It has been 18 months since a motorcyclist knocked me down and drove over my left foot. This morning I ran seven kilometres. That achievement is due as much to the perseverance of my physiotherapist as to my own bulldog nature.
At the time of the accident, I was in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island with my mom, showing her the mostly recognizable venues of her life there in the 1960s. That morning, I ran 10 km along the Courtenay River. Then we toured Mom’s destinations: a market garden where she’d been a field boss, which was now under the care of Ducks Unlimited and a herd of Jersey cows; our favourite beaches, where decades ago we’d dug clams, fished for salmon and picked oysters; and then a local butcher shop.
Back in the day, Mom had driven for the butcher shop, delivering meat and recipes up island to clients who, like her, were young mothers. The shop is now owned by her former boss’s grandsons, who were glad to chat with Mom against a backdrop of hanging sides of beef.
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Then we visited Beaufort Vineyard and Estate Winery. The wines we sampled and shipped home helped ease Mom’s feelings of dislocation. The valley had changed as much as she had, and there’s no returning to your youth.
In fact, I was walking across a grocery store parking lot to buy more Beaufort sparkling wine to enjoy with our dinner when the motorcyclist did his damage.
When we returned to Saskatchewan a week later, my injured foot was safely encased in a walking boot. My physiotherapist and my doctor both ordered me to practice immobility for two weeks, and my husband, Dave, picked up the load, cooking, making tea and maintaining my supply of crossword puzzles and books.
I slowly resumed an approximation of life, with pain as my constant walking companion. A battery of tests revealed extensive soft tissue damage, a bruised and swollen map of injury to everything but the bones.
The foot is a complicated piece of engineering, with 26 bones, 33 joints, more than 100 ligaments, tendons and muscles, and more than 7,000 nerve endings. A year and a half later, most of my foot feels simultaneously painful and numb, clear signs of long-term nerve damage.
Soft tissue damage can be a life sentence of pain and reduced function. I thought I’d never run again.
The slow road to recovery felt pointless on days when I came home from physio sessions in more pain than when I’d left the house. At one point, my podiatrist told me I’d be permanently lame if I returned to running too soon.
My inactivity was followed by months of reduced movement, then reconditioning in the gym. My foot would tolerate very little initially; my physiotherapist and podiatrist prescribed strictly limited numbers of steps per day, and small but precise strengthening exercises.
I lifted weights. I walked. Eventually, I ran short distances that slowly lengthened.
I gained a few pounds despite Dave’s lunchtime salads. It could have been the dark chocolate I enjoyed daily, but I doubt it. Every chocoholic knows how uplifting endorphins are, and dark chocolate contains endorphins — the same chemical cocktail called “runner’s high,” a mysterious part of why I love to run.
Truth is, if you asked me which I‘d more willingly give up, running or chocolate, I’d tell you that I rely on running more than I rely on chocolate.
To celebrate my return to running, here’s my favourite chocolate dessert, a famous French chef’s four-star classic. First we eat, we rest, then we run.
Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Molten Chocolate Cake
Use the very best chocolate for this fabulous dessert from Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef by Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Mark Bittman, which punches way above its super simple weight class.
I usually double it to have unbaked extras waiting in the fridge for the arrival of company — or a milestone worth celebrating. Bake it right before you eat it. As Jean-Georges says, “It’s pretty sexy, non?” Serves five.
- 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 2 whole eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Butter and flour five four-ounce ramekins or fluted brioche moulds. Set the oven at 450 F.
Melt the chocolate and butter in a microwave at medium power or in a double boiler, stirring occasionally.
Whisk the eggs, yolks and sugar together in a mixer until thick and pale. Add flour, chocolate and butter. Mix well.
Divide evenly among the ramekins. Cover and chill if desired. Remove from the fridge 30 minutes before baking.
Transfer the ramekins to a baking sheet and bake for six minutes.
Invert onto a plate. Serve immediately, either plain or with ice cream, whipped cream, strawberry compote, passionfruit coulis or raspberry sorbet.
