Many things have changed and happened in te previous months.  We spent a week in St. Thomas and loved every minute of it.  I could see me living on an island with a lovely umbrella drink in my hand.

I have been having problems with my feet for a few years.  If I walk too much or stand for too long my feet would hurt.  Finally, after spending time in Florida and then time in St. Thomas the pain from walking on the beach was too much.  I had a lot of pain just walking on the beach.  I wanted my life back.  It hurt to take my evening walk with Bill, walking on the beach and riding the motorcyle - no matter if I was riding with Bill or riding my own.  Time to do something about it.

I went to see a podiatrist.  She took some x-rays and told me the bad news.  I had arthritis in both big toes with the left foot being worse.  I had bone spurs, bone fragments and a lot of inflammation.  The bone was too long causing the joint to deteriorate over time.  She gave me 3 options.  The least invasive was to take an anti-inflammatory drug and get orthotics,  or I could have surgery to fix and clean out the joint or the most invasive was joint replacement.  Well, toe joint replacement just sounded to funny.  Drugs and shoe inserts just wasn't going to fix the problem of not being able to walk on the beach.  So, I decided to have surgery.  It is now 1 month post surgery and I have been pleasantly surprised.  I went into this expecting a lot of pain and a long recovery. 

The surgery went smoothly and the initial recovery was good.  Very little pain, mostly just discomfort.   Now that I was given the ok to start walking normally again and get back to my normal routine, the joints get stiff but still not much pain.  I can walk, use the elliptical or even ride a bike, but no running which leads me to my goal.

I decided to make a goal for myself to get into shape and be healthy.  It will be a way to get my feet back to a normal function and live a healthier life.  I have decided to run the Disney Princess 1/2 marathon in Feb 2013.  Now, I am not a runner, the last time I ran was in high school.  But the time has come.  Family medical history says the time has come to do something about my weight.  This seemed like a good goal.  I've been reading about it for a few months now and I have read some running books and I think I am ready to get into this.  The only drawback is I can't start running till 8 weeks post-op.  So another 4 weeks to start working on my goal.