bare minimum plus 1

Now it's time to celebrate... and I'm bringing a DQ Ice Cream cake tonight to a friend's house to ring in the New Year; can't wait to have some... been craving it for weeks :)

Wishing you all a wonderful, healthy and happy 2009, lots of injury-free miles.

(yes Glaven, miles.  That one was for you; now you can't say you I haven't given you anything).    :)

I got my swag!

Back in the spring, the girls and I of our running group registered in the lottery for Nike's Women's 1/2 Marathon in San Francisco for October. None of us were chosen, which was disappointing at the time, but for selfish reasons, I'm sorta glad we didn't.

Once the virtual registration opened, I signed up for it, planning to run the needed mileage on the same day of the event.

Stress fractures put a damper on accomplishing this, but I became a little creative, which I posted about here.

So as promised, here is a pic of the finishers' shirt and the Tiffany keychain.  Since it was technically only available to US participants, I used a co-workers mailing address, and he kindly shipped it out to me.  I was very excited to get it today.

Yesterday I ran 6.1k... leaving me with 2k tomorrow to accomplish my 1000k goal for 2008!

:)  Not sure if I'll do much more than the 2k needed, my legs are killing me from a new workout I tried yesterday with a lot of lunges... owww. 

headwind vs. tailwind

headwind = running backwards, while still facing forward.

tailwind = taking flight... almost literally

Lying in bed this morning, I heard the wind howling... so I stayed in bed a little longer.  Got up, had breakfast, contemplated hitting the gym for another treadmill run.  Despite the wind, the sun was shining, and I longed to be outside. 

Looked at the weather forecast, not surprisingly, a wind warning, with 93 km/h wind gusts. No doubt.  Saw a few other hardcore runners out there, if they can brave the wind, so can I. Got dressed, and headed out.

Picked a 10k loop, where I'd be able to run on the streets rather than the puddle filled sidewalks for most of my run, with lots of shortcuts if I needed to cut the run short.

Although it was probably common sense, I was caught off guard a few times by flying sticks, leaves, diapers, garbage can lids, falling fences or other random debris.  Yes, I dodged a few of these, and inhaled a leaf as it flew into my mouth.  Gotta learn how to breathe through my nose.  I have a nice red line on my upper thigh from a stick that flew into my leg and left it stinging for a good while, but posting a picture would make this unacceptable as a G rated blog. :)

It wasn't a fast run, the first half was going west into a very strong headwind... and up a gradual incline. More often than not, I felt like I was going backwards, since my forward moving pace was so incredibly slow into the wind.  I really didn't care too much about pace today, I was just happy to be out there. Headed north for a bit then back east, at which point, if I had wings, the wind would have easily carried me home.  What a difference! Definitely a run with negative splits!  The whole way back was with a tailwind. Yay.

991.9km this year, 8.1km to go! :)

2008 bullet points

• started blogging Jan 23, 2008... this is my 177th post (are you thinking 'will she ever shut up?') and my blogiversary is coming up soon!
• ran through my very first winter... and it was a brutal one.  So far this winter is shaping up to be the same
• ran my first 1/2 marathon on March 2nd, 2008 in 2:05:58
• the HM was followed by a hip flexor injury
• bought myself a road bike... which I have yet to name... any thoughts? suggestions?
• fell off the road bike dodging a car that wasn't paying attention, and now have a nice scar to prove that my bike serves as more than a clothing hanger
• really cool RBF's and was lucky enough to meet a few in person too, so new friends!
• interviewed as part of Kristina's research for a book -- learned a lot about myself in the process
• tibia stress fractures... yes, more than one.
• xrays, bone scan, needles, bone density test
• spent my champagne birthday, my 31st, on the 31st of August in an air cast, volunteering at a duathlon that I really wanted to participate in.  There's always next year.
• Celebrated 3 years of being a non-smoker.  Also 7 years since my brain surgery, which was the same day as my last seizure.
• cheered on Marlene at her first marathon, and watched another friend Patricia BQ, and her husband run his first!
• started swimming in the fall, but i've been lacking motivation with the freezing cold temperatures.  Something about leaving the pool at 10pm in the dark, frigid night air doesn't excite me.   I will get back to swimming soon, and see where this leads me... but at least I started.
• at least 5 pairs of running shoes... still searching for the right pair.  Not quite as "priceless" as a Mastercard commercial!
• was inspired to do a cycling trip, which is tentatively planned for June.
• ExtraOrdinary Runner Award on Runners' Lounge!
• Top Health Blogger at Wellsphere.com!
• Discovered that if I really want to get on Glaven's nerves, just throw in a few kilometers, or supposed "fictitious" Canadian cities, after which I'm sure to get a comment and a laugh!  I did help him accomplish one of his goals this year... so I feel a little entitled. :D
• My mileage goal for 2008 was 1000km. As I type, I'm at 981.3k.  I'm so damn close, and I know that if I didn't have all those bumps, I would have made it.
• Mr. GQH, my mileage goal for 2008 was ~621 miles.  As I type, I'm at 609.75 miles.  I'm so damn close, and I know that if I didn't have all those bumps, I would have made it.

