First blog post...

I had never really been interested in creating my own blog, but I ruptured my achilles tendon on Monday, June 6 playing ultimate frisbee and facing months until I am back to normal has motivated my interest in having an additional outlet and distraction. I was recently tenured and promoted to associate professor of statistics at Montana State University and the change in pace and obligations also has encouraged me to consider this additional outlet.

First to the injury... I have been slowly easing back into playing ultimate and getting more fit this spring. The last few years have seen me playing ultimate sporadically compared to 1992-2004 where I played competitively at Luther College and the University of Wyoming. In those years, I played at least half a dozen tournaments a year, playing on college, open and coed teams. I was the player/captain/coach for both Luther and UW. Before that I played soccer competitively up until a back injury during training camp at Luther College in Fall 1992. All of that ultimate and then the tenure process took a bit of toll on my body, mainly my knees and my fitness levels. And I am now almost 37. So getting back to a fitness level where I can play ultimate, possibly competitively, has been a challenge this spring.

I had a good ski season, feeling stronger than I had in years. Then I started running a little as temperatures warmed a little, until I strained my left calf muscle about 2 months ago and had to take a couple of weeks off. Then I made it to a few pre-Bozofest practices and it wasn't pretty. But I didn't have any major injuries through that and started to feel my fitness improve. Then I started mixing in elliptical training and a few bike rides and really felt like I was turning a corner.

That brings me to monday. It was the first night of summer league. I did a nice warm up, stretched a bit, and then we started playing. It was the first time that my knee and all my muscles felt good. Fitness was still a little low on long points and my throwing was conservative or inaccurate on my one huck. I played around 4 or 5 points but was surprised with how good I felt (not great, but not as bad as I expected).

Then on a turnover near our endzone, I took off on a cut to lose my defender. It felt like someone stepped on my heel as I took off, holding it down as I tried to run. I had the oddest combination of tingling and numbness in the middle of my lower leg. It only hurt when I tried to walk off the field and was extremely weak. I later discovered that no one was near me when I was cutting. I think I knew I had hurt my achilles, but wanted to think it was a muscle strain/tear.

Thursday I go to the orthopedic surgeon and probably will have surgery to re-attach the tendon. I had seen discussions of 6-8 weeks for recovery but that is likely how long I will be in a boot or cast. Mayo clinic suggests 4-6 months for the complete recovery process. That takes me from August to between October and December. I hope to try to chronicle my recovery process here as well as taking time to discuss life as a statistics faculty member. Life always involves a balance between work and play, and it looks like my play time is over for the summer.