Back To It

When I was younger, I suppose I thought I was more or less indestructible. Never having broken any bones, perhaps I was closer to the mark than most may be. Through the years, I have been running as consistently as my schedule and health would allow.

Last summer, I took on the task of siding the house. I accomplished that goal but noticed a numbness that started growing in my right foot. This was accompanied by some excruciating back pain for a time which led to physical therapy and a slow and gradual journey back to being pain-free.

The numbness continues to stay with me. I suspect that numbness may be what led to my latest injury that occurred abou 3 weeks ago when I pulled a calf muscle in my right leg as I ran down the hill in the last half mile of a 2-mile run.

After consulting my medical running book and applying heat and compression for the prescribed number of days, I sweated it out for a couple weeks until I realized that the muscle had finally healed, in spit of being re-injured on several occassions.

That brings me to last night. The temperatures were warm enough to run without sweats for the first time since last fall. I ran with trepidation after having mixed results on the last run the previous week. I was not sure I had rested the calf enough. Maybe I didn't stretch it enough. I was even considering the inevitability that I may be doomed to walking for the rest of my life.

Still, I wanted to test it to see what I could do. The first mile was extrordinary, considering how I felt after the previous run. Somehow, I had run more than 30 seconds faster than the last few times. The calf didn't start to feel slightly off until after I got home. It seems ok, just not 100%.

The trick now will be to find the right combination of rest, weight training and running to nurture the injury to the point where I am back where I want to be and in the shape I expect to be.

It feels great to be back to it.