Injuries

In retrospect - ah, wonderful retrospect! - that ten-miler in my last post was a mistake.  I knew it was a mistake during the last two miles, and I should have stopped there.  But this runner is a stubborn creature and now he is an injured creature.  My e-mail to Vicki says it all:

I’ve been sidelined by a nagging injury – a little tendinitis in my right lower leg.  It seems to clear up when I run – I did a 9:35 mile yesterday as my second mile – but then hurts later in the day.  At least it’s not the other way around.  I remember running those perfect six miles with Art and you almost two weeks ago now, and felt race-ready, then missed some runs due to a stomach bug, and probably came back a little too aggressively to make up for lost time – typical mistake by a runner! – going a couple of miles on Sunday and then a hard 10 miles in the rain the next day (Monday).  I don’t want to wind up really injured, like Skip, so I’m probably going to back off on mileage and speed for awhile, and likely will not run the half marathon.

So that's the short story, and since this blog has few if any followers, it will suffice.  

But I do not know a runner who has not been injured, and usually it is his or her own fault:  too much too soon, inadequate warm-up or cool-down, etc.  How we deal with injury is what makes us real runners, runners for life.  So for my part, I'm going to the gym, walking, stretching, and taking that bitterest of medicines:  REST.