Looking back, I'd have to say it's been a pretty amazing year... even with the bumps and not so happy moments, I've accomplished a lot, learned more about myself, being a (better) mother, and ways to push my body and mind further than ever before.  

I realized while in yesterday's funk that yes, I've had a very bumpy ride, maybe even hilly, but I will treat it as such.  Bumps in the road... nothing yet that has kept me down.  One of my goals for 2009 is to remember this, and try to remain more positive.

Thanks to all of you who read, and take the time to comment.  I am quite certain that I would've jumped off this bandwagon a long time ago if it wasn't for all the encouragement, advice and support.  Couldn't have done it without you all, so a heartfelt thank you!

In running news, I hit the gym as it was a very wet, rainy day.  The snow has been melting like crazy because of mild temperatures, then add the rain and there are huge puddles everywhere. Some sidewalks still iced over as the nights still have been below freezing, so I figured the dreadmill might be the best choice.  Plus, my shoes are still too new to dirty them up already :) 5 miles, and my leg was feeling ok, and now afterwards not too bad either.  I've been icing off and on today, so I'll keep my fingers crossed that tomorrow is be at least the same if not better. 

Off to bed... good night.  Enjoy the rest of the weekend and 2008! I'm sure I'll be posting before the end of the year though :)

T G I Friday

It doesn't feel like a friday, but after catching up on a few blogs, I realized it was, so here's my addition to Nikemom's TGI Photo Friday.  Some much needed "chillin' out" in a snowbank after helping me shovel some of the 50 cm that fell last week.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Like the rest of the year, mine has been a roller-coaster ride of emotions.  The good -- I enjoyed a great breakfast that my son made for me at his dad's place when I went to pick him up, opened some presents, came home, opened more presents, then went out for a short run... and the sun was shining! It was a wonderful change after a week of grey skies, snow, and rain.   I got some great gifts, and spent time with my son and boyfriend.  Spoke to my brother who is in Vancouver, my mom who is Winnipeg.

The bad -- I was saddened, worried and disappointed more than ever; all by one person who I've tried my whole life to please, but it never has and never will be enough.  I'm not going to get into it all on my "running" blog. I'm fine, I really am, I just needed to vent and let it out. If anything positive is going to come out of my feelings, it's that I now see even more clearly what I don't want to become.  I value family, love, health and happiness; not everyone does.

Ok, enough of the heavy stuff.  Today, we went to check out the Boxing Day sales, which is the Canadian equivalent of Black Friday... and didn't find much.  We avoided malls at all costs, and were home early, so I went to the gym for some weights and a bike ride.  Will head out for a run tomorrow and see how my leg is feeling -- may be calling my sports injury doc next week for a followup.  I'm still very unsure that everything is "ok".

Hope everyone is enjoying their holidays, food, and that Santa was good to you :)

The Running Circle gets smaller!

If any of you have read my blog for a while, you'll know that I've 'been around the block' a few times with shoes. I've had a very open relationship with shoes. I have had a very difficult time remaining loyal to any brand, but I wish I could be.  I thought I had it nailed with the Saucony shoes that I bought just before being diagnosed with the stress fractures, but with less than 200km on them, the material and padding on the inside back of the heel of both shoes have already worn through to the plastic.

