easy does it...

"Poneytail" holders: $2.99

Dri-fit socks: $13.99
Tempo shorts: $30
Running shoes: $100
Marathon entry: $125
Running with no pain: PRICELESS

One week ago, last Sunday, I challenged myself to a mid-distance "hill" run in Clermont (about 30 minutes outside of Orlando). Usually going it alone for all my runs, I also decided to mix it up and run with a local running group for some company.

Driving over the rolling hills of Clermont on my way to the National Training Center, I knew this was not going to be your a traditional run with hills on the side...I would describe the run as quite the opposite...perhaps hills, with jogging on the side!

Marathon Training Lesson #463...go easy on the way down...

After 5 miles of hard running up and down hills, I had to stop due to a deep, dull pain in the soft tissue around my shin bone...having had shin splints before, this pain felt different, and I wanted to have an x-ray just to make sure it wasn't a stress fracture. (Stress fractures rarely reveal themselves on film so soon after injury, but I still thought it a wise idea to shoot one.)

I held my breath, but the x-ray DID come back normal, which is what I half-way expected anyway, right? But a certain relief accompanied the fact that I was going to be okay. I had not significantly damaged my leg, even though the pain indicated otherwise. With that pain came prescribed rest for a few days and then a "conservative" return to running.
Two days of rest, 220mg of Aleve every 8-12 hours, Arnica supplements twice per day, and icing in the morning and at night did the trick.

Remaining flexible I did not run the scheduled 18-miler this weekend, and instead, ran several 30 minute jogs at a comfortable cadence, along with two hour-long runs this past week...ALL with NO PAIN. It was the step-back in training that I needed and now I am assured that, somehow, the injury is healed. Tomorrow, I will resume my "normal" training and pick back up where I left off on the schedule.

Chicago...here I come!