Week Nine

Taking some of my own advice for a change, have been taking it easy and am feeling much better. Did NOT go running with the team all last week, but did go for short easy walks around the neighborhood, went swimming on Wednesday, and spent a couple hours wandering the hiking trails up on nearby Monte Sano.
Monte Sano was So Beautiful! I never stopped to think before, that when feathered things go south for the winter, that Alabama IS SOUTH! There must have been a million songbirds up there, not to mention the spectacular fall colors. Oh yeah, and I took my boyfriend hiking with me and while we were up there he proposed... ;) And I said "Yes!" of course. *Big Silly Grin!* However, I could barely sleep at all last night and kept waking up to stare at my left hand to make sure I wasn't just dreaming it all, which I'm told is to be expected, but that also makes getting up in the morning to go running very very difficult.

Week Eight

Grrr!
I hate admiting I'm hurt, and I managed to hurt myself worse by not admiting it and pushing myself instead of resting. *Roll Eyes*
So, last Saturday I pulled my left Quad. I ran on it Tuesday, and it hurt all day Wednesday, so like a less-than-briliant person I ran on it Thursday, and it REALLY hurt all day Friday, so instead of running with the group I went for an easy, short walk on Saturday, and will do the same instad of running tonight/Tuesday.
What has me concerned is that it still hurts as bad as it does, because I know a lot of tricks to help sports injuries feel better and heal sooner (minus the part where it takes me forever to aknowlege the injury in the first place), including various massage and stretching techniques, combinations of OTC drugs and rubs and creams, taping bandaging and bracing, and I even have access to a small personal ultrasound unit. Any/all of which has helped to varying degrees, but I'm not back to running yet... *sigh* There's no way around the simplest healing method in the book - stay the heck off it and just give it time!

Week Seven

Election Day!
Super excited for the MUCH larger than average voter turnout at my polling place, but I guess they weren't prepared for such a crowd because it took a little over TWO HOURS of standing in line to get in and cast a ballot!
After I got over being cranky about standing there, I became quite grateful that I've started running - I may have been uncomfortable, but my legs are in very good shape and I have no injuries or joint problems that would make standing around for hours genuinely painful, unlike some unlucky people I saw in line with me.

Only three people, including myself, showed up to run on Thursday, and the other two were a good bit older than me and wanted to walk instead. But one of them brought her dog - really still just a big puppy, positively bounding with energy - and I ran sprints with the dog up and down the route, keeping pace with the walkers. Was actually a fun variation in my workout!

Then Saturday we had a big turnout for our group run, great to see everybody! We did the ~6mi. Cotton Row loop, and then extended it for a total ~8mi. run. However, I should have listened to my body and stopped after 6 miles to massage out some tightness going on in my thigh, because after that last little 2 miles I had managed to properly Pulled my left Quad. - OUCH! Feels better today and I'm going to run on it this week, but it took several days of working the muscle with all my massage tricks to un-do the mess I made of it.