I wrote to Saucony, they suggested bringing them back to the original place of purchase, but it's been too long since they were bought prior to my injury, but were just not being used.  So Saucony has now said to ship the shoes back to them for further inspection. Hopefully I'll get a replacement, but who knows.  Glad they're willing to help though!

I won a pair of shoes from Runners' Lounge this year, and ordered the same pair of Saucony's, again thinking these were the pair.  I ordered the exact same size, but these came from the US. Glaven, was there perhaps something I missed in the conversion of shoe sizes that perhaps I wasn't aware of?!  These shoes feel sooooo much narrower, and now I have a ripe, huge blood blister on the side of the ball of my right foot, which I'll spare you by not posting a picture.  It hurts, and rubs in my shoe with each step. Sigh. I've already run 78km/48 miles in these, not sure if they'd stretch any more to accommodate my foot, and they're not getting any more comfortable.

So, I went to a local Running Room store a few minutes up the street, which has recently turned into a clearance center due to changing locations.  I figured I'd go check out what they had, in the off chance that there would be a few that might work for me.  I hadn't brought my orthotics, so was testing out a bunch of shoes, and with each one, he said my ankle did funny things. Before making any purchase, I told him to put them on hold, and that I'd be back with my orthotics to see if it made a difference.  Went back about an hour later, and started the whole process again. The guy was great though, very patient, and super helpful. I narrowed it down to 3, then 2; and got stuck.  It was between a Brooks Axiom and a Pearl Izumi SyncroPace. 

I have a picture of both, because I bought both! They both felt great, I ran around the store a bunch of times, one on each foot, switching them up; could not decide, and for $59 each, why not! I probably would have paid about $120 at regular price for a pair anyway!  Yay for bargains.    :D

So after getting my shoes, I went to the gym, threw on the Brooks.  I wasn't planning on running yesterday, and after all the laps in the store, I'm sure I ran at least a mile!  There, I said it again. But I really wanted to check out the new kicks, so I ran about 1 km on the treadmill, just to warm up before weights.

My attire for the gym was a pair of pants with pockets to hold my ipod and gym card, and a long sleeve tech shirt that I purchased for charity at the race I ran in August -- turns out the shirt was the previous year's race shirt.

The gym was completely empty until a gentleman walked in, who I thought was there to workout, but got behind the desk.  I went to try my free trial of a H2O massage, which was great! I can get an unlimited number of these for $20/month! 

Once the massage was finished, I went back to the front, and the gentleman points to my shirt, and says, I ran that race! I proceeded to tell him that I ran it this past year only, but that I want to do the 30k this year.  Turns out that he was one of the pace bunnies for the 30k and is the owner of the gym that I just joined!  Not sure he liked the fact that I asked him if he wore a tutu during the race (it's a Shakespearean theme run... so everyone is in costume).  He shyly answered yes, in front of another one of his staff members who was giggling by this point! Ooops! Sorry that your secret is out! :)  Just funny how big yet small the running community can be!

Merry Christmas to you all, and your families!  Safe travels, and cherish the time spent with family and loved ones!

a long ride...

I hate the feeling i have late in the day when I haven't managed a workout when I had planned one. That was me last night. Typically I'm a pretty healthy eater, but last night we decided to try out a new wing place down the street. Add that to having not gotten in my planned run, and I felt like garbage.

Jay was getting ready to watch a movie that I had little desire to see, so I got up, put on my cycling shorts, cranked up the tunes on my ipod to drown out the sound of the trainer, and the movie, and hopped on my bike. I had previously looked through a few of the pre-planned workouts that are in Garmin Training Center, not having used many before, but apparently I didn't too much attention to them. Rifled through the names on the Garmin, and picked the one named Speedplay.

About an hour into the ride, I thought I noticed one of the intervals telling me I was on 2 of 5! WTF?! My a$s is already numb, and I have at least 3 more sets?! Ok, surely the next set of intervals won't take as long as the first half, as I'm sure I would have noticed this when I first checked out the program.

