SIDELINED, YO.
Since my last blog post on September 18th, I have run exactly .93 miles. Impressed? I thought so.
What a crappy "1/2 marathon" training this has been. The last time I posted, I was planning on going to the orthopedic walk in to have my leg checked out. Here I was thinking it was something dramatic or serious wrong with my leg, based on the fact that I rated my pain an "8" on the oucher scale
Well, it turns out (after what I imagine will be an expensive x-ray) that I have....wait for it.... SHIN SPLINTS.
Seriously. That does not sound impressive at all. Nope... basically makes me feel like a pansy- going to the doctor for run of the mill shin splints (technical question: if I just have it in one leg, is it shin SPLINT or is it still shin SPLINTS?). At any rate- LAME. I mean, they are supposedly easier to heal from than if it were something more serious like a stress fracture, but it just seemed like the pain was much greater than shin splint(s).
Doctor's opinion? Rest. Ice. Aleve. Probably spent a few hundred dollars for that advice. You know when you go to the doctor because your head is going to explode and you're coughing and feverish and feel like you're going to die? and then they tell you "it's viral" and you just need to "rest and drink fluids" and then you're pissed that you wasted your precious time (and probably caught ebola or the plague while waiting half the day in the lobby)? Well, this was the sports medicine version of that scenario. Rest/Ice/Aleve is their way of saying "It's viral."
He did confirm my flat-footedness, however. And he did write me a prescription for orthotics (awesome. I'm 80). I am hopeful that getting some sweet inserts will lessen the frequency of shin splints.
So... At that time I made the decision that I would NOT run the half marathon, but would instead run the 10k. I figured that would not require any training and I would be able to rest my leg without worry. But now, here we are, just a few days away from the event, and I've now completely dropped out.
I have not run for 3 weeks, with the exception of the .93 miles I ran on Monday night that just confirmed that my stupid leg was STILL not ready. It seems like a ridiculous amount of time to heal shin splints, doesn't it? I wasn't even sidelined this long when I sprained my S/I joint in my hip last spring!
So here I sit...trying to go with the flow. I bought a really sexy shin splint compression wrap for my leg the other day, which does feel like it helps. At times I feel like the pain is gone, and other times it hurts. I am trying to be extra careful not to run before I'm ready, but I am feeling very impatient.
A couple of fun 5k's on the horizon and hopeful I'll be ready to run by then!
So, sorry for the long absence, but it's hard to blog about running when I haven't really been running!
If I wasn't feeling so lazy at the moment, I'd snap a photo of the sexy shin splint wrap for you to see. Take my word for it: SEX-Y. You're super jealous.
