Hi, I'm mj, and it's been 22 days since my last run.

"Hi, Mj!"

A little over a year ago, I started running for the first time in my life, and my treadmill immediately tried to kill me.

It's ok, I eventually tamed that sucker, and took up running with a passion that I can only attribute to severe insanity coupled with fierce competitiveness.

I started running in actual races and to be quite honest, I've never been quite so addicted to anything in my life, and for someone who has a slightly addictive personality anyway, that's saying quite a lot.

So in keeping with my somewhat crazy outlook, I signed up for another half marathon for the fall, and decided that I was going to go all out with my training.

The slightly less than three hour finish in my last half marathon just wasn't good enough, so I upped my mileage, worked on my speed, and pretty much otherwise rocked the running shoes every chance I got.

My stamina was excellent.

My speed improved and I was consistently shaving over two minutes per mile off my previous time, even in long runs.

Until... one day, on a short easy run, I started feeling some pain in my right lower leg.

Now, let me start by saying that I have a ridiculously high tolerance for pain.  I'm not sure why, but every medical professional who has ever done anything supposedly painful to me has remarked on it.  I'm always just confused that it was supposed to hurt, and how can it be over if it didn't?  Anyway, I shrugged it off, finished my run, and ignored it for the next couple days, until it was time to run again.

And... I couldn't.

I. Could. Not. Run. At. All.

The pain was too intense.

So I tool a couple more days off, did the whole ice plus Tylenol thing, and got right back on the treadmill to "catch up" on the running I had missed over the past few days.

And... I still couldn't.

So I did what any reasonable, stubborn, pigheaded gal would do - I ignored it some more.

Until a week had passed, and it STILL hurt.

Then I got serious.  I started Googling it.

Google is my doctor of choice, you know, and I learned a lot about running injuries and how to prevent them, but not so much was available on how to CURE them.

My self-diagnosis is that it's a pulled or torn ligament.


So I iced it, took some Tylenol, and mostly ignored it some more.

And still, nada.

So now I'm more than three weeks into a period of no running.  I'm grumpy.  I'm emotional. I'm broken.

I would have never predicted that not being able to run would affect me so much.

But I've made the decision to wait till it's completely healed before I try again.

Because I have to get better soon.

I've got some races to run.


  1. It might be time to see a doctor (a real one, although I like Dr. Google, too.) My friend completely disconnected his achilles tendon, had that sharp pain, couldn't run but could still walk, drive, etc. He didn't know it was ruptured until they did an MRI.

    I hope you get to the bottom of it and can get back to your running soon!

  2. @Shannon, I fear that you might be right about seeing a doctor. However, Google said 4-6 weeks recovery was normal... So I'm gonna hold out the full six. Then maybe one more... Sigh. I hate going to the doctor. Thanks for the encouragement, though!

  3. I hate this for you. Even though I hate running sometimes, when I don't run, I crave it.

    I still think you should get it checked out.

  4. @Dianna, I know, I know... But I don't wanna! *stamps foot* Ouch. Dammit.

  5. UGH!!! I got some serious shin splints which needed over 3 months to heal then I moved across the country where I had an insanely stressful job that I had to quit for my sanity. A YEAR LATER... I'm going running tomorrow morning and I'm too excited to sleep. I miss it so much!!!

  6. @Savvy Pants - I hope your run was EXCELLENT this am! I bet it felt wonderful to be back at it!


Pin It button on image hover