Clearly I was wrong. I almost hopped off a few times, but I'm planning a cycling trip in June, which will have 3 days of 60k+ of cycling each day... my bum will need to get used to riding this long as some point, so I just kept going. I think my longest ride so far is something like 29k.

This program took me to 52.5k in just under 2 hours!  It was about 10:30pm by the time I got off, stretched for about 15 minutes, at which point I was content; happy that I had done something.  That something burned off 1664 calories!  Goodbye crappy dinner and great for the HBBC points! :)

Today, I went to the new gym, of which I also became a member, and ran a quick 5.5k. Then I rode the neatest stationary bike ever for only a mile, just to see what it was like! Maybe some of you have already seen these, but I've never seen them in a gym before.  It's a company called Expresso, my Shimano SPD clipless shoes will work, and it's got an interactive screen with a bunch of different routes, courses, and you can create an account to track your progress, you can unlock other courses later on, and helps alleviate some boredom during the winter months when I can't be outside riding! How cool is that!  A little incentive to keep up with my cross-training efforts.

Anyway, the rest of the week will be about getting a workout in when I can... I think I finished my shopping tonight too.

I am now 37k away from my 1000k goal for the year.  I won't hit my original goal because I won't kill myself over the next week just to attain it.  Yes, a goal is a goal, but as I mentioned before, I'm completely satisfied with my accomplishments and progress this year.  Considering I had 11 weeks off this year due to injuries, and another week off when I was on vacation and sunburnt the tops of my feet...Oops! To come so close, I'm ecstatic.  2009 is a new year, for which there will be new goals.

Be safe everyone, and Happy Holidays if this is my last post before Christmas!

The weekend is over?! Already?

i have no running to report! I haven't run since thursday, and while I had good intentions both yesterday and today to get in a run, it didn't happen.

My son had a birthday party to attend yesterday afternoon, at a mall. At first, the idea of hitting the mall on the last saturday before Christmas made me cringe, but I got there early, found parking easily, and managed to get some last minute shopping done. Party ran about an hour late, so by the time I dropped him off at his dad's place (where he will be staying till Xmas day), I had to get home to get ready for a Christmas party at a friend's house. Ran out of time to run.

Today, I had absolutely no plan to run outside. It's been snowing off and on since Friday, roads are clearing up, but sidewalks still very snow covered. Maybe I'm wimping out this year, but I am so scared of reinjuring myself. Although I haven't gotten the nickname "Grace" like Kim has, it's been a rough year for me. I'm trying to do everything humanly possible to be safe.

Jay checked out a new gym in the area, and really wanted me to check it out to see if we may want to switch. It's a Snap Fitness gym, which when you're a member, is available to you 24 hours/day. You're given a key card which unlocks the door; staff is not always on premises. Well, when he was there yesterday, they told him that someone would be available until 4pm, so we got there for a workout at around 2:30pm... the soonest we could get there today. Door locked, sign on the door says that someone is there till 2pm only. Ugh! We didn't have our cards to hit the other gym, and Jay had lost his mojo for working out, so we did a bit of running around, got home, shoveled again, and chilled out. I could have gone the other gym on my own, but my car is absolutely buried in snow, and Jay only got his car a few weeks ago. Being so new, and road conditions being what they were, I decided to just stay put.

I'm ok with all this though because today was my official start to the 30k Around the Bay race that I am training for on March 29th. I had planned to run this race last year, but was injured, so it didn't happen, but I've heard great things about it. The first day of the training plan, today, was a day off, (Jay said he'd follow the first day of training with me.. and that was it) so I guess it officially starts tomorrow... so no harm done.

I first saw ElfYourself on GirlonTop's blog... and stayed up extra late on Thursday night to make one too!  Thanks!! The kids loved it and laughed a lot when I showed them before heading to their last day of school.  Enjoy!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Glad I ran yesterday

...cuz this is what it looks like today, and the snow is coming down harder and harder.  Wind to pick up tonight to help with building drifts. (btw, there's a street between the big tree, and the trees in the background...lol)

It's days like today that I'm thankful for working at home, and that my son walks a short distance home from school. 

