia repair... with so many weeks of not running and not working out, I was so totally out of shape. I managed to be able to run a couple of 5K races that year. I ran more in 2011 -- a three miler, a four-miler, and a couple of 5K races (if I recall correctly without looking it up). And 2012 turned out to not be a bad year for running (well, at least given my aging body) -- a three miler, two four-milers, three 5K runs, and one 10K run.

But here I am, practically back to zero. I stopped running in the fall because my bunions hurt too much (which is why I walked the three mile walk on Thanksgiving morning rather than running the five mile race) and then, after surgery, I was mostly in bed for a day or two (well, in bed or in a recliner chair in our bedroom. It was two or three days before I travelled downstairs.

But I've been making progress. At first, getting around on crutches, then getting the stitches out and being able to wear a moonboot, and then last week being able to go from the moonboot to a surgical shoe. And I am slowly -- very slowly it seems -- trying to get into good enough shape that when my podiatrist says I can replace the surgical shoe with a regular sneaker, I will be able to start some serious workouts. Okay, so at first that will just mean walking, but eventually throw in some jogging with the walking, and then -- eventually -- begin running again.

And -- here are my statistics for halfway through the month of January as measured in minutes. The biggest amount of time is spent on the exercise bike we have in our basement. I also have a workout bench where I can do leg lifts (that is, lift my legs against the resistance of weights) and also "row" (both overhand and underhand). I currently have 53 pounds of weights on that. And I also do biceps curls, overhead lifts, and French presses using hand weights (usually a pair of ten pound weights -- I've held off on using heavier because of not wanting to put too much weight on my feet by using heavier weights). The exception to those in-the-basement routines came on the 11th when Jill and I are taking a tai chi class. (We're going to be doing that every Friday morning.)

The days with dashes instead of a number are days without a workout. I had not planned one for today. In fact, I was looking forward to a long session on the exercise bike after work today, but as the day went on, I began to feel a scratchiness in my throat and was doing some coughing -- and, thinking of how Jill has had a cold for the past few days, I decided that I didn't want to push things, so I decided to make this a day off. So I took some vitamin C and zinc this afternoon and I'm going to take some more as soon as I post this and then I am going to go to bed.

The first race of the season coming up is the March Hare Hop, a three mile race on the first Sunday in March. The earliest possible date that I could have my doctor's approval to wear a running shoe instead of my surgical shoe would be January 30th. And I have come to realize just how important it is to let my foot continue to heal and to have the bone grow and strengthen, so even when January ends and February begins, I am only going to be able to start doing some walking, not running. When the first Sunday in March comes around, I think I will be walking that race. Then, spend March and April working my way back into running and racing a 5K toward the end of April.

I guess that makes this my mid-January physical statistics report.