Running a mile without pain, the puppeteer behind the curtain, and the power of small accomplishments

For the first time in 7 years, with a closed right middle cerebral artery and a still mildly paralyzed left leg,  I ran a mile without pain. It was painfully slow (12.17 sec). It was intensely conscious (don't swing right arm/ actively swing left, propel forward with left side only). It was brutally short, only 1 mile. But I did it!

After giving up the idea of the 1/2 marathon (which seemed reasonable and inevitable), I wanted to see if I could find a creative solution to the "can't run" problem. . The idea of not being able to do something doesn't sit well with me. I decided to start very small. If I could figure out how to run one mile I could build on that slowly.

If there is anything I learned from stroke recovery it's the power of small achievements. Once you make any headway at all - a wiggled tow, a pinky finger table tap - you have the whole thing - it's just a matter of time. So now I try to  find a smaller goal and build on it. One mile without pain was a small goal.  But it didn't really seem possible to me. I knew I'd have to manually pull the puppet strings, which is exhausting. For most, life is largely automatic. You walk without thinking about it, type unconsciously, eat without deciding how to hold your hand, etc.  For me, recovery has been finding ways to fake what should be automatic (or not fake, but make deliberate, which is what I mean by pulling puppet strings). It's more wizzard of OZ behind he curtains and less Dorthy skipping down the road.

So, I sat behind the curtain and gave myself the cues. I wanted to speed up and really let my legs swing wide, but I couldn't lose control, I just know that's how I hurt my hip. I could feel a few of the things that were hurting me.
1. overswinging my right arm and holding the left stiff like a board.
2. taking huge strides with the right and trying to be faster (when I do anything physical  unconsciously the default is to compensate with the right side).
3. Running on my toes

I could just feel these things creating the searing pain at the top of my illiac crest on the right side.

So, I started painfully slow..

Don't swing your right arm. Only swing your left. Strike the ground mid-sole and roll. swing your left arm. keep a steady pace even if you hate how slow it is.Etc..

You get the picture. I just can't believe it worked. I'
m shocked. I had no pain. I didn't have to stop, but I chose to stop at 1 mile so I could access my results in a small dose. I want to try it again, but I'm going to wait a couple days. I'm pretty  sore on the left side and still a little tender in my right hip. But I'm not limping, or in pain, so I'll take it.