I went out for a short 6k run after work last night, knowing we were going to get snow today. I decided to head onto a street that I have feared since moving into this neighborhood. It's a long steady and fairly steep climb, which is fun going down on the bike, but I was less than enthusiastic about trying to run up this bad boy.  Well, yesterday I did.  Power of tricking my mind worked again, convincing myself of running to at least the next stop sign, then continuing until eventually, I was heading back down a different hill.  I felt great afterwards... a bit of a milestone before the end of the year.

Have a great weekend everyone!

TIART - My 2008 in Review

Runners' Lounge Take it and Run Thursday is review 2008 in 52 words or less. Here's my tribute to the year.

I've been told that I inspire; I've been inspired. Accomplished my goal of a Half Marathon, and disappointment of 6 weeks off due to stress fractures. Made friends, lost weight, learned more about myself than ever before, and ran the mileage equivalent from my house to the starting line of Boston’s marathon!

I'm looking forward to seeing what 2009 brings for me and all of you!  All the best in the new year!

Rockin' the Knee-Highs

Last night I purchased a pair of athletic compression socks, which I wore for about an hour while catching up on blogs last night. Felt a little dorky with my socks pulled up to my knees, but at least I was in the comfort of my house. Jay remembered that I bought him the pair shown in the photo a few years ago for football... which have now been passed down to me. :)  I put them on last night as well just to try on, perfect fit! I have bigger calves than him, so he's now resigned to the fact that these fit me better than him! Yay, i have Under Armour compression socks!

So now you've seen my legs in an xray, a bone scan and knee-highs! LOL     was that a whistle i heard?

I woke up this morning and hopped dragged my butt out of bed. Hmmm, my first step wasn't awkward!  Made a mental note.

I had a fairly good break in my day, so I did a quick 30 min spin on my bike, which has never aggravated my legs, so no problem.

I was faced with a few options.  Legs were feeling pretty good, so I could take today as a rest day from running, which would be only 2 days in a row and run tomorrow instead.  Crap, weather is calling for 10-15cm of snow overnight, and a pretty crappy day tomorrow.  I chose to try a short run today since the roads are clear of snow and ice, and use tomorrow as a rest day instead.

I used the UA compression socks for my run; it was pretty cold, so I figured the added benefit of keeping my tight muscles warm would be great.  

So socks under tights make for a pretty weird feeling at first, but my legs were nice and cozy. Short jog up my street to warm-up, things are feeling good!  I only ran 5k as it was on the verge of darkness, and after having the week i've had with negative thoughts and feelings, I thought I'd end on a positive feeling rather than take a chance to push it too hard and regret it.

So there you have it. My first impression on these socks are great! I spoke to my mom who is a nurse, working with geriatric patients, who also does foot care. She said to be really careful with "true" compression socks that are more intended for circulation problems, diabetics, as they are typically prescribed by a doctor, and properly fitted for the patient with the correct amount of compression.  These being athletic socks, sold in any fitness apparel store, I'm not worried, but I'm certainly no medical expert, so there's my disclaimer. Definitely worth a chance!

One of my best friends called me tonight and begged and pleaded for me to meet her at one of the busiest malls in the city. Ugh... I really didn't want to go, but haven't seen her in a while, so it would seem that I'm not the only one that has left shopping to the last minute. Mission accomplished though, I'm about 90% done, and she's pregnant! I'm so excited for her. So today was definitely a better day; a good day -- hope you're having one too :)

Thanks to those of you who voted for me and for the kind words!  Much appreciated!

a little foreshadowing...

Thank you all for the wonderful words of encouragement, support, and snapping me back to reality... the mental part of injury is so hard when the physical part hurts.

So I found out that the UA warehouse only does these sales twice a year, once in winter, and once in the summer! Phew!  Otherwise, like a lot of you out there, I'd be spending way too much time and money there!  We went back saturday afternoon at around 4pm, before the closing time of 6pm, and it was all shut down with a sign on the door showing sold out.  Glad I went when I did!

