There’s nothing a runner hates, but loves to talk about more, than an injury…

Where do I begin, and which injury do I discuss? And were they really injuries? I’ll keep it brief, or at least as brief as a runner can when discussing an injury…

It started on the Thursday morning after our MRTT Christmas Lights run. I’d hoped to run ten miles that morning since I’d be traveling on Saturday to my mom’s house and miss our group long run. I’d run three easy miles the night before, but didn’t think they would prohibit me from running ten miles just ten hours later. Three miles into the early morning run, I started feeling pretty bad nerve pain in my calf – a residual effect of sciatic nerve pain from a minor back injury years ago. I stopped running at five miles, and took over a week off to recover. 

After a successful five-mile run with the Cruisers nine days later, I hoped I was fine and that the little niggle was behind me. On Monday I decided to go out for a run, but cut it short and came home to finish by walking on my treadmill – just being cautious. With muddy running shoes, I slipped on my other Brooks (Glycerins, same model) that I wear pretty much any time I’m not running. They have custom orthotics as well and keep my feet quite happy – except apparently not when walking fast on a treadmill for four miles…

Tuesday I woke up with intermittent nerve pain in my right forefoot. I have a Morton’s neuroma which used to drive me nuts, but hasn’t bothered me much since I got my orthotics made. I think that even though both pairs were fitted by the same doctor and made by the same company, the metatarsal bump in one is a little different than the other, and I simply aggravated my neuroma.

I decided to take it easy and stick with run/walking for a few days. I ended up running the first and last mile of my 5.25-mile run/walk on Tuesday, and played around with my GoPro at my turn-around point. I’m sure landing on my foot after a jump didn’t bother my neuroma at all…  

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The rain was back on Wednesday so I stayed inside and lifted weights and then hopped on my spin bike for five quick miles. Bill got home from work as I finished up my ride, and the next thing I knew, I was cuddled up next to him on the basement sofa sound asleep.

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One of my MRTT running friends got a GoPro for Christmas and asked if I’d give her some tips on using it.  We met on Thursday morning for her tutorial and I taught her a few tricks about camera placement, etc. More importantly, she showed me a couple of very valuable tips. I love it when I set out to teach someone something and learn from them! The following picture was my favorite capture of the morning – notice that I’m still in shorts on NYE.

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We jumped for joy celebrating our successful session, and headed to Starbucks to talk about photo editing.

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On New Year’s Eve, Bill and I stayed home, watched college football bowl games, and enjoyed Mexican martinis. We had hoped to catch the star rise in Chicago for Chicago’s first ever New Year’s Eve celebration, so we had to stay up until midnight central time. Unfortunately, we were only able to see it streaming online, and admire the pictures Joseph and Julie sent to us from their friend’s apartment.

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Saturday morning I joined my Cruiser friends for a trial run, not sure if I’d be able to go very far because of my foot. We arrived and headed out for our run just as some of my MRTT friends were coming in from their run. Being the mayor of Runnersville (more on that in a separate post), I got a selfie before we all went on our way.

I ran three miles with my Cruiser friends and then ran three more solo with zero foot pain. I really think walking on the treadmill in different shoes was the cause…

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Sunday didn’t involve any great activity on my part, but I enjoyed watching the Virginia Tech wresting team in a match against George Mason University. Having had two sons wrestle through high school, it’s a sport that I enjoy watching. It also doesn’t hurt that the Hokies are ranked #5 in the nation and provided us with some great wrestling action.

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And just for fun, I have to share this! =PR= Races is using this picture of my friends Amanda and Erin from last year’s For The Love Of It 10K for their banner for this year’s race. My MRTT friends thought it was all cool and all, until…

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I pointed out that PRR had cropped me out of the picture! Not feeling the love, PRR, not feeling the love. HaHaHa!!! 

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After enjoying too much indulgent foot, and way too many cocktails, it’s time to pack up the holidays for the next eleven months and get back to my old habits; you know, the good ones I’m constantly writing about. Well, except for Friday night cocktails, I do have my standards, so those will stick around!

 

Weekly Recap: 

  • Weights: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
  • Runs: Saturday – 6 miles (Total: 6 miles)
  • Run/Walk:  Monday – 4 miles, Tuesday – 5.25 miles
  • Walks:  Thursday – 2 miles
  • Bike:  Wednesday – 5 miles
  • Stretching: Sporadically
  • Average Steps Per Day: 13,745
  • Average Hours Sleep Per Night: 7:30

 

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I’m linking up with Holly at HoHo Runs and Tricia from MissSippiPiddlin for their Weekly Wrap.  Be sure to check out not only the hosts, but the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!

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Have a great week!

  • Questions:
  • How did you celebrate NYE?
  • How difficult is it for you to listen to your body? Ever have any crazy little injuries that come and go?
  • Did you race this weekend, or do a NYE or NYD race?