Friday, July 23, 2010

Plagued by pain and frustration

First, let's get one thing straight: Mountain biking is my favorite sport. I love the challenge of it, I love how easy it is to see success and I love how, this year, I'm not crashing! Still...running has become my second favorite sport. I love to run alone on long runs, and I love running trails with Lynn and Elissa. There's something about just running and meeting each and every goal along the way that gets in your blood...the endorphins kick in, the adrenaline gets going, and you just feel so ecstatic...it's crazy and it feels wonderful.

It feels wonderful until, like me, you wake up the day after a long run with aching hips or shin splints...you get a sore knees 2/3 of the way through a run, or and this is the most bizarre, you wake up in the middle of the night with pain from a strained PELVIC JOINT. Yes. It's happened to me. Right now I'm dealing with some sort of tendonitis on the outside of my left ankle. It was getting better after 3 days of rest and then, like any runner, I went running. Let me stress that while running, my ankle did not hurt. I thought well great! It's getting better! Oh no. It was just toying with me. I woke up this morning and the pain was back, just as bad as Monday. Ibuprofen, ice, elevation...all seem to help a little, but MAN walking is painful. This is my foot, at my desk, in a slightly awkward position with a giant piece of ice under my ankle.



Look I understand that in running injuries are going to happen. I get that. It's a lot of pounding and blah blah blah. But do I have to get EVERY injury? Granted I only get them very briefly (the issue with my IT band lasted 2 runs), but still. It's frustrating when I want to train for the half-marathons and I can't.

On the other hand, it's a good excuse to go for some long bike rides! Maybe this weekend I'll bike here:


(Thanks for posing Tomas :))

I guess I just needed to rant. I've got a big bike trip coming up and more than anything I do not want this ankle to still be hurting. So I'll be good and I'll rest it and I'll sit at my desk in bizarre positions so I can ice it. Better to take a few days off now than a month off later.

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