Saturday I took off of running too, since my calf was still pretty tight.  I was getting ready for Jay's company's kids' xmas party, where he was going to be playing "santa". Jay's daughter found a cute necklace at a hockey tournament a few weeks ago that is a running shoe with a few beads on either side that I picked up for a few bucks. Well, as I was blow drying my hair, my necklace's clasp broke and fell.  I couldn't help but giggle... a sarcastic, devilish laugh. At that moment, seeing the running shoe fall off my neck was like hearing the words that I was injured and wouldn't be running again.  I stopped the blow dryer, went out to the living room, and lobbed the necklace at him, at this point almost in tears, telling him that the necklace breaking was a sign...  So dramatic, I know.

He came into the washroom a few minutes later to say that it definitely was foreshadowing... broken then fixed/injured then healed.  Yes, he managed to fix the necklace.

Saturday night I did a 30 min yoga for runners' video, and felt my legs feeling somewhat better.  Sunday morning I didn't go out for the scheduled 13k with the group given the way I had been feeling, but decided to go to the gym. 30 minutes of weights, followed by 3 miles on the dreadmill (much easier to stop and get off of it if needed because of pain...), then 15 minutes stretching, with a lot of the same stretches from the yoga from previous day. Feeling pretty good, and a bit happier than Friday night.

I had a 2 hour break between teaching sessions today, so I decided I'd go out for another quickie.  Got some letters together that were stamped and ready to be mailed out, and headed towards a mailbox, and kept going.  Still fairly tight in the calves, but it gets better as I warm up, so it ended up being a decent run, another 3 miles. Still a bit tender when pressing really hard on certain points of the bone, but other times not so much, so still keeping my fingers crossed that it's more muscular than bone. Still having enough time, I did another 30min yoga video, leaving me feeling pretty good.

Someone had commented to me that I should perhaps try compression socks or a wrap.  I checked into it a bit, and it seems that a lot of endurance athletes are wearing them... and I know that FrayedLaces recently posted about compression socks to aid with recovery.

I am up to trying anything that will keep me running and being active.  Anyone else try them at all? Any thoughts? I had some errands to run tonight, and while at the drug store, I checked out the adjoined health care section, and found a pair of athletic calf socks. I picked them up, wrestled a bit to get them up my leg given the size of my calves, but they're on! lol

Now that I've run 2 days in a row I will see how I feel tomorrow.  I may just do some biking tomorrow instead, and see if I can better manage the calf tightness with running 2 days in a row rather than 3.

You may have noticed a new widget on the top right-hand corner.  If you're not tired of voting with the recent US & Canadian elections, have tolerance for just one more, and feel that my blog might be worthy, go on and vote for me here on Wellsphere.com!  It's a great resource for healthy living, with access to outstanding communities such as Marathons, Triathlons, Endurance Training, etc.  I was drawn to this website for the Epilepsy community, and having the opportunity to reach out to those that may be going through similar thoughts, questions, fears associated with epilepsy or surgery, etc.  I'm not a good public speaker at all, so this is a much more comfortable way for me to feel like I can pay it forward a little, and maybe help someone.

They're doing their 1st People's HealthBlogger Awards... given the number of health related issues even in the last year with my running, it'll make me feel that it's at least been worth it! LOL Consider my blog this year as a Things to NOT do list (a fairly extensive, long, detailed, varying list)... Things to avoid... Learning from other people's mistakes... i think i'll stop now, that's enough self-deprecation for one day :)

Have a great week... can you believe that we're 10 days away from xmas, and I still haven't even purchased A gift yet?!  Yep, not even one!

Have a great weekend everyone!

retail therapy... and trying to get rid of the enemy

i had no idea that i lived about 10 minutes away from an Under Armour warehouse! Said warehouse is having a 2 day clearance and sample sale that I found out about this afternoon! I headed over there after I finished work today and it was a great way to end a crappy week.  I spent $145, but picked up 2 Cold Gear mock turtleneck shirts, a fleece Cold-Gear lined jacket, a UA Metal t-shirt, a sleeveless tech t-shirt, a pair of cute pink & white sandals and a running skort. Yes, it'll be a while before i can wear the skort and the sandles, but they were cute and $10 each.  

