Running Woes

[grandmoffdavid.livejournal.com]

So, as I believe I've mentioned before, I've been adding lifts to my left shoe in order to correct an imbalance in the lengths of my legs. Apparently, adjusting your stride after 36ish years is something of an undertaking. As such, my shin splints have come back with a vengeance. They've gotten to the point where I can't even run my usual three miles*. This is depressing as well as painful. And by painful I mean, "It's funny, I can't smell smoke, but my legs are obviously combusting." painful. Usually you get dull pains when muscles are sore, I'm getting sharp pains across the top of my foot and under one of my knees (opposite legs) and one of my heels is occasionally a bit numb. It makes sense when you see how my stride is changing, but still, wow.

I had to email my dad and tell him that I wouldn't be able to make a race this Sunday (one of my favorite races, too) because I wasn't sure I'd be able to run the whole thing. That's the first time I think I've ever had to do that--including one race I ran with a cold through the snow.

I haven't followed my podiatrist's orders as strictly as I should have, and clearly I'm paying for that now. I'm also not convinced that the giant horse-pills of "super ibuprofen"** are doing as much good as the regular stuff, so I'm going to switch back to just taking normal ibuprofen more frequently. The missus has also been kind enough to start rubbing out my legs, which is a huge bonus. I also need to remember to stretch before going to bed. Finally, I made the decision that I wasn't going to try to run at all during my California trip. This is only the second time in over two years that I've not gotten my three runs in during a week and the other time involved multiple days of being bedridden. I'll still be walking a lot, but hopefully the lack of actual running will help my legs heal a bit.

Unfortunately, my exercise appears to have been the leaky dam holding back the surging tide of my poor eating habits. Which means that when we get back from con it's diet time again. Sigh.



*I normally run variations on a specific path. Running any duration beyond 30 minutes is good in my book and the distance usually varies between 3 and 6 miles. Running for 30 minutes is the minimum to make it "count."

**This is how the doctor described them. I'd get up and look up the normal name, but I've got ice-packs on my shins, and frankly I can't be arsed.