Tuesday, October 4, 2011

On the DL

This past weekend, I was back "home" visiting my parents in Wisconsin.  I eagerly headed out on Sunday for a long run.  I was hoping for 10, happy with 8.  In the week since my marathon, I had only run once, so I was anxious to let my legs fly.  I mapped out a neat course circling the scenic little river town of Omro.


It was a chilly 33 degrees at 7:00am. I pulled on my brand new Quad Cities Marathon jacket and I was ready to go.  Within the first mile, I felt a throbbing in my left calf muscle.  But I really wanted to check out the new fitness trail on the other side of town, so I pushed onward... past my old church, the cheese house, up and over the bridge, my childhood home, the high school... and then IT happened.  It was like someone grabbed my left leg and threw me to the ground.  I was done.  I limped across town and back to my car, feeling completely humiliated.

I've been a basket case ever since.  Yesterday, I moped around the house, breaking down in tears as I gazed outside at the beautiful fall day.  Feeling totally depressed, I demolished a roll of cookie dough.  ugh.  I got a brief stint of "suck it up" and did some crunches, spidermans and pushups (to work off that cookie dough...).

After two days of rest, icing, rolling and gentle stretching, the calf muscle is improving.  Not run-able yet, but healing enough for me to know it's not serious.  I'm holding out hope for the weekend.  It's absolutely perfect running weather here in Illinois this week, and I'm missing out on my favorite season.  I can hardly even stand Facebook today... reading friends' posts about their awesome runs.

The one benefit of injury is that I finally had free time to write my marathon recap.  For some reason, my new blog posts aren't showing up on the Blogger dashboard (help anyone?).  So if you missed my Marathon Race Recap, click here to read the details of my proudest race adventure yet!  Also don't forget to sign up for The Cupcake Classic virtual race later this month.

8 comments:

  1. sorry to hear about your injury! boooo. but glad to hear it is healing and you won't be out for long. yeah...i have not been getting notification of your posts. weird! good thing I googled ya just to make sure ;) going to check out the recap now!

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  2. I'm really sorry to hear Jess. Glad the rest is working. I've done something like that too (push it more that I sould have) and yes, it does make you feel bad but hey... we had a reason to do it ;)
    Hope you're back on your feet in no time and can enjoy the fall in IL!
    Take care!

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  3. I sure hope that heals quickly!

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  4. oh hey! Your post showed up finally, and I can comment. Yay!

    Hope your leg is feeling even better today!

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  5. Hi Jess, I have had 2 bouts with injuries...one took me out for 3 months. And.it.stinks! I can feel your agony!

    But here is your silver lining. When you are strong and healthy enough to return, I bet during the first mile you are going to be reveling in thankfulness that you are healthy again. Coming off an injury, every running stride is a blessing! And that is the moment you should long for.

    Take this forced time off to catch up on things that have been put aside because of your training schedule. Soon again the chores will be piling up!

    Take care!
    Heather

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