I think i'm getting my a$$ handed to me in the HBBC challenge.  It's been an off-week for me.

Monday was a planned off day after my 13k on the treadmill Sunday.  I ran Tuesday (5k), Wednesday (5k), and Thursday (7k), and also biked that same morning.  Had planned to do a kickboxing class, and some weights and yoga somewhere in there too, but with my Mac crashing, and kid stuff that needed to be dealt with, it never happened.

But I came back from my run with an all-too-familiar-feeling yesterday (yes Marci and Marlene, this is where your worries are valid).  My calves are tight, which they have been for the past few runs, but my shins are also sore. It's not a burning feeling like when I had my shin-splints, and doesn't bother me when I run.  I feel fine when I'm running, it's afterwards.  I stretch religiously after each run for a good 15 minutes.  

I even bought myself The Stick a few weeks ago to try to loosen up my calves, and while it has been helping, it's sore to the touch in specific spots on my shin, but usually only after a run. 

***If you are what I have a bad feeling you are... go away. You are not welcome here. I've already had to deal with you once, I've listened to all the advice, learned from my mistakes. I've been patient with recovery, missed races, incorporated cross-training, followed a 6 week return-from-injury program to the T, made sure that I'm in the right shoes for me, researched and changed my gait to improve my form, increased my calcium intake, stretched after each run.  I've had a bone scan to ensure my bone density levels are right, and they are. I have done everything right, why won't you just leave me alone! I do not want you to going to bother any of my other friends or RBF's to shatter their goals, and enjoyment, but I am not ok with you continuing to haunt me.  I am asking you kindly to change your outlook, try being positive and encouraging... rather than being so negative all the time. I'm appalled that you have the nerve to show up here again. You're ugly and I am really hating you right now.  You are my enemy.  Get lost.***

Today was another planned day off, and I am pushing, prodding, poking my shins (both legs this time, not just the left) all over, and can't feel a thing!  I iced last night, and did absolutely nothing today, other than the retail therapy.

I keep trying to convince myself that there is no way it's stress fractures again... with all that i've done right, how can it be?  But then the stupid voice in my head reminds me that by the time I had my x-rays done last time, there was already evidence of older, healed stress fractures.  I have no pain while running, but I must have had the same thing last time too, because not all runs till the point of diagnosis were bad runs?!  I ran a 15k race just 3 days before the xrays!  I am hoping that it's muscular, and that I am overreacting because I've already suffered an injury in the same spot.  If it was a stress fracture, I would think it would hurt when I pushed on it anytime...

I am walking 100%.  At the point of the worst pain last time, I had a very obvious limp, couldn't walk, cried when I went downstairs to tuck my son into bed one night, and felt like someone was hitting me in the shin with a hockey stick with each step. I am nowhere near that level of pain, so there's my optimism, but I'm scared boys and girls.

I talked about it to my son before anyone else last night, he responded my just giving me a hug. It's amazing how much he understands me. He knew that words weren't necessary.

Ironically, I will be seeing my chiropractor this weekend, but not for a treatment. He and his wife have invited us over for dinner on Sunday as a thank you for helping them move this summer, at which time I was in my air cast, and put together bed frames for their daughter's room and guest bedrooms like a champ!  No beds collapsed or fell apart, and no injuries were reported... maybe I am handy enough to screw my shoes like Marcy.... if, of course, there is any running left for me. :(

I promise to be careful, listen to my body, all that good stuff. The last thing I want to hear is that I am out for another 6+ weeks or perhaps forever if this is going to be chronic.  I will take it day by day and see how I feel. I will make my next run a short one, whether tomorrow, or after a few more days rest if I feel I need it, to see how I feel post-run.  I'm not happy right now at all.  I actually think I might cry, and my son is with his dad for the weekend, so no hug from him till Sunday.

Do you think it's too late to send a letter to Santa asking for strong, injury-proof legs? I've been good this year, I promise...

Good luck to Stuart, D10 and Hecubus racing this weekend.  Sorry if i've missed anyone!

***Sorry this is such a Debbie Downer post... I am just so sad and frustrated. I hated running as a child... figures now that I actually enjoy it, something always seems to go wrong...***