Today I went to the gym and played some basketball by myself, and I followed that up with a run. Yes, a run. Over the last week or so I've felt really good and have even run for 10 or 15 seconds at a time during PT, albeit a very slow jog. Then, this weekend, I was at the gym and I started looking at the basketball court. I never really learned how to shoot-- I always tried, but I never learned the correct form, so at the gym I picked up a basketball and started shooting. After a while someone else came and started shooting at the opposite hoop, and observing his style, I tried to mimick it until suddenly it felt natural. Granted, I am still a horrible shot (I have since only shot 25% of my attempts from the free throw line), but it doesn't feel awkward anymore. (I also had someone look at my shots later and he said it looked right... I just need to not revert to my old way when playing against someone!)
While shooting around, and usually missing, I found myself going after the ball a lot, and to be honest, it just got really annoying trying to speedwalk to catch up to the ball, so I jogged a little bit. Surprisingly, it did not hurt, so soon I was jogging before trying to lob the ball, and by the end of my "workout" I was even running fairly slowly across the court. All of this was without my brace.
So today, naturally I wanted to continue my newfound basketball skills, however young they may be. I found myself running around even more than before, so I decided to be brave; I went to the treadmill, and for over 15 minutes, I proceeded to alternate between a minute or so of a slow run and a couple minutes of walking. Right now my knee feels fine, and I am feeling extremely optimistic. I did wear my brace to be cautious, and I will continue to wear it during PT, but I am going optimistic that my progress will continue, and that soon I will even be able to just "go